One of the first things people do when they install Windows is get the apps and programs they’ll be using in the near future. Because many of the installation files are zipped archives, they need to be unzipped before they can be installed. And that means a file archiver might be the first software you download.

While there are dozens of apps that perform this function, one of the most praised and trusted file archivers is 7zip. It is free to download, supports a wide range of file extensions for archives, and does not contain annoying ads. However, there is one shortcoming: it is not set by default for archive files when you install it.

This has many people wondering whether the program even works. That’s where this guide comes in. If you’ve recently installed or switched to 7zip but don’t know how to set it as your default archive opener, here are three ways to do it.

The easiest way to set 7zip as your default file archiver is to change the file associations from within 7zip itself.