Download UltraDefrag 5.0.6 Free

Download UltraDefrag 5.0.6 Free

UltraDefrag is powerful disk defragmentation tool for Windows NT that's extremely fast and, uniquely, works during boot time.

UltraDefrag doesn't really look much different to any other defrag tool but the developer has obviously tried to keep it to a bare minimum to make it lightweight and fast. UltraDefrag is open source, so it's completely free. It can be run in two modes - console mode and advanced mode.

In advanced mode, you can instruct UltraDefrag to ignore certain files that you don't want defragging or reorganizing. The litmus test though is whether it really makes a difference to the speed of your system afterwards and it doesn't make a huge boost in operating speed but it definitely feels slicker for a while.

Fast, free and easy to use, UltraDefrag is definitely worth a try if you're not happy with Windows defrag tool.

Recent changes

• GUI debugging output was forced to be saved in the log file
  
• added "Debug" item to the help menu
  
• added "View change log", "View translation report" and
  
• "Submit current translation" items to language menu
  
• result of the previous operation stays visible for the boot time interface

Review last updated: 22/06/12

Pros

• Console and advanced modes
• Easy to use

Cons

• Doesn't make a big difference to operating speed

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Download Free Matrix Reality Screensaver 1.0 Free

Download Free Matrix Reality Screensaver 1.0 Free

Free Matrix Reality Screensaver is a slick animated screensaver for PC inspired by the movie The Matrix.

The screensaver images alternate between a world of lines of code and corridors. You can customize it by "modifying" the details of the screensaver in the options screen. You can also activate or deactivate the soundtrack of the screensaver, display the time on the screen, etc. Note that you will see ads from time to time as it is an ad supported screen saver.

Free Matrix Reality Screensaver is an authentic screensaver for fans of The Matrix film.

Review last updated: 27/06/12

Pros

• Authentic Matrix look
• Customisation options

Cons

• Bit dated

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Download Civilization V: Gods & Kings Free

Download Civilization V: Gods & Kings Free

If you're a big fan of Civilization V, then you'll love Civilization V: Gods & Kings which adds more techs, units, buildings, Wonders, and playable Civilizations to Civ V.

Civilization V: Gods & Kings features 27 new units, 13 new buildings, 9 new wonders, and 9 new playable civilizations. Included among the new civilizations are the Netherlands (William I, Prince of Orange), the Celts (Boudicca), and the Mayans (Pacal the Great).

Perhaps most importantly though, Religion features in the game for the first time. This works using a new new "Faith" resource in which you're able to found your own religion and try to spread it worldwide. There's also a reworked Combat System that puts more emphasis on tactics and having a balanced army composition as well as Enhanced Diplomacy, Espionage and Foreign Affairs.

Finally, there are three new scenarios in Civilization V: Gods & Kings: the fall of Rome, the medieval era and a unique Victorian science-fiction setting.

If you're a big fan of Civilization V, then Civilization V: Gods & Kings is an essential expansion pack.

Notes

This demo requires the Steam app to play

Review last updated: 28/06/12

Pros

• 27 new units
• Introduces religion
• 3 new scenarios

Cons

• New diplomacy and espionage are disappointing

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Download B.A.R.T. Backup Automation and Recovery Tool 1.5.0 Free

Download B.A.R.T. Backup Automation and Recovery Tool 1.5.0 Free

B.A.R.T. is a file cloner that makes simple backups of your files so you can restore them later.

Data loss can be frustrating so making regular backups should be second nature. B.A.R.T. aims to help you duplicate your files easily. Just select the directory or files you want copied and select a destination drive or even a different folder on the same drive.

Unfortunately, B.A.R.T. feels like a very incomplete program. While file transfers are speedy and there's no installation needed, there are just too many missing features to recommend this program. Moving files around is a manual affair with B.A.R.T. You have to manually backup files and there's no scheduling for automatic backups.

Worst of all, B.A.R.T. doesn't actually clone drives, seeing it requires you to be booted into the operating system to run. CloneZilla, a competing drive cloner, is much more versatile in that you can burn it to a CD or put it on a flash drive to run and clone your drive(s).

Overall, B.A.R.T. is too simple of a program to recommend as something to use to back up. Windows includes backup software with Windows 7 which works much better than B.A.R.T.

Review last updated: 03/07/12

Pros

• No installation required
• Moves files around quickly

Cons

• No scheduling
• Cannot clone boot drive

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Download Battery Optimizer 3.0.5.13 Free

Download Battery Optimizer 3.0.5.13 Free

Battery Optimizer is designed to fix a problem that plagues most people, short laptop battery life. Most other applications just help you manage when your computer goes to sleep. Battery Optimizer goes several steps further and actually tells you how much battery life you can save by turning un-needed features of your laptop off. Giving you those extra minutes you need to save that document or get to the next level in your game.
Indication of your battery status, wear level, charge level, conusmption rate and more.
Displays the Health Status of the Battery
Express and Comprehensive Scanning Modes
Advanced, Real-Time Monitoring of Battery Charge level and Consumption rate
Easy to Apply, Custom Profiles for Battery Optimization
Battery Usage Alerts
Ideal for those looking to:
Optimize their laptop's battery life
Get the max. battery backup time possible
Use custom, power saving profiles
Monitor the status and condition of the battery

Review last updated: 10/07/12

Pros

• Easy to use, complete overview of the battery status and condition, custom profiles for optimization, real-time monitoring, FREEWARE!

Cons

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Download System Ninja 2.3.5 Free

System Ninja is a simple yet powerful cleaning app that scans your system and helps you get rid of junk files, and also performs other optimization tasks.

Though not as feature-rich as other similar programs like CCleaner, System Ninja does its job and does it well. The program scans your system for all sorts of elements, from cookies and recently opened documents to internet history and temporary files.

Using System Ninja is really simple: run the app and click the Scan Drive button. The junk scanner will sweep your computer in search of all the files that can be safely deleted to recover hard drive space and speed up your computer. When the list is full, you can check which o28 nes you want to delete. Remember, though, that System Ninja doesn?t create a backup before you delete those files.

System Ninja also features a basic startup manager and process manager, with which you can handle apps that launch at system startup and keep an eye on currently active processes, respectively.

System Ninja is a simple, effective system cleaner with which you can easily remove all the junk files that are taking up hard drive space and slowing down your system.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Includes startup manager and process manager

Cons

• Doesn't back up before deleting
• Not as full-featured as other similar tools

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Download Favekeeper 0.8.2.1 beta Free

Download Favekeeper 0.8.2.1 beta Free

Favekeeper is a small but useful tool that can help you organize your favorites cross-browser.

If you compulsively favorite sites for later reading or even just a return visit, you probably recognize how messy your favorites folder can get. This holds especially true if you use more than one browser to do your web surfing.

Favekeeper helps sync your favorites across browsers. It works on Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox. The moment you change your favorites by deleting or adding on, Favekeeper will sync to the cloud so your changes will be updated automatically on any other computer you have Favekeeper installed on.

There isn't much more to Favekeeper than that. What makes it special is simply that while most browsers include a syncing feature now for their specific browser, Favekeeper works cross-browser, on the other hand. For people who use more than one browser (which is most everyone in this day and age), built-in single browser features will only be of limited usefulness.

Favekeeper doesn't always sync automatically, although its syncing frequency is still pretty decent. If you don't see a favorite synced, give it a few moments and it should sync up without issue.

Favekeeper is a great little tool to update favorites across browsers and PCs.

Review last updated: 28/06/12

Pros

• Small, lightweight application
• Works with Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox
• Easy to use

Cons

• Doesn't always sync instantaneously

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Download Frictionless Chrome extension 1.4.0 Free

Download Frictionless Chrome extension 1.4.0 Free

Frictionless is an extension for Google Chrome that removes the app add-on prompts on Facebook so you can read news articles free and clear.

Much like popular Chrome extension Timeline Remove, Frictionless helps make your time on Facebook more productive and less of a headache.

Remember when you could just click a link to a news article hosted off Facebook and actually get to your destination page, without having to go through an app installer prompt page first? Frictionless brings back those good old days by blocking the prompt for you so you can go straight to the article's destination page, no muss, no fuss.

Unfortunately, this is an experimental extension so Frictionless might not be set up to block all of these prompts yet. If you want to have a specific one blocked that currently isn't, you can create an issue at the developer's site.
Relive the glory days with Frictionless!

Frictionless doesn't block all app installer prompts on Facebook links to news articles, but it's off to a good start.

Review last updated: 16/07/12

Pros

• Lets you read news articles directly from the source
• No more Facebook prompt to install a news app

Cons

• Doesn't work with all news sites

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Download OneNote MX (Metro App) Preview Free

Download OneNote MX (Metro App) Preview Free

OneNote MX is a note taking application developed by Microsoft that will be part of Microsoft Office 2013 and designed to be used with touch.

