Choosing a multimedia player used to be a real no-brainer. However, during recent times the raft of new features and updates added to classic media players like Winamp, Windows Media Player, and even iTunes have left the apps increasingly bloated. For those looking for a fresh alternative to these ballooning apps, KMPlayer could be your ticket.

Like similar app UMPlayer, KMPlayer has a small desktop footprint and its minimalist interface makes video playback quick and hassle-free. The player's interface is fully skinable, and there are some nice aesthetic touches, such as the changing of colour on the player with every new track.

There are all sorts of options to help you pimp and customize KMPlayer, such as visualizations, plug-ins and playback options. But the beauty of KMPlayer is that these are turned on at your request rather than being forced upon you at the outset.

KMPlayer handles both audio and video, and supports a wide range of different formats, meaning that once installed, you should never need to touch another player. Video playback is particularly impressive thanks to the range of processing tools available that allow you to sharpen, change picture properties, apply filters and even make video captures from within the program.

If you're looking for a customizable, light yet powerful video player, KMPlayer is exactly what you need.

Download KMPlayer 3.2.0.0 in Softonic

VLC media player is the most successful free open source multimedia player out there with over 500 million downloads according to the developers. In particular, VLC media player is a great alternative to Windows Media Player, iTunes, and RealPlayer. It's lightweight, fast, easy to use and most importantly, plays almost anything.

It's been two and a half years since version 1.0 was released and version 2 ("Twoflower") brings a new interface, faster decoding, support for more formats and the ability to play HD and BluRay. It still remains however the most stable, flexible and lightweight audio and video player around today. While other media players will play unusual formats after downloading a codec, or simply refuse to play things, VLC media player handles tons of formats, from MPEG to FLV and RMBV files. Version 2 has seen some important additions too such as support for 10 bit codes plus multi-threaded decoding for H.264, MPEG-4/Xvid and WebM.

Also useful is the fact that you can use VLC media player to preview files you are downloading since it plays incomplete parts of video files. VLC media player is not just for video playback however. It also offers superb integration with video channel streaming services such as Channels.com giving you access to channels such as ESPN, Reuters and National Geographic. Just right-click or CMD-click on the playlist, select Services Discovery and Channels.com. Channels.com will then appear in your VLC media player playlist. Click on it to reveal the the different categories of channels available. Click on the category you want and a drop down list of all available channels appears in VLC media player. Just click on the channel you want to watch and streaming should begin almost immediately.

VLC media player also has great hotkey support and if you take the time to learn the shortcuts so it can be controlled without touching your mouse. If you're watching DVDs or video files through it, this is not an issue. For music, it plays more or less any file and features an equalizer and playlist creation. VLC media player isn't as intuitive as iTunes as a media manager, but it's a much more flexible player in terms of file formats. You can even use VLC to convert your files, and on top of all the formats and physical media it will play, many streaming protocols and TV capture cards are supported.

VLC media player makes it easy to add subtitles to your video files too - just add the SRT file to the folder where your video is kept, and it will automatically play with subtitles.

Finally, the interface has been somewhat improved in version 2 although it remains strictly functional. However, you can download skins to completely change VLC media player's appearance. The preferences menu is comprehensive without being overwhelming, and there is extensive documentation online.

Don't forget to check out some of our blog posts such as VLC media player v KMPlayer, How to rotate a video with VLC media player, How to sync audio with video in VLC media player and How to use subtitles with VLC media player.

VLC Media Player is quite simply the best multimedia application for Windows and Mac. It plays just about anything, hassle free - what more could you need?

Download VLC media player 2.0.1 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 5.9.0.115 in Softonic

Photoscape includes just about everything you need to view, optimize, edit, print and have fun with your photos. In fact, it's so complete that many would call it a free Photoshop alternative. Sure, it's not quite up to the level of Photoshop, but it's truly a great alternative to Adobe's big shot - and it makes photo editing a lot more fun!

One of the first striking elements in Photoscape is its uncommon interface design. From the program's main window you can choose what you want to do: view pictures, optimize those that didn't come out so well, print several photos on a single page collage-style or perhaps add any of the dozens of filters and special effects included in the program.

