If you are still using the built in Windows zip utility are are tired of its overall poor performance (both speed and compression ratio-wise), consider using much more fully featured alternative.

The first one which comes to mind is probably WinZip. While this works very well, few people actually register it and continue to live with the very annoying nag and delay screens.

Instead, try a free tool. One I have written about in the past is the excellent 7-Zip program, but another fully featured free tool you might want to give a look is IZArc. IZArc supports virtually all file formats and offers boatloads of features. Here are a few of the more popular ones:

• Full Drag & Drop support
• CD/DVD Images support (ISO, BIN, MDF, NRG, IMG, C2D, PDI, CDI)
• Integrating in Windows Explorer context menu
• Automatic installation of most software distributed in archive files
• Virus scanning support

So ditch the Windows tool and go with something much better and faster, for free.