Microsoft is doubling down its focus on touch friendly applications. OneNote MX is their reimagining of OneNote for the desktop. There's no doubt that Windows 8 has a tablet focus so OneNote MX has been designed to work well with touch.

One of the biggest innovations that Microsoft included with OneNote MX is the radial menu. Tapping on buttons doesn't translate well to a touch interface so Microsoft incorporated this radial menu that has options that bloom from the center. Slide your finger to an option, let go and your selection is made. This makes editing and formatting text much easier using touch.

Notes created in OneNote MX will be synced with SkyDrive automatically. Users can continue editing their notes from another machine or device. Pictures can also be pulled in from social networks like Flickr and Facebook.

OneNote MX is a great note taking application for tablet users but desktop users will want to stick with the desktop version of OneNote.

Notes

This application requires Windows 8.

Review last updated: 18/07/12

Pros

• Simple, intuitive interface
• Quick performance
• Radial menu a pleasure to use

Cons

• Unstable
• Not designed for desktop users

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Download Get My Keys Back (GMKB) 2.0.0.0 Free

Download Get My Keys Back (GMKB) 2.0.0.0 Free

Get My Keys Back is a simple application that searches your PC for software keys and gives them to you in one easy to use list.

If you're installing software on a new PC, it can be a serious pain to try and find all of the different software keys for each program. Get My Keys Back will scour your PC and find software keys for you. Unfortunately, this version of Get My Keys Back only supports Microsoft Windows and Office products. This is a real shame as it severely limits its functionality.

Speaking of limitations, Get My Keys Back doesn't create any database file for future reference. You'll have to copy the keys to an Excel document and manage it yourself.

Get My Keys Back is a pretty disappointing application. While it is lightweight, it is also light on features that make a key recovery tool actually useful.

Review last updated: 18/07/12

Pros

• Lightweight app
• No installation required

Cons

• Only recovers keys for Microsoft software
• Doesn't create database of keys

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Download Ad-Aware Pro Internet Security 10.4 Free

Download Ad-Aware Pro Internet Security 10.4 Free

Most users will be familiar with Ad-Aware, the antispyware app that?s been around the block a few times. What you might not know, however, is that with version 10, developers Lavasoft have made the jump from antispyware to fully-fledged antivirus.

How does it do?

On first looks, Ad-Aware , properly known as Ad-Aware Pro Internet Security, looks good. Installation is fast, but it does insist on a scan upon start-up, which can slow things down a little. You can skip it if you like, though, and if you do, you?ll see a crisp, clean interface divided into user-friendly Basic and Advanced protection areas.

Scans

As you might expect, Ad-Aware offers lots of scan options, making things very flexible for the user. There are 3 initial scan options, Quick, Full and Custom. The Custom option is particularly nice, allowing you to completely customize the scan with easy checkbox inclusions. You can also schedule scans, a must-have option for a modern antivirus. Scans aren?t particularly quick, but can be paused.

Advanced options

There are 3 versions of Ad-Aware ? Free, Pro and Personal Security. In effect, they are the same program shell, but more options under Advanced Protection are available. These include email protection, the ability to scan external storage like hard drives, and more advanced firewall options.

Other options

The rest of Ad-Aware?s options are divided into two parts ? the ones under Protection Settings (top right hand corner) and under Options. Under Protection Settings, you?ll be able to tweak the real-time protection and browsing options, although Safe Browsing can only be enabled and disabled, and not customized. Under Ad-Aware?s Main Options, there are various settings related to basic operation, updates and an explanation of Gaming Mode (although this can be quickly toggled in the main interface and from the task bar).

Conclusion

In all, we?re impressed by Ad-Aware?s transformation to antivirus, and we?re looking forward to trying it over time and seeing what future updates bring. Right now, it?s a solid app, with impressive detection rates, a nice interface and all the basic options. It?s not exactly mind-blowing, however, and doesn?t have as many nice options as competitors such as Avast ! Pro, but it?s well on the way to becoming an antivirus to reckon with.

Pros

• Light on resources
• Extra modules to fight against viruses and rootkits
• Nice interface
• External storage protection

Cons

• Not as fancy as some competitors

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Download PhoneBrowse 1.1.0 Free

Download PhoneBrowse 1.1.0 Free

PhoneBrowse is a free tool that lets you manage files on your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch right on your PC's desktop.

Having an iOS device is pretty much a given nowadays. Whether you own an iPhone, watch movies on an iPad or jam out to music on your iPod Touch, there's no question that iOS is in popular use for today's multimedia and internet browsing.

Consequently, it's pretty easy to make a mess out of your many files in short order. Similar to iPhone Explorer, PhoneBrowse can help you organize your files on your desktop, providing a much larger screen for you to browse through everything.

PhoneBrowse lets you easily add, delete or rename any type of file you have saved on nearly whatever iOS device you own. Even better, there's no jailbreaking required, so PhoneBrowse is a great option for even novice iOS device users to take advantage of.

Just install PhoneBrowse, then plug in your iOS device. PhoneBrowse should launch automatically when it recognizes your device. It will pull up all of your device's details, plus list the storage, files and applications you've installed onto your device.

From there, PhoneBrowse works much like Windows Explorer, allowing you to drag and drop files from your device onto your computer and vice versa. PhoneBrowse takes a little getting used to, but once you've gotten the hang of it, you've got yourself a nice, easy way to manage files across platforms.

PhoneBrowse is a great, free way to manage iOS device files from your PC's desktop.

Review last updated: 20/07/12

Pros

• Nice, simple interface
• Manage iPhone, iPad or iPod files from your PC
• Works just like Windows Explorer

Cons

• A little complicated to learn how to use initially

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Download TextAloud 3.0.44 Free

Download TextAloud 3.0.44 Free

TextAloud translates written text on a computer screen into audio so you can listen to anything available to be read online.

For people whose sights are trained on a computer screen all day long, reading in-depth articles on favorite blogs or sifting through long emails is the last thing you want to do at the end of a day at the office. You may also have a medical condition that means it's easier to listen than to read.

TextAloud is a text to speech tool that will read all this text aloud for you, so you don't have to. The beauty of TextAloud is that it not only reads out anything you copy and paste into the voice window, but also allows you to save the resulting speech as an audio file. Effectively this means you can transform any web page, email or text document into a podcast to download to your MP3 player and listen to at your leisure. TextAloud keeps file sizes at a minimum, making it possible to save entire novels as a audio files of less than 1 megabytes apiece.

Unfortunately, TextAloud's default speech sounds somewhat monotonous which can get dull really quickly. TextAloud does have options to let you change the tone and speed of the speaking voice, but this doesn't really have much effect on improving the overall sound of the speech. The full version of TextAloud has quite a bit more to offer since it makes use of AT&T's Natural Voice technology. You can choose from several different accents with this feature, including UK English, Indian English and Spanish. It's almost as convincing as having someone sit next to you and reading out loud.

Although the voice in the freeware version is pretty monotonous, TextAloud is a nice option for anyone who wants text read out loud.

Pros

• Generates small audio files
• Lots of spoken and written help files
• Impressive Natural Voice technology

Cons

• Preset voice is very monotonous
• GUI is very 'Windows 95' in appearance

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Download Atomic Mail Verifier 7.31 Free

Download Atomic Mail Verifier 7.31 Free

If you run a web business and collect information about your users through online forms then you'll know how annoying the problem of faked or invalid email addresses can be.

Atomic Mail Verifier is designed to provide a fast and reliable way of checking that all addresses in a database or email repository actually lead somewhere.
This can save you a lot of hassle in when you come to send mail-outs, because it means that you don't keep getting bounced messages and you can be sure that all of your correspondence actually reaches someone the other end.

Though not the most elegant of applications I've tried, Atomic Mail Verifier is certainly highly functional. Just import the mail file to load all of the addresses into the main window.
Now, you can verify the addresses by choosing one of the three verification models from the 'Verify' tab: by syntax, domain, or email address.
The program will quickly ping the addresses to find out if they exist or not, and highlight them in red or green depending on the outcome.
There are a few connection settings you can play around with too, but I found them pretty unaccessible and you don't really get any explanations of what the all do.
Likewise, some of the other aspects of the interface are a little clunky. for instance, I was unable to find a way of deleting multiple addresses from the main window simultaneously.

Despite its rather awkward GUI, Atomic Mail Verifier does offer a pretty reliable way to validate email addresses in a database.

