Flock is a browser for blogging and social network addicts. Based on the Mozilla infrastructure, it offers many features found in Firefox like tabbed browsing, quick RSS feed aggregation and customizable toolbars. Thanks to the web clipboard, you can copy any image or text you find on the net. Favorite links can be saved with tags and you can customize your own world, where you showcase your favorite sites, feeds and media. This brings us to one of the main features of Flock, the media bar, placed at the top of the browser. This tool lets you search and view any sort of media from sites like YouTube, Facebook or Flickr.

However the real strength of Flock comes in its social networking integration. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Xanga, Magnolia and more can be opened up from the "accounts and services" sidebar. Thanks to the people sidebar, you'll be able to quickly see all your friends from your different networks. Flock also offers up a blog editor, from which you can write up all your posts. News junkies will also like the RSS reader, also accessible from the sidebar.

While we were impressed with all the major improvements found in this new release of Flock, we felt that the sidebar was probably a bit overused. RSS feeds, social networks, favorites, and the web clipboard all open up in the sidebar, meaning you can't have them on all at once. The blog editor is a nice touch, but it's a shame that it doesn't allow you to upload images to your blog.

If your high on social networks, Flock is definitely the browser for you.

Download Flock 1.2.1 in Softonic

Becky! Internet Mailer offers numerous advantages. It is a simple and easy to use alternative to the big email clients. It has the following features:

Create multiple mailboxes

You can switch between several different settings, like "LAN" and dialup

New protocols are supported

IMAP4rev1 for e-mail and LDAP for the address book

Fast

You can manage thousands of e-mail at your fingertip

Write HTML e-mail with Becky!

Becky! is a complete HTML enabled e-mail client

Flexible template capability

Pepare standardized e-mail format for business and personal e-mail

Unique "Reminder" capability

Receive e-mail from "you" on scheduled date

Powerful "Filtering Manager"

You can sort messages into folders according to the filtering rules and define unlimited and/or conditions for one filtering rule.

"Mailing Lists Manager"

Helps you organize multiple mailing list subscriptions

"Plug-In" interface

Enables third parties to create useful plug-ins to customize Becky! for your particular needs

Download Becky! Internet Mail 2.46 in Softonic

If you're tired of always watching the same channels in your TV set, why not try channels from other countries that stream content on the Internet?

This is precisely what you can do with PCShowBuzz, an Internet TV tuner that allows you to watch hundreds of TV channels from all over the world. Channels are classified by country and also by genre, so it's easy to find something interesting to watch. There's also a button for radio stations, but apparently this function is currently not working. The program features some advanced tools as well, such as a bookmark manager to save your favorite channels and the ability to schedule channels for playback or recording (with a third-party tool).

As for other similar tools, image quality depends on several factors: your Internet connection, your computer specs and also the channel's features. Generally speaking PCShowBuzz worked fine during our tests, though I found it a bit annoying having to wait until the whole buffering was finished in order to start playing a channel.

PCShowBuzz lets you watch online TV channels from many different countries and genres right in your computer.

Download PCShowBuzz 1.20 in Softonic

I'm sure we've all come across hundreds of awesome high quality photo collections or impressive image galleries online. The trouble is, if you want to transfer all of these beautiful shots onto your hard drive, it takes forever, as you need to save each one seperately. Don't lose too much sleep over this though, because you can always use Bulk Image Downloader to do this task for you.

The app lets you schedule downloads of entire online image collections through a dead simple interface. Or, you can even choose to dispense with this altogether by taking advantage of the built-in IE and Firefox integration to grab multiple pictures even quicker. Although there are no options for editing the resulting images or categorising them into galleries of your own, the program does contain settings for things like blocking pop-up windows, restarting incomplete tasks and repairing broken downloads.

Download Bulk Image Downloader 1.36 in Softonic

This nifty app lets you automatically log everything you do in MSN Messenger 6.x/7.x. This includes instant messages, winks, emotion icons, hand writing, text font and colors, the online status of your contact, and all the activities like sent and received files, audio/video invitations in MSN Messenger.

