The most notable changes in Firefox 10 are bug fixes, better extension management, an auto-hiding forward button, improvements to CSS3 capabilities, antialiasing support for WebGL as well as some other minor additions.

The slight disadvantage of Firefox 10 is that many add-ons won't work from the start until the developers have upgraded them although the beta testing period for version 9 should have given them chance to do so. The interface in Firefox 10 is pretty much the same as Firefox 9, with a minimalist toolbar and hidden buttons.

Firefox 10 isn't a revolution in the development of Firefox, but there are some useful improvements that still make it a decent browser.

Download Mozilla Firefox 10.0.1 in Softonic

In fact, FrostWire has more than just a few similarities to Limewire, although unlike the latter, it does not carry advertising and there are no annoying pop-ups. Just as Limewire was, FrostWire is straightforward and easy to use. A simple search bar, divided by category, makes it a breeze to browse for a file, whether it is a video, image, audio, or program. FrostWire also has a What’s New button to check out what popular files users have recently exchanged.

One particularly handy feature of FrostWire is a special direct connect option. If you know the IP address of one of your friends, type it in the box and FrostWire will browse to that user’s files. This is a quick way of sharing files with someone you know although it would be even better if you could enter the username of a user rather than the IP address.

In terms of speed, much will depend on the speed of your own connection. It definitely helps though if you've correctly opened your router's ports and whether you’re downloading a popular file or not. To avoid the risk of downloading copyrighted or adult material, FrostWire also allows you to apply content filters. Another handy feature of FrostWire is a built-in media player. Video and audio can be tested using Frostwire’s media player which gives you an immediate preview of your file.

It should be noted that FrostWire is basically a stripped-down version of Limewire, but is a not-for-profit project. The developer claims it will never support Digital Rights Management (DRM) or any type of advertising. However, the demise of Limewire due to legal issues mean that FrostWire may well be targeted in the future for closure.

FrostWire for Mac is a hugely popular alternative for anyone who misses Limewire.

Download FrostWire 5.3.2 5.3.2 in Softonic

Thunderbird is Mozilla's award winning and free solution to manage your mail more efficiently. And there are many advantages of switching to it too. Unlike Mail for example, it can handle virtual identities and create on-the-fly addresses and it's widely regarded as having one of the best spam filters out there. The fact that like Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird can be beefed up with all manner of extensions makes it an extremely competitive mail client. It's also now much faster and more stable than before due to the new Gecko 5 engine.

Getting going

Setting up Mozilla Thunderbird is painless. You can quickly import your mail and contacts from your Outlook or Mail account and set up POP3, IMAP or SMTP accounts in a flash. To stay well organized, Mozilla Thunderbird offers filters to deliver your mail into separate folders and inboxes. And of course, there's a built-in spell checker to make sure that your mails are professionally crafted.

What makes Mozilla Thunderbird slightly more unusual is the fact that it comes with an integrated RSS reader. Nowadays, this is a little outdated because many people use a separate application - or even Firefox itself - to follow RSS feeds but it may be useful if you only want to mail and follow RSS feeds at the same time when composing mails.

Searching your mail

The search tool in Thunderbird is excellent and searches happen in real time as you type. Search results are displayed in a separate tab. Tabs in general are a very big part of Thunderbird and like Firefox, you can have multiple messages open in separate tabs. This is a fantastic feature of Thunderbird although does tempt you to have too many mails open at once. Archiving is also another handy feature for those that don't want to delete messages but want to clear space in their inbox.

So what about security? You might think an open-source mail client would inherently be less secure than a paid one but Thunderbird is surprisingly secure with a fairly bulletproof spam filter. The reason being is that Thunderbird is regularly updated and crafted by volunteers who's main interest is making a better product rather than profiting from an end-product. Security updates are regular but small so as not to slow-down Thunderbird.

Exchange support

One of the biggest selling points of Mozilla Thunderbird is that it offers Microsoft Exchange support, meaning it will appeal to Office users who previously discounted it.