Recent changes

• Integration with Atomic Verifier Online
  
• Some small bugs have been fixed

Pros

• Performs checks quickly
• Offers three reliable methods of validation

Cons

• Clunky user interface

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Download My Lockbox 2.8.7 Free

Download My Lockbox 2.8.7 Free

Do you share your PC with other users? Maybe they're nosy, or you've got files you don't want to share. My Lockbox is a great little solution for the user who wants to keep some files away from prying eyes.

After installation, a destination folder is chosen to be locked, and a password must be given, along with a reminder question. It's then necessary to restart Windows. Once done, there is a My Lockbox icon, which when double clicked prompts you for the password, which in turn gives access to the destination folder.

Adding files to your locked folder is the same as with any folder, but when you 'lock' it, it will disappear. The locked folder is only visible when My Lockbox is open and unlocked.

My Lockbox is not serious security, as it does not encrypt files, but for average desktop users, it provides a solid privacy service. However, if government agents come knocking, looking for those secret extra terrestrial files you stole, you will be in trouble, and should have used an proper encryption application.

As well as basic configuration tools, there are a range of skins to choose from on My Lockbox, so My Lockbox fits nicely on your desktop. It's a breeze to set up, and as long as you don't forget your password, your documents won't get lost.

My Lockbox is ideal for users who want to obscure files from their irritating brothers or sisters etc, but won't protect you from serious hackers!

Recent changes

• Several bugs fixed

Review last updated: 26/07/12

Pros

• Easy to set up
• Keeps your sensitive files away from other users

Cons

• No encryption
• Existence might make people suspicious!

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Download IntelligentVideoConvert 1.0.8 Free

Download IntelligentVideoConvert 1.0.8 Free

IntelligentVideoConvert is a multi-format video converter that has a few unique abilities.

Downloading video from across the web can be difficult to manage as different electronic devices may or may not play back certain formats. IntelligentVideoConvert will convert your videos quickly so that they will work on whatever device you wish.

One unique feature of IntelligentVideoConvert is its ability to join multiple video or audio files with its 'Joiner Tool.' Users will also have tons of control over audio and video when converting. It would have been nice to see IntelligentVideoConvert have some presets for some popular devices since its difficult to know exactly which video formats a device will play.

IntelligentVideoConvert will even extract audio from a video if you just want an MP3 to listen to. There is also an option to extract photos from a video clip, which is basically like taking a screenshot. Last but not least, IntelligentVideoConvert has filters for videos such as negative, rotate, blur, and mirror.

Overall, IntelligentVideoConvert offers great control over audio and video conversions but could use some presets for less advanced users.

Review last updated: 27/07/12

Pros

• Quick conversions
• Powerful controls over audio and video
• Joins video

Cons

• Some interface text remains in German
• Watermarks video in demo version
• No presets

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Download Boomerang for Gmail (for Chrome) 1.0.1 Free

Download Boomerang for Gmail (for Chrome) 1.0.1 Free

Boomerang for Gmail is an extension for Google's Chrome browser.

If you're super busy in your everyday life, trying to remember to send or respond to emails on time might cause an added element of stress to your life. It's entirely unnecessary though, considering helpful extensions like Boomerang for Gmail exist.

Boomerang for Gmail lets you schedule Gmail messages to be sent or responded to at a later point in time. You can also track messages to know whether or not you've heard back from a specific recipient.

Just write a message and schedule it to be sent whenever in the future you'd like, even if you're not online. Boomerang for Gmail is easy to use and integrates quite nicely into Gmail. The only real downside is that the free version only allows you to schedule 10 messages a month. For Gmail users who just need to shoot off a few emails a few times a month, possibly in anticipation of a vacation or some other event that'll keep them away from their computer, Boomerang for Gmail is an easy to use solution.

Boomerang for Gmail is a nicely designed Chrome extension that makes time management a snap for Gmail users.

Review last updated: 31/07/12

Pros

• Schedule emails to be sent in advance
• Set up reminders
• Track email responses with ease

Cons

• Free version limits to 10 scheduled emails per month

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Download SCP-087-B Free

Download SCP-087-B Free

SCP-087-B is a small horror game, similar to the chilling SCP-087, which finds you trapped with no way to go but down into the darkness.

You begin by waking up in a strange place, just like in Slenderand indeed SCP-087. Unlike Slender, you're indoors, and have to make your way through claustrophobic corridors and stairways. There are noises, and something is definitely there, but what is it? Do you have what it takes to carry on going down through the darkness?

If you want to find out more about the horror story that SCP-087-B is based on, you can read more here.

If you enjoy horror games, SCP-087-B is a great bite-sized piece of chilling video game!

Review last updated: 01/08/12

Pros

• Atmospheric
• Genuinely scary

Cons

• Some poor textures

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Download Green Free Video Converter 1.0 Free

Download Green Free Video Converter 1.0 Free

Green Free Video Converter is a simple video converter that comes with device profiles for easy conversions.

Downloading videos from the web won't always play well with your devices or even the video players that you use. Green Free Video Converter is a free video converter that comes with a bunch of default device profiles to make conversions even simpler.

Unfortunately the device profiles that are included in Green Free Video Converter are out of date. Many devices listed aren't relevant any more. Hopefully the developers will update and include more device profiles in future releases.

Green Free Video Converter has a simple interface with some more advanced controls for power users. Novices will want to leave these alone and use the suggested settings. Conversions were quick but video quality looked a bit too compressed using default settings.

Overall, Green Free Video Converter works well as a simple video converter but power users may want to use Handbrake for more control over video and audio quality.

Review last updated: 07/08/12

Pros

• Simple audio and video controls
• Bulk conversions
• Ability to strip audio from video

Cons

• Outdated device profiles
• Live preview doesn't work most of the time

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Download Sothink SWF Decompiler 7.3 Free

Download Sothink SWF Decompiler 7.3 Free

Sothink SWF Decompiler is a program that lets you extract certain elements from videos and animations you find online.

Flash is a popular format to publish videos and animations, so it's always useful to have a program that can extract all the various elements inside it. Sothink SWF Decompiler is one of those programs: a tool capable of extracting the diverse elements that make up an SWF file. This includes images, sounds, text, and more. Sothink SWF Decompiler not only does the job quickly and efficiently, but is also very easy to use.

The program features a user-friendly interface with the popular ribbon-style toolbar. It also has support for drag and drop, making it even easier to work with, even for beginners. After opening a Flash movie, you'll be able to play it right in Sothink SWF Decompiler and see its structure on the right-side panel. Just note that you need to use an embedded player for it to work properly.

All the elements you choose to extract can then be opened up in a Flash editor for further work. Sothink SWF Decompiler also has a handy tool to capture any SWF movies or animations you see on a website. Unfortunately, it only works with Internet Explorer. In an age where it seems like most users prefer Firefox or Google's Chrome, Sothink SWF Decompiler is really behind the curve in this regard.

Sothink SWF Decompiler is an efficient, easy-to-use tool to extract all the elements inside an SWF movie.

Recent changes

• Support Windows 8

Review last updated: 03/08/12

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Extracts SWF effortlessly and quickly
• Embedded Flash player
• Includes tool to capture SWF files in web pages

Cons

• The SWF capturing tool only works with Internet Explorer

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Download MediaCoder PSP Edition 0.6.1.5267 Free

Download MediaCoder PSP Edition 0.6.1.5267 Free

MediaCoder is one of the best video encoders/decoders in the software market, and it's now offering special versions for popular devices such as the PSP.

MediaCoder PSP Edition enables you to convert your favorite movies and shows to the video formats used in Playstation Portable, so that you can take them anywhere with you. The interface, just like the iPhone version, feels a bit overwhelming at the beginning, but the program in itself is quite easy to use. There's also an embedded PSP player that allows you to preview the video exactly as it will be viewed on your device.

On the downside, I found the program to be a bit slow at some points, for example when launching it or when opening the configuration menu. Other than that, MediaCoder PSP Edition works fine, just like its older brothers.

In spite of some minor flaws, MediaCoder PSP Edition enables you to enjoy your favorite videos on the move.

Review last updated: 08/08/12

Pros

• Supports all PSP video formats
• Easy to use
• Embedded player

Cons

• A bit slow
• Overwhelming interface

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Download Panda Cloud Cleaner 1.0.24 Free

Download Panda Cloud Cleaner 1.0.24 Free

Panda Cloud Cleaner is a cloud-based malware detector for Windows PCs.

You can never be too safe when it comes to protecting your computer from malware. Panda Cloud Cleaner can help you detect threats to your PC that other programs might end up missing. It's an added precaution against malware based on Collective Intelligence, or cloud scanning.

Panda Cloud Cleaner is a simple, lightweight program that's easy to install and launch. Once installed, the app will scan your PC for any threats. If it catches anything, you have the option to clean it out. Just be careful that you verify what it's found before deleting; it's possible Panda Cloud Cleaner might have found a legitimate third party software it's unfamiliar with that you don't want to actually delete.