Major features:

• Record MSN chat automatically and completely including
• Monitor MSN chat secretly. It is completely undetectable!
• Easy-to-use interface makes recording and monitoring simple
• Suitable for parent control and other monitoring purpose
• Suitable for your company to record custom supports, provided via MSN Messengers
• Accessing and setting are all password protected
• Save, search and edit log easily and efficiently
• Exporting the rich text messages to a RTF file easily
• Import logs from previous version of MessengerLog series
• Date time stamp

Download MessengerLog 6.72 in Softonic

There are plenty of special effects we can add to IM clients in the form of emoticons, avatars and pictures.

But webcams are generally restricted to nothing but the image you see. However, with WebcamMax Full, you can add all manner of special effects and images to webcam images to make your broadcasts and webcam sessions more interesting. WebcamMax adds videos, pictures and effects to virtual/real Webcams and broadcasts on messenger services.

You can add videos, screenshots, pictures, flash and effects to virtual or real Webcams and messengers including the most popular IM clients such as ICQ, AIM, MSN, Camfrog, Skype, Paltalk, Yahoo, ANYwebcam and Stickam. You can also add special motion effects (Frame, Transform, and Emotion) over your webcam image. If you find that the program doesn't offer you enough effects, you can also download up to 1500 more from the developer's website. Apart from having fun, this program can enhance your YouTube videos or blogcasts by changing the background or environment from where you are broadcasting from.

Perhaps the most useful feature however doesn't relate to effects at all and relates to PinP (Picture in Picture). So for example, you want to talk about a certain part in a film with a friend or discuss it in a review, WebcamMax Full allows you to choose an alternative source which plays in the corner of your webcam in a smaller screen while you talk.

An interesting webcam tool which can be used for fun or more serious pursuits like picture in picture to get the most out of your webcam.

Download WebcamMax Full 5.0.3.8 in Softonic

Miranda IM is a multi protocol instant messenger client. It is designed to be resource efficient and easy to use. It uses very little memory and requires no installation. Just unzip and run! This also makes it ideal for users that want to run their messenger client from a removable storage such as a USB memory stick.

The powerful plugin system makes Miranda IM extremely flexible. Only the most basic features are built in, but there are currently more than 350 plugins available for download that allow users to extend the functionality in Miranda IM. Plugins can be installed to add support for ICQ, AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, Gadu-Gadu, Tlen, Netsend and other protocols.

Download Miranda IM 0.8.0 Test 17 in Softonic

NewsLeecher is a tool made for fetching and managing articles from Usenet. It downloads Usenet articles in a snap, and uses its inline engine to assemble and decode all the downloads.

It boasts the following features:

NZB download files

NewsLeecher has full support for the NZB file format.

Ultra fast Usenet super search engine

Search *all* the binary usenet groups for a specific keyword or keystring at once

Full privacy - spyware & adware free

NewsLeecher does *not* contain any spyware or adware

Advanced multiserver support

NewsLeecher has advanced support for leeching from multiple servers at the same time

Top tuned yEnc support

Besides supporting the "old" encoding formats, such as uuEncode, NewsLeecher also supports the brand new encoding format called yEnc.

Multithreaded server downloading

Besides being able to download from several servers at the same time, NewsLeecher can also use up to 99 simultaneous download threads per server.

Filter system

Enables one to find certain posts without going through all received headers. Filter by subject, size, age and more.

Automatic downloading

The built-in automatic multipart posts processing removes the hassle from combining binary post parts one by one. NewsLeecher detects and combine parts by itself!

Fastest group caching in the world

Fast group caching enables much faster group viewing by only receiving the latest available post headers and caching the old ones.

Top todern user interface

State of the art user interface with support for XP themes and many options for tweaking the usability and the interface!

Advanced feature support

NewsLeecher supports many advanced features that make it easy to use your usenet membership to the fullest. Such features include smart article highlighting, a built in group noteblock and much much more!

