WinZip maybe is the most popular of file compression tool. But, the minus is it is not a freeware. You have to pay $29.95 to get the latest standard version.

If you are searching for an alternative which is free of charge, you have to try ZipGenius.

Snapfiles.com said that ZipGenius is a powerful zip tool that offers support for more than 20 different compression formats, including ZIP (of course), RAR, ARJ, ACE, CAB, SQX, OpenOffice.org documents and others. It supports drag and drop, 5 compression levels, full customization and integration in Windows Explorer. The program also comes with a built in FTP client that allows to download and upload files from within the software.

Furthermore, ZipGenius also supports the creation of self-extracting exe files, complete with custom setup launch and icon. It also comes with addition features like encryption, scanner support, backup, statistics, download time calculator, disk spanning, file export, support for OpenOffice and more. It can also interact with your Pocket PC device.

The latest version (ZipGenius 6 Standard Edition) is free of charge. This version is well suited for users without special needings and who don't need not-so-rich features.

The standard version contains of ZipGenius - main application, Scan & Zip, ZG Password Manager and Language files in English and Italian.

If you are always working with ZIP and RAR files, this is a real tool for you. Most of all it is a freeware.

Here is the link to download this utility : ZipGenius, a real compress tool