Unfortunately, scanning and cleaning is pretty much all Panda Cloud Cleaner does, since there are no other advanced options available.

Panda Cloud Cleaner is pretty basic, but it gets the job done in terms of detecting malware that could be a threat to your computer.

Review last updated: 16/08/12

Pros

• Simple to use
• Lightweight app
• Good, additional malware protection

Cons

• No advanced options

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Download Pearltrees (for Chrome) 6.0.3 Free

Download Pearltrees (for Chrome) 6.0.3 Free

Pearltrees is an extension for Google's Chrome browser that lets you bookmark your favorite sites in a uniquely visual way.

If you're an avid web surfer, you're probably up to your eyeballs in bookmarks. Are they a disorganized mess? If you're looking for a new way to keep things organized, Pearltrees might just do the trick for you.

After you install the Pearltrees extension, you'll have to create an account with a unique username and profile picture. Then you have the option of adding several different Pearltrees toolbar buttons to your browser. Every time you want to save a page, just click the little blue button with the white star in its center.

You can either create a new pearltree, which is essentially the beginning of a mind map, or you can add the website to an existing one. Each website you add is called a pearl, and after you add several in Pearltrees, you'll have a tree of sorts (hence the extension's name). In this way you can create entire trees of related websites for easier browsing.

Pearltrees also has a social element to it. You can share your website finds on Facebook and Twitter, as well as via email. If you're particularly proud of an entire tree you've created, you can share it in the same way, and also embed it into your blog or website. It's a really unique concept that can become quite visually appealing, depending on the sites you're bookmarking.

There are still a few bugs developers will need to work out in Pearltrees. Some pearls display the same name as their corresponding Pearltree with the word "end" immediately next to it, for some reason. It's a minor issue but something that'll likely need to be fixed in later versions of the extension.

Pearltrees is a unique and fun way to map the sites you've visited and share them with family and friends.

Review last updated: 10/08/12

Pros

• A great way to visually bookmark new web discoveries
• Share via Facebook and Twitter
• Embed your favorite pearltrees in a blog or website

Cons

• A little buggy still
• Requires you to create an account to get started

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Download ACDSee Free 1.0.18 Free

Download ACDSee Free 1.0.18 Free

ACDSee Free is a lightweight image viewer for Windows.

If you think that the stock Windows Photo Viewer is too slow, then you may want to give ACDSee Free a try. ACDSee Free is a simple photo viewer that doesn't feature a bunch of bells and whistles that slow it down.

Apps like Adobe Lightroom are great for managing and touching up huge image libraries but they are often slow and resource heavy. ACDSee Free gives you a great image viewer that responds quickly. Zoom in and out of photos with the '+' and '-' keys or quickly set it as your desktop background from the 'Tools' menu.

Another cool feature of ACDSee Free is its print controls. Once you're done viewing your photographs, you can quickly access print settings to make sure it fits on the specific type of paper you're using. There are tons of print options for users to tinker with to get the best possible results.

ACDSee Free's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Yes, ACDSee Free is lightweight and quick but Windows Photo Viewer isn't a slouch either. Since Windows Photo View is included with Windows, there really isn't a good reason to seek out an alternative photo viewer.

Overall, ACDSee Free is a good, speedy photo viewer but it could have included a few more features to differentiate itself from the stock Windows Photo Viewer.

ACDSee Free supports the following formats

BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TGA, TIFF, WBMP, PCX, PIC, WMF, EMF

Review last updated: 13/08/12

Pros

• Speedy performance
• Tons of printing options
• Photo data displayed at the bottom

Cons

• Not enough compelling features
• Plain and sloppy interface

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Download Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 12 Free

Download Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 12 Free

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is amazing voice recognition software that lets you control the computer with your voice.

It almost sounds like science fiction, but Dragon NaturallySpeaking totally exceeded our expectations. It seems that voice recognition technology has improved a lot over the last few years, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking has clearly taken advantage of it.

The main drawback to Dragon NaturallySpeaking, like with any other voice recognition program, is that it requires some long, boring training ? based mainly on reading texts to the computer. Also, the program isn't 100% accurate ? something we expected anyway ? but its percentage of right words in dictation still remains impressive.

After training Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the program is intuitive and easy to use. The interface is reduced to a small bar from which you can access all the main tools and functions: dictation, reading text aloud, improving accuracy, managing commands and vocabulary. The best thing about Dragon NaturallySpeaking is that you don?t need to speak to the computer as if you were a robot. Just talk naturally, and it?ll pick it up.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is seamlessly embedded in Windows, which means that as long as you have it running, you can start dictating in any application, from Notepad to Firefox. And of course, functionality in Dragon NaturallySpeaking is not limited to dictation: you can also control the computer with your voice - open and close apps, browse the web, view files, and more.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is, in other words, like one of those amazing voice-controlled computers you see in movies, only that this time it?s on your own PC!

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is an amazing voice recognition tool that lets you control the computer with your voice and dictate texts in any application.

Recent changes

• Dragon Remote Microphone
  
• Improved Correction
  
• New Facebook and Twitter Commands
  
• Improved Formatting and Editing Commands
  
• Improved speed and accuracy
  
• Enhanced User Interface
  
• Time-Saving Voice Commands

Notes

This is the Home version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. There is a Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium version available for download in Softonic. If you want to compare the different editions, check the feature matrix on the developer's website.

Pros

• Speak naturally to the computer
• Amazing level of accuracy
• Seamlessly embedded with Windows
• Useful for dictation and voice-controlling the PC

Cons

• You need to train the program
• Requires some time to improve accuracy

Download Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 12

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Download Spotify Chrome Extension 1.0.1 Free

Download Spotify Chrome Extension 1.0.1 Free

Spotify Chrome Extension is an extension for Google Chrome that lets you quickly hear a track from an artist in Spotify.

Spotify Chrome Extension makes it quick and easy to listen to a quick sample or track from any artist you choose. You can sort search results including by name, artist, album and popularity. Once you have chosen a song, Chrome asks for permission to open Spotify he first time you use but after that, it's very quick. It isn't much quicker than copying and pasting an artist name into the Spotify search box but it does make things a bit easier.

Spotify Chrome Extension is a useful add-on for Spotify and music fans.

Review last updated: 17/08/12

Pros

• Easy to use
• Makes it easy to sample tracks from artist
• Sorts results by album name, artist etc
• Opens Spotify automatically

Cons

• Not much quicker than copy-pasting

Download Spotify Chrome Extension 1.0.1

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Download Adobe Muse 2.0.945 Free

Download Adobe Muse 2.0.945 Free

Adobe Muse is a really simple web editor that enables you to develop and design websites without writing a single line of code.

Those of you who have been using computers for years now will surely remember Frontpage, the easy web editor created by Microsoft. Adobe Muse is in a way the heir to that program: a totally visual web editor with which you can create websites just like you write a paper on a word processor.

Creating websites in Adobe Muse is just a question of adding text and images, dragging and dropping elements around, and using the program?s drop-down and floating menus to customize options. No coding or developing skills required! The websites you can create are not very complex, but perfectly fine for a newbie.

Adobe Muse features a clean interface divided into several tabs: a Plan area to visualize your website?s structure at a glance, a Design area to design web pages and a Preview area that displays the website just like it?ll appear online. Adobe Muse also lets you publish your website directly from the program.

With Adobe Muse you can easily create basic websites even if you have no idea about coding.

Recent changes

• Align Palette:
  
• 
  
• We've added a new Align Palette, available from the Window menu, or by clicking on the new 'Align' control in the control strip.
  
• You can use the new Align features to align or distribute selected objects relative to each other, or to the page content area (which is the area from the bottom of the header to the top of the footer).
  
• 
  
• Asset Upload:
  
• 
  
• You can now link to any external file (i.e. PDF, .zip file, .dmg or .exe) and add a hyperlink to it to enable users to download the file from your web site.
  
• All linked assets will be uploaded / exported along with the rest of the Adobe Muse site, in a new 'assets' folder.
  
• 
  
• Code Generation Improvements:
  
• 
  
• We've improved the HTML code generation for Adobe Muse in several areas. Shadows, Glows, and Gradients now use CSS instead of generating additional images.
  
• We've eliminated many cases where we generated duplicated HTML nodes. We've also changed our JavaScript framework for our widgets from Spry to a smaller, faster framework called WebPro.
  
• These changes make the export process faster, and Adobe Muse now generates less images and smaller HTML files.
  
• Shadows and outer glows are represented using CSS box-shadows instead of rasterizing.
  
• Fixed the naming of images exported by Adobe Muse which have been either resampled or cropped before exporting.
  
• Background images that have been set to "Scale to Fit" or "Scale to Fill" are now exported with the 'contain' or 'cover' background-size CSS property, respectively.
  
