There was a time when video files all conformed to some basic requirements and could be played without protest using any media software. As technologies change and licensing becomes more restrictive and specific, simply playing a video file has now become a challenge and thanks to the plethora of obscure proprietary formats now available, finding a media player that works for the majority has become more hassle than it’s worth. Thankfully the open source community have come up with a solution in the form of VLC, otherwise know as VideoLAN.

This cross platform player doesn't strike as particularly good-looking when put side by side with Windows Media Player or Winamp, but you'll appreciate its far superior usability within moments. Its power can be demonstrated with any video files you happen to be downloading, which can be played in whatever form they exist, be it an actual video format or an unclassified temporary one. As you preview a video, it will skip the parts that have yet to be downloaded and let you see the rest – Media Player in comparison, can't preview files in this way.

Apart from playing incomplete videos, because lets face it not many people want to do that anyway, VLC has support for a huge range of video formats. If it doesn't recognize the file type it will try playing it anyway often successfully or if it's an encrypted file it will display the scrambled video in its raw form. The interface is stripped down to the bare bones, with the apparent objective of making it as unobtrusive as possible. With superb hotkey support, you can do practically everything you want without touching your mouse.

Put simply, VLC is a video player that doesn't stray in to other areas. There is only one alternative skin available, but all it will take is one look and you'll quickly be switching back to the default.

This free player should appeal to true cinephiles who want as little distraction as possible from their viewing experience. Being open source it's free to use and thanks to a small file size and a friendly installation process, we would recommend it to absolutely everyone as their "backup" or "catch-all" video player.

Download VLC Media Player 0.8.6h in Softonic

uTorrent has quickly become a favorite among torrent users worldwide thanks to an innovative interface, minute CPU usage and extensive download details.

The program is undoubtedly one of the most reliable torrent clients on the market, thanks to an ultra quick installation process and a minimal use of PC resources. You can have a good number of torrents downloading and still be able to use your PC without suffering any lags.

The interface is simple to use and is divided into the list of torrents and extensive details like peer data, download and upload speeds, file pieces and blocks, or a graph of your current speeds. In an attempt to help you structure all your torrents, the application allows you to set labels to your individual downloads. You can also view the torrents according to whether they are downloading, completed, active or inactive. If you download a good deal of torrents at a time this is a good way of keeping track of the progress of them all. Furthermore, you can easily set up the web interface for uTorrent, which allows you to check your torrents from any PC connected to the internet. All you need is to have one PC taking care of the downloads and set up access to the interface of your uTorrent session.

uTorrent makes it easy for you to look for new downloads without opening up your browser. You can search the main torrent sites by typing the name of the file you are looking for in the box on the top right corner of the interface. uTorrent also includes an RSS downloader to receive feeds of your favourite torrent sites. This little feature is great to check out all new torrents in one click.

The first time you launch uTorrent it lets you check your connection settings online and verify whether your ports are functioning properly. The preferences menu is also replete with tweaking possibilities. You can customize queuing, scheduling and downloading. Setting the location of downloaded files is the only bit that could confuse users as uTorrent makes a difference between new downloads and completed downloads.

You might have guessed it, here at Softonic we have a soft spot for uTorrent. Not only does the mini torrent client use up very little memory, it also comes with loads of information and customization features to make your downloading experience as simple and automated as possible. If you’re tired of the bandwidth hogging Azureus or bored of the basic Bittorrent client, check out uTorrent.

Download uTorrent (µTorrent) 1.7.7 in Softonic

Limewire, one of the world’s most popular peer-to-peer filesharing applications, has received a lawsuit from the RIAA, who are demanding $115 million in damages, claiming the application promotes the infringement of copyright. Similar applications like Grokster and Kazaa have been forced to go legal and there is speculation as to just how long Limewire will resist until they have to buckle and pay up. The existence of the popular P2P application is not under threat, but if you haven’t given it a try yet, here’s just what makes it a standout program.

In terms of file sharing, Limewire is the cream of the crop, offering the essential peer-to- peer tools in what is probably the friendliest interface of applications in its class. Beginners will appreciate the search bar, which allows you to select the type of file you’re looking for, video, image, audio, program or file. Limewire has a “what’s new” button to check out what popular files users have recently exchanged. We also enjoyed the direct connect option. If you know the IP address of one of your friends, type it in the box and Limewire will browse that user’s files. This is a quick way of sharing files with someone else and can come in handy when working on a project and exchanging documents. The only little snag we have with direct connect is that it doesn’t let you enter the username, much simpler than looking for your friend’s IP address.

