Practically everyone who uses a computer would have used or encountered Zip files or files that have been compressed using the .ZIP format. Born in the fertile mind of Philip Katz (remember PKZIP and PKUNZIP?) in 1989, this free compression format has been around for a long time. It may have been bettered in the compression race by other formats like .RAR and .ACE (which actually pre-dates the ZIP format), but has been more popular worldwide because you dont have to pay to be able to use the compression (with .RAR and .ACE, only the extraction is free).
Everyone who has used Zip files will also be familiar with Winzip, the defacto leader of compression utilities. In India, most vendors put an evaluation version of Winzip (available for free download) on the computer when the sell it to a customer. While this will do the job satisfactorily, you are faced with a nag screen where you have to choose to Buy, Register or Use Evaluation Version each time you start the program. The latest version of Winzip also uses AES encryption for creating encrypted ZIP files. Unfortunately, this results in the formation of non-standard ZIP files which can be extracted only using Winzip 9 (not previous versions, nor other software). This restricts its usability, as the recipient of your compressed file may not have Winzip 9!
Enter ZipGenius!
This is a freeware, with no nag-screens, and does practically everything that Winzip does. It supports most of the popular file types seen today, including Zip, 7-zip, Tar, Gz etc. If you download the open source program called UPX.exe, Zipgenius also allows much higher compression rates than that possible with just the zip format. It uses encryption methods like Blowfish, which are fairly standard. The Brutal/UPX compression allows compression of even executable program files!
Zipgenius can be downloaded as a standard file, which does just compression and decompression, or as a suite, suitable for advanced users, which includes an FTP client, album and encryption facilities. Following installation, it allows you to use either a basic interface/wizard a la Winzip, or an advanced form with more options available.
ZipGenius can be downloaded from https://zipgenius.it/index_eng.htm
UPX can be downloaded from https://upx.sourceforge.net/