• Browsers display a warning when you serve a page that mixes HTTP and HTTPS content, which can be triggered if loading content from a content delivery network (CDN) such as Amazon's CloudFront. To avoid these warnings, Adobe Muse uses some JavaScript to not use CDN URLs with HTTPS in favor of falling back to a local version of the content.
  
• 
  
• Forms:
  
• 
  
• We've added a new Form widget to the widget library.
  
• You can easily configure the form to send the form submissions to multiple email addresses, and optionally redirect users to another page after submitting the form.
  
• You can add and remove fields, and style the form as you would other Adobe Muse elements. You can independently style the various states of the form, and form fields to provide a compelling user experience, with visual cues for error states, empty states, and more.
  
• Because Form processing requires server-side support, Adobe Muse forms are configured to work when published to Adobe Business Catalyst. If you make changes to your form and publish again, Adobe Muse will make the appropriate changes to your Adobe Business Catalyst forms.
  
• Adobe Muse will safeguard data when redesigning your Adobe Business Catalyst forms
  
• If a field with no data submitted is removed, it will be deleted from the database.
  
• If a field that has submitted data is removed, it will be preserved in the database, but can be deleted from the Adobe Business Catalyst admin console if desired.
  
• 
  
• Font Improvements:
  
• 
  
• The font UI includes font previews in the form of sample text rendered in the corresponding font/weight/style.
  
• Submenus for the various font types (web, web-safe and system) have been eliminated in favor of a single sectioned list, with shortcuts to scroll to each section.
  
• Web fonts and system fonts are grouped by font family; individual weights and styles (e.g. Bold, Italic, Bold Italic etc.) of multi-face font families appear in sub-menus.
  
• The font UI displays an automatically generated list of recently used fonts. The number of recently used fonts to display can be configured and list can be cleared.
  
• The font list can be filtered by font family (e.g. ?Myriad Pro?), weight or style (e.g. ?Bold Italic?), a combination of these (e.g., ?Myriad Pro Bold Italic?), including partial names in any order (e.g., ?It Bold Myr Pro?).
  
• Adobe Muse now uses platform-independent references to fonts, so Adobe Muse documents can be exchanged between Mac and Windows without failure to resolve font references.
  
• Adobe Muse displays localized font names (if available) based on the application locale, rather than system locale. Adobe Muse documents can be exchanged between across application locales without failure to resolve font references.
  
• 
  
• FTP Upload:
  
• 
  
• Adobe Muse now includes the ability to FTP to the host of your choice by selecting File > Upload to FTP Host in the Adobe Muse menu.
  
• Adobe Muse's FTP upload dialog allows you to specify the host, subdirectory, and login information.
  
• 
  
• Adobe Edge Integration:
  
• 
  
• If you publish an .oam file from Adobe Edge, you can place it into Adobe Muse. All required images, CSS and JavaScript content will be uploaded at Publish or Export time.
  
• As with other placed content any changes made in the source Adobe Edge file and re-saved in .oam format will be detected within Adobe Muse, and you can use the Assets Palette to update the content in Adobe Muse.
  
• 
  
• Language Support:
  
• 
  
• Japanese and Italian localizations have been added.
  
• Specific Japanese features include the addition of Japanese web safe fonts on the font menu as well as support for Japanese IME, including text input and double-byte text.
  
• 
  
• Ruler Guides:
  
• 
  
• Adobe Muse now includes the ability to drag guides onto a page from the Horizontal or Vertical ruler.
  
• Page items snap to guides when moving, but guides are not exported.
  
• Adobe Muse supports selecting multiple guides on a page.
  
• 
  
• Sitemap.xml:
  
• 
  
• Adobe Muse now creates a sitemap.xml file for better search engine optimization when the site is hosted somewhere other than Adobe Business Catalyst. You can exclude a page from the sitemap.xml file (if you don't want search engines to find it) by setting an option in the Page Properties dialog.
  
• 
  
• Browser Fill Improvements:
  
• 
  
• You can now set a gradient on the Browser Fill. (Note: Opacity, Focal point and Size are not available due to cross-browser compatibility and usability standards)
  
• In addition, you can now set your browser background image to fit or to fill.
  
• 
  
• Control Strip Improvements:
  
• 
  
• The Adobe Muse control strip now has collapsible control sets (similar to Illustrator). As you expand the width of the Adobe Muse application window more controls appear.
  
• Additional controls have been added to the Control strip ? States, Transform, and Align. Text controls are now available when text frames are selected, not just when you're using the text tool.
  
• 
  
• Drag and drop styles/swatches/colors:
  
• 
  
• You can now drag and drop a Paragraph style or Character style onto a text frame to apply the style to the text.
  
• You can also drag a Graphic style into a page item, or the page to apply it.
  
• You can drag a Swatch onto a page item, page, or browser area of a page to apply background fill.
  
• You can drag a Color (via dragging the color preview area just above the RGB edit boxes) onto a page item, page, or browser area of a page to apply background fill. You can also drag a color to the Swatches palette to create a swatch of it.
  
• 
  
• Hyperlinks:
  
• 
  
• The Hyperlink control can now be resized so that users can see entire URL. We've changed the label of the hyperlink option ?Title? to ?Tooltip? to help clarify where user enters the hyperlink destination information.
  
• 
  
• New Selection Visuals:
  
• 
  
• Hint labels now show when you hover over elements on the page. There is a new preference to turn this display off.
  
• Groups and widgets are now indicated with dotted line containment rectangles.
  
• When a page item cannot be resized in a specific direction we now show an ?X? instead of a missing handle.
  
• 
  
• Widget Improvements:
  
• 
  
• Slideshow and Composition widgets now include a numeric stepper for controlling the Auto Play speed in seconds rather than Off, Slow, Medium, Fast.
  
• We've added Shuffle as an option to the Slideshow and Composition widgets so the slideshow or composition contents play in random order.
  
• Changing a Menu widget from horizontal to vertical, or vice versa, now does a much better job of preserving size and spacing.
  
• Changing the state of one part of a widget at design time now changes appropriate sibling parts to the same state to more closely mimic browser behavior.
  
• Based upon customer feedback, we renamed the following:
  
• "Fit Width" and "Fit Height" to "Uniform Spacing"
  
• "Uniform Width" and "Uniform Height" to "Uniform Size"
  
• 
  
• Other assorted improvements:
  
• 
  
• Shift + Return/Enter will create a soft return instead of a carriage return.
  
• Control/Ctrl + Tab activates next tab.
  
• Control/Ctrl + Shift + Tab activates previous tab.
  
• Option/Alt + click a page tab will close all open page tabs.
  
• Option/Alt + click a site tab will close all open sites.
  
• Holding the Shift key down while resizing an image allows you to perform a non-proportional resize.
  
• The X, Y, W, H, and Angle edit boxes support duplicating and transforming the selection if you hold down the Option/Alt key when you hit Return/Enter or Tab.
  
• If you enter a value in an edit box you can do a Shift + Enter to apply the value AND keep focus in the edit box.
  
• Select Same feature added which selects other objects on the page that are the same type as the object currently selected and can be used through Alt Control Shift A and the Context and Edit menus.
  
• Added feedback to rotation tracker so you see the angle next to the cursor as you rotate.
  
• Changed rotation display values to be between -180 and 180 to match other Adobe apps. Previously it was 0 to 360.
  
• Publish dialog has a new FAQ link to help users understand the implications of publishing.
  
• Upload to FTP and Export to HTML workflows now have a ?Domain Name? input field. This is used for generation of Sitemap.xml and for enabling Typekit web fonts.
  
• The display of 100% width items on iOS devices is now enabled.
  
• Adobe Muse now produces functional submenus on iOS devices.

Review last updated: 22/08/12

Pros

• Easy to use, just like a word processor
• Check the website's structure at a glance
• Preview and publish the website right from the program

Cons

• Good for simple, static websites

Download Adobe Muse 2.0.945

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Download WordWeb 6.8 Free

Download WordWeb 6.8 Free

WordWeb sames you time by putting a full dictionary at your fingertips.

Luckily there?s a whole batch of lexicon applications that?ll send it back to the shelf (or in the trash can) forever. WordWeb is the perfect example of this type of dictionary and thesaurus combo in a hands-on interface.

What you?re looking for in a dictionary application is something you can open in a click, paste your word, and immediately get the results. You get that in Wordweb via system tray integration, and a Ctrl+Alt+W hot key combination. On install WordWeb will ask you the English locale you will use, such as Australian, Canadian American or New Zealander. The program keeps a history of your searches and you can quickly access them via the side arrows. You can refine your search by selecting word categories like nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs and decide to show pronunciation, usage and offensive or vulgar words. WordWeb isn?t associated to any world famous reliable dictionary like Webster?s, preferring its very own online source, comprising of more than 240,000 words and updated regularly, according to the developer.