On the downside, the app is lacking some finesse in certain areas. Thunderbird still doesn't have conversation style email views like in Gmail (although an extension to do this can be downloaded separately) and there aren't many options for managing attachments and photos. There's also no calendar but again, this can be downloaded separately in the form of "Lightning".

Overall, Thunderbird is an excellent free alternative to Microsoft Outlook.

<<

Download Mozilla Thunderbird 10.0.1 in Softonic

FlashGot is a free Mozilla Firefox (and Thunderbird) extension that's designed for people who do a lot of downloading. It can handle large numbers of batch downloads with its own download manager. This simple but powerful plugin can even handle batch downloads for many anonymous or redirected download link services such as depositfiles.com, fileserve.com, filesonic.com, hotfile.com, megaupload.com, netload.in, rapidshare.com, uploading.com, uploaded.to, ul.to, zshare.com.

FlashGot is very easy to use, and has lots of customization options that means you'll be able to tweak it just to your liking - you can modify everything from what action takes place when you click a link to what options appear in the FlashGot menu. It also supports a vast number of download managers, which means that you can continue to use favorites like IDM and DAP.

No more clicking multiple links and "Save as" - FlashGot simply scans the page for downloadable links and then you select which ones you need.

Download FlashGot 1.3.8 in Softonic

Featuring a powerful plugin-based framework and boasting over 350 plugins, Miranda IM is one of the most flexible and customisable messaging clients on the planet.

Download Miranda IM 0.9.43 in Softonic

Besides the features we already knew from previous versions, such as the download manager, incognito browsing mode and bookmark syncing, Google Chrome has other great functions based on user feedback. One of the most eye-catching new features Google Chrome is support to recognize speech input through HTML. In certain circumstances, like when you're using Google Translate, you'll be able to actually speak to your browser and have your words translated and spoken back to you.

Chrome’s sandboxing technology has been extended to the built-in Flash Player, thus increasing your safety while browsing the web. Also, Chrome now lets you sync passwords across computers – a great feature for those of you who are constantly switching between different computers. Google Chrome maintains the same impressive usability and ease of use. With zero learning curve, you immediately feel in your element and there's no need to start testing new shortcuts or reading the documentation.

If you're considering making the switch from old favorites like Firefox or Internet Explorer, Google Chrome is definitely an excellent choice for a new web browser.

Google Chrome, Google's browser, mixes a clean, minimalist interface with a variety of powerful tools that make it a great browser.

Download Google Chrome 17 in Softonic

Easy to use

Unlike some video conferencing applications, Oovoo is very easy to get running with your webcam and it can handle very high quality cameras - up to 2 megapixels, depending on the speed of your connection. During chats and video calls, you can add video effects such as sepia, blurring and morphing, something that sets it apart from other popular VoIP apps like Skype.

Outstanding Features

With ooVoo you can talk face-to-face with up to six people, add an ooVoo link to your blog or online profiles (so others can instantly add you to their contacts), send and receive video messages and, best of all, it's completely free. You will need to create an Oovoo account however, which, as registrations go, is fairly painless.

What's really nice about ooVoo, though, is the ability to place your contacts, and their video images, down the side of your screen in a sidebar simultaneously. This way, you can chat away to all of them at the same time and see them at once.

Set-up

Once you've started the setup process, you'll be asked to create an ooVoo username and password. You'll also be asked to add a few friends and contacts to your ooVoo account although if you don't know anyone using ooVoo, you can simply elect to send invites and hope that they sign up.

OOvoo’s an impressive video chat app, although it would be interesting to see how it performs when multiple users are trying have a video conference.

Download ooVoo 3.0.11.47 in Softonic

Download NeoDownloader 2.9.1 in Softonic

Virtual WiFi Router is pretty easy to set up itself, but before you start you need to make sure your you have Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. correctly configured (the developer has made instructions).

Once your PC is ready, simply open Virtual WiFi Router, select your modem from the drop-down menu and then choose a WiFi network name and password. From now, other WiFi devices will be able to connect to yours if they have the password. This is great if you are using a 3G modem and want to share your connection.