Downloading with Limewire is very intuitive. After you’ve searched and found the file you are looking for, double-click on it to start the downloading process. The speed of your download depends firstly on the quality of your connection (broadband is a minimum), if you’ve correctly opened your router’s ports and whether you’re downloading a popular file or not. We would like to point out the effort that Limewire takes to make itself accessible to beginners. Not only does a tip pop up every time you launch the application, the help option also leads you to Limewire’s support centre, FAQs and a forum to get in contact with other users.

The lawsuit carried out by the RIAA is all the more surprising because of the measures Limewire takes to keep you in the realms of legality. If you decide to download Limewire from its website, you will first have to agree you will not use it for copyright infringement. When you’re configuring the application, you can set content filters, to avoid downloading files that copyright owners do not want you to share. To avoid embarrassing situations, make sure you tick the “block adult content” box, which will filter out any pornographic files from your searches.

The best way of checking the quality of the audio or video you’re downloading is via Limewire’s mini player. It’s fairly basic and to par with the players you find in similar filesharing applications, but we appreciated the way it was integrated in the application.

If there’s one thing that we’re still expecting from the Limewire team, it’s that it finally decides to jump on the BitTorrent bandwagon. Torrents are the way forward when it comes to peer to peer file sharing because of the speed, the security and freshness of downloads. Large files like movies or complete seasons of TV series are much easier to download via BitTorrent. We were also annoyed by the “buy the PRO version” window that popped up every time we started Limewire.

For its wealth of possibilities and huge base of users, (more than 4 million simultaneously on the Gnutella network) we encourage you to give Limewire a test drive. Because of the controversial nature of the application, you should always make sure that you aren’t using Limewire for illegal activities like copyright infringement. However don’t be scared off by the legality issue. Limewire, like most P2P applications is one of the most exciting possibilities that the internet gives us. It would be a shame not to give it a try. You should also check out Frostwire, the not-for-profit project of the Limewire development team.

Download LimeWire Basic 4.18.2 Beta in Softonic

Live Messenger, previously known as MSN Messenger, was renamed as part of Microsoft's move towards the Live online community. So far, the most popular IM app in the world had already gone through a bunch of updates, but this new name also meant important changes that would somehow start a new period in Messenger's history.

Live Messenger includes some outstanding characteristics that are well worth a mention. Firstly, its all-new interface features a completely different design from traditional Windows applications, which you can also customize by choosing your own color scheme. In order to maintain this neatness, the menu bar has been hidden under a single top right corner button but this makes it a bit uncomfortable to browse through options. Luckily, the most common actions (send email, call a contact, access MSN Spaces and view shared folders) have been implemented as nice little buttons right under your username, so they're easy to access. Another thing we liked is that you can hide side tabs in the main interface window (right click on any of them and check the "Hide tabs" checkbox). However, there's apparently no way to hide the bottom ad.

Live Messenger offers plenty of emoticons and winks to cheer up your conversations with. You can expand both collections by easily 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. At least this new version features the longed-for offline messaging tool, enabling you to leave a message to any of your contacts even if they're not online.

The two most important features in this new Messenger are the ability of sharing folders and making free PC-to-phone calls. As for the first one, it proves as a very handy way to share pictures, while the second feature allows you to save some pennies on your phone bill. However, this service is currently only available in certain countries (United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Finland, Belgium, Spain and Italy) and requires a subscription to the Verizon Web Calling system.

In any case, you can always make use of the PC-to-PC call feature, which provides excellent sound quality. In fact, we must say this feature has been pretty well implemented in Live Messenger. Its ease of use makes it a great alternative to written conversations: just click on the phone icon and your friend will instantly receive an invitation to answer the phone call on the chat window itself. A simple wizard will guide you through audio configuration and a couple of sliders enable you control the volume of your speakers (or headphones) and mic. You can still use the chat window while you talk, for instance to send a web link or a handwritten message.

Summing up, the main issue with Live Messenger is that it has taken it too much time to offer tools that were already found in other IM apps, such as the VoIP calls mentioned above. However, its attractive design plus the huge number of people who are already MSN Messenger users (and who will eventually upgrade their client) will probably help this Live version reach the top.

Download Windows Live Messenger 9.0.1407.1107 Beta in Softonic

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.

