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.

As the world of P2P TV continues its expansion, new kid on the block is TV Ants. The increasing unreliability of its Chinese cousin PPLive means that increasing numbers of users are changing to this simple but highly effective alternative.

The installation is fortunately pretty simple as everything is in Japanese – it’s simply a case of clicking on “Ok” a few times and away you go. The channel list appears in a simple window and you can reveal more by clicking “Renew”. The channel list is a bizarre mix of Japanese, public and private channels. If you want to find out how American troops keep up their morale in Iraq, check out “TV Pentagon” (the US army’s official channel) or if you’re looking for something a bit more scenic, there’s “TV Canada Tourism”.

Streaming is steady once it gets going and image quality is as good as anything you’ll get on PPLive. There are literally hundreds of channels to choose from although most are obviously of little interest to English viewers. The program is actually a project of Zhejiang University hence the plethora of mainly Asian channels. Its popularity lies in the fact that like most P2P TV apps, the channels broadcast live European football much to the chagrin of the The Premiership, La Liga, Sky Sports,etc.

Other channels include music, movies, news and fashion, mostly from Asian sources. Most of this can be found on Shanghai TV, Gungdong TV and Goal TV. Schedules can be found on various P2P forums around the net such as Free Football and you’ll certainly need them to get the most out of TV Ants.

DefaultBrowser allows you set the default web browser for your user profile in Windows XP, without affecting the other users. Note that the user interface in Windows XP does not provide an option for setting the default browser for each user. The browsers you see in the Preset Configuration are tested and working flawlessly as user defaults.

Apart from the Presets list, there is an option at the bottom which allows you choose the Web Browser program file and set it as the default. You may use this section if your favorite browser is not listed with-in the Presets. As you read in the dialog, this method does not work with all the browsers. Some browsers pass command-line arguments for the respective file associations and some use their own type libraries. If the results are not satisfactory using this method, you can undo the configuration by clicking the "Clear Per-User setting....." button.

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.

Interclue helps you save loads of time if you're constantly browsing the web, as it lets you preview the content of any links before actually clicking on them.

This Firefox extension runs in the background until you leave your mouse on any web link for a while. Then it triggers a special overlay window with interesting information about the web page that link takes to. This information may include a thumbnail, a summary of the content, some simple stats and even the page's RSS feed, if it has one. However take into account that some of the data may be missing in certain pages.

Interclue features an extensive settings menu with which you can tweak the extension's functionalities, as well as a fun statistics system that tracks down the amount of time Interclue has supposedly saved you.

With Interclue you can quickly scan through all the links on a web page without having to open them one by one.

Email Verifier verifies email addresses from mailing list to determine if they are still valid. The Utility allow you easy clean up your contact lists and remove "bad" emails.

"E-mail Verifier is your powerful solution to save money and time for any person who send email messages and needs to maintain a clean email mailing list."

The Network LookOut Administrator Professional allows you to see live screens of remote computers. This way, you can always watch what users are doing on the remote computer. Additionally, you have the ability to take control of a remote computer by controlling the mouse and keyboard; this is especially useful when you need to assist the person who uses the remote computer. If you are an administrator, you can easily administer remote computers.

Features:

• For monitoring your children’s activities on a remote computer
• For monitoring students in the classroom to achieve better discipline or, just to assist them (by using the remote control feature) when they are in trouble
• For lowering your business costs by monitoring what your employees are doing on their computers and helping them when they call you. Using the remote control feature enables you to fix problems remotely without visiting them; this saves you precious time
• For administrating all computers just from one location – your computer

Network Inventory Expert allows you to make up a network inventory without installation of software on the user's PCs. This program allows you to get quick and complete information about operational systems, service packs, hotfixes, hardware, installed software and running processes on remote PCs. You can also create reports about the hardware, installed software, and running processes on the computers in your network.

NetInfo is a collection of 15 different state-of-the-art network tools on a single, easy-to-use interface. Designed from first-hand experience, NetInfo allows businesses to more effectively combat network downtime by allowing network administrators, webmasters, and Internet service providers to more accurately isolate faults, simplify processing of diagnostic data and increase internal network security.