Other extra tools featured in Photoscape are a file renamer, a color picker, a screen capture tool and even a RAW converter.

There's really nothing negative to say about Photoscape. Just download it, test it, love it and keep it forever. It's free!

Download Photoscape 3.6.2 in Softonic

Format Factory's supported formats include WMV, AVI, MPG, MP3, WMA, AAC, JPG, PNG, GIF, and many more. Better still, Format Factory supports media formats used by most major portable devices, including PSP and iPhone.

The app is very easy to use, although it does have a slightly unintuitive interface. Format Factory's file browser doesn't appear until you select the target format, which is a bit weird, but as long as you know this it's no problem. You can select individual files to convert, or complete folders, and also tweak some basic conversion settings.

Format Factory isn't particularly original but what makes it really useful is that it handles images as well as audio and video. Most converters like this only handle audio and video, so adding images to the mix gives it an edge, especially considering it's free. We also like the Audio Joiner in Format Factory, which allows you to take two separate clips, join them together and then convert them. It would've been nice to have preset profiles for mobile conversions, but you can't always have it all in a free app!

Format Factory is an excellent conversion tool for anyone who converts between video, audio and images on a regular basis.

Download Format Factory 2.95 in Softonic

How to get started in Minecraft

Your world in Minecraft is randomly generated, and you appear in a land surrounded by water, with mountains, valleys, trees and animals. It's not clear what to do except explore to begin with but as the sun sets, monsters appear, who will kill you. Survival is impossible in the open, so you need to build a shelter to hide out in for the first night.

Collecting wood from trees, coal and stone from cliffs, you have to use your inventory to create tools, planks and more. Once you know how, mining and building is pretty quick, and you can create some really cool structures.

Minecraft realms

A new realm has been added to Minecraft, which allows faster travel through the huge worlds. Called The Nether, it resembles Hell, and is full of flowing lava and monsters. You can access The Nether using portals made from Obsidian you have mined. Also, when you create a new Minecraft world, it will now be more varied, with 'biomes' of different landscape, like desert, tundra and snow. NPC (non player characters) now roam villages, which can serve as early shelters for you at night, if you can find them!

Version 1.0 has some nice cosmetic changes, including an HD texture pack, better lighting from torches and even prettier sunsets and sunrises! The game launcher also looks better. There is now a 'Creative Mode', which makes you invincible, gives you unlimited resources, allows you to fly, and fast forward/rewind time! This mode is ideal for players who just want to get on and build cool stuff, without worrying about staying alive.

Minecraft is a wonderfully inventive sandbox game that really deserves the title, as your creation in it is only limited by your imagination and time!

Download Minecraft 1.2.5 in Softonic

Chrome's outstanding features, like its download manager, incognito browsing mode and bookmark syncing, already make it a stand out app. In version 17, it adds a more new features, as well some tweaks that make it even more user-friendly.

New features

Being able to search directly from the address bar is one of the great things about Google Chrome. Now Omnibox, Google Chrome's address bar, will offer you various suggestions as you type. Depending on how accurate it thinks its results are, Chrome may even begin to pre-load a chosen page. Popular sites like Facebook and Twitter are now sure to load almost instantaneously.

You'll now also receive warnings when Google Chrome thinks a downloading file that might contain malware or something harmful to your PC. It does this by tracing the download's originating server and comparing it to sites on its blacklist. If you're concerned about privacy when it comes to Google looking at your downloads for potential malware, you can disable this feature within your browser preferences.

Updates and tweaks

Google Chrome introduces several smaller updates designed to improve the user experience. First, Google Chrome has improved page zooming to make it more consistent with other browsers - you can now zoom up to 500%. In addition, Print Preview no longer shows up in its own tab but rather appears in a highly-configurable modal window - this improves your workflow and makes printing even quicker. Google Chrome's History tab has also undergone a redesign. It now allows users to filter out or even remove specific domains you don't want showing up there.

There's also been an update to the V8 JavaScript engine and more than a dozen security fixes. In short, these changes make browsing even quicker - and using the internet even safer.

