Software Downloads Free

NetNotes 5.1

If you’re using the web for research, while your history and bookmarks can help keep track of useful pages, they can be a bit awkward.

NetNotes is essentially a note taking application especially for the web. It works with IE or Firefox (for which you need an add-on), and adds an export command to the right click menu. Any page you are on, right click and choose export to Canaware NetNotes. This will open the program, and the web page will have been loaded into the program. From here you can save it, edit it, and organize it in your library.

The library is a standard tree design, as you’ll be used to from using Windows. This makes it very accessible. NetNotes loads pages quickly, and the edit feature means taking out text or images is a cinch.

The biggest issue with NetNotes is that not all web pages work well. Usually all the information is intact, but often background images and layout are lost. The usefulness of NetNotes rests on whether this is important to you. Also, if a web page has a name with a characters like |:\\ or / it won’t save, and you need to edit. This is not a massive problem, but very irritating in 2009.

NetNotes is a capable not taker, though it’s a little rough around the edges. Great for quickly storing test from the web.

Languages:

English

Notes:
Firefox users require Canaware NetNotes’ Extension for Mozilla FireFox 1.0 or later.

OS requirements for NetNotes:

OS: Win2000/XP/Vista

http://netnotes.en.softonic.com/download

Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 3.03

Most of us don’t need a mammoth graphic suite to browse photos and apply some light optimization fixes to them.

Bearing this in mind, Ashampoo Photo Optimizer provides you with an intuitive, handy photo managing tool that features pretty much all the tools you need for basic image optimization: color and contrast adjustments, a few special filters and a tool to correct the dreaded red-eye effect.

Ashampoo Photo Optimizer is light on system resources and very easy to use. Its interface is divided into three panels, which show the folder structure, the contents of the selected folder and the current picture, respectively. This helps you easily check the results of any change you apply to your photos.

On the downside, I found the program too basic: there are quite a few basic editing tools missing (crop, resize, rotate, flip…) and the special filter section actually includes only three: sepia, greyscale and invert colors.

Ashampoo Photo Optimizer is a suitable photo managing tool with some basic editing and optimizing tools, but probably too basic for more advanced users.

Languages:

English, Spanish, German, French, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese Simp, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Greek, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese BR, Russian, Turkish, Portuguese PT

Limitations:

10 day Trial Period
The program has a 10-day trial period that can be extended for another 20 days if you request a free trial key.

OS requirements for Ashampoo Photo Optimizer:

OS: WinXP/Vista

http://ashampoo-photo-optimizer.en.softonic.com/download

Asterisk Key 9.0

Asterisk Key is a handy tool that shows passwords hidden under asterisks. The program works with both password dialog boxes and web pages. The software is easy to use - you simply press the ‘Recover’ button to recover all the passwords. Asterisk Key has online help, along with full install/uninstall support.

Features of the app:

Uncovers hidden passwords on password dialog boxes and web pages

State of the art password recovery engine - all passwords are recovered instantlyMultilingual passwords are supportedFull install/uninstall support

Languages:

English

OS requirements for Asterisk Key:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP

http://asterisk-key.en.softonic.com/download

Free Disc Burner 1.1.3.52

Sometimes all you need to burn a disc is a simple tool that does what it says on the tin, like Free Disc Burner.

With Free Disc Burner you can burn CD, DVD and Blu-Ray discs, with support for a wide variety of formats: recordable discs, rewritable discs, dual layer discs and all the possible combinations of +R and ?R you can think of. Free Disc Burner can work with multi-session discs and is BurnProof and JustLink compatible. It includes also a tool to erase rewritable discs.

Though Free Disc Burner is designed to be a simple, easy-to-use burning tool, my opinion is that its usability could have been improved a bit. Using a simple program doesn’t mean we have to give up on having a proper interface, with a double-pane window to select files and a more usable toolbar.

Free Disc Burner is a basic burning tool that helps you record custom CD, DVD and Blu-Ray discs.

Languages:

English

OS requirements for Free Disc Burner:

OS: Win2000/XP/Vista

http://free-disc-burner.en.softonic.com/download

Spyware Terminator 2.5.6.316

While the developers claim that “Free 100% Real-Time Protection” is something that most similar programs charge for may be stretching the truth somewhat, Spyware Terminator & Web Security Guard is very powerful spyware solution.

The program includes all the options you expect to find in such a product including options to manually carry out or schedule scans as well as options to deny or allow access to certain programs to your PC. The program is not just a spyware scanner however as it also includes an antivirus scanner. The developers have also seen fit to include a “Web Security Guard” which carries out the the job that most anti-phishing and pop up blockers in Internet Explorer and Firefox already carry out. This feature also features user generated website reviews along with warnings as to whether the site could be potentially harmful or not. Note that the developers warn that if you are using an unsupported operating system (such as Windows 98 or ME), you it may be better to use version 1.9 which offers the same protection but is much lighter on resources as the one drawback of this program is that it is rather slow to start and close and can hog your memory at peak scanning periods.

This is a comprehensive security solution that has all avenues of attack covered although if you’re already using a virus scanner, you may be better to stick with it as it seems the weakest part of what is generally an excellent package.

Languages:

English, German, French, Catalan, Turkish

Recent changes in Spyware Terminator:

New Real Time Protection

OS requirements for Spyware Terminator:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP/2003/Vista

http://spyware-terminator.en.softonic.com/download

Internet Privacy Eraser 2.0

Whether you’re aware of it or not, your computer keeps track of all your movements: files you open, websites you visit, downloads, IM chats? almost everything is recorded and stored on your hard drive, from where it could be easily recovered with the appropriate tools.

Luckily there are also specific software utilities that help you get rid of all these sensitive data. One of them is Internet Privacy Eraser, a simple yet efficient cleaner that removes all usage tracks from your computer.

Internet Privacy Eraser works with the most popular programs: web browsers (Internet Explorer, Opera and Firefox), IM clients (MSN, Yahoo!, Skype and others) and Microsoft Office, among others. While there are still important programs missing (such as Chrome or Safari), the great thing about Internet Privacy Eraser is that you can add your own apps to the list by using the Custom Lists tool. The program also supports scheduled cleans, which enables you to get rid of sensitive data automatically according to a certain period of time.

After you’ve selected the elements you want to erase, Internet Privacy Eraser runs a preview that lets you check how many files will be deleted and how much disk space you’ll gain. If you agree with the list, click on Clean and all selected elements will be wiped forever. Bear in mind though that you need to be sure of what you’re doing, as there’s no way to undo the action and the program doesn’t create a backup copy either.

If you’re worried about all the sensitive data your computer stores when you use certain programs or browse the Web, use Internet Privacy Eraser to remove it in a snap.

Languages:

English

OS requirements for Internet Privacy Eraser:

OS: Win98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP/2003/Vista

http://internet-privacy-eraser.en.softonic.com/download

MJ Registry Watcher 1.2.6.7

MJ Registry Watcher is a simple system tray program that monitors changes to any of the startup folders, startup registry keys, and any files you want alerting on. If a trojan attempts to change your startup settings, you will be alerted, and you can prevent any changes being made.

It is fully configurable as to what keys and files are monitored, so, if you have a vested interest in protecting your file association for the mailto protocol (your default emailer), so that your preferred app loads them, and something else is trying very hard to undermine this association (Outlook for example), this will popup, offering to stop a new association attempt, after Outlook had loaded, say. The key that stores this association is hkey_lmus\\software\\classes\\mailto\\shell\\open\\command, and you could protect other associations by changing “mailto” to the desired type, for example, “jpegfile”.

Languages:

English

Recent changes in MJ Registry Watcher:

Added the ability to add filespecs to the exemptions list.

Corrected bug with exemption additions from alerts putting the prefix in the list in addition to the key or filespec, if there was a prefix.

Most alerts which cannot be undone and used to offer only an OK button, will now also have an extra option to exempt certain values/subkeys/filespecs.

After exempt subkeys or filespecs are added from an alert, the end of the sweep will reload the list so that the exemptions are set. This also happens if you prefix keys during an alert.

When hooking fails completely, it now fails gracefully and correctly falls back to polling only.

Fixed bug with exemptions starting with hkey_lmcu and hkey_lmus being ignored.

When an exempted value or subkey was changed on the PC (which don’t cause an alert), the middle window did not reflect the change. Now it does.

Reduced execution priority to below normal to ease CPU utilisation.