Main Features:

Connections

Displays all local TCP/IP connections and their foreign connection IP address

Ping

Allows you to quickly verify network connectivity to another IP address on the network

Trace

Displays a list of routers between your system and the destination system

Lookup

Allows you to perform DNS forward and reverse lookup queries

Finger

Displays information about users currently logged on to a specified server

Whois

Allows you to query contact information for domains registered with a Whois server

Kiwi CatTools is a freeware application that provides automated device configuration management on routers, switches and firewalls. Support is provided for Cisco / 3Com / Extreme / Foundry / HP / Netscreen / Multicom devices and more.

Kiwi CatTools can be used to:

• Perform configuration backups and have any differences instantly e-mailed to you
• Issue commands via Telnet or SSH to many devices at once
• Change the configuration at scheduled times
• Change all your network device passwords in one go

This configuration management tool is also fully scriptable, has a built-in TFTP server, supports SSH, Telnet and more.

Good looking, intuitive, customizable and light-weight, BlogBridge is a hugely impressive newsreader package.

BlogBridge aims to keeps you informed about the state of your subscriptions while sticking to a basic, straightforward system. On the first run, you are given the option to register and pick from a predefined list of blog “guides” or groups. The next step is to enter custom terms that are of particular interest to the user, so that the program can highlight these terms, giving them more prominence. This is a welcome alternative to what seems to be the accepted approach, which consists of bundling of all kinds of feeds of which the majority are of no interest to the user at all.

One of our favourite features was the easy-to-use rating system where users can give feeds a score from one to five stars. The ratings can then be used as a filter to show only the top feeds, making it easy to scan through the most relevant news quickly. What’s more, there are multiple options for customizing the interface, which is by far the best that we’ve seen to date. Other great features come in the form of tags for feeds and a synchronization system for using the reader on multiple computers without the need to sort through the same information more than once.

Extra merit goes with the fact that BlogBridge is an Open Source project, and although it seems secure and stable there are a few minor usability issues that could be improved upon. The program relies on an external browser to display blog sites, letting it concentrate on being a great feed reader. Annoyingly, however it doesn’t detect the default browser. With the browser selected, it then opened everything twice whether it was an article or the programs FAQ page. Even taking these hiccups into consideration, BlogBridge remains a quality package, so if you are searching for an RSS reader, your search has just come to an end.

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

Vuze’s interface is a complete shake-up to what Azureus users are used to. The bittorrent developer has decided to focus on online multimedia content and introduce user participation. The first thing the user sees is a list of thumbnails of the latest videos uploaded to Vuze. You can browse these files by using the left side menu, divided in time, main channels and tags. The menu at the top also links to hot and new content. Vuze takes the web 2.0 road and you’ll see that most of the files have tags. You can write out a comment and leave a rating. The program also makes it a no brainer to send a video by email and link to content directly from your blog or website. There’s also a little diggit tag for each file, to submit them to the ultra famous social news site. It’s still a shame that Azureus omitted all the other famous social networking sites like del.icio.us or reddit. Maybe in a few months?

If you’re only interested in using Vuze as a torrent client, click the “Advanced tab” and you will be taken to the original Azureus interface. You can open up the gazillion configuration options that have come to define this as the most exhaustive bittorrent client on the planet. There’s even access to extra plug-ins like 3D view, RSS feed scanner or share exporter.

We won’t expand on the qualities of the Azureus client, for which you can read a review here. Vuze tries to innovate by adding social tools to the program and providing legal content. There’s up to nine channels to choose from, be it Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom Sabotage the Film School or Travel, yet we were disappointed with the content in general. On some channels there’s very little to watch and on others you don’t necessarily find what you were hoping for. The trailers channel for example, offers new video games trailers instead of releases of movies. However, with Azureus striking up a partnership with the BBC, you’ll soon get Dr Who, The League of Gentleman and Invasion Earth and surely other content providers will flock to Vuze. Taking this into account, Vuze also includes a special tag to let you know if a file is High Definition or not.