Virtual WiFi Router could be improved if it automated the Windows setup process, but even so it's a neat little application that can come in really useful.

Download Virtual WiFi Router 2.0.1.5 in Softonic

With Skype you can not only have voice chats on your computer – just like telephone, only for free – but also make real phone calls at much lower rates, using the SkypeOut service and paying with Skype credit. Besides voice chats, Skype also includes standard IM functionalities (written conversations, emoticons, user avatars and so on) and also lets you have group video conferences.

Improved video interface

These video calls are precisely the main focus on Skype's latest version. The program's interface has been completely redesigned with video conferences on mind. This means it's been made wider so that video fits in perfectly with your written chat, your contact list and a toolbar to manage conversation. The new interface is transformed when you make a call, getting rid of all the clutter, so you just see the video images, and controls. Group video is still being tested in this version, and it's pretty cool.

The sound quality during our testing was perfect: loud and clear. Video sometimes appeared a bit pixelated, but nothing we couldn't really deal with. There was also one nice detail, and that's the ability to see your own video image built-in on your contact's video, and the option to take a snapshot of your own image.

Facebook integration

The other major development is Facebook integration. This is a pretty big thing, as not only does it give you your news feed in the app - anyone can do that - but adds call and sms buttons to any of your friends who share their contact numbers. If you’ve paid for Skype minutes, you can call your Facebook friends, and if they’re also signed in to Skype you can call them for free. One of the best new features is the automatic call recovery - drop a call and it’s put in pause. Restarting it is now really easy.

Skype 5 features a complete interface overhaul that now focuses more on video chats, and also adds some handy improvements to the way you communicate online.

Download Skype 5.8 in Softonic

Bittorrent and Gnutella might be hogging the headlines of the peer to peer (P2P) world, but close behind comes Ares. Installing Ares only takes a few minutes and the interface is simple enough that anybody will feel comfortable with it.

When you start Ares, it lets you auto-scan your PC to find files you might like to share on the network. Beginners will be relieved to know that there is no complex configuration process - all you need to do is select the search tab and type the name of the file you want. Once it appears, double click to begin downloading. You’ll be able to check progress in the transfer tab. The recent update adds bittorrent support, opening Ares up to loads of new content.

If you enjoy communicating with other users, click on the chat tab and connect to one of the thousands of channels available. You can pick up tips on how to use Ares better, ask which files other users recommend or just talk about your life in general. You can even insert emoticons into your conversation and keep a list of your favorite chat channels.

Of all the P2P programs, Ares probably features the widest preview screen. You can set it to fit to screen or adjust it to your preference. This is a great way of making sure you’re downloading the right movie or to get a sneak peak at your downloads.

Unlike WinMX or FileNavigator, the two other spin-off Gnutella projects, Ares did not drop into obscurity and unites a flourishing community of users. However, the same old problems seem to arise. According to many Ares users, the application suffers from connection problems that make it difficult to properly search for a file or successfully complete downloads. Others will worry that Ares is a smaller network than the globally used Gnutella and does not offer as many download sources.

Ares is an ambitious project, and the fact that it still remains standing while eDonkey has fallen is characteristic of its reliability. Thanks to a strong community of users, a simple interface, a great preview page and multichat service, it's a sharing app that's still going strong.

Ares is the P2P app of choice for anybody interested in sharing files over the internet.

Download Ares 2.1.8 in Softonic

This means that your communications will be safe from prying eyes at all times, creating a private channel between both computers. Of course, Hamachi can also be used in local area networks (LAN) for extra safety.

Hamachi features a simple interface that enables you to create personal safe networks in just a couple of steps. At first sight, it all looks very easy to use. Plus your connection is conveniently protected by an AES-256 algorithm.

Complications arise later on when trying to share files between computers: you'll have to do it through network sharing on Windows because it's not a feature Hamachi itself supports. In the end, I have to admit we were unable to share files over Hamachi during our tests – you know how stubborn Windows folder sharing configuration can get. Oh well, at least we could have a chat – a very safe one, of course.

