# Can I uncompress files that Windows Disk Cleanup compressed?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-uncompress-files-that-windows-disk-cleanup-compressed/503385>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 17, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-uncompress-files-that-windows-disk-cleanup-compressed/503385 "2009-07-17T21:38:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![the\_first\_supraliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-uncompress-files-that-windows-disk-cleanup-compressed/503385/1 "2009-07-17T21:38:38Z")

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Someone ran Disk Cleanup on my Windows XP system and checked the box for Compress Old Files.  
Absurdly, this “compressed” a lot of program files, so I assume they now they get uncompressed every time I run applications.

At any rate, is there some way to get them all back to normal ?

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**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-uncompress-files-that-windows-disk-cleanup-compressed/503385/2 "2009-07-17T21:51:51Z")

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I haven’t tried it personally, but [here](http://www.missionitgroup.com/forum/index.php?topic=93.0) are some instructions.

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**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-uncompress-files-that-windows-disk-cleanup-compressed/503385/3 "2009-07-17T21:53:10Z")

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Select all the files you want to decompress. Right click \> Properties. Click the advanced button. Now unclick the option to compress. Press OK.

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**Author:** ![the\_first\_supraliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-uncompress-files-that-windows-disk-cleanup-compressed/503385/4 "2009-07-17T21:54:51Z")

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Thanks. My searches always ended up talking about Zip files.