On the downside Vuze does nothing to atone the principal drawback to Azureus: the over extensive use of PC memory. Yes, Vuze is still a bandwidth hog, and there’s nothing to do about it. We also find the new interface to be incredibly cluttered. The old downloads and currently downloading windows are too similar to have to be separated and we don’t understand why Vuze includes a Library tab when you can access content straight from the Home tab.

While the whole interface felt a bit clunky, and the number of legal content is still limited, Vuze is a promising application for sharing and enjoying legal content. If you’re already hooked on the original Azureus bittorrent client, take a leap into the future with Vuze.

Soulseek(tm) is a unique ad-free, spyware free, and just plain free file sharing application. One of the things that makes Soulseek(tm) unique is its community and community-related features. Based on peer-to-peer technology, virtual rooms allow you to meet people with the same interests, share information, and chat freely using real-time messages in public or private.

Soulseek(tm), with its built-in people matching system, is a great way to make new friends and expand your mind. Soulseek(tm) does not endorse nor condone the sharing of copyrighted materials. You should only share and download files which you are legally allowed to or have otherwise received permission to share. By using this network you agree to this and the other rules which are linked to from this page.

The intention of Soulseek(tm) is to help unsigned and/or independent artists find a place in the ever-growing music industry, in a place where discussion and the creation of music can take place. Use of this network for what may be deemed illegal in nature may see users prosecuted by law, and the owners and/or operators of the Soulseek(tm) network do not offer protection from said incidents.

Personas for Firefox is a special extension that improves theme management for Firefox and makes it easier.

So far, applying a new theme to your favorite web browser implies searching for it on Google, downloading the correspondent file to your PC, installing it on Firefox and then restarting the browser in order to see the results. Personas makes this whole process much simpler: just install the extension and you'll see a tiny button on the lower left corner of your browser window. Then, every time you want to apply a new theme to Firefox, simply click on this button and select it from the context menu.

Personas for Firefox currently includes about fifty themes, but chances are there'll be more in the near future, especially if we take into account that this extension also makes theme designing and updating much easier. I guess we'll have to wait patiently as you can't add any new themes to the menu, but use only the ones that come shipped with the extension.

The included themes are classified into several categories (Firefox, Holidays, Nature, Scenery, Sports and others) for a more convenient browsing. Though some of them make menu bars really hard to read, many others give a nice touch of color to the browser window. Also, bear in mind that the themes only change the main window's appearance – icons and menus remain the same.

Despite the limitations of a first version, Personas for Firefox is a great extension to change your browser's appearance in just two clicks.

Ever tried to send media or files to your friends? How much time did you waste compressing, resizing or even, burning a CD? Imagine a program designed to take care of all that for you, designed for people who hate to waste time as much as you do. That's Swapper, free software for fast media swapping with friends.

You can use Swapper for privately sending music, photos and videos to your friends. Swapper is a tiny application that takes seconds to install. To make things even easier, no registration necessary since you can use your existing AOL, Google, MSN or Yahoo ID to authenticate.

It's as easy as sending an email. To get started, click New Swap, drag-n-drop the files you want to send and enter your friends' emails. Your friends will automatically receive an email with instructions to pick up the files, and upload their own for you.

Swaps work like emails: when you are starting a new Swap, enter all of your friends' contact or email and attach your files. Each of them will be included in the swap and will be able to download the files and add their own, securely. It's also possible to Invite friends to an ongoing discussion -- or forward a file you liked to start a new swap with some other people, all in one click.

Fast

Swapper automatically compresses your media when sending and securely caches the files. As a result, your transfers are up to 100 times faster - or just instantaneous when resending something that's already been swapped.

Secure

All communications in Swapper are encrypted and password protected. What happens in Swapper stays in Swapper.

Works with email

To start swapping, simply enter your friend's email. Your friend will instantly receive an email with a link to access your files.

Online and Offline

Unlike Instant Messaging programs, with Swapper you can send files to friends that are offline.

Mp3 Rocket promises users free downloads including music, movies, games, TV shows & more.
It claims to offer over 12 million songs from its network with unlimited downloads allowed, no monthly fees or bandwidth limits.

