checked out six utilities: QuickZip, ICEOWS, IZArc, TUGZip, ZipGenius and 7-Zip.
The product that impressed me the most was the Open Source program 7-Zip [1]. It was the only product in the group that could unpack a multi-part RAR volume embedded in a ZIP archive and the only product to give a meaningful error message when an attempt was made to unpack a 256bit encrypted WinZip archive. My only reservation is that it handles fewer archive types than some of the other products; it only supports 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB.
If that's really important to you then I'd recommend IZArc [2]. It can read nearly 50 archive types including media formats like ISO, BIN and IMG and can write (and convert) to 12. Furthermore it can handle multi-part zip files while 7-Zip can't. You couldn't go wrong with either product. 7-Zip is a little more robust while IZArc is a little more flexible. If you already use WinZip you'll find either 7-Zip or IZArc make excellent companion products. They can read just about all the major archive formats WinZip can't, including the widely used RAR.
[1] 7-Zip
Website: http://www.7-zip.org/
Download link: http://www.7-zip.org/
Author: Igor Pavlov
Current version: 4.57
Version date: December 6, 2007
Download file size: .exe 840KB, .msi 1103KB
License: 7z.dll: GNU LGPL and unRAR restriction, all other files: GNU LGPL
Operating systems supported: Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista. There is a port of the command line version to Linux/Unix.
Additional software required: None
64 Bit capable: Yes
Portable version available: Yes, on http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable
Non-English languages supported: Yes
Other relevant information:
[2] IZArc
Website: http://www.izarc.org/
Download link: http://www.izarc.org/download.html
Author: Ivan Zahariev
Current version: 3.81
Version date: June 14, 2007
Download file size: 3.55MB
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP
Additional software required: None
64 Bit capable: Beta version (113KB)
Portable version available: Yes (IZArc2Go on the download page)
Non-English languages supported: Yes
Other relevant information: You can encrypt files using Rijandael - AES (256-bits) encryption