Windows 8.1 auto-"unzipping" .zip files

I’ve got both WP plugins and themes (.zip files) that I download to my machine, to then be uploaded to a WP installation (as a .zip file in order to work).

When I download .zip files to my two 8.1 machines, both machines are causing the “.zip” status to no longer be recognized, so that when I go to upload it to my WP installation, the file browser upload window doesn’t even recognized the file, and therefore it can’t be uploaded. However, inside the file browser upload window, upon selecting the downloaded .zip file, it opens in the treeview to reveal its contents, which I don’t think it should do if it is “zipped”.

On my XP machine, it retains its “.zip” status after download to that machine, and then uploads to my WP installation without any problem.

This is the only discussion I could locate that seems on point, but it sure seems like overkill just to upload a WP plugin/theme from Windows 8.1: https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/13619-zip-folders-enable-disable-windows-explorer-view.html

It can’t be this difficult. What I am missing?

Thanks in advance for taking a moment to help figure this out.