The heart of WordWeb resides in the results tabs, although the difference between them all wasn?t obvious from the start. After a bit of testing we found that the ?nearest? tab showed you the preceding and following words in the dictionary, ?see also? was a suggestion of related words and ?similar? presented a word that resembled your search but had a slightly different meaning. ?Types? goes down to the meaning of the word, for example solid ?types? will be plastic, crystal or block. The ?type of? tab is another variation. ?Types of? solid will be substance, state or form. These tools will be particularly helpful if you feel limited by your vocabulary and are looking to diversify your choice of words in the document you are writing.

WordWeb is a reliable dictionary and thesaurus with a simple, hands-on approach. It is an ideal partner to fight off writer?s block and improve your vocabulary. The online dictionary is a rich source and WordWeb should help you out of any mind jam whenever you?re writing an article.

Recent changes

• About 700 new words and derived forms
  
• Improved Chrome support

Review last updated: 23/08/12

Pros

• Quick access via hotkeys and system tray
• All the English locales
• Works with rich online dictionary
• Show pronunciation, usage and vulgar words

Cons

• Not tied to a World-acclaimed dictionary

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Download Tweetro Free

Download Tweetro Free

Tweetro is a Twitter client built for the touch interface of Windows 8.

If you're a fan of the Windows 8 touch interface or its 'Start' menu, then you'll love Tweetro. Designed with Windows 8's aesthetic in mind, its interface is very minimalistic and offers wide pages you can scroll through with touch or your mouse.

Tweetro is divided into several sections, the first of which is an area for you to quickly blast off a Twitter update. You can attach a picture or take one using your built-in web cam. This makes sharing photos easy. Next to your profile you will find your 'Timeline' of Twitter updates. Clicking on it will reveal the entire timeline instead of a truncated view. Tweetro also includes a 'Photos' section where you can easily browse Twitter updates that have links to photos.

One of the best features about Tweetro is that it loads links to the right without pushing content to the side. This makes for a more seamless experience as users only have to swipe to the left to reveal the website. Tapping on it will move the web page over for full screen reading.

Performance of Tweetro is good overall but web pages can take a bit long to load than other Twitter applications. One of the things missing from Tweetro is the ability to discover and look at trends in the Twitter universe. Search is still available by bringing up the Charms menu from Windows 8.

Overall, Tweetro is a great Twitter app that focuses on a minimalistic and beautiful interface.

Review last updated: 29/08/12

Pros

• Beautiful design
• Support for multiple accounts
• Full Twitter functionality
• Loads links automatically in its own card on the side

Cons

• Loading pages takes longer than it should
• No trending or discovery tools

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Download Lost Photos 1.0.1 Free

Download Lost Photos 1.0.1 Free

Lost Photos is a tool that helps you search for and locate photos that have been sent to your email account.

If you've had your email account for awhile and haven't been keeping it organized, it's easy to lose track of photos sent to you from friends and family. You probably have a bunch of pictures saved there that you won't even remember receiving. Good thing Lost Photos exists to help you unearth them all.

Running Lost Photos is easy. Just launch the program, enter the email address you want to search (plus a password), and the app will start searching for you. Lost Photos automatically stores discovered photos in a folder and let you share them via Facebook or, perhaps ironically, even through email.

There are also some nice customization options that Lost Photos offers to help you define your search criteria. Some of these include ignoring images below a certain file size, omitting different file types from your search, and searching from a set date on forward.

Unfortunately, Lost Photos doesn't work on all email accounts, Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail) most notably.

Lost Photos is a great organizational tool that helps you search for photos sent to your via email.

Notes

Lost Photos works with email accounts from Gmail, Yahoo!, AOL, Mac, MobileMe and Google Apps.

Pros

• Helps you find lost photos
• Very simple interface
• Secure connection

Cons

• Doesn't work with Hotmail/Outlook.com
• Long process if you have a lot of emails

Download Lost Photos 1.0.1

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Download Slenderman's Shadow: Sanatorium 1.4 Free

Download Slenderman's Shadow: Sanatorium 1.4 Free

Slenderman's Shadow: Hospice takes the gameplay of Slender, and puts it in a creepy deserted Sanatorium. It features the Slenderman, and uses the same idea of having to find notes hidden around that you have to find before Slenderman drives you insane.

This is the first of Slenderman's Shadow maps, and the following Hospice map is better. Nevertheless, Slenderman's Shadow: Sanatorium is still scary, and delivers the jumps you'll recognize from the original Slender.

Slenderman's Shadow: Sanatorium is scary, but it's not quite up to the standards of the original game, and fails to add anything significant to it.

Review last updated: 31/08/12

Pros

• Scary
• Good graphics

Cons

• Doesn't add anything to the original game

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Download Fresh Pictures Free

Download Fresh Pictures Free

Fresh Pictures is a photo viewer that updates with pictures found on reddit.com, the popular internet message board.

Reddit is a great source for looking at photography or silly photos. Fresh Pictures makes browsing photos from reddit much easier with large thumbnails. Tap on a photo and view it in full screen. Hovering over a photo will bring up the image title and a link to the thread on reddit.

There aren't many options to configure in Fresh Pictures. You can choose how many photos it loads at once but the more important setting to adjust is choosing which subreddit (sub forums on reddit) you want to view pictures from. Fresh Pictures comes with a bunch of popular subreddits but you can define your own by typing it in the search field.

While there is beautiful and silly photography to be enjoyed, Fresh Pictures should have added more reddit features into the app. For instance, clicking on a link will pop you out of the application and into Internet Explorer. This isn't a big deal but it'd be nice to remain in the same app while browsing. There should also be a feature to integrate with reddit to up/down vote photos.

Overall, Fresh Pictures is a good app to just view photos but lacks many features to interact with them.

Recent changes

• Clicking 'Download' will take you to the Windows Store where you can download the app.

Review last updated: 31/08/12

Pros

• Quick performance
• Beautiful photography
• Ability to add custom catagories

Cons

• Clicking on links jumps into Internet Explorer
• Requires lots of swiping to see more photos
• No reddit integration

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Download Skip Metro Suite 2.1.1 Free

Download Skip Metro Suite 2.1.1 Free

Skip Metro Suite is a simple, desktop customization program that allows users to disable specific features of Windows 8.

Windows 8 is no doubt going to be a shock to many users as it is a dramatic redesign. The 'Start' menu is gone and replaced with an entirely different skin, the Modern UI. Skip Metro Suite will help users adjust to Windows 8 if there are certain features they despise.

The problem with all of these Modern UI tweaking program is that they only hide certain Windows 8 features. Skip Metro Suite is no different. The most useful feature of the Skip Metro Suite is that it can disable the Modern UI when booting up but it only really hides other features of Windows 8. It can disable certain or all of the hot corners in Windows 8 but their features will remain. You can still get to them via keyboard shortcuts.

Skip Metro Suite is good for those looking for a quick way to disable hot corners but it doesn't really replace the Modern UI nor the Charms bar, which Windows 8 relies on to perform certain tasks.

Recent changes

• Attempt to fix multimonitor configuration issue.
  
• Attempt to fix autologon issue.
  
• Fixed drag-to-close issue.

Review last updated: 10/09/12

Pros

• Disables Modern UI when logging in
• Ability to disable hotcorners
• Simple to use

Cons

• Windows 8 still relies on hidden features

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Download FB Unseen 0.1.1 Free

Download FB Unseen 0.1.1 Free

FB Unseen is a diminutive add-on for Google Chrome that blocks Facebook's read receipts from being sent.

If you don't want to have your friends knowing when or if you've read their messages, FB Unseen is the perfect extension to block those pesky read receipts. While others may find it handy, it can be cumbersome if you have a friend who expects you to reply immediately.

Once this add-on is installed, there's nothing really much you need to do. FB Unseen is a small add-on that doesn't take up much room, as it only has to block a single line of code to disable read receipts from Facebook.

One cool feature of FB Unseen is the ability to manually mark a message as read, giving you absolute control over who sees when you've read a message. This feature will help to make it look less suspicious to your friends if you reply without the read receipt showing up first.

Overall, FB Unseen is a simple but effective add-on that gives users more control over read receipts in Facebook chat.

Review last updated: 10/09/12

Pros

• Allows you to manually set a message as read
• Automatically stops read receipts from being sent
• Tiny add-on

Cons

• Only works with Facebook website
• Only works with Chrome

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Download Norton Antivirus 2013 20.1.0.24 Free

Download Norton Antivirus 2013 20.1.0.24 Free

Norton Antivirus is a crown product of one of the most popular brands in security software. It will help protect your computer from viruses, as well as locate threats already lurking on your PC and help you eliminate them.