Download TvAnts 1.0.0.59.0834 in Softonic

By releasing their own chat and VoIP client, Google aims to compete with the already existing MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Skype. Google Talk is a messenger client with a “Web 2.0” feel that makes communicating with other Google users a piece of cake. The program integrates well with many of Google’s other products. You can open it inside of Gmail, add it to your Google Desktop bar, or even manage your Orkut conversations directly from Google Talk.

At first glance, Google Talk follows in the company’s tradition of keeping things simple. All your contacts are automatically loaded from your Gmail account the first time you launch the client. You can start a conversation in a click and keep all of your different chats in separate windows. Although, Google Talk doesn’t allow you to call phones, it will let you talk with other Google users and even send voicemail if they are offline. Gmail users will appreciate how the chat client is also embedded in your Gmail account, allowing you to chat with other Gmail users instead of sending emails. Google Talk also integrates into the Google Desktop, making it immediately accessible from anywhere on your PC.

Google Talk doesn’t allow you to set an alias but you’ll still be able to set a user picture. Maybe influenced by all the developments in online music like Last.fm, Google integrates Music Trends to your Google Talk. What this means is that you’ll be able to share your musical history with other Google Talk users. You can also set your status as displaying the track playing on your PC.

Google supports the Jabber protocol, so you can chat with friends using Adium, Gaim, iChat or Trillian. You can also connect to your Google Talk account using any of these chat clients. In the future, Google Talk, like most other IM clients, is expected to support Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) meaning you’ll be able to chat and call friends on many more clients like MSN or Yahoo Messenger.

Because it’s such a young chat client, it’s been easy to pinpoint the failings in Google Talk. First of all, Google Talk does not encrypt your conversations or calls, making your discussions available to anyone on the Internet. Many users have also claimed that the Gmail notifications are not very reliable and that Google Talk can suddenly freeze up after you’ve left it on for a while. We also find the user status icons to be too discreet.

Google Talk is not perfect but we think it’s a good bet for the future. As Gmail has shown, Google tends to constantly improve its products so we can expect some exciting improvements soon. The most urgent ones will be to support VoIP to phones, finally encrypt your conversations and to support the SIP protocol. Because of its integration with other Google products, Google Talk is an exciting chat client for Google users. However if you already have a solid chat client and are not a big fan of Google, this application won’t really bring you anything new.

Download Google Talk 1.0.0.104 in Softonic

Photoshop is the World’s leader in digital imaging software. It has been the industry standard design application for years, and with each new iteration it pulls further ahead of its competitors thanks to its huge user base and professional experience.

When digital photography was in its infancy and image editing wasn’t high on many agendas, Photoshop didn’t stand out much from the alternatives such as Paint Shop Pro. More recently, however, the Adobe team has taken the ascendancy, and since version 7, Photoshop has been all about fulfilling users’ requests and prayers for a top quality graphics package. CS3 can be regarded as version 10 and adds more to the mix for photographers, designers, and video editors.

Having nailed the interface in previous versions, CS3 keeps to the same winning formula, meaning that anyone who has used Photoshop before will immediately feel comfortable. Changes come in the form of Adobe Bridge, a replacement for the file browser, more photography filters and the star of the show, the “Vanishing Point”. This filter lets you edit, clone, and retouch images while keeping the perspective; great!

Without going in to too much detail, Photoshop is a program for professionals and as such has a steep learning curve. Anyone who is willing to devote the required time to learn the basics will definitely be rewarded with a much higher degree of control over their images and will also find it easy to tap in to all the great resources throughout the web, be it in the form of tutorials or plug-ins, that will extend the functionality further. The flexibility of the program lets you customize the interface, the brushes, the fill patterns, tool presets, filters, and practically anything else you may find within the software.

With all the power that you get, it’s testament to the Photoshop team that it runs so smoothly on any modern PC, although if you start getting heavy with layers or high resolutions, there will be a noticeable hit to your system’s resources. As you become more accustomed to the operation of the program, you will pick up more efficient habits such as the multitude of keyboard shortcuts. Each one is customizable, and there are key combos for every operation to save you from time spent trawling through menus and toolbars.

Adobe’s Photoshop CS3 is another giant leap forward for digital imaging software and it remains a long way ahead of the chasing pack. It may overwhelm beginners with the sheer quantity of tools and options, but ultimately it will reward anyone that doesn’t mind putting in the ground work to learn the basics. Highly recommended for everyone with time, money and an interest in imaging, particularly photographers and designers.

