I think it is really interesting that a lot of unusual problems start to appear on blogs and websites that users have with Windows Vista. Makes me think why no one found out about it during the extensive beta tests but that is another story. The How-To Geek is reporting a problem with large zip files under Windows Vista.
Copying a large zip file, in this case a 11-Gigabyte one, caused the Windows Vista explorer to freeze. “It seems that Windows Vista file explorer (by default) attempts to recurse into any zip archives in a direct subdirectory, allowing users to view the contents of the zip file directly in the sidebar.”
This means that even though you are using another software to unzip files Windows Vista uses the build in zip support to access that file as well which does not make sense at all. It would make sense if you would be using the build in zip functionality of Windows Vista but not if you use a third-party application like Winzip.
The solution was posted as well. The internal zip file support of Windows Vista had to be disabled. This can be easily done with a software like ShellExView from Nirsoft.
The screenshot below shows which items have to be disabled to get rid of the large zip file problem in Windows Vista.

If you actually experience this problem right now you might want to kill the explorer process and load it afterwards again. This can be done by pressing Windows R and typing in explorer.exe.
Read More:
Prevent Explorer from Freezing With Large Zip Files on Vista
Shellex View
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