Limitations:

Trial version is limited to 5 minutes use

OS requirements for MJ Registry Watcher:

OS: Win98/98SE/Me/NT/XP/2003

http://mj-registry-watcher.en.softonic.com/download

Vuze (Azureus) 4.2.0.0

With the release of Vuze, Azureus is jumping onto the legal torrent bandwagon. This application features the classic and extensive Azureus torrent client and adds to it an online platform from which you can download and submit legal audio and video content.

Vuze?s interface is a complete shake-up to what Azureus users are used to. The BitTorrent developer has decided to focus on online multimedia content and introduce user participation. The first thing the user sees is a “Find, Download, Play” screen to introduce you to Vuze. You can browse files by using the left side menu, divided in time, main channels and tags. The menu at the top also links to hot and new content. Vuze takes the web 2.0 road and you’ll see that most of the files have tags. You can write out a comment and leave a rating. The program also makes it a no brainer to send a video by email and link to content directly from your blog or website. Additionally, there are social bookmarking links for each file.

Downloading torrents is as simple as using the search bar, which the gives you options to search the Vuze site and results from the major bittorent sites such as Btjunkie. You can also easily add more sites to that list if you wish.

We won?t expand on the qualities of the Azureus client, for which you can read a review here. Vuze tries to innovate by adding social tools to the program and providing legal content in the Vuze HD Network. There are numerous channels to choose from, yet we were disappointed with the content in general. On some channels there’s very little to watch and on others you don’t necessarily find what you were hoping for. Much of the content feels cheap and throwaway, even if it is in glorious HD.

On the downside Vuze does nothing to atone for Azureus’s principal drawback: the overuse of your RAM and DSL connection. Yes, Vuze is still a resource and bandwidth hog, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

The whole interface is really simple, though the program is so heavy you will get some slow down, and the amount of legal content is still limited, Vuze is a promising application for sharing and enjoying legal content.

If you’re already hooked on the original Azureus bittorrent client, take a leap into the future with Vuze.

Languages:

English, Spanish, German, French, Catalan, Chinese Simp, Chinese Trad, Gallego, Italian, Portuguese BR, Russian, Turkish

Recent changes in Vuze (Azureus):

Bug fixes

OS requirements for Vuze (Azureus):

OS: Win2000/NT/XP/Vista

Minimum requirements:

Java 2 Runtime Environment
Flash 9.0 or above

http://azureus-vuze.en.softonic.com/download

Spiffy Icon Pack 1.3

Sometimes beauty is in small details, and that’s the case of this attractive collection of icons.

The Spiffy Icon Pack includes more than fifty high-quality icons in PNG format that you can use for different applications on your computer. All of the icons have been designed according to the style used in iPhone icons, which makes them really eye-catching.

On the downside, the Spiffy Icon Pack seems to be more addressed to Mac users, as many of the icons included in the collection refer to native Mac apps.

However, the pack also includes a basic PSD file with a sample icon, which means that if you’re good at Photoshop, you can expand the collection with your own custom iPhone-style icons.

If you’d like to have iPhone-style icons on your PC, try the Spiffy Icon Pack.

Languages:

English

OS requirements for Spiffy Icon Pack:

OS: Win98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP/2003/Vista

http://spiffy.en.softonic.com/download

ALPass 2.8

Free for home users, ALPass is the best and easiest way to securely store logins and passwords for all your online memberships and subscriptions.

Try ALPass and see for yourself:

Automatic

Login to websites in 1 click

Unlimited Logins

Add login IDs and passwords for unlimited sites

Consolidated

Add, edit, delete and manage logins in 1 easy centralized place

Safe & Secure

Strong encryption (3DES) keeps your information safe

Intuitive

Clean and easy to use intuitive interface

Backups

Backup and restore encrypted login databases

Portable

Export encrypted databases to use on other computers

Customizable

Set browser integration preferences

Unlimited Users

Secure for unlimited users on the same computer, even with the same login

Show or Hide Passwords

Mask passwords with asterisks (*) or display them in plain text

Intelligent

Auto prompts you to add new sites with configurable settings

Auto log out

Set auto log out time limits for added security

100% Free

Free from adware, free from spyware, and free for personal and commercial use

Languages:

English

OS requirements for ALPass:

OS: Win98/Me/2000/NT/XP/2003

http://alpass.en.softonic.com/download

Xfire 1.106

XfireTM is a free tool that automatically keeps track of when and where gamers are playing PC games online and lets their friends join them easily. It works regardless of game type, server browser, or gaming service that a player is using.

Xfire eliminates the hassles of running multiple programs like IRC, instant messengers, or in-game friends lists to keep track of when and where a gamer’s friends are playing. It supports the best and the latest online PC games including server and non server-based first person shooters, real-time strategy, and role playing games.

Languages:

English, Spanish

Recent changes in Xfire:

Many bug fixes and improvements to the Xfire In-Game web browser (Scroll Lock + W).

Added warning message on personal file transfers.

Restore send-message sound in the classic sound pack.

Improve sound recording options in Vista.

Fixed several problems with flashback video recording.

New games supported

OS requirements for Xfire:

OS: Win98/98SE/Me/2000/XP

http://xfire.en.softonic.com/download

Everest Ultimate Edition 5.01

Everest Ultimate Edition is an industry leading system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for enthusiasts PC users, based on the award-winning Everest technology.

During system optimizations and tweaking it provides essential system and overclock information, advanced hardware monitoring and diagnostics capabilities to check the effects of the applied settings.

CPU, FPU and memory benchmarks are available to measure the actual system performance and compare it to previous states or other systems. Furthermore, complete software, operating system and security information makes Everest Ultimate Edition a comprehensive system diagnostics tool that offers a total of 100 pages of information about your PC.

Languages:

English

Notes:
Everest Ultimate Edition has replaced Home Edition

Recent changes in Everest:

Preliminary support for Intel Core i7

Support for the latest chipset and graphics technologies

Enhanced hardware monitoring capabilities

Enhanced support for the latest netbooks

Support for the state-of-the-art energy-saving technologies

Limitations:

30 day Trial Period

OS requirements for Everest:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP

Minimum requirements:

Free registration: Publisher’s website

http://everest.en.softonic.com/download

SureThing CD/DVD Labeler Deluxe 5.1.616

Whether you make music CDs, burn home videos to DVD, or simply create backup discs, SureThing CD/DVD Labeler Deluxe v4 makes it easy to create great-looking labels!

Key Features:

Fast, easy and powerful label design softwareCompatible with all major label brandsThousands of professionally designed templates & backgroundsInstant one-click Artist, Track Titles & Playtimes for audio CDsAuto-read file names from data CDsScan photos, CDs and logos directly into your label designs3D text effects, drop shadows and circular textWorks with a variety of CD sizes, jewel cases and case insertsAbility to create your own templatesImport playlists from iTunes, Windows Media Player & othersNew DVD templates

Languages:

English

Limitations:

15 day Trial Period

OS requirements for SureThing CD/DVD Labeler Deluxe:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/2000/NT

http://surething-cd-dvd-labeler-deluxe.en.softonic.com/download

NoScript Extension 1.9.1.2

NoScript provides extra protection for your Mozilla/Firefox or Flock browser: this extension allows JavaScript and Java execution only for trusted domains of your choice (e.g. your home-banking web site).

This whitelist based pre-emptive script blocking approach prevents exploitation of security vulnerabilities (known and even not known yet!) with no loss of functionality.

You can enable JavaScript/Java execution for sites you trust with a simple left-click on the NoScript status bar icon (look at the picture), or using the contextual menu, for easier operation in popup statusbar-less windows.

Languages:

English

Recent changes in NoScript Extension:

HTTPS forced on background requests (images, stylesheets, scripts, embeddings, AJAX…) as well (thanks mattmccutchen’s RFE)

Fennec 1.0b1 compatibility

OS requirements for NoScript Extension:

OS: Win2000/XP

Minimum requirements:

Firefox 1.0

http://noscript-extension.en.softonic.com/download

Everest Corporate Edition 5.01

EVEREST Ultimate Edition is an industry leading system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for enthusiasts PC users, based on the award-winning EVEREST Technology. During system optimizations and tweaking it provides essential system and overclock information, advanced hardware monitoring and diagnostics capabilities to check the effects of the applied settings.