Download Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended in Softonic

Mac users are often said to be the most loyal customers in the computer market, but that's because they have very good reasons, such as iTunes, to stick to Apple products. And if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to have this application on my Windows PC.

iTunes has become one of the most popular music managers available today. When you run it for the first time, you can choose your music folders or let the program take care of everything. Then you can keep on adding new music, videos, podcasts and other multimedia elements from various sources and – of course - synchronize all this content with your iPod or iPhone thanks to a perfectly seamless integration.

Managing your iTunes library is a piece of cake. The program's interface is simple and straightforward, plus there are right-click shortcuts and keyboard hotkeys for many tasks. You can view extended information about each track and edit their tags, give them a score with the iTunes star ranking tool and comfortably browse through your collection with the amazing Cover Flow system. And for those of you who work in a LAN environment, the great news is that you can share your music libraries with your network mates.

One thing I particularly like of iTunes as music manager is its ability to create playlists. The Smart Playlist tool enables you to create almost any kind of playlist based on just about any criteria you set: artist, genre, date added, star ranking or even the number of times you've played each song. Another great playlist is the so called Party Shuffle, which comes in very handy when you invite some friends over to your place. You can then leave iTunes working as a DJ and play music on its own, but if you drop by the PC at any time, you can freely add more songs to the list or rearrange them in any way.

However, if there's something where iTunes is not perfect yet, that's the player function. You may disagree here, but I think the iTunes player falls too short, especially when compared to its music manager side. It does have some interesting features, like the Smart shuffle function and crossfading playback, but I still find it too simple. The visual effects in the Viewer window are particularly poor. I also missed the ability to control the player from anywhere with global hotkeys, which is great if you listen to music while you're working on the PC with other apps. Fortunately there are some plug-ins that cover this need.

In all, despite these slight flaws, iTunes is probably the best choice to manage your music collection –and that includes Windows users.

Download iTunes 7.6.2.9 in Softonic

This free, easy-to-use software allows you to observe maps and satellite images of any given site on the planet. Enter your destination into the search function and Google Earth will zoom down right on it. Not only does it overlay roads with geographical characteristics, Google Earth also offers an enormous variety of layers to refine your search. You can choose to reveal nearby casinos, crime statistics, shopping centers, geographical features, boundaries and even schools. Whether out of sheer curiosity or for informational reasons, you’ll be bound to find some interest in Google Earth.

The only real trade-off to such technology is the amount of bandwidth it uses up. Those with slightly older machines will definitely be left frustrated by the time it takes to zoom in and refine the image. Additionally, it is not recommended to use Google Earth when many applications are open, as your machine might not handle the amount of information thrown at it.

With this free 3D globe interface, Google takes a bold step into the future, and users definitely do not want to miss it.

Download Google Earth 4.3 Beta in Softonic

Since time immemorial, computer users have had problems sharing large files. Whether trying to fit Sim City on floppy disks, uploading binaries to newsgroups or sharing home movies via email, you may well have suffered the inconvenience of a file that's just too big for what you're trying to do.

This is where HJSplit comes in. It's a remarkably simple and easy-to-use little application which can split any file you like into parts of a predefined size, so that sharing them or storing them is made easier. It can also join split files back together and compare parts to see if they're the same.

Based in just one small executable (there's no installer for this old school app!), the utility weighs in at a piffling 300kb and doesn't have the world's best design. But it works surprisingly well and splits files into chunks of your chosen size, very quickly indeed. Its joining, comparing and MD5 tools all work just as efficiently.

A small but very effective little utility which will split and rejoin any file you like.

Download HJSplit 2.3 in Softonic

With Hamachi you can organize two or more computers with an Internet connection into their own virtual network for direct secure communication. Access computers remotely, use Windows file sharing, play LAN games, run private Web or FTP servers, communicate directly, stay connected. With Hamachi you can do all you want.

Hamachi is a zero-configuration virtual private networking application with an open security architecture and NAT-to-NAT traversal capabilities. It is the first application to mix seemingly unrelated networking technologies in one powerful package to deliver an unprecedented level of peer-to-peer connectivity.

Hamachi is secure. All Hamachi communications are encrypted and authenticated with industry-standard algorithms and protocols. Nobody will be able to see what two Hamachi peers are talking about. However what is equally important - Hamachi security architecture is completely open, meaning that its detailed description is can be reviewed by anyone interested.