Installation and configuration

Norton Antivirus is a quick download and installs in just a few minutes. It also doesn't require any technical configuration. Luckily for tech-savvy users, the Norton Antivirus 2013 Settings menu also includes a bunch of configuration options.

Full protection for your computer

Once Norton Antivirus 2013 is up and running, your system will be protected from both viruses and spyware in real time. The program also includes filters for web browsing, downloads and email ? all of these without constantly interrupting your work with nagging messages. There?s even a special Facebook scan that Norton Antivirus uses to detect malicious links.

Norton Antivirus 2013 includes the SONAR technology, already featured in previous versions but improved in this latest one, which keeps you safe from both new and unknown threats. Other interesting tools are the Norton Performance System, which controls system performance by tracking the usage of processor and memory, and Norton Tasks, with which you can keep track of the app's current jobs and pending tasks.

New features

The new Norton Antivirus 2013 is described by its developers as faster, more effective and with more powerful options. Norton's new Threat Removal Layer goes a step deeper in seeking out and destroying threats to your PC. It also offers an automatic update feature. In addition, every time a new version comes out, it will install immediately, saving you the time and hassle of having to manually check for new updates.

Conclusion

Norton Antivirus 2013 has improved its footprint on system resources; it's lighter and faster than the previous version, and provides shorter and quicker scans as well. Also, the interface in Norton Antivirus 2012 has been slightly redesigned to make it clearer and easier to use. The downside of a simpler design however is that the interface is not as informative as it could be, at least at first sight.

Norton Antivirus is a powerful security application that will help you keep viruses, worms and other online threats away from your system without hassle.

Recent changes

• NEW: Threat-removal Layer ? Targets and eliminates hard-to-remove threats less sophisticated products often miss.
  
• NEW: Always up-to-date Product Version ? Norton automatically sends you important product and feature updates throughout the year. The latest version installs without you needing to do anything.
  
• FREE 24x7 Support ? Offers you expert help and answers by phone, live chat or online, whenever you need them.1
  
• IMPROVED: Bandwidth Management 2.0 ? Automatically adjusts Norton data usage updates when you connect to 3G networks to avoid using up your monthly data allotment or causing overage fees.
  
• Vulnerability Protection ? Stops cybercriminals from using security holes (vulnerabilities) in applications to sneak threats onto your PC.
  
• IMPROVED: SONAR Behavioral Protection & Live 24x7 Threat Monitoring ? Stays ahead of, detects and eliminates threats that haven?t been invented yet by watching your PC for suspicious activity.

Review last updated: 12/10/12

Pros

• Easy and quick to install
• Faster scans
• Norton Insight
• Performance alerts
• Automatic updates

Cons

• Interface could be improved in terms of design and information
• Advanced features take time to learn

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Download Social for Facebook 2.0.9 Free

Download Social for Facebook 2.0.9 Free

Social for Facebook is a application that lets you manage multiple Facebook accounts from your PC's desktop.

Most people only have one Facebook account. With the growing incidents of employers requesting access to your Facebook pages before making hiring decisions though, some people have started creating two accounts - one that's public and another, more private account for close friends and family members.

If this is something you do, you already know how frustrating it is to have to log in and out repeatedly or deal with switching between browsers in order to access both of your accounts. Social for Facebook fixes this issue specifically, by allowing allowing you to switch between multiple Facebook accounts in a tabbed interface.

Social for Facebook is an app that you access from your desktop. It feels essentially the same as the Facebook you're familiar with in your browser, which is a huge perk, since it also retains all of the functionality. That means if you want to play games like Words with Friends or even post in a group you're a member of, Social for Facebook will let you do it.

In addition, you can use Facebook's instant messaging program, as well as respond to messages with Social for Facebook. Pop-ups in the system tray can get supremely annoying if you're having multiple conversations, but at least Social for Facebook lets you disable them fairly easily. The same goes for sound notifications.

The only thing it wasn't clear that Social for Facebook could do was allow you to switch between a personal account and a business or fan page. This isn't a huge downside, since Facebook now lets you do that without too much difficulty, but it'd still be a nice feature to implement in the future.

Social for Facebook hits all the right notes in giving users the full Facebook experience straight from their desktop, no matter how many Facebook accounts they happen to have.

Pros

• Log into multiple Facebook accounts at once
• Easy to navigate tabbed interface
• Support for Facebook chat and messaging
• Just like using Facebook in a browser

Cons

• System tray notifications can get annoying
• No apparent support for business pages

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Download Locate32 3.1.11.7100 Free

Download Locate32 3.1.11.7100 Free

The painful speed of Windows searches is something that seems a relic from the days when computers were as big as rooms and ran on magnetic tape. As any Apple user will tell you, it shouldn't be that way in the 21st century.

Locate32 is a great little freeware app that makes searching your PC fast and easy. Setup of the program is easier than it first appears - the zip folder has four different .exe files in it, and the readme instructions are probably over complicated. However, it's actually simple! Just extract the zip file then double click 'locate32.exe' and it will run. To get it working, open File and click the 'Update Databases' option. Locate32 will then scan the hard drive, making a database to search from. This is remarkably quick - it won't take more than a few seconds.

Once your database it updated, searching is easy, super fast and completely flexible. Locate32 is both easy to use for the general user, and deep and complex for the power user. As well as file name, you can refine your search by extension, where to look (although it's so fast there's no point usually), date added and size and so on.

There are an intimidating number of settings, although most people won't need to fear them, as they won't be necessary. One nice option is 'Delete Private Data', which makes it easy to search without leaving a trace. Locate32 can also function as a portable app, as it doesn't require installation

While some users might be scared by the number of options available in Locate 32, it really is a simple and efficient search app that you will quickly learn to rely on.

Review last updated: 13/09/12

Pros

• Super quick
• Tons of options
• Portable

Cons

• Over complex

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Download FL Studio 10.0.9c Free

Download FL Studio 10.0.9c Free

FL Studio is a powerful music editing studio for your PC.

Previously known as Fruity Loops, FL Studio has been transformed from a MIDI sequencer to a fully-fledged audio editing application. There are plenty of reasons why you should download FL Studio and start using it to make music on your computer.

How does it look?

Let's first take a look at the FL Studio interface. Users familiar with FL Studio will instantly recognize the dark green tone and rounded windows of past versions. However, the structure of the program can be difficult for a first-time user to grasp.

The browser window on the left is your resource for any file you will need, from presets to projects and scores. Clicking on an item will open up a drop down selection of specific elements.

This library can be filled with more of your own loops and samples and carries an impressive amount of plug-ins like DirectWave, EQUO or Fruity Squeeze. FLStudio has a smart search function to quickly find any track, tool or effect.

How to use FL Studio

To edit your tracks with FL Studio you can use the original pattern window, which contains all the instruments you have selected. You will have to create the pattern desired for each instrument.

You can also use the playlist window, divided into patterns at the top and audio tracks at the bottom. The playlist view features a handy paintbrush tool to color in your pattern. You can also decide to edit your tracks with the piano roll view, quite handy if you have a midi keyboard plugged in.

FL Studio can be tricky at first; however those familiar with sequencers should have no trouble with it. All instruments and samplers are stereo, so to have multiple outputs you will have to create the desired number of instances.

Anyone interested in connecting real instruments will appreciate that FL Studio also handles multiple midi-ins and features foot pedal sustain support. The FL Studio mixer features a good number of presets and you can fine tune your track with a high degree of precision.

FL Studio is a very good sequencer for anyone looking to create beats. The handy browser view and multiple editing windows like playlist, piano roll or pattern let you work how you feel best. A finely-tuned mixer and a large library of plug-ins also make this a very exciting audio editing application.

Alternatives to FL Studio

- Reason
- Ableton Live
- Acid Pro
- Samplesizer
- Anvil Studio

Recent changes

• Bug fixes

Notes

This program was previously known as Fruity Loops

Review last updated: 17/07/12

Pros

• Supports multiple midi-ins
• Loads of plugins
• Intuitive interface
• Smart search
• Multiple editing possibilities
• Mixer is filled with presets

Cons

• Beginners may get lost in browser view

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Download StumbleUpon Metro App Free

Download StumbleUpon Metro App Free

StumbleUpon is a sort of web browser that recommends articles, pictures, and other things across the web it thinks is relevant to your interests.

If you're bored of reading the same few blogs that you do every day, StumbleUpon will help you break up the monotony. When you first launch StumbleUpon it will ask you to log in or create an account with them. Once you do that, you will be asked to select topics that you're interested in from a list. The list is long but not too long.

Once you've picked your areas of interest, StumbleUpon will populate the front page of its app with stories it thinks are relevant to you. Stories are presented in a tile interface, following the design aesthetic of Windows 8.