Hamachi is a great solution to establish safe, private P2P connections between two computers; unfortunately it's not as easy to use as it seems at first sight.

Download Hamachi 2.1.0.158 in Softonic

Miro uses open protocols to let you subscribe to video channels and video blogs that are fed in via RSS, and uses BitTorrent to download the files. You can also watch videos from Youtube and Dailymotion, or use it to subscribe to a Youtube channel you like, for example. Miro supports video playlists and can resume playback just where you stopped. You can even watch those videos on a separate window while you keep on browsing Miro's Guide

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

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

Download Miro 4.0.6 in Softonic

This simple app allows you to search the web for your favorite bands and songs, and download them straight away to your hard drive. No complicated settings, no endless web browsing, no hassle. Songr uses 16 different music search engines to find the songs you want, so the chances of finding what you are looking for are quite high.

Songr isn’t just limited only to music and MP3, however. You can also use it to download YouTube videos and buy your favorite songs from Amazon, eMusic, Rhapsody and Zune. Another outstanding feature in Songr is the ability to search songs by their lyrics – it’s really worth a try!

Songr works pretty well and is very easy to use. A few more improvements (like the ability to pause or queue downloads) and it'll be great.

Songr is a simple-to-use app with which you can search for and download music easily.

Download Songr 1.9.32 in Softonic

MailWasher Pro lets you safely preview and delete bad email before it gets to your computer meaning if it doesn't contain anything harmful, it won't affect your computer. MailWasher is very easy to use. The developers claim that they took the view that if you can't understand how to use a piece of software in under 5 minutes then it's probably always going to be hard to use.

MailWasher Pro analyzes each email as it arrives and warns you if it is suspected junk mail or a virus. There's no real need for you to know this and it would have been better if they'd just blocked everything harmful full stop but at least you know.

The look and feel is like that of Outlook Express and it can be used with the former plus Outlook, Eudora, Netscape, Incredimail and several other major mail clients. This is a powerful program although unless you suffer from serious spam problems, it's not really worth the effort.

Download MailWasher Pro 2012 in Softonic

If this sounds a bit much to pull of well you'd be right. SeaMonkey is a bit of an outdated concept nowadays and it's no surprise that it carried on the work that Netscape started many years ago. It's a lot to get right in one go but this latest release sees SeaMonkey finally brought up to date for the demands of internet users today. And you know from the start it can't be that bad - under the hood, SeaMonkey is based on the same Mozilla source code which powers such things as Firefox, Thunderbird, Camino, Sunbird and Miro.

The similarities of SeaMonkey with Firefox are obvious from the start and with good reason. SeaMonkey 2.0 has been refurbished with a modern version of Firefox based on Firefox 3.5.4 and is now much closer to Firefox as far as user profiles, add-ons, and functionality of user interface elements are concerned. Tabs in SeaMonkey can now be reopened after they have been closed and the way passwords and usernames are handled has been overhauled. To select another part of the suite you want to use, just go to the 'Window' option in the Menu Bar and select either Browser, Mail and Newsgroups, Address Book, IRC Chat and Composer.

There are several other major improvements in SeaMonkey related to the mail client. Setting up an account is easy and retrieving e-mail using the IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) protocol is now faster and mail is synchronized by default by your computer. And at long last, email accounts, folders, and messages can be viewed in tabs.

On the downside, in terms of looks, SeaMonkey hasn't changed an awful lot despite the release of Windows 7. The IRC chat client still looks very basic, techy and intimidating too. Also, some people feel that the new SeaMonkey has moved too far away from it's original Netscape origins in look, functionality and feel. Finally, there seems there is no basic import function to import passwords from earlier versions of Seamonkey or even Firefox, which is a bit annoying.

SeaMonkey will still probably still only appeal to those that have used it from version 1.0 but there's no doubt that this latest release makes it a much more competitive web suite.

Download SeaMonkey 2.6.1 in Softonic