Celestia is a free real-time space simulation that lets you experience our universe in three dimensions. Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy.

All travel in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A 'point-and-goto' interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit.

Download Celestia 1.5.0 in Softonic

Google's satellite imagery software has truly changed the way we look at the globe. The application lets you zoom in on any part of the world and for some places, observe from a few meters away.

Google Earth not only displaces satellite images but it also includes terrains and sometimes 3D reconstruction of buildings. You can look for directions and businesses, just like in Google Maps and pinpoint areas or draw on maps straight in Google Earth.

Google Earth includes a very wide, and constantly increasing library of layers, which you can add to the map to enrich your experience. You'll find all sorts of information, from historical landscapes to national parks, regions where you can find endangered species or tourist spots. Google Earth will also showcase more news related information such as forest fires or tsunamis.

If stars is what you are into, turn to the Space mode and navigate among the constellations.

Moving around in Google Earth is incredibly intuitive thanks to the multiple navigation tools. Some areas will show less information than others, and Google Earth is known to use up a substantial amount of bandwidth, but it remains a fascinating piece of software

Google Earth is as of yet an unequalled application. Browse around the world, zoom into streets or go up and gaze at the stars. Millions of possibilities.

Download Google Earth 4.3 Beta in Softonic

Unit Converter is a freeware tool that can take care of all your unit conversions, even when offline. It has an easy-to-use interface and contains most of the units commonly encountered while solving engineering problems. With more than 400 units, you are likely to find the units you are looking for. The application's other features include the ability to add user-defined conversions. Everything is built into a single EXE file, so no uninstaller is necessary. Its small file size makes it easy to distribute to friends and coworkers.

Download Quad-Lock Unit Converter 5.3 in Softonic

Rapid Typing is a fast and useful application that allows you to improve your typing skills, both in accuracy and speed. The interface is fairly clear, although maybe you will have to disable the aquarium animation set as default in the background as it can disturb you when concentrating on your exercises. You can do that, in the option menu, ticking the animation option and if you wish, choosing a background colour, although the white one, is probably the clearer.

When you start the session, simply type the letters you see on the screen, without looking at your keyboard. Exercises are increasingly difficult and test you on specific letters each time, until you are able to remember better what’s where.

If you don’t know which is the correct finger to use to press a letter, press the Show/Hide Virtual Keyboard button, on the far bottom of the main frame. You’ll get a representation of your hands, telling you with which finger you should use to press the key.
At the end of each session the program tells you how many mistakes you made and how fast you have been, showing you a graph of your improvements.

With Rapid Typing you can improve your typing speed and accuracy when using your keyboard with increasingly more difficult exercises. Although it’s very easy to use, it lacks of an initial explanation on how to position and move your fingers, so two-finger typers might have to look for an alternative training method.

Download RapidTyping 1.9.9.6 in Softonic

If you believe that worldwide improvements also come from personal choices and that no matter how small, an action combined with many others can make a difference, read on. You can really make a difference helping worldwide medical research.

Your computer is a useful computing source and can be used during moments of inactivity to elaborate data for research projects. Once it has processed a package of data it can connect to a centre to upload the results and download new material. If millions of people were doing so, the result would be to have a super-computer calculator's power, able to carry on an enormous amount of elaboration and simulation that otherwise would take years and years. This is the principle of distributed computing.

World Community Grid uses your computer for scientific-humanitarian projects. It runs a screen saver while elaborating data to conquer cancer, to fight AIDS, to study African climate change and so on. It doesn't affect your PC's performance as it works only when you are not working but your screensaver is. This programme is founded by IBM and collaborates with BOINC, an open source platform that works similarly for certain projects.

Start using this 'intelligent' screensaver and feel part of a scientific community that studies how to fight majors human diseases with the power of distributing computing.

Download World Community Grid 5.10.45 in Softonic

Have you ever wondered what life is like on the other side of the world, just on a normal day like today? Stop wondering: now you can see it.

Satellite Live is an impressive mapping application with which you can view satellite imagery from any location on the planet, traveling from one place to another with just a mouse click