Tapping on a story will bring it up full screen where you can like, dislike, and stumble upon more stories. You can choose to stumble upon content for all your interests or for one specific interest from a menu. StumbleUpon is a great way to waste some time and will point you to stories you may not otherwise have found.

There are some quirks with the app though. Some sites and pictures loaded off center and performance was mediocre. Loading stories in StumbleUpon took longer than expected, especially if you're used to the speeds of modern browsers.

Overall, StumbleUpon is a solid application that will help you discover content from across the web that are relevant to your interests.

Review last updated: 18/09/12

Pros

• Minimalist, easy to use interface
• Great list of interests to choose from
• Syncs your 'liked' stories

Cons

• Slow loading times
• Some content loads off center

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Download Real Desktop Standard 1.80 Free

Download Real Desktop Standard 1.80 Free

Real Desktop is one of those PC applications that aren't really that useful, but have such an attractive effect on your system that you want to install them anyway.

Real Desktop turns your Windows desktop into a three-dimensional environment where all your shortcuts look like small pieces that have been dropped on the floor ? and they actually behave like that. You can move them, rotate them, lift them a bit from the floor and mix them all around the desktop surface. The only icon that remains in Real Desktop somewhat apart is the Recycle bin, probably to help you find it faster.

This precisely the main drawback in Real Desktop: finding icons. The 3D effect is really amazing, as well as the icon behavior almost as Lego pieces. But having them scattered all over the places doesn't exactly make your PC easier to use ? especially if you're anything like me, who likes to have as few icons as possible, and always perfectly organized.

With Real Desktop you can apply an amazing 3D effect to your Windows desktop, although you'll lose a lot of icon usability on the way.

Review last updated: 20/09/12

Pros

• Very attractive effect
• Light on resources

Cons

• Not very comfortable to use on a daily basis
• Nagging prompts to purchase the full version

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Download Mad Truckers 1.0

Download Mad Truckers 1.0

Mad Truckers è un gioco di guida di camion ambientato in uno scenario 3D. Uno zio ti ha lasciato un truck in eredità, e tu devi riuscire a farlo fruttare come si deve.

Nel menu iniziale puoi scegliere di fare training (con la missione Survival), per impratichirti con i comandi, o di iniziare subito una campagna. In questo caso, ti verranno assegnate delle missioni che dovrai portare a termine.

In Mad Truckers hai diversi nemici. Innanzitutto il tempo. Le missioni vanno completate rapidamente, altrimenti sei fuori gioco. Se per esempio devi trasportare un carico di verdure, devi riuscire a farle arrivare a destinazione prima che vadano a male e non siano più vendibili.

L'altra insidia che Mad Truckers ti sguinzaglia contro è costituita dagli altri automobilisti e ancor più dagli altri camionisti. Se infatti, in base al titolo del gioco, il matto dovresti essere tu, ti accorgerai subito che forse non è così. Macchine contromano e furgoni impazziti, infatti, ti daranno filo da torcere.

Il gameplay di Mad Truckers è semplice e vecchio stile, ma piuttosto divertente. Man mano che completi le 15 missioni che il gioco offre, il tuo camion acquisterà accessori e migliorie con cui superare gli ostacoli classici, come i posti di blocco della polizia, o quelli bizzarri, come le mine o le macchine della mafia lanciate a velocità suicida.

Se vuoi lanciarti in un'avventura arcade con tanto di colonna sonora country-lo-fi (che alla fine stufa, però), in Mad Truckers sarai il benvenuto. Ma non aspettarti un gioco di camion da sogno. Per quello c'è Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Ultimo aggiornamento: 16/11/12

Pro

• Gioco arcade vecchia scuola
• Ambientazione 3D
• Comandi molto semplici
• Modalità Campagna

Contro

• Grafica obsoleta
• Colonna sonora monotona

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Download Excel 2013 15.0.4420.1017

Download Excel 2013 15.0.4420.1017

Excel 2013 è l'applicazione per eccellenza per il calcolo elettronico e l'analisi dei dati. In questa versione si presenta con un'interfaccia rinnovata e altre funzioni interessanti.

Dalla semplice redazione di liste all'esecuzione di calcoli complessi, passando per frammentati grafici a torta: Excel 2013 è il programma che, al pari di Word, è sempre presente sul nostro PC.

Estremamente potente, ha sempre richiesto una conoscenza approfondita per sfruttarlo appieno. Excel 2013 è stato però pensato anche per gli utenti meno avanzati, e indirizzato a un pubblico molto più ampio.

La funzione Flash Fill, ad esempio, ti aiuta a compilare righe o colonne a partire da immissioni già realizzate, automatizzando il processo ed evitandoti di dover inserire complicate formule.

Excel 2013 analizza i dati inseriti immessi e ti dà suggerimenti su come meglio presentarli in una tabella o in un grafico. Inoltre, se i dati sono sufficientemente chiari, ti dà l'opzione di creare un grafico Pivot a partire da preview create automaticamente.

Un'altra novità della nuova versione di tutto il pacchetto Office 2013 è l'integrazione con the cloud. Se loggato con un account Microsoft, il tuo file di Excel 2013 si salva automaticamente su SkyDrive o SharePoint.

Ma Excel 2013 è anche social e collaborativo. Puoi infatti postare fogli di calcolo sulle reti sociali, condividere i file su Lync o lavorare a più mani sullo stesso Excel.

L'interfaccia è stata ridisegnata e adattata allo stile Windows 8 con un design più squadrato e un aspetto meno "da laboratorio". Anche l'usabilità ne trae profitto e, ad esempio, all'inizio è più semplice scegliere il foglio di lavoro che meglio si adatta al tuo progetto. Putroppo non si integra con l'interfaccia Modern.

Come installare la versione di prova

- Se usi Windows 8, basterà scaricare Office 2013, aprire l'archivio IMG e cliccare su setup.exe. Avvierai così l'installazione della suite Office, che include OneNote.

- Se usi Windows 7, dopo il download di Office 2013 dovrai procedere all'installazione usando un lettore virtuale che supporti i file IMG oppure masterizzare l'archivio scaricato su CD/DVD e avviare da questo supporto l'installazione del prodotto.

Il prodotto sarà acquistabile a partire dagli inizi del 2013.

Note

Per motivi che non dipendono da Softonic, il link di download rimanda al sito di Microsoft. Dovrai accedere con le tue credenziali per scaricare e installare la versione di prova di Office 2013 (durata 60 giorni), che include Excel 2013 al suo interno.

Ultimo aggiornamento: 28/11/12

Pro

• Interfaccia rinnovata e user friendly
• Funzione Flash fill
• Suggerisce grafici Pivot
• Sincronizzazione online
• Condivisione via Social network e Lync

Contro

• Difficile per principianti
• Non si integra con la Modern UI

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Download Vista Codec Package 6.4.1

Download Vista Codec Package 6.4.1 Pack che trovi, filosofia che incontri. Tutte le raccolte come Vista Codec Package sono realizzate partendo da una credenza. Questa volta è l'essenzialità ad essere al centro dell'attenzione

Lo sviluppatore di Vista Codec Package pensa che per non avere problemi con la riproduzione video, la migliore configurazione possibile sia quella con il minor numero di codec installati.

Partendo da questa regola, ha creato Vista Codec Package. Una raccolta essenziale degli algoritmi necessari per la riproduzione o la conversione di file audio/video. E soprattutto pienamente compatibile anche con Windows Vista ed il suo MediaCenter.

Per il resto Vista Codec Package non si distingue più di tanto da tanti altri pacchi. Le utility di gestione audio e video che contiene sono i soliti nomi noti: tra gli altri VobSub, Haali Media Splitter, FFDShow. Per gestire tutto l'insieme c'è però un'interfaccia che consente solo di installare o rimuovere i componenti.

Ultime migliorie

• Aggiornato ffdshow
  
• Aggiornati filtro Gabest
  
• Altri cambiamenti minori

Vista Codec Package supporta i seguenti formati

DivX, Xvid, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, MPEG1, MPEG2, AVC, FLV1, FLV4, MJPEG, CinePack, VP3, huffyuv, Theora, AAC, AC3, DTS, MP1, MP2, MP3, TrueAudio

Note

Per motivi che non dipendono da Softonic, per eseguire il download gratuito verrai reindirizzato su un sito esterno.

È necessario rimuovere versioni precedenti di Vista Codec Pack prima di aggiornarlo. Inoltre non è consigliabile il suo utilizzo se sul sistema sono presenti altre raccolte di codec.

L'utilty d'installazione e rimozione è in italiano.

Pro

• Assicura una grande compatibilità
• Installazione semplice

Contro

• Poca documentazione

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