CPU, FPU and memory benchmarks are available to measure the actual system performance and compare it to previous states or other systems. Furthermore, complete software, operating system and security information makes EVEREST Ultimate Edition a comprehensive system diagnostics tool that offers a total of 100 pages of information about your PC.

Languages:

English, Spanish, German, French, Arabic, Argentinean, Catalan, Chinese Trad, Euskera, Finnish, Gallego, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese BR, Russian, Swedish, Turkish

Recent changes in Everest:

Improved Hardware Monitoring module with Alerting feature

Support for Intel Core i7, Intel Atom and AMD Phenom II processors

Support for OpenGL 3.1 with OpenGL version compliancy test

Support for Windows 7 and a new auto-load feature under Windows Vista

Extended audio information: OpenAL and High Definition Audio pages

New information page for installed Windows Vista Sidebar Gadgets

GPGPU devices information for ATI Stream and nVIDIA CUDA

OS requirements for Everest:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP/2003

http://lavalys-com.en.softonic.com/download

ALLPlayer 3.7.6.5

ALLPlayer at first seems like any other free media player - it can play multiple formats, supports subtitles, is lightweight etc etc.

However, the interesting thing about ALLPlayer is that it features something called “IQ Text” which analyzes the length of subtitles, keeping them displayed on the screen for long enough so that you can read everything. It can also “speak” subtitles which is a great feature for kids learning another language although apart from that, I can’t see much use for it. The voices predictably however are very robotic and stilted. In addition, AllPlayer has an interesting “Desktop mode” which allows you to play the video as if it were part of your wallpaper.

To cap it all, it can also retrieve subtitles automatically from Opensubtitles.org although this is the poorest performing part of AllPlayer. The subtitles it retrieves are often either wrong, don’t work or it doesn’t retrieve them at all. Apart from that, AllPlayer is pretty much like any other free media player although it’s elegant and easy to use to boot and like all good players, you can also change the skins.

Compact and great for subtitling, AllPlayer definitely brings something new to the player market and if you rely on subtitles, you should definitely give it a try.

Languages:

English

OS requirements for ALLPlayer:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP

http://allplayer.en.softonic.com/download

Format Factory 1.80 With Softonic Toolbar

Not a day goes by ? at least for me ? without having to convert media files to one format or another. If you too are in this situation, you need something like FormatFactory.

This full featured format converter enables you to convert all sorts of multimedia files (audio, video and images) between the most popular formats, including WMV, AVI, MPG, MP3, WMA, AAC, JPG, PNG, GIF and more. What’s more, FormatFactory supports all the media formats used by portable devices like the PSP or the iPhone.

The program is really easy to use ? that is, once you get used to its somewhat weirdly designed- interface. Don’t look for any File button or menu, because there isn’t any. The option to add files to the program’s interface doesn’t appear until you select the target format. You can select individual files or complete folders, and also tweak some basic conversion settings if you want.

Despite its slightly confusing interface, I found FormatFactory to be a really handy, efficient application, and also one of the few I know that converts everything: photos, music and video.

With FormatFactory you’ll be able to convert pretty much any media file to other formats, including those used by most portable devices.

Languages:

English, Chinese Simp, Chinese Trad, Russian
Format Factory supports the following formats:
Audio: MP3, OGG, WMA, M4A and WAV.

Image: JPG, BMP, PNG, TIF and ICO

Video: MP4, AVI, 3GP, MPG and FLV

Recent changes in Format Factory:

Added “All to MKV”

Added H264,DIVX,XVID codec advanced configuration

Added supporting of H264,DIVX,XVID 2 pass encoding

Added Video,Audio file’s split and preview function

Generate THM files automatically after PSP MP4 converted

Fixed WMA encoding problem

Added several language files to support up to 45 kinds of languages

Fixed some problems of video merging

Improved DVD Ripper function

Added aspect ratio of the video file configuration settings

OS requirements for Format Factory:

OS: WinNT/XP/2003/Vista

http://format-factory.en.softonic.com/download

SmartWhois 5.0

SmartWhois is a useful network information utility that allows you to look up all the available information about an IP address, hostname or domain, including country, state or province, city, name of the network provider, administrator and technical support contact information. It helps you find answers to these important questions:

Who is the owner of the domain?When was the domain registered and what is the owner’s contact information?Who is the owner of the IP address block?

With SmartWhois you can focus on your work. The program will unmistakably choose the right database from over 60 whois databases all over the world and fetch the most complete results within a few seconds.

Languages:

English

OS requirements for SmartWhois:

OS: Win2000/NT/XP/Vista

http://smartwhois.en.softonic.com/download

Portable GIMP 2.6.6

You probably know GIMP already, but now if you have a USB memory device you can take it anywhere with you thanks to Portable GIMP.

The Portable GIMP is a special version of the well-known open source image editing software that has been specifically developed for portable memory devices. The whole installation program and its plug-ins have been packaged to fit your USB stick, so that you can work on your images no matter in which computer you are.

Portable GIMP includes all the graphic editing tools any serious designer or photo editor could ask for. It’s true that it takes a while to master the program’s interface ? especially for those who are not used to multiple-window working environments ? but once you get the hang of it Portable GIMP enables you to do pretty much anything you want with your images.

With Portable GIMP you’ll have the original GIMP’s resources and tools always at hand.

Languages:

English, Spanish, German

Recent changes in Portable GIMP:

Toolbox Menubar Removed

Toolbox and Docks are Utility windows

Ability to Pan Beyond Image Border

Renamed Dialogs menu to Windows.

Keep a list of recently closed Docks and allow reopening them.

Make opening images in already running GIMP instances work better on Windows.

You can now enter the image zoom ratio directly in the status bar.

Added support for using online help instead of a locally installed GIMP Help package.

Make it possible to lock tabs in docks to prevent accidental moving.

Improved Free Select Tool

Brush dynamics

Tentative integration of GEGL, the graph based image processing library that will eventually bring high bit-depth and non-destructive editing to GIMP.

OS requirements for Portable GIMP:

OS: Win98/98SE/Me/2000/XP/Vista

http://portable-gimp.en.softonic.com/download

Google Chrome 2.0.170.0

After having successfully launched their own webmail service, RSS reader, online suite and many other apps, having a Google web browser was only a question of time.

Google Chrome has joined the so called web browser battle with a neatly designed web browser which, in spite of being still at a development stage, already shows a lot of potential.

The first thing that caught my attention when launching Google Chrome for the first time was its minimalist design. Besides a couple of bars and a couple of buttons, there’s nothing else on the interface to steal screen space from the websites you visit ? not even a status bar, as it automatically shows and hides whenever it’s necessary.

Another feature I loved is the fact that Google Chrome uses the same keyboard shortcuts and mousewheel combinations as Firefox. With a zero learning curve, you immediately feel at your element and there’s no need to start testing new shortcuts or reading the documentation. Other similarities to Firefox in Google Chrome include a complete download manager (which reminded me a lot of the Download Statusbar extension) and a handy password manager.

If you don’t want Google Chrome to track down your browsing movements, try the incognito window. This special window won’t save anything about your session (no browsing history, no cookies, etc.), so no breadcrumbs will be left after you close it.

But if there’s a feature that makes Google Chrome really stand out, that’s having separate processes for each one of the tabs you open. That means that you can check the amount of system resources used up by each tab, and close any of them in case of trouble without having to shut down the whole browser.

That said, I don’t think Google Chrome is perfect yet. Like I said before, it’s still in development so there’s still plenty of room for it to grow and improve. I must say I had some stability issues when trying to install the Flash plug-in, and that I was totally unable to make the Java Virtual Machine work ? which eventually prevented me from using certain web services. Despite these flaws, I really liked Google Chrome and I think it may become a serious option when choosing your web browser. Only time will tell.

Google Chrome, Google’s web browser, mixes a clean, minimalist interface with a variety of powerful tools that can easily turn it into a great web browser.

Languages:

English

Recent changes in Google Chrome:

The best thing about this new beta is speed ? it’s 25% faster on our V8 benchmark and 35% faster on the Sunspider benchmark than the current stable channel version and almost twice as fast when compared to our original beta version. Other new features include form autofill, full page zoom and autoscroll (both thanks to a new version of WebKit), and a cool new way to drag tabs out to get a side-by-side view.

OS requirements for Google Chrome:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP/2003/Vista

http://google-chrome.en.softonic.com/download

ffdshow rev2844 MMX

FFDshow is a collection of video and audio codecs, allowing you to run almost all types of video and audio files, from DivX and XviD to MPEG 2 files.

