Similar to WhatsApp Messenger and Skype, Tango is primarily used on your PC to connect with Android and iPhone users. If your friends have Tango on their smartphones with data plans or Wi-Fi, you can call their phone for free without leaving your computer.

Tango's PC version interface is identical to the mobile version, with a default skin made to look like an iPhone. If that isn't to your preference, you can change this skin in the options.

Using Tango is simple. Add your phone number and the numbers of the friends you want to call. From there, you're just one simple click away from chatting.

Video and sound quality in Tango is impressive, although it might vary by device and connection. Tango's controls are also very simple. The options let you specify how you sort your contacts, let you set up the webcam, change Tango's skin and look for updates. Unfortunately, you can't do much more beyond that by way of customization.

With the ability to video and audio chat with friends' smartphones from the comfort of your PC, Tango is a welcome addition to communication apps.

Download Tango 1.6.14117 in Softonic

So, if you fancy turning yourself into an alien or a talking dog, CyberLink YouCam is probably for you. The application works with most major messaging clients, including Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Yahoo Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger.

All the effects included in CyberLink YouCam are organized in different tabs, and their results can be applied in real time. They include original backgrounds, all sorts of clipart and comic-like effects, hats and fake beards for yourself and even a free-hand drawing tool. Besides the fun part, CyberLink YouCam also includes a video surveillance utility that can help you keep control of your property without spending a fortune in a surveillance system.

The most recent release of CyberLink YouCam features the amazing augmented reality technology, thanks to which you can interact with 3D virtual objects in the video preview window. Thanks to the support for HD video and TrueTheater, the effects in CyberLink YouCam are more realistic than ever.

CyberLink YouCam is a fun tool that will spice up any web chat, although some of the effects are more realistic than others.

Download CyberLink YouCam 5.0.2219 in Softonic

The most basic feature of ArcSoft WebCam Companion is its capture mode, a function that allows you to take photo and video images with your webcam and save, email or print them. There is also an editing feature, but although it allows you to directly upload your videos to YouTube, its editing tools are nothing too amazing.

In terms of fun, ArcSoft WebCam Companion lets you morph yourself with a range of photos and apply fun frames to your image screen, although this feature was not working properly during our test. The masque function, as the morphing is called, is silly but entertaining, and if you get bored of the pre-selected images, you can always make your own template from any .JPEG image.

The monitoring function is one that sets ArcSoft WebCam Companion apart from it competitors. Setting up the feature is easy, and our tests in the Softonic office showed that it works. ArcSoft WebCam Companion keeps an extensive log of all activity detected and can chose notify you by email or FTP if it detects anything to be worried about. A single monitoring session can last for 18 hours, detecting motion, faces or both.

Although you can customize both individual modes and the program as a whole, I came away from ArcSoft WebCam Companion feeling that it didn't have quite as much flexibility and choice as that offered by its competitors. On the plus side, practical, fun and serious is a combination not offered by many and is something that has to stand in its favor.

ArcSoft WebCam Companion offers a good choice of functions, but still left me feeling flat.

Download ArcSoft WebCam Companion 3.0.0.117 in Softonic

YouCam and easily be the main photo and video application for your Windows 8 tablet. It launches quickly and has a ton of effects to mess around with. You can choose frames, video effects, photo effects, and distortion filters.

You can easily switch between taking photos and videos with the slider on the top right. Taking pictures is snappy and they show up immediately in the camera roll. YouCam allows you to add effects to photos and videos after they have been taken.

Other than all the silly photo and video effects, YouCam is pretty basic. There's an eye icon on the top left that allows you to "enhance" your image or video. I found that it just boosts the exposure.

Overall, YouCam is a simple, easy to use photo and video application that you can comfortably use as your default photo and video application on Windows 8. Its not as much of a copy of Apple's Photo booth as Photo Booth for Windows 7 and we appreciate YouCam trying to differentiate itself.

Although its effects are a bit gimmicky, its ease of use and snappy interface makes it a recommended program.

Download YouCam for Windows 8 in Softonic

But the most interesting part of ArcSoft Magic-i Visual Effects is probably the special effects.

This means, of course, that you must have it running in the background while video-chatting.