Whirling Dervishes and Neobyte Solutions have released Alpha ZIP version 1.0 for Windows 98, ME, Windows NT. 2000 and Windows XP, a new easy and convenient way of working with ZIP files and other compressed formats.

You may well be wondering why on Earth you’d be interested in yet another ZIP file compression tool. Right?

Well, Alpha ZIP has a few tricks in the bag that make this one a little out of the ordinary. Read on.

There are very few computer users in the world today who don’t handle ZIP files on a regular basis, and ZIP has become the de-facto method for transferring documents, images, files, and data. Yet despite their popularity, many users still find working with ZIP files unnecessarily complicated.

Alpha ZIP is the most up to date ZIP file utility on the market, and offers users a means of working with compressed files, with none of the associated difficulties and confusion.

The key to Alpha ZIP’s ease of use lies in its high level of integration with Windows. With Alpha ZIP installed, working with archives couldn’t be simpler, as all possible operations lay only one click away. And all may be accessed from within the Windows Explorer.

The advantage of such a high level of integration is that the user no longer has to work with separate applications, and all operations appear to be carried out from within the familiar Windows Explorer.

The result is an unprecedented simple means of handling ZIP files without having to grapple with an unfamiliar interface or remember where archive contents have been extracted.

Alpha Zip can create ZIP, 7Z, GZ, JAR, LHA, LZH, CAB, TAR, UUE, and XXE files, and can also read and extract from ACE, ARC, ARJ, RAR and ZOO files.

Alpha ZIP is priced at US$29.95. Further information, and a free trial version are available from http://www.alphazip.com.