As well as the various codecs, there are also playback filters to alter the quality of your files. If you are lookking for a collection of these codecs, FFDShow is a great place to look.

For the regular PC user, it’s very unlikely you’ll need to use such an application, as video and audio files are becoming more standardized. However, FFDShow is a pretty deep program, and if you’re comfortable changing the playback settings for your media player, this gives you a lot of power.

What it doesn’t do is explain how it should be used - there is no help at all, and apparently no undo button, which makes changing settings if you’re not comfortable quite nerve wracking.

As many media players are now very flexible when it comes to accepting different file types, these codec packs are becoming somewhat obsolete. However, if you are a fan of Media Player classic, and confident messing around with your system’s settings, FFDShow will be perfect for you.

Languages:

English

Recent changes in ffdshow:

Codec updates

OS requirements for ffdshow:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP/Vista

http://ffdshow.en.softonic.com/download

Messenger Plus! Live 4.81.358

Being one of the most widely used IM applications, MSN Messenger has always had a large base of users keen on developing plugins with which they could personalize their favorite chat client. Amateur programmers released plugins to discover who had erased you from their contact list, to start more than one MSN session, to log conversations… until MSN Plus! was launched.

MSN Plus! soon became the most popular MSN plug-in, collecting together all the extra options users could ask for into one program. Even now Plus! is still an excellent pack of tools which heavy Messenger users consider as essential and which certainly improves your IM experience. During all these years it has been able to adapt to every new Messenger version, including the name change and the new interface design. In fact, Plus! is now seamlessly integrated into Live Messenger: it launches with the program and the only way you can tell it’s there it by two tiny buttons on the main interface.

When Plus was launched, its main feature was the ability to record “chat logs”, that is, create text files with all your conversations. However, as this has been already included in the IM app itself, Plus! has had to widen its range of extra functions. These tools can be divided into two groups: those dedicated to chatting improvement and those devoted to contact management. As for the first group, you’ll enjoy tabbed chat windows, support for custom text format (bold, italics, font, color) and the so-called quick messages, personal keyboard shortcuts you can assign to sentences or expressions used on a regular basis. The second group of tools allows you to create custom status messages, have your favourite contacts right on the Windows desktop (as an icon) and gather all kinds of stats about contacts, like the last time they logged on or whether they have recently changed their nickname, which I personally find kind of excessive, but hey, to each his own.

Besides all this, Live Messenger Plus still offers its popular chat log tool, which is said to be more powerful and flexible than the default function featured in Windows Messenger Live. Actually, it looks much better thanks to the use of HTML, the ability to record emoticons and winks and the possibility to customize its appearance with CSS formatting.

The list of improvements Plus brings to Windows Live Messenger doesn’t end here. You can, for example, hide the application in the system tray under an almost invisible icon (in case you’re chatting at work, something we completely disapprove of) or password protect access to the program, amongst others. The good thing though is that you can create your own extra functions, that is, if you know how to code scripts. Plus already features a nice bunch of them, allowing you to display the name of the song you’re listening to, send screenshots, use sticky notes and other nice extras.

All in all, Live Messenger Plus is probably the only plug-in you’ll ever need, especially if you like customizing every single detail of your Messenger.

Languages:

English, Spanish, German, French, Catalan, Chinese Simp, Chinese Trad, Italian, Portuguese BR, Turkish

OS requirements for Messenger Plus!:

OS: WinXP/2003/Vista

Minimum requirements:

Windows Live Messenger

http://messenger-plus.en.softonic.com/download

Picasa 3.1 (71.18)

When it comes to photo viewers there are many alternatives to choose from. I’ve always had something of a crush on Picasa and this new version has made it my absolute favorite.

The brand new Picasa 3.0 is just out beta stage and you can already get a full glimpse of all the eyecandy it brings to your desktop. The interface remains pretty similar to the previous one, but has been enriched with new options to manage and edit your photos, as well as some new ways to show them off.

Among other features, Picasa now includes a folder manager to handle your folders right on the hard drive, a screen capturing tool, an improved and extended photo editing menu (with new filters and effects) and new exciting options for your creativity, such as creating a movie with your photos.

Picasa now lets you manage your pictures in more comfortable way, both online ? by automatically syncing your photo library with Picasa web albums ? and offline, with an awesome photo viewer you can use instead of the default Windows image viewer.

The all-new Picasa has successfully completed what it seemed a difficult task: improving a software app that was already very good.

Languages:

English

Recent changes in Picasa:

Now available in all the 38 languages currently supported by Google

OS requirements for Picasa:

OS: WinXP/Vista

http://picasa-beta.en.softonic.com/download

Softros LAN Messenger 4.4.0.1

Softros LAN messenger is a secure network messaging software application for corporate LANs (local area networks). It does not require a server and is very easy to install and use. Softros LAN Messenger comes with a variety of handy features such as message notification alarms, personal or group messaging, file transfer and an intuitive interface. Softros LAN Messenger offers strong encryption options for all incoming and outgoing messages, guaranteeing no unauthorized person ever reads personal correspondence. The program is very stable when running under any Windows operating system and on a TCP/IP network of any size. Softros LAN Messenger also correctly identifies and works under Windows NT/2000/XP limited user accounts (without administrative privileges).

Languages:

English

Recent changes in Softros LAN Messenger:

Conversation window now automatically retrieves actual user’s state and shows its state message.

Print current conversation feature is added.

Short-cut for bringing Softros LAN Messenger from tray icon to desktop is added.

Conversation settings button is added.

Softros LAN messenger now properly handle dynamic IP expiration period to prevent “IPs mess” after DHCP server leases a new IP for your computer.

A lot of minor bugs are fixed.

OS requirements for Softros LAN Messenger:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP/2003/Vista

http://softros-lan-messenger.en.softonic.com/download

Greenshot 0.7.009 Beta

Greenshot provides a really convenient and effective way to capture screenshots in addition to editing them. It has four main hotkey combinations for the different ways of recording the image you wish to capture. These are: “Impr” to capture and share, “Shift + Impr” to select the region, “Alt + Print” for recording the active window and “Control + Impr” to capture the full screen.

Presumably, the program is called Greenshot because the selected area turns green once selected. In addition, you hear a camera shutter noise when an image has been taken. Once you’ve taken a shot, you can add arrows, signs, boxes, etc. It can also be preset to automatically save captures in a certain format i.e. JPEG, BMP, GIF and PNG. In addition, you can configure the program to save directly to the clipboard or send captures to the printer.

This is a nice little capture program that does it’s job well although the green effects are not really necessary.

Languages:

English, Italian

OS requirements for Greenshot:

OS: WinXP/2003/Vista

http://greenshot.en.softonic.com/download

Xobni 1.7

If you use Outlook, it probably won’t be your favourite application. The search is famously bad, and finding old emails can be a real pain. Xobni, a plug in application for Outlook, aims to make Outlook a pleasure to use.

Once installed, Xobni spends a few moments synchronizing itself with your Outlook, and once it’s finished it offers a range of nice features in a collapsible sidebar. The main draw is the Xobni search, which is fast, effective and gives you great results. If you search for a person, emails from and to them will appear as a conversation, and hovering the mouse over a result will show you the first few lines on the message. It’s a much better way to jog your memory than the basic results in an Outlook search.

Another cool feature is the ‘Email analytics’, which gives you a ranking for the contact, and a graph showing detailing your email relationship. There is also Xobni analytics, which gives you really impressive analysis of your emailing in general. If you’re interested in time management, this might be really useful tool.

Finding attachments is also easy, and if an email has contact details in it, Xobni automatically picks them out for you on a little personal profile panel. It also features Linkedin.com and Facebook integration, so you can easily find more info on the contact.

You can integrate your Yahoo Mail account with Xobni too, which is nice, although so far that’s it so you still have to configure Outlook manually for Gmail or Hotmail accounts.

Xobni is still a Beta release, but runs without problems, and is a fantastic Outlook add-on. You’ll wonder how you lived without it.