A special effort went into designing and polishing Hamachi user interface. The result is sleek, simple and intuitive, while still very much functional. Hamachi software contains no spyware, bannerware or any other -ware unrelated to its purpose.

Download Hamachi 1.0.2.5 in Softonic

MSN Messenger has been perhaps the biggest hitter of the IM world for some time now and this update adds a range of cool new features designed to make your chatting experience even better. Additions include an interactive video conversation tool, "winks" - small animations that you can download and send to your pals - and dynamic display pictures that will change emotions based on the emoticons you send.

Of course, all the features that we've come to know (and in most cases, love) are still housed within MSN Messenger 7.5, such as a plethora of emoticons, the ability to check and send Hotmail directly from the client, and a slick contacts organizer.

Although the new version has improved video chat and contains the ability to send SMS messages, we can't help feeling that Microsoft has fallen behind in terms of technology. For instance, Skype allows you to perform most of the things that MSN Messenger does, as well as letting you make and receive PC phone calls. You also have the age-old problem of MSN taking over your client, as it's filled with even more ads, and a barrage of links to other areas of the MSN portal. A great client for beginners but it doesn't beat Skype for the more Net-savvy user.

Download MSN Messenger for Windows XP 7.5.0322 in Softonic

Chances are, you’ve probably played on several games created by the M.U.G.E.N graphics engine. 2D fighting classics such as Street Fighter and Paws of Fury were originally developed on it. Today, the M.U.G.E.N engine is enjoying something of a revival due to the great old-school cartoon style characters you can create with it. Note however, that this download is for the design engine and you’ll need to be familiar with DOS programming to use it. There is one game included simply called “M.U.G.E.N” although it’s only intended as a demo to show you what you can do with it.

M.U.G.E.N is essentially a DOS based 2D graphics design engine designed by Elecbyte (now defunct) and was originally released in 1999. It allows anyone to create characters, stages and other game objects through interpreted text files, graphics and sound compilations and it also supports various types of audio formats such as MP3, ADX, OGG and MIDI for sound effects. The engine is currently setup primarily for fighting game development but several other game types have been developed using it, including shoot-em-up’s and platform games.

The official Elecbyte website has disappeared meaning M.U.G.E.N is now hosted by a developer who has renamed it “WinMugen” which is basically a hybrid of the original engine designed to work with Windows. For those familiar with programming, there are full instructions about how to use the engine in several README files contained within the download.

If you’re nostalgic about the games you played in the arcade as a kid, and are willing to learn a bit of coding to create your own, this is exactly the tool you need.

Download M.U.G.E.N in Softonic

At a time when every computer game released seems to add more levels of detail and complexity to the world of gaming, it’s good to see that some developers make the effort to bring out titles designed for a bit of mindless enjoyment. Icy Tower looks like a game that could have been made ten years ago, and even then, wouldn’t have looked particularly impressive. The game play consists of the single-minded pursuit of reaching the top of the tower in which our homeboy character finds himself by jumping onto the ledges throughout.

This might not sound like much and frankly, it’s not. The only controls you need are left, right and jump. What makes this game fun is the speed of play, the wacky sound effects and messed-up way that you can jump three stories at once if you happen to get the perfect run up! You gather points by beating the clock to the top of each level and also by building jump combinations. The result is a quick, enjoyable game that you could come to at anytime and play for a minute or half-an-hour.

Download Icy Tower 1.3.1 in Softonic

Update: if you love San Andreas, you should also check out our GTA IV trailer, which you can download in its full HD glory here.

Get a flavor for the spectacular action that makes up some of this latest installation of the GTA series. The trailer includes some quick cuts of meetings, greeting, and of course a police blockade exploding as the main character jumps over everything on his motorbike.

Download GTA: San Andreas Trailer in Softonic

Bittorrent and Gnutella might be hogging the headlines of the peer to peer (P2P) world, but close behind comes Ares, a successful P2P application that boasts of having its own decentralized network and a simple, quick access interface. Ares spun-off from Gnutella in 2002, and since then has been building a strong and dedicated community of users.

Installing Ares only takes a few minutes and the interface is simple enough that anybody will feel comfortable with it. The new version has a very sleek and dark interface, not unlike that of WMP 11. 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 involved. Once Ares is installed, all you need to do is select the search tab and type the name of the file you want to download. Once it appears, double click on it to begin downloading. You’ll be able to check its progress in the transfer tab. The recent update adds bittorrent support, opening Ares up to loads of new content.