Mp3 Rocket is based on the Limewire network and comes bundled with a CD burner tailored to the program so that you can easily make copies of your favourite multimedia files.

Manolito is a new Spanish based P2P app based on UDP rather than TCP/IP meaning you can share your favourite music and films quicker.

The application is easy to use. To begin, simply enter your search terms in the search field and from the symbols appearing next to the files you can tell what file type the available files are saved as.

Along the right you can also see the size of the files. File sizes can vary dramatically depending on their quality. Obviously larger files will take longer to download so, depending on your connection to the Internet, choose your downloads wisely.

You should also try, if possible, to download your chosen file from a user with a fast connection.

Enhance your P2P sharig today with Manolito.

Cabos may not be as famous as Limewire or eMule but it remains a very good peer to peer file sharing client.

In fact, users of Limewire will immediately find the similarities in Cabos' interface. Your network, downloads and uploads are easily accessible from the menu on the left. Elements in these sections will be displayed in a list in the center of the interface. The search box on the top left is the best way to look for content, and given that Cabos makes use of Gnutella, the third biggest peer to peer network, you're guaranteed to find what you're looking for. Thanks to iTunes integration, you can search for tracks or videos stored in Apple's media player directly from Cabos.

The peer to peer client may not have any advanced features and you may not always benefit from ultrafast connection speeds, however it remains a very simple to use P2P application. What worries us though is that the client has not been updated for a while, and could be in need of some improvements.

Cabos is an easy to use P2P client which makes use of the third biggest peer to peer network, Gnutella.

Morpheus is one of those age old P2P applications and, with support for Gnutella, eDonkey, Bittorrent and many others, probably the most versatile you can find on the market. The new version aims to turn the P2P client into the ultimate multimedia application. Does it succeed?

Morpheus has gone through a complete facelift and the new version brings a newer interface. The window is divided into 4 tabs: search results, my files, podcasts and Morpheus online, giving you an idea of what it considers important. A pane on the left side allows you to create playlists or keep track of searches and videos – although strangely not music. Morpheus lets you also sync all your downloaded files to import them automatically to iTunes. Oddly enough, the chat tool is now hidden at the top of the interface, next to help and preferences.

Morpheus wants to appear as a multifaceted app, not just a simple P2P program. It includes an embedded browser, Morpheus Online, from which you can check-out the internet or find new files to share while you’re downloading. This is particularly useful when you’re looking for new podcasts. By clicking on the podcast page button in the podcasts tab, you will be taken to Morpheus’ own podcast library. While it’s not as star studded as the iTunes library, it’s full of varied and original content. The podcast tab is wisely divided into podcast and episodes, so you can browse through what you’ve downloaded. However we were quite confused by the whole podcast downloading procedure. The progress bar is hidden in the file window of the My Files tab. Why didn’t Morpheus leave this in the podcast section?

Morpheus has also beefed-up its security. You can now select your antivirus application to automatically scan downloaded files. The program also includes solid parental control so you can enter hazardous terms into the block list to avoid your kids searching for violent or pornographic material. You can also add a password to make sure you control who has access to Morpheus. The application also introduces UDP technology to improve the performance of downloads and allow secure file sharing between 2 firewall protected PCs.

This new version comes with many interesting enhancements, but not enough to get us overexcited. Add to that the many drawbacks we found in the application. The interface for example is way too clunky, and it’s safe to say that lies in the two large ads at the top and the bottom of the program (which disappear if you buy the Pro version). The “My Files” tab has an additional file window at the bottom, which adds to the confusion in the interface. The one click burning function is something we were eager to try out but was nowhere to be seen.

However hard Morpheus tries at integrating cool features like web browsing or podcasting, we figure the application should only be used for what it’s good at i.e.P2P downloading. The program gives access to all the P2P networks, even Bittorrent, and the new version introduces safer and quicker transfer thanks to UDP technology. The other extra features in the application like the library structure or web browser felt a bit awkward, and therefore failed at turning the program into a true multimedia application. Let’s hope Morpheus gets it right in the future.

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.