Help Please

I am not very knowledgeable on such matters and there is probably a simple answer to my query. The Forum requires all posts to be capable of free download which is brilliant. Most 'rar' files can be opened on VLC player but some won't and require WinZip which no longer provides a free version which, in a way, defeats the object of a free download if you have to pay to get a system that opens the file. I have seen a couple of alternatives to WinZip but one seemed extremely complicated and the other ' dodgy ' Any ideas please?

did you mean winRar?
Use 7-zip:
https://www.7-zip.org/

Thanks for the advice which I followed without success. As I implied I really don't know very much about such matters but I will try and explain further. If a download ends in .mp4, for example, I can open the file using either Windows Media or VLC. If a download ends in .rar then most of the time I can open the file using VLC as long as it is not WMV. If, however, the system is WMV it won't open using VLC and tells me I need WinZip which I don't have. After I installed 7zip it did not appear as an option when I tried to open it. It might be that it is something I am doing wrong but your further guidance would be appreciated.

If you have some kind of packed file - rar, zip no matter - yes, you can try to play it without unpacking, but it's not the perfect way.
Unpack this file first. So let's say you have file.RAR and 7-zip was installed - next step is: right click on file.rar - select 7-zip and choose extract. You will get file.WMV after unpacking. Fill free to remove file.RAR now and open file.WMV in VLC.

Thanks for your advice and patience. Hopefully with your detailed advice even a tech numpty like me will be able to work it out. Thanks once again

7 zip is the best free one that i have used, works every time and very stable

Thanks, I also encountered a similar problem earlier, but did not know about 7-zip. I'll try to use it too.