Download NewsLeecher 3.9 in Softonic

Are you worried that your website is not optimised enough for search rankings? If so, SEO Administrator is a handy set of tools that will ensure that your website has the best chance of being thoroughly indexed by major search engines such as Google and Yahoo. The integrated suite covers all aspects of website optimization and promotion so there's something there for both beginners and experts.

Unlike some search optimisers, the tools are very easy to use and it provides a clear and concise overview of how you and your competitors are doing. Perhaps the most useful feature is that you can perform an in-depth analysis of links, competitors and positions on several search engines at the same time. In this way, you can see in which search engines you need to be raising your profile and it even gives you tips on how to do so.

There are tons of tools - perhaps too many in reality - including a Ranking Monitor utility, a link popularity checker, a site indexation tool utility and a link exchange tool. All of these are very easy to use involving no more than few clicks and a clear display of the results. If you've spent far too much time on promoting your site without results, then SEO Administrator could save you precious time.

Download SEO Administrator 4.1 in Softonic

Neither the download managers that come bundled with Firefox or IE are particularly impressive so it's a good idea to add a third party downloader or plugin.

Fresh Download claims it can "turbo charge" downloads to make them download in less than half the time they would normally. It works with both FTP and HTTP protocols and gives you a whole range of control over how downloads are completed. Included is a pause and resume feature which is very useful for broken downloads or those downloads that suddenly and annoyingly time out. The program achieves such high speeds due to it's ability to connect to multiple connections and it works across most major browsers. if you don't want to carry out downloads immediately, you can also schedule them for a later date and it can even download links that you've copied to your clipboard or dragged into the main interface from your desktop. If you're downloading zip files, it can also decompress them automatically with it's own Zip extractor although note that it's not particularly powerful or fast - you'd be better using WinZip or WinRAR.

Although you won't notice huge download speeds, you will notice an improvement and besides, this is a much easier way to manage downloads.

Download Fresh Download 8.04 in Softonic

Large files are always difficult to share online. Free file sharing sites are a pain, not everybody has an FTP server to share stuff and sharing them by email can take ages – if your email server can handle a 10MB email attachment at all.

Fortunately now there's another way to share big-sized files using email: Podmailing. Of course it doesn't work the usual way (message plus attached file) but more like as a P2P client or maybe I should say P2M client, which is the right way to name this file sharing protocol. The idea is not new (see Pando) but Podmailing has launched to add more choice to the P2M market.

The program is really easy to use. Simply click on the "New" button, select the files or folders you want to share, enter the email addresses and add a message. That's pretty much everything, although bear in mind that you must leave the program open (and your Internet connection on) in order to send the file.

The addressees of your podmail will receive a message in their inboxes with a link to download the file, which they'll be able to do very comfortably from their own web browser without the need for any third-party apps. Anyway, there's also the possibility to download the file via Podmailing or using the BitTorrent protocol (which also works with Podmailing, as this program is also a torrent client).

The main drawback I found is that you have to wait until the file is completely uploaded before starting to download it directly from the browser, so if your friend wants to share a 9GB file you'd better be patient. At least you can always start downloading it right away by using the Podmailing app or any BitTorrent client, which don't require the file to be finished uploading. Also, uploaded files are saved for 30 days on the Podmailing's servers.

Podmailing is a new client for the P2M protocol with which you can easily share large-sized files on the Internet. It may not be the fastest method but it's reliable and above all, very easy to use.

Download Podmailing 0.10.0 in Softonic

Desktop sharing is not just the expert field of tech professionals anymore. Whether you want to show how an application works or simply to explain things on someone else's PC, you'll need to find a way to share desktops easily.

TeamViewer offers a simple way of creating desktop sharing sessions with other users whether on a distant PC, local connection or over the internet. Both users will each have an ID and password with which to connect to their session.

Taking control of another PC is a great way to solve issues from a distance and demonstrate things on a desktop without actually being there physically. TeamViewer also allows file transfer and includes a chat function to communicate with your contact.

You can also record sessions and play them back afterward. These can then be used as tutorials or to go back on what you've done in previous sessions.

