keep windows from changing folder dates?

[hannelius]

every time i add something to a folder
or even something so simple as
opening a zip file to look
windows changes the date on the folder
and i have to change it back...

it never used to do this before...
since when i don't know...
sometimes it will keep the created date
sometimes it will keep the modified date

when i copy folders over from a backup drive
sometimes it will keep the created date
sometimes it will keep the modified date
other times it overwrites all three..

i have folders where the dates
have been the same for years
is there an easy way to do this?