Chrome extensions

Last, but not least, there are also changes for extensions - not only can you now count on a range of Google Chrome extensions that rivals (and in many cases betters) Firefox's, but those of you with a more technical bent can take advantage of improved extension APIs, so if you've got an idea, it's even easier to make it into an extension yourself.

If you're considering making the switch from old favorites like Firefox or Internet Explorer, we'd wholeheartedly recommend Google Chrome as the browser of the future!

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

Download Google Chrome 19.0.1084.46 in Softonic

In order to maintain the neatness of this design, the menu bar in Windows Live Messenger has been hidden under a few buttons on the top-right corner – though you can temporarily make the standard menu bar visible by pressing the Alt key. While I understand the reason why they did this, it makes menu options a bit uncomfortable to browse.

Windows Live Messenger offers plenty of emoticons and winks to cheer up your conversations. You can expand both collections easily by adding new sets which you'll find by the hundred on the Internet. Customization possibilities include changing the chat window background or even adding a personal message to your nickname, but not creating custom status messages. Also, Windows Live Messenger status messages have now been reduced to "online", "away" or "busy" – so no more "on the phone" or "out to lunch", for example.

Chat conversations are not the only thing you can do with Windows Live Messenger. There is also the possibility of having video chats using your webcam, and also make VoIP calls. Another great feature in Windows Live Messenger is the possibility to view and share pictures within the chat window, without having to send files over to your contact.

Regarding contact lists, the new Windows Live Messenger lets you create specific groups of users, different from the ones previously known as "groups" and which have now been renamed to Categories. These groups allow you to have multiple simultaneous chats with several contacts. Another new feature in the contact management system in Windows Live Messenger is Favorites, a special category that enables you to have the people you talk to most always to hand.

Windows Live Messenger 2009 includes many interesting new features, all conveniently built into a nice interface. I'm not sure that this handful of new functions is the reason why the program weighs in at almost 70 MB.

Windows Live Messenger reaches version 2009 with a renewed interface, loads of new features and a bit of extra weight.

Download Windows Live Messenger 2009 Build 14.0.8117.416 in Softonic

BS.Player is a great media player that features anything you need to watch movies or any other kind of video on your PC. BS.Player supports all popular video formats (and audio as well, in case you were wondering) and though its basic interface is not really the nicest one I've seen, you can easily customize it with skins. Also, if you're missing any video or audio codecs, BS.Player will download them right away during installation.

BS.Player supports video subtitles, takes screenshots of movie currently playing, lets you create bookmarks and chapters to move along videos more easily and has also support for plug-ins, making it very similar to apps like UMPlayer. I especially liked the way you can control playback, either by using keyboard shortcuts or simply your mouse: one click to stop the video, two clicks to go full screen, mouse wheel to raise or low the volumes...

The only drawback to BS.Player, if any, is the fact that the program doesn't include any documentation except for a FAQ section that you need to open in your browser. Not that you can't use BS.Player without help, but it's always nice to have some documentation to rely on in case you get stuck.

BS.Player lets you enjoy your favorite movies on the PC with a wide range of features: subtitles, screenshots, bookmarks and more.

Download BS.Player Free 2.61.1065 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

The new uTorrent 3 introduces lots of changes to the previous version. To begin with, the program sports a totally redesigned interface: more usable, easier to use and a perfect match for uTorrent’s web interface. Besides the new design, uTorrent 3 lets you play media in streaming as you download, rate and comment torrent files, drag and drop files to share them, and disable the UDP tracker.

After a quick installation process (although there are quite a few prompts to install browser add-ons etc) and a handy built-in speed test to make the initial setting much easier, uTorrent is ready. The program takes up minimal hard drive and PC resources, which enables you to have a good amount of torrents downloading and still be able to use your computer without any lag.

uTorrent's lightness and simplicity doesn't necessarily mean lack of features. On the contrary, the program includes everything you would expect from a complete, reliable torrent downloader: highly detailed stats, support for RSS feeds, automatic shutdown, download scheduler and more. There are a couple things that uTorrent is missing though: a full torrent search tool and a built-in player to preview your downloads.

Just like previous versions, uTorrent 3 is easy enough to use for everyone no matter what their level of computer expertise is, but it also includes dozens of configuration settings that will please the most tech-savvy users. Also, this new version includes several beginner-oriented guides to make sure everybody can make the most of it.