If you dig in the details you'll be able to choose not only whether to optimize quality or speed, but also configure the amount of access you want to give to your desktop.

The free version of TeamViewer has a number of limitations, and lacks a number of modules like the TeamViewer manager or customer module. If you want more features you'll have to be ready to pay at least €159 for higher end versions.

TeamViewer is a good program to quickly share desktops with another user. The free version will let you create secure sessions and control what you show to your contact over the internet.

Download TeamViewer 3.6.4606 in Softonic

Tor is a toolset designed for anyone who wants to improve their safety and security on the Internet. The application can help you anonymize web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications that use the TCP protocol. Tor also provides a platform on which software developers can build new applications with built-in anonymity, safety, and privacy features.

Tor hushes up your communications by bouncing them around a distributed network of servers, called onion routers. Tor's technology aims to provide Internet users with protection against "traffic analysis," a form of network surveillance that threatens personal anonymity and privacy online, confidential business activities and relationships, as well as state security.

Download Tor Alpha 0.2.0.28 RC in Softonic

Maxthon Internet Browser software is a powerful tabbed browser with a highly customizable interface. It is based on the Internet Explorer browser engine which means that what works in the IE browser will work the same in Maxthon tabbed browser but with many additional efficient features like such as Tabbed Browsing Interface, Mouse Gestures, Super Drag&Drop, Privacy Protection, AD Hunter, RSS Reader, IE Extensions Support, External Utility Bar, Skinning and much more.

Download Maxthon 2.1.2.649 in Softonic

NoNameScript is an enhancement for the IRC client mIRC that aims to satisfy both novice and experienced users.

The script basically adds a series of features to make communicating with your friends easier and more comfortable but with a focus on usability rather than useless features such as "nukers". For instance, there's a simple activity status option with both a pager and log to log your activity. Upcoming events are displayed in a balloon and you've got a customisable toolbar with e-mail checker and lag graph. It's also a solid choice for gamers since it features game support for launching games simply bu clicking on an IP address and selecting a server.

There's a theme editor to givemIRC a different look although when you've used it, you might find that it takes some time to relearn how to use the client because it moves things around so much. In addition to all this, you have a clipboard editor, blacklister, clone scanner, alarm timer, kick/ban/dcc histories and much more.

Any mIRC fan will find something to please in this script although changing the appearance may leave you with more headaches than benefits.

Download NoNameScript 4.21 in Softonic

Although P2P networking still survives as a means of downloading video, audio and software, many people are now turning to torrents as a means of getting hold of their entertainment. While BitTorrent and BitComet rule the roost in terms of on-the-fly downloads, there are a few other pretenders to the crown that are worthy of a mention. BitSprit is definitely up with the best of them, allowing you to grab hold of torrents quickly without any fuss.

The application is significantly easier to use than many of its rivals, however, BitSpirit disappoints compared with its peers when it comes to tracking active downloads. If you would like to access information on your current download then you need to access the torrent itself, rather than relying on the application to provide you with this information.

That's not to say that BitSpirit is a total failure though, and the application boasts many assets to challenge the other contenders in the market. For instance, the app uses very little PC resources, leading to quick, smooth transfers that occur without any annoying program restarts. The program is very easy to pick up and use and save for a major bug when utilising the UPNP, BitSpirit is smooth and effective.

Originally a Chinese program, the app includes some horrible menu translations, making it often difficult to select the right menu option to access your download. That said, managing file download locations and tweaking options are both really simple operations. You are furnished with plenty of flexibility for accessing your downloads, giving you a host of options for choosing the source location and destination of the file.

If you're looking for a BitTorrent client that gives you access to files quickly through a simple interface, then BitSpirit is a worthy app. However, if you want a larger selection of files with a minimal chance of file corruption or hanging then you'd be better off sticking with the more reliable uTorrent or BitComet.

Download BitSpirit 3.3.2.352 in Softonic

When you have too many bookmarks it's difficult to find the one you're looking for. Maybe if you could have a graphic preview of all those web addresses it would be easier, wouldn't it?