Languages:

English, German

Recent changes in Xobni:

Outlook now starts 31% faster

Xobni Profiles now load 42% faster

More performance controls: users can control when Xobni is running and how often and how much data Xobni indexes

OS requirements for Xobni:

OS: WinXP/Vista

Minimum requirements:

Processor: 2,0 GHzMemory: 1,0 GB Outlook 2003 or 2007

http://xobni.en.softonic.com/download

Recuva Portable 1.25.409

Deleting files by accident is something that happens more often than you think ? no matter how computer literate you are. This is why it’s always a good idea to have a tool like Recuva Portable, which you can take anywhere with you.

With Recuva Portable you can restore files that have been accidentally deleted from the computer, a USB drive, an MP3 player, or even a memory card from your photo camera. Recuva Portable works with all sorts of files (photos, music, documents, videos) and doesn’t require installation.

All you have to do is follow the step-by-step wizard, which launches when you run the program, and let Recuva Portable do the hard work for you. After the scan is finished (either in normal or deep mode) you’ll be presented with a list of recoverable files. Then simply select the files you want to recover and you’re ready to go. You also have the possibility to turn the wizard off and use the program with an advance interface that shows more technical data.

Obviously Recuva Portable is just a software tool and can’t perform miracles. The sooner you use the program after deleting those files, the more chances you have of recovering them. Also, try saving them to a different drive: it improves the percentage of success.

If you’ve just accidentally deleted some important files, don’t freak out: try using Recuva and you’ll probably be able to restore them.

Languages:

English, Spanish, German, French, Arabic, Chinese Trad, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese BR, Russian, Swedish, Turkish

OS requirements for Recuva Portable:

OS: Win98/98SE/2000/XP/Vista

http://recuva-portable.en.softonic.com/download

The Panorama Factory 5.3

Panoramic images may seem a complicated thing to produce, reserved only for Photoshop gurus. But they’re easier to create than it seems, especially if you count on The Panorama Factory.

The Panorama Factory helps you create beautiful, immersive panoramic images in a very easy way. The wizard-style interface guides you step by step through the whole process, though you can also choose the Classic interface and work on your own.

Whatever interface design you choose, The Panorama Factory features a wide-ranging options menu that enables you to tweak settings for color, image alignment, trimming, camera characteristics and more.

The Panorama Factory lets you choose between different stitching methods and panorama types, and also generates the necessary HTML template automatically for online display.

The good thing about The Panorama Factory is that even if you leave all options with their default values, it still produces excellent results ? which is always good for beginners ? while expert users will have the chance to fine tune-their panoramas. The only drawback to this great tool is the dozen annoying notification windows it displays the first time you use it ? and which you must disable one by one.

With The Panorama Factory you can create beautiful seamless panoramic images in just a few easy steps, no matter what your artistic skills are.

Languages:

English, Spanish, German, French, Catalan, Chinese Simp, Chinese Trad, Czech, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Turkish

Limitations:

30 day Trial Period
Inserts a watermark on the panorama

OS requirements for The Panorama Factory:

OS: Win98/98SE/Me/2000/XP

http://the-panorama-factory.en.softonic.com/download

Adobe ShockWave Player 11.5.0.595

If you want to play in online games on your browser, there’s a good chance you’ll need Shockwave, the daddy of online action plug-ins.

After a simple install and restart of your browser, you’ll be able to enjoy a large range of graphically impressive online experiences. Most of the time you won’t notice it’s there, but like flash and other plug ins it should be one of your basic downloads after installing a browser.

Compared to other more recent plug-ins like Unity, Shockwave is quite resource heavy. We tried some online Shockwave things that really slowed down our system. However, while it’s a platform developers continue to use, it’s useful to have.

While Flash and Unity have probably superseded it in many places, Adobe Shockwave Player can still give you some enjoyable Web gaming.

Languages:

English, German, French

OS requirements for Adobe ShockWave Player:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP

Minimum requirements:

Firefox
Internet connection

http://adobe-shockwave-player.en.softonic.com/download

Amor Video Joiner 2.8

Amor Video Joiner is a tool to help you join or merge AVI/DivX, XivD,MPEGI/II, RM,RMVB,VOB,DAT,WMV,ASF files in one large file in various format. You can add an unlimited number of video files to the list and easily rearrange their order if needed ,then merge the videos files to a large movie file in AVI/DivX ,MPEG I/II,WMV/ASF format. You even can use it to convert a single file. You can change the framerate, size etc as you like. The Other Software only can join the video files of the same type. But Amor Video Joiner can join several different types of video files to a large file in type of AVI, MPEG, WMV, or ASF. Also you can see and hear the preview of your files directly in Amor Video Joiner. With just a few mouse clicks, you can enjoy your movie clips without interruption.

Languages:

English

OS requirements for Amor Video Joiner:

OS: Win98/98SE/Me/2000/XP

http://amor-video-joiner.en.softonic.com/download

Skimmer 1.1.69 Beta

Skimmer is a beta program designed to be a hub for your online social networks. It supports Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Blogger. If you have accounts with any of these services you can enter your details on Skimmer and it’ll synchronize with them.

Skimmer uses Adobe Air, so you’ll need to download that to get started. The process is really simple and Skimmer will be running in no time. Set up requires choosing the accounts you would like to feed through Skimmer. The quality of integration is mixed. Twitter is great through Skimmer, whereas Blogger and Facebook feel a little half hearted.

With Blogger, you can only read the titles of your blog posts, not the post itself, which is annoying. Facebook integration allows you to read your friend’s status updates and write your own, but you can’t comment on your friends directly from Skimmer.

There is also a profile in Skimmer, which is a page you can personalize with any of your social network accounts. This feels unfinished, and it’s unclear what the purpose of a special profile for Skimmer is!

As a social network news feed, Skimmer works quite well, it’s just a shame that not all the social networks function very well in it. As this is just a beta version, we can expect further development of the unfinished parts

Languages:

English

OS requirements for Skimmer:

OS: Win2000/XP/Vista

Minimum requirements:

Adobe Air

http://skimmer.en.softonic.com/download

BurnAware 2.3.3

If you’re tired of bloated burning suites, maybe BurnAware is what you’re looking for. This simple burning application includes all the tools you need to record your own CD, DVD and even Blu-Ray discs.

The program starts up with a wizard-style interface that lets you select the appropriate recording task. You can choose between data and music discs, as well as DVD videos and ISO files. In all cases you may choose files and folders from the program itself or simply drag and drop files onto its interface. Also, notice the drop-down menu on the bottom bar, from which you can select the target size: CD, DVD, double-layered DVD and Blu-Ray.

BurnAware includes all the classical settings in a burning tool: support for multisession, a rewritable disc erasing tool and writing simulation among others, but lacks a more advanced configuration menu that enabled, for example, tweaking recorder settings to take full advantage of each disc’s space. Another good idea would be to have some sort of very basic embedded tool to create a simple cover for your newly recorded discs. I guess this is just a matter of time - and future versions.

BurnAware is a basic, yet effective burning tool for data, video and music discs that supports Blu-Ray.

Languages:

English

OS requirements for BurnAware :

OS: Win98/Me/2000/XP/Vista

http://burnaware.en.softonic.com/download

K-Lite Codec Pack Full 4.75

Sometimes when you try to play music or a movie in your computer, you may find that either the image or the sound are not being properly played. These issues are probably a question of codecs, and you can solve them all with K-Lite Codec Pack.

This comprehensive kit includes all the codecs you need to have on your system if you want to play all audio and video formats without any problems. The full package includes quite a bunch of codecs, but the good thing is that you can choose which ones to install and which ones to leave out during the installation process.

Besides codecs, the K-Lite Codec Pack also includes several utilities that can come in very handy when dealing with audio and video files. Among others, you’ll find tools to tweak and fix codecs, work with subtitles and obtain detailed information about any selected media file.

The only drawback I could point out about K-Lite Codec Pack is that it all may seem confusing for the novice user who doesn’t really know what a codec is, and therefore can’t really choose which ones to install. My advice here is to simply install all of them: it’s the only way to make sure you’ll be able to play pretty much any audio or video file on your PC.

K-Lite Codec Pack is a full featured collection of codecs that enables you to play just about any audio and video format on your PC without any problems.

