Alpha ZIP is a new software title, offering a good range of compression options without a complicated interface.

Instead, you are presented with a wizard that lets you open or create an archive in a couple of clicks. It also integrates with Windows Explorer, so you can create archives by right-clicking on the file(s) you wish to include.

It's file support is pretty good, being able to open the following archive types: .arc, .ace, .arj, .bh, .cab, .gz, .gzip, .jar, .lha, .rar, .tar, .tgz, .tar.gz, .zoo, .zip and .lzh. It's up to you whether you use any of the more obscure formats, but it's nice to have the option.

Archive creation is a little more limited, but it supports the following: .bh, .cab, .jar, .lha, .tgz, .tar.gz, .lzh and of course, .zip.

Alpha ZIP can create self-extracting archives, which means that anybody you send an archive to can open it without the need for a program such as Alpha ZIP. It also lets you compress and email a file in a matter of seconds.