This is precisely what Bookmark Previews does for you: create thumbnailed previews of your bookmarks in Firefox so that they're easier to identify. This little tip makes managing bookmarks much easier, and it also gives the bookmark collection a more attractive appearance.

Using this extension is a cinch. Once installed on your browser, it'll add a few new buttons to the Bookmark Manager with which you'll be able to switch between different visualization modes: standard, thumbnail previews and thumbnail reel (a kind of Cover Flow-like list of bookmarks that you can conveniently browse with the mouse wheel.

Bookmark Previews doesn't really add any new functions to the bookmark manager in Firefox; it's more of a visual enhancement. Also, it only creates thumbnails for the bookmarks you add from now on, but not for the ones you already have – these must generated in the background when you first run the extension, and it can take a while. In any case, I couldn't manage to get all my bookmarks thumbnailed – don't know exactly why.

Bookmark Previews lets you manage your bookmarks in a more comfortable way, though sometimes it doesn't create thumbnails for all bookmarks.

Download Bookmark Previews 0.6.5 in Softonic

IPNs (Instant Private Networks) are a useful way to create your own private environments where only you and other invited users are allowed to send and receive files.

This app is great for those that need remote access to their PC, work in a secure environment, or just want to know that they're exchanging files without outside intruders interfering. Remobo creates an Instant Private Network (IPN) between users. It works very much like a chat client meaning it's easy to add and remove users and suitable for even the most novice programmers and users.

By creating an IPN, you can control your home computer and access files while at work or traveling or alternatively, privately share large files like photos & documents between computers. In addition, it allows you to play games online or between friends more securely or just simple chat more securely with friends or colleagues. Probably the best thing about Remobo is that it requires virtually no configuration - it's more a case of telling it what you want to do with it and it configures itself automatically according to your system settings and connection details.

This is an excellent IPN tool although it should not be used as a substitute for a VPN because although it's secure, it can't guarantee user privacy.

Download Remobo 0.12.1 in Softonic

Sometimes you need to be sure that your FTP transfers are not going to get hijacked or intercepted by a third party. Most FTP applications are not designed for secure transfers over SSL which is why WinSCP was developed.

For starters, be warned that WinSCP is not the easiest FTP client to use. Because of the extra security features, it can appear overwhelming at first although it does feature a graphical user interface. It also supports integration with Windows in terms of drag & dropping files, pasting in URL's and shortcuts.

The key to the program is the fact that it supports both SFTP and SCP protocols over SSH-1 and SSH-2. Of course, it also supports normal FTP protocols too. It also features full support for SSH password and Kerberos (GSS) authentication. A particularly nice little addition is the Session Saving option. If you want to save your session configuration, you can use the save button on the login dialogue. In this way, you can make huge FTP file transfers and not worry about stopping and completing it later.

This is not the most user friendly FTP client out there but it must be one of the most secure. If security is your concern, you won't be disappointed by what it offers.

Download WinSCP 4.1.4 Beta in Softonic

Sylpheed is an email client and news reader based on GTK+ GUI toolkit. It's full of features designed to help you get more from your messages and improve the speed at which you receive and process news feeds.

Although it's designed for Unix systems, it also works on Windows although the GUI is not exactly what you might expect from an e-mail client. It's very no thrills with few graphical attractions but as you would expect from a program designed for Unix platforms, it's very secure and functional. The program is also remarkably well-organized, lightweight and supports just about every e-mail protocol you'll ever need. It's also designed for those that need maximum security because it supports not only the standard SSL protocol but also GnuPG and TLSv1.

In addition, it comes with more standard functions you would expect such as a powerful filtering and search tool, junk mail control and external commander that allows you to do away with the mouse for a while. It doesn't seem to allow you to retrieve mail from other POP3 accounts though although there is an extensive forum that no doubt, allows you to do this.

A very secure and highly professional e-mail client that doesn't make it easy for beginners but will certainly please those that need high security and work across platforms.

Download Sylpheed 2.5.0 in Softonic