Languages:

English

Recent changes in K-Lite Codec Pack:

* Updated Media Player Classic Homecinema to version 1.2.1008.0

* Updated Media Player Classic to version 6.4.9.1 rev. 99

* Updated ffdshow to revision 2819

* Added x264 encoding plugin for ffdshow

* Updated Cyberlink MPEG-2 decoder to version 8.4.0.205

* Updated MONOGRAM AAC decoder to version 0.9.6.0

* Updated x264VFW to revision 1115

* Updated MediaInfo Lite to version 0.7.12

* Updated Codec Tweak Tool to version 2.5.1

* Minor change

OS requirements for K-Lite Codec Pack:

OS: Win98/98SE/Me/2000/XP/Vista

http://k-lite-codec-pack.en.softonic.com/download

mp3Tag 2.43

Most of us who own an MP3 player or play digital music on a computer will admit that it?s possible to get a little precious over your audio collection. There?s something very satisfying about having a hoard of music with the correct track and album names for each song. Not only does it look a lot cleaner in your player, but it makes it a darn sight easier to organize your collection and manage playlists. Ensuring that all the tags in your audio files are correct can be a thankless task, but there?s plenty of software around that will make a much quicker job of it.

mp3Tag is one of the better tag editors around, allowing you to edit the metadata (the information about a track?s name, size, album name, artwork, etc.) with a good degree of autonomy. The app lets you rename files based on this tag information, replace characters or words from tags and filenames, import/export tag information, and create playlists. It carries out its dutiesdoes the job very well too. For instance, the program has a much cleaner interface than many of its rivals and is smaller to boot, making it very quick and responsive.

If you find that you have a lot of different audio formats on your machine that you want to keep in check then mp3Tag is perfect. It supports virtually every major audio file type, so you can edit tags for Ogg, Musepack, and AAC/MP4, besides just MP3s. tThe program isn’t just a tagger, as it also includes cutting and joining functions that perform pretty well.

Perhaps the biggest boon though is the inclusion of a link-up with the online FreeDB database to import tags from the appropriate album, spelling a swift end to those MP3 albums you get with track names like ?track01?, ?track02?, ?track03?, etc.) While the data returned from the FreeDB is sometimes erroneous, it?s generally pretty good (though probably not quite as quick as the import tool in Tag&Rename).

It?s fair to say that mp3Tag is one of the clear leaders in its field, and considering it?s a freeware app, it?s well worth downloading if you want to clean- up your music collection. Tag editing is very quick and once you?ve given your audio the mp3Tag treatment, you should find it so much easier to organize your tracks.

Languages:

English

Recent changes in mp3Tag:

Support for setting cover type and description, support for padding with Ogg Vorbis, support for iTunes Video/TV Tags, and many other new features, changes and bugfixes.

OS requirements for mp3Tag:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP/Vista

http://mp3tag.en.softonic.com/download

Scribus 1.3.3.12

According to the developers, Scribus is the only open source page layout application which runs natively on all 3 major desktop operating systems; Linux, MacOSX and Windows. Scribus also runs on Unix? variants like Solaris. HP-UX and the BSDs.

Both online and direct commercial support is available for Scribus. There is a very friendly and active user community which has developed around Scribus with the active participation of the developers.

Languages:

English, Spanish

OS requirements for Scribus:

OS: Win2000/XP

Minimum requirements:

Processor: 750 MHzMemory: 256 MB Ghostscript para Windows

http://scribus.en.softonic.com/download

Foxit Reader 3.0.1506

PDF (Portable Document Format) is now one of the most ubiquitous document formats on the net. The problem is that Adobe Reader is the only tool to read it and it’s both bulky and slow.

Foxit PDF Reader on the other hand is light and quick. The proof is in the pudding for starters - compare Foxit’s installation file is only of just 2.2 MB against Acrobat’s 20.8 MB and you can see why it opens documents in a snap. The key is that it doesn’t have all those annoying splash-up screens, endless credits lists and plugins.

The program’s interface been designed with ease of use in mind. You have several toolbars available, which you can show or hide at your will and which give you access to all the available utilities: zoom, text selection, image snapshot, search tool, rotation or full screen view, among others. There is a small ad in the upper right corner, but you can deactivate it by going to the View menu and deselecting the Advertisement option. One added bonus is that you can annotate PDF documents in several ways by highlighting text fragments, underlining them, strike them out or even add personal comments.

If you want a small, fast, stable and functional alternative to Adobe Reader, then look no further

Languages:

English

Recent changes in Foxit Reader:

Updated version of Foxit Reader V3.0 Build 1301, which has fixed a major bug found in Foxit Reader Build 1222.

OS requirements for Foxit Reader:

OS: Win95/98/Me/2000/NT/XP/2003

http://foxit-pdf-reader.en.softonic.com/download

PHP Designer 2008 6.2.5.1

It’s not easy to get excited about the look of a PHP environment and editor but PHP Designer puts in more effort than most to create a stylish and highly usable one.

PHP Designer is a complete PHP IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and PHP editor that caters for just about all your PHP coding needs but it also applies itself to HTML, CSS and JavaScript development. The main aim of PHP Designer is to boost your productivity and make your life easier. However, because of this, it’s aimed more at beginners than professional editors, although there’s enough there to keep the latter interested too.

Probably the main bonus of PHP Designer is the intelligent syntax highlighting which spots errors as you type, meaning less head scratching at the end of a long coding session. This applies not just to PHP but to other languages as well. Of course, PHP Designer also comes with a debugger which can test scripts for errors and suggests possible solutions although as with all debuggers, the success rate can be hit and miss according to most users.

If you’re looking for a good looking PHP editor that supports plenty of other languages too, then PHP Designer may well make your life a lot easier.

Languages:

English
PHP Designer supports the following formats:
PHP, HTML, XHTML, CSS, Java, Perl, JavaScript, VB, C# y SQL

OS requirements for PHP Designer:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP

http://php-designer.en.softonic.com/download

DivX For Windows 7.1.0

If you?re a regular PC user and haven?t heard of DivX yet, then you?ve probably had your head in the sand for the past couple of years. It?s basically a highly compressed film format that turns the size of an average DVD from something like 5GB to just 700MB.

DivX for Windows is the official release from the DivX company, and offers everything you need to watch such films. The pack includes the all-important DivX Codec plus DivX Player, DivX Web Player and the Stage6 Content Uploader Utility for those who plan to rip and upload DVDs or other videos to the net. It also includes a 15-day trial of the DivX Converter and the DivX Pro Codec. All these components are free and include no adware although during the installation, you are offered the chance to install the Google toolbar.

The player itself is sleek and easy to use. It?s got all the standard functions of a DVD player plus the option of different skins from the DivX website. If you want to create your own DivX content, the converter allows the creation of video resolutions up to and including 1920 x 1080 High Definition in either interlaced or progressive-scan. It also supports advanced DVD features such as scene selection menus, subtitles and alternate audio tracks. It includes a download manager that allows you to download several videos at once, pause and resume downloads and playback video. Those that do their downloading of DivX films from P2P apps won?t use this much but others will find it more useful. The latest release of DivX Player also includes an uploader which enables you to easily publish media to the Stage6 media community website.

There?s little to criticise in DivX for Windows except for the converter. It can be particularly useful if you are trying to burn a downloaded DivX film onto a DVD to play on a standalone DVD player. Watching DivX files on your PC is usually not a problem but some people have issues when watching them on a standalone DVD Player. The converter solves this by taking any video file and producing a perfectly clean DivX film at the end of it. However, this feature is painfully slow and takes hours to complete just one film. Bearing in mind that you also have to pay for it after the 15-day trial period has expired, you?ll soon be looking for other converters to use such as BPS Video converter or VSO ConvertX.

Overall, this is an excellent DivX player and since it?s released by the official DivX company, you?ll have no worries about dodgy codecs ruining playback on your PC.

Languages:

English, German

Notes:
During the installation you will be asked if you want to install Google toolbar

OS requirements for DivX For Windows:

OS: Win2000/XP

http://divx-for-windows.en.softonic.com/download

Total Uninstall 5.3.0

There’s simply nothing more annoying than programs that refuse to uninstall when you ask them to.

Some unscrupulous developers make sure that their programs are as hard to remove as possible while other things like malware get totally rooted in your system and Windows uninstaller can do little to help. That’s why you may find it useful to use Total Uninstall before you install new software as it creates a snapshot of your system prior to installing a new application. It then takes an additional snapshot after the installation has completed and performs an automatic comparison of the two. The program displays any changes that have been made in a tree view, highlighting all registry values and/or files that have been added, changed or deleted. The program then saves these changes and if you decide to uninstall the application, it can reverse the changes to the previous state. This is similar to the Windows rollback utility although that takes up a lot of space on your hard drive and only makes rollback points at certain intervals. This program does it when you want although it does take rather a long time to scan and analyze the state of your machine at any one time.