If you're searching for a reliable, fast and lightweight torrent client, look no further: uTorrent is what you need.

Download uTorrent (µTorrent) 3.1.3 27099 in Softonic

This application not only includes support for extracting virtually any kind of file compression format, it also reduces file sizes and runs on almost any version of Windows, from 98 to Windows 7.

Some will argue that WinRAR isn’t as quick as rival WinZip at compressing files. However, for the small time difference, WinRAR leaves you with a significantly smaller archived file at the end of the process. What’s more, the application allows you to save files into both .ZIP and .RAR formats, with bunches of options for speeding up compression times and reducing file sizes.

Although many newcomers might be put off by the sheer range of features and settings within WinRAR, the interface doesn’t take long to get accustomed to. If you’re still really stuck there’s a simple wizard-based system that walks you through the process of extracting or compressing. All this adds up to make WinRAR a dependable utility that performs better than any other tool in its class.

Boasting more compression options, higher compression rates and smaller file sizes than WinZip, WinRAR is now the undisputed market leader in file compression.

Download WinRAR 4.11 in Softonic

Interface

The program’s simple, almost minimalist interface hides a wide array of options to create an excellent user experience when watching videos or listening to music. Besides the basic tools to play local files, VCD and DVD, UMPlayer can also play online TV and radio stations, and features built-in search for videos in YouTube and streaming music in Shoutcast.

Movie formats

UMPlayer already includes more than 200 codecs, which means you’ll hardly have problems to play any media file. The program can also download subtitles automatically for your foreign-language videos. Other interesting features are the screenshot tool – to capture any given frame – and the support for skins, with which you can customize the interface.

On the downside, UMPlayer doesn’t include any preloaded stations on its radio and TV lists, so unless you already know some of them this feature is pretty useless.

Conclusions

UMPlayer is a stylish, powerful media player with support for many formats and a small footprint on system resources.

Download UMPlayer 0.98 in Softonic

With good reason too. Firefox remains an incredibly powerful and customizable browser although persistent memory leakage problems and competition from Google Chrome have dented its popularity.

Mozilla Firefox 12, though not very different from Firefox 11 in terms of design, brings a bunch of subtle improvements. There are several changes in Firefox 12, but mainly related to developer features. Mozilla claim there are 85 changes in all but the most notable is that Windows users will no longer get pestered by a User Account Control pop-up every time the browser updates. Also, the HTML5 media controls have been updated to provide a full screen button.

The developer console changes include improvement to Web Console, Style Editor, Page Inspector, Style Inspector, and HTML View, as well as the recently introduced Scratchpad and Page Inspector 3D View.

The interface is pretty much the same as Firefox 11, with a minimalist toolbar and there's still no way of removing elements that you may not want such as Java and .Net Framework. The major downside for most users however is that some plug-ins or add-ons won't work with Firefox 12 yet - so if you have a lot installed, prepare to be disappointed.

One major problem that persists is the high usage of RAM when Firefox is displaying Flash videos such as YouTube. Firefox runs an extra "Plugin-container" process for Flash videos that can occasionally consume 100% of your CPU and cause your machine to freeze.

Firefox 12 isn't a revolution in the development of Firefox, but there are some useful improvements that still make it one of the best browsers out there.

Download Mozilla Firefox 12.0 in Softonic

Located in the fictional state of San Andreas, this fourth installment of the GTA series develops around the life of Carl CJ Johnson, who tries to learn more about this mother's murder and rebuild his torn gang, while trying to survive with not-so-legal business ventures.

This trailer shows the most characteristic elements of GTA: San Andreas: dark corners and ghettos in big cities, frantic police chases, explosions, corruption, sex and of course, loads of weapons and violence, all with a more than suitable background soundtrack: Welcome to the Jungle, by Guns 'n Roses. Unfortunately, this particular download doesn't show any footage of the actual gameplay.

Download the GTA: San Andreas trailer for an exciting, colorful glimpse of the action, the adventure and the fun you'll find in this great game.