If you enjoy exchanging words 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 chit chat 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 usually seem to arise. According to many Ares users the application suffers from constant connectivity troubles making it difficult to properly search for a file or to successfully complete downloads. Others will worry that Ares is a much smaller network than the globally used Gnutella and does not offer quite as much download sources.

Ares is an ambitious project, and the fact that it still remains standing while eDonkey has fallen at the hands of the RIAA, is characteristic of its reliability. Thanks to a strong community of users, a simple interface, a great preview page and multichat service, Ares remains a P2P application of choice for anybody interested into sharing files over the internet.

Download Ares Galaxy 2.0.9 in Softonic

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. Far from being the slick, well-oiled machines they once were, these programs have been stuffed with so much that they are in danger of ending up like a sluggish, overweight athlete still holding on to past glories.

For those looking for a fresh alternative to these ballooning apps, The KM Player could be your ticket. The application has a small desktop footprint and its minimalist interface, somewhat akin to the original Winamp 5, means that access and playback are quick and hassle-free. Like Winamp, the 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 your player, such as visualizations, plug-ins and playback options, but the beauty of KM Player is that these are turned on at your request rather than being forced upon you at the outset.

The application 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.

Download KMPlayer 2.9.3.1444 Beta in Softonic

Adobe's Flash Player (originally a Macromedia product) remains the standard platform for viewing a wide variety of web content, varying from navigation elements to every video you watch on YouTube. Its ease of use, high performance, small file-size and now near-HD quality all combine to make it a popular choice for web content professionals and casual users alike.

Flash Player 9 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 with only slightly reduced performance looks set to trigger another revolution in web video, as the first HD movies are already beginning to appear on YouTube - and they look and sound great!

Apart from that, Flash 9 irons out some of the problems that previous versions have suffered from (like security and stability issues), as well as adding suuport for ActionScript 3.0, the latest instruction set from Adobe. This makes for more dynamic and interesting navigation, games and interactivity on websites.

Adobe Flash Player 9 represents a leap forward in terms of quality and also stability and security. It's therefore a highly recommended update for all users.

Download Adobe Flash Player 9.0.124 in Softonic

If you miss those good ol' arcade titles you used to play in your Nintendo Entertainment System, whine no more: NES is back on your favorite web browser!

FireNes is a Firefox add-on that lets you play more than 2,500 NES titles of all times, covering all sorts of interests and styles. Games appear listed in alphabetic order on a sidebar to the left of your screen (if you don't see it, open it with Tools > FireNes), from which this list you can choose the one you want to play and run it with a double click. The sidebar also includes two other tabs (Top and Favorites) to manage games in a different way. It would have been great to have some kind of search tool to quickly locate certain games though.

When launched, games appear on a small-sized window that runs independently from Firefox. Controls are limited to arrow keys, Enter, Ctrl, Z and X, though sometimes the game does take a while to react to them. Also, I noticed that some games are a bit buggy, but you can always let the author know by filling in a small form. In any case, FireNes features such a huge collection of games that you'll surely find that one title you were hooked on a few years ago.

With FireNes you can use Firefox for more than browsing webpages: play more than 2,5000 NES games and remember gaming prehistory!

Download FireNes 1.0 in Softonic

Antivirus tools are the kind of software applications that you need to use for an extended period of time in order to fully test them. Still, having only a few hours to try Kaspersky Anti-Virus, I must say I got a really positive impression.

After a slightly troublesome installation process which included the eventual uninstalling of other antivirus apps plus an updating process, you're ready to launch Kaspersky and let it take care of your computer. In fact, it monitors not only the file system, but also email and web browsing, thus providing you with a comprehensive security solution that will keep you safe from today's most usual dangers on the Web.

Kaspersy features several different scanning modes (Critical areas, My computer, Startup objects and Rootkit scan). Each one of them can be run manually or programmed to run according to a certain period of time. You can also define your own scan mode and set an exception list for those files, folders and apps that you trust and needn't be scanned. One thing I particularly liked is the possibility to create a rescue disk, in case your PC is completely ruined by a virus attack.

Kaspersky seems very light on resources, which is always good in a program that you must have constantly running. However, files and apps may take slightly more time to open while Kaspersky analyzes them. I guess this is a small price we have to pay for being a bit more secure. In any case, you may as well use the exception list and make sure all your trusted apps are included there.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus offers a complete protection against virus, Trojans and worms for your file system, email and web browsing.

Download Kaspersky Anti-Virus 8.0.0.357 in Softonic