Total Uninstall is a great solution for anyone that’s worried about installing new software and the potential effect it may have on their system.

Languages:

English, Spanish, German, French, Czech, Dutch, Gallego, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese BR, Russian

Recent changes in Total Uninstall:

List, analyze and uninstall corrupted MSI installations.

Multiselect in all lists from Options dialog.

Button added in status bar to show/hide system components.

Polish translation and help file.

Error message during analysis on a XP 64 bit system or rarely on a clean Windows install.

Non default scanning profile was not used after restart to continue the monitoring process

Unnecessary horizontal scroll in program lists on refresh.

Other improvements

OS requirements for Total Uninstall:

OS: Win2000/XP/2003/Vista

http://total-uninstall.en.softonic.com/download

FinalBurner 2.10.0.153

Good solid free CD and DVD burning software is often hard to find. Just when you’ve got a problem with your default software or need something in a hurry, you’ll find that most only burn a few minutes for free or you’ll have to upgrade.

FinalBurner Free is the free version of the developer’s range of burning software. FinalBurner Free allows you to create data, audio, DVD disks and burn them onto CD R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD DL. However, it does not burn to BluRay or HD-DVD for which you’ll have to upgrade to the pro version.

Alternatively, FinalBurner Free can also create an ISO image of a disk if you want to copy a DVD in it’s entirety. There are very few advanced features or complications with FinalBurner which makes it easy for beginners although if you need to customise the burning speed and burning method of FinalBurner Free according to the capabilities of your burner, you may find it limited. However, that is not to say that there aren’t any options to customise a little in FinalBurner Free as there are. Of particular note, is a new option that makes the burning of CD abd DVD labels much easier via a setup wizard within FinalBurner Free if your printer supports it.

It’s not a solution for new generation BluRay burning but for standard DVD and CD burning, FinalBurner Free does a basic but efficient job.

Languages:

English

OS requirements for FinalBurner:

OS: Win2000/XP/2003

http://finalburner.en.softonic.com/download

Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Free Anti-Virus 9.0.0.386

Free anti-virus software can be a mixed bag - sometimes they can do more harm than good while at others, they can save you hundreds of dollars with solid real-time protection.

Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic is the free version of Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium. This doesn’t mean that it’s any less powerful bit it does mean that many advanced features are unavailable. The program can scan up to 30 different file types and seems to have been designed with a particular focus on Trojans according to the developer blurb. Protection is served in real time and as with all virus scanners, you are immediately given the choice whether to ignore, quarantine or delete the infected file. What’s nice about this scanner is that for those viruses that it can’t identify or clean, it compiles a report which can then be automatically submitted to Avira’s lively user forum where someone, somewhere, should be able to help. The scanner sits in your system tray bit can be expanded to show the current settings and the status of any scans in progress. Scanning is quick and it doesn’t slow your machine down significantly. Unfortunately however, it provides no option for scanning incoming and outgoing mail or adware/spyware but if you’re just looking for a trojan blocker/remover, it’s a very solid product.

A powerful and well organised anti virus scanner that helps you get to the bottom of virus issues rather than hinders your progress.

Languages:

English

Recent changes in Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition:

Interface facelift

Parental control

Improved user guidance with configuration assistant

One-click removal after scanning.

OS requirements for Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition:

OS: Win2000/XP/Vista

http://antivir.en.softonic.com/download

TrustPort PC Security 2009 2.0.0.1268

An antivirus program is not always enough to keep your system safe. You can be better protected with a firewall, data encryption and safe deletion.

TrustPort PC Security is a complete security suite that includes antivirus, firewall, data shredder, encryption and digital signatures manager. All modules are accessible from one convenient, Apple mac-style panel.

TrustPort PC Security is a fairly complex set of applications. The antivirus is efficient, although it can take some time scanning drives. The firewall has lots of configuration options, but there is little explanation of what does what, so is pretty unhelpful for the novice user. The data shredder, conversely, is really easy to use, but lacks some options. For example, you cannot just choose to shred certain files or folders, but choose from a predetermined list.

Overall, TrustPort PC Security is a mixed bag. While effective, it is quite a power hungry application, and will likely slow your system when active. That said, having all these security features in one place is really useful, and the interface is very attractive and user friendly.

TrustPort PC Security is an easy to use package of security software, that will let the security conscious sleep soundly in the knowledge thair system is safe.

Languages:

English, Spanish, German, Czech, Italian

Limitations:

30 day Trial Period

OS requirements for TrustPort PC Security :

OS: Win2000/XP/2003/Vista

Minimum requirements:

Processor: 1,0 GHzMemory: 512 MBFree space: 310 MB

http://trustport-pc-security.en.softonic.com/download

Twittastic 1.0.0.0 Beta

The web interface is not always the best way to update your Twitter. You need to open a new browser tab, load up the Twitter website, log in with your credentials and then write your tweet. Way too many steps for such a short message.

With Twittastic you can avoid all these extra clicks and dramatically improve your Twitter experience. This Twitter client enables you to update your personal profile ? and also follow what you’re friends are up to ? all from the comfort of your desktop.

Twittastic features a clear, minimalist design and includes a few extra tools I found particularly interesting. You can, for example, take a screenshot and share it on Twitter straight away ? the program takes care of uploading the file to Twitpic and pasting the correspondent link on the text field. The same process can be applied to photos, webcam snapshots and any other file on your computer.

Another fun feature is the ability to flip your text so that it’s totally upside down. Not very useful, I know, but totally confusing for your followers. Twittastic also includes a special menu to insert small graphics in your tweets, though unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work properly. Another drawback to Twittastic is that it only supports one account.

Twittastic is a comfortable desktop Twitter client that enables you to send tweets and follow your friends’ updates, and also features other interesting extra tools.

Languages:

English

OS requirements for Twittastic:

OS: Win98/98SE/Me/2000/XP

http://twittastic.en.softonic.com/download

3D Formula 1 Screensaver

If you’re excited about all things Formula 1, why let your monitor idle time away on boring Windows screensavers? 3D Formula 1 Screensaver puts the king of motorsport on your desktop.

To run 3D Formula 1 Screensaver, you have to install Astro Gemini’s screensaver manager, which is included in the download. This isn’t a bit problem, but it’d be nice to run it from the Windows screensaver interface. You can configure 3D Formula 1 Screensaver, in terms of what actions turn it off and whether it plays effects and music.

The graphics are pretty good - not up to current generation games, but slick enough with nice camera angles and variation. Unless you enjoy the sound of noisy mosquitoes the sound effects will quickly become annoying background noise. The techno-like music is pretty forgettable. Luckily, both can be turned off. The demo version will display a nag screen after a couple of minutes, asking you to upgrade to the full version, but otherwise there are no interruptions.

For Formula 1 fans, this screensaver is great, even if it’s missing official 2009 details.

Languages:

English

OS requirements for 3D Formula 1 Screensaver:

OS: Win2000/XP/Vista

http://3d-formula-1-screensaver.en.softonic.com/download

Miro 2.0.4

The media industry has changed significantly in the last couple of years. Big corporations are now starting to consider the possibility that their traditional business models could well be about to crumble around them. Newspapers are facing the blogging threat, podcasting is the cool alternative to radio, and big TV stations must be starting to sweat a little following the increasing popularity of free online video services such as YouTube, Joost and Miro.

Miro is defined by its developers as “the open-source Internet TV platform”. In fact, it aims to bring together a community of broadcasters to create, what it calls, an ‘Internet video ecosystem’. But besides all these elaborate definitions, Miro is simply a great application to watch online videos.

You could now be wondering what’s the point of using Miro if you can get those same videos from other places? Well, Miro makes the process faster and much easier. The program uses open protocols to let you subscribe to video channels and video blogs that are fed in via RSS, and uses BitTorrent to download the files. You can also watch videos from Youtube and Dailymotion, or use it to subscribe to a Youtube channel you like, for example. The program supports video playlists and can resume playback just where you stopped. You can even watch those videos on a separate window while you keep on browsing Miro’s Guide

This guide is actually a welcome one, as it helps you get started with the program and also lets you search and browse the various channels effortlessly. Not only can you browse through the existing channel list, but you can easily add new channels to the sidebar simply by clicking a button to subscribe. There are more than two thousand channels available, and all of them are free. Beware, however, that the video quality may vary from one channel or video source to another, and that there may be video services that are not available in your country.