Download GTA: San Andreas Trailer in Softonic

Easy to use and works cross-browser

UltraSurf doesn't require installation and can be run from a USB memory stick, which makes it perfect to carry around in your pendrive and use if you need to browse the web from a public computer. It works on both Internet Explorer and Firefox, encrypting all of your internet activity so that third parties can't trace what you have been viewing or doing online.

The only drawback to UltraSurf is that it is not easy to see if the application is working properly, and as the default browser is Internet Explorer, it's hard to know if UltraSurf is doing its job when you switch to an alternative.

With UltraSurf you can now browse the web in a completely safe way without leaving any traces behind you.

Download UltraSurf 11.03 in Softonic

Essential features

Adobe Flash Player 10 includes a range of interesting additions and improvements when compared to previous versions. Top of that list is the inclusion of support for the H.264 video codec and the HE-AAC audio codec, which together offer a much richer, higher-definition picture along with crystal-clear sound. Introducing these capabilities in Adobe Flash Player with only slightly reduced performance looks set to trigger another revolution in web video, as HD movies are already an important element on YouTube - and they look and sound great!

Problems solved

Apart from that, Adobe Flash Player 10 irons out some of the problems that previous versions have suffered from (like security and stability issues), as well including support for ActionScript 3.0. It also makes fantastic 3D graphics possible. This makes for more dynamic and interesting navigation, games and interactivity on websites.

Adobe Flash Player 10 represents a leap forward in terms of quality as well as stability and security. It's therefore a highly recommended download for all users.

Download Adobe Flash Player Firefox, Safari, Opera 11.1.102.55 in Softonic

Organize your photos

The all-new Google Picasa keeps the same interface structure of previous versions, but features new enriching options to manage, edit, and show off your photos in an even more comfortable way, both offline and online – thanks to the Picasa Web Album syncing tool.

Picasa displays all your indexed photos in a handy folder structure. You can let the program scan the whole drive in search for pictures or select specific directories. A double click on any image will display it in full screen and let you access to a handful of basic editing tools: cropping, straightening, adjusting color and light or fixing red eye, among others.

New features

The latest version of Picasa includes a couple of exciting new features: facial recognition and geo-tagging. The first one means that Picasa can now scan your photo library, recognize and extract people's faces, and finally let you add a name to them. The process takes a while to get started – loads of faces to tag and names to write down – but if you go to the Unnamed tag under the People album, you'll be able to add new names and faces in batches and get the job done much quicker. As for the geo-tagging function, it's now easier to use thanks to the embedding of Google Maps in Picasa: simply select the photos you want to geotag, open Google Maps by clicking on the 'Places' button, navigate to the appropriate location and click OK.

We especially like Picasa's Photo Viewer, which you can configure to replace the original Windows default image viewer. It offers more tools and displays photos on a much nicer interface when viewing them directly in Windows Explorer, so when Picasa asks you if you want to use it, don't hesitate!

But Picasa is not only about viewing and fixing images. You can also give free rein to your imagination with its tools to create posters, collages, screensavers and even movies. The greatest thing about these tools is not only the fact that they give you the ability to create something unique and original with your photos; it's also that they're surprisingly easy to use, and don't require any tech abilities or photo editing skills at all.

Conclusion

The all-new Picasa has successfully completed what seemed a difficult task: improving a software app that was already very good.

Download Picasa 3.9.1.535 in Softonic

To bring Yahoo! Messenger up to date, Facebook chat has been integrated into the latest version, along with social games like Mafia Wars. You can now use video chat in full-screen mode, and the 'Always On' feature means you'll stay connected whether on mobile, at home or at work.

You can of course update your Facebook status from Yahoo! Messenger, and also on Yahoo! What hasn't changed from the previous version is the amount of bloat in the app. Some people may appreciate the shared videos, social games, radio stations, emoticons, search bar and so on. However, all this stuff adds a lot of weight to the Yahoo! Messenger, and it feels unsophisticated today. The video call quality is pretty good, however, and in fact if it stuck to being a chat app, we would recommend it more highly!

The amplification of social aspects in Yahoo! Messenger aren't a revolution. If you love all the bells and whistles, you'll love this app, but many people will find it annoying and intrusive.

Download Yahoo! Messenger 11.5.0.155 in Softonic