Miro is a perfect example of how video content from different sources can be integrated into one single application and served directly to your PC in a fast, easy and elegant way.

Languages:

English

Recent changes in Miro:

A beautiful, all-new widget based interface

Browse while you watch� pop out any video to an external window

Miro is now faster, more responsive, and uses less memory

You can add streaming sites like Hulu to your sidebar (note: streaming with Flash only works in Windows and OSX)

You can add download sites like Archive.org or legaltorrents.com to your sidebar and download to Miro with a single click

Improved playlists

New compact, sortable list view

Better audio support

OS requirements for Miro:

OS: Windows XP

http://miro.en.softonic.com/download

Androsa FileProtector 1.4.3

Androsa FileProtector is a professional and freeware software that protects any type of file encrypting completely the content with the most advanced systems of cryptography.

Androsa FileProtector allows to put to the sure sensitive file or personal file that do not have to be used/viewed from people not authorized that they have logging to the pc and/or to the files.

With Androsa FileProtector is possible, for instance, protect a file video that could be viewed by people not authorized that they use the computer, in fact once protected with Androsa FileProtector, only who will own the password used for protecting the file video can view it!

This is what Androsa FileProtector has to offer:

Possibility to protect any type of fileCompression of files before protection, thus reducing file sizeIntegration with Windows context menuSimple and functional user interfaceAdvanced cryptography algorithms: AES 128/192/256 bits, TripleDES 192 bits, DES 64 bitsCryptography with password up to 256 bit (32 characters)Statistics of protection in real time.Support for Drag & DropManagement through system trayAutomatic update systemProtection against weak passwordsAbility to pause/resume protectionComplete Help system

Languages:

English, Chinese Trad

OS requirements for Androsa FileProtector:

OS: Win2000/XP/2003/Vista

Minimum requirements:

.NET Framework 2.0

http://androsa-fileprotector.en.softonic.com/download

Spotify 0.3.12

When I first heard about Spotify I though it was just another competitor to Last.fm, but soon discovered it offers a totally new way to enjoy your favorite artists and discover new bands online.

While comparisons to Last.fm are inevitable, Spotify has its own characteristics that make it a different beast entirely. To begin with, Spotify doesn’t have that many social network features. You won’t find friends lists, or an events calendar, or buttons to mark songs as “banned” or “loved”. That means that you don’t have a “user profile” with lists of songs you’ve recently played or tagged. Also, Spotify’s radio works in a different way: instead of searching for a specific artist or tag, you select a decade (between the 50s and today) and a music style, and the program plays the correspondent music.

There are several functions in Spotify that I’ve found especially useful. First of all, you can search for your favorite artist in the program’s built-in search tool and load all their available tracks on a play queue. This queue lets you check what you’re currently listening to and what’s coming next, and also works when you listen to the program’s radio.

Second, Spotify lets you build personal playlists, with no limitations. These playlists can be made of the individual songs you listen to on Spotify’s radio, or from the songs you have on your play queue. What’s more, you can make “collaborative playlists”, that is, share a playlist with a friend so that both of you can listen to it and add new tracks. The sharing though must be done via email or IM.

Finally, Spotify’s features a real built-in player: unlike the play/skip buttons in Last.fm, here you can go back to the previous track, jump to the next one and of course, pause a song whenever you want. The only thing missing in Spotify to be perfect, in my opinion, is the ability to control it from another app with global hotkeys.

Generally speaking, I think Spotify offers a better, easier and more optimized way to enjoy your favorite music online than other services like the aforementioned Last.fm. This program is the true online alternative to having to take your massive collection of music everywhere with you. Spotify lets you listen to the music you want to, not the music you’re supposed to like because it’s similar to the artist you’ve selected. First released as a beta version with limited access, Spotify is a truly promising music app with which I’m sure thousands of people will fall in love at first sight.

Spotify lets you browse, play and share streaming music for free, including not only your lifelong favorite bands but also new styles and artist.

Languages:

English, German

Recent changes in Spotify:

Support for volume normalization

Now you can hide unplayable tracks

About the license:

You have to create a user account on the Spotify website in order to use this program.

OS requirements for Spotify:

OS: Win98/98SE/Me/2000/XP

Minimum requirements:

User account on the program’s websiteFree registration: Publisher’s website

http://spotify.en.softonic.com/download

Winamp 5.551 Full

Winamp was born as a very basic media player and has slowly but consistently improving for many years. Its main purpose was to be completely customizable and through the years, many people have contributed to a library that now consists of 20,000 skins and 461 plug-ins.

When version 5 was released, Nullsoft redeemed themselves in the public’s eyes after producing a much improved player to replace Winamp 3. They didn’t need much encouragement as they justified skipping version number 4 by saying that it was such a huge improvement that it deserved to be called 5!

Luckily they are justified in their opinion, as Winamp offers everything you might want in a media player. Using the skins, you can set it to look like the original or the current default which looks great and puts you in control of all your media quickly and easily. I particularly like the minimized player that consists of a small bar that you can place on the edge of your screen. Of course, if neither of these agree with your taste you can download and try any of the thousands others available on the Winamp website.

The player supports a wide range of file formats, and because the program is small and simple, it works quickly on almost all computers. Have a look through the available plug-ins and you will also find that you can hook up your iPod and manage its music library.

Languages:

English

Recent changes in Winamp:

Redesigned Now Playing Artist experience

Discover Artist Songs, Videos, Radio and Photos

New AOL Radio powered by CBS Radio

Expanded Flash video support

Dynamic song recommendations

Sync with your iPod

Language packs now available in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese

OS requirements for Winamp:

OS: Win98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP/Vista

http://winamp.en.softonic.com/download

VSO Image Resizer 2.1.8.2

If you’ve ever needed to resize an image quickly, then you need a tool that makes it as easy and as straight forward as possible.

VSO Image resizer organizes your photos by shrinking their resolution or reducing them on your hard drive. It’s a one stop easy to use solution for all those that need to resize, compress, convert, create copies, import or organize photos. The main benefit of this is that the photos take up less storage space and are much easier to e-mail. You can also use them in third party applications much easier too such as design applications and other image editors. In addition, it’s a good idea for webmasters to use this because reducing the resolution alone can mean that your webpages load much more quickly. You can change their format and also edit large numbers of image files at once as it supports batch editing. While the program doesn’t have a particularly great interface, it is integrated very well into Windows shell so it’s easy to access simply by right clicking.

If you’re looking for a super quick and easy images resizing solution, then VSO will more than cater for your needs.

Languages:

English, Spanish, German, French, Arabic, Argentinean, Italian, Korean
VSO Image Resizer supports the following formats:
BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG

Recent changes in VSO Image Resizer:

use now vsoscaler.dll

implement new option OpenMP ( lib to optimize multi-core cpu usage )

loads TIFF using ImageEn and supports embedded ICC profiles (customer request).

fix a potential issue with ipp super filter if the target dimension is not exactly below the source dimension

OS requirements for VSO Image Resizer:

OS: Win2000/XP/Vista

http://vso-image-resizer.en.softonic.com/download

Subsonic 3.6

If you’ve never had a media streaming server before, Subsonic is probably an excellent choice to take your first steps.

This application includes just about anything you need to turn your home computer into a fully-featured media streaming server. You may still need to install some missing codecs but in general terms, starting Subsonic is just a question of launching the Windows service and opening your web browser.

As an admin user, you’ll be able to configure every single detail about your server, such as folders to be included in the media menu, user accounts and security settings, to name a few. As a common user, you have also plenty of features available, from downloading music files to rating songs - all depending on the permissions given by the admin. The whole procedure is done via web, while the streamed media can be played with an array of media players including Winamp, Windows Media Player and iTunes. You can even make Last.fm register what you’re listening to in Subsonic.

On the downside, and despite the simplicity of the program, I still had some problems to perform certain tasks especially in playlist management. Even worse, I couldn’t find any help about it.

With a tool like Subsonic - and some spare time to configure it properly - you’ll be able to turn your standard home PC into a professional media streaming server.

Languages:

English, Spanish, Chinese Simp, Gallego, Italian, Swedish

OS requirements for Subsonic:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP/2003/Vista

Minimum requirements:

Java 5.0

http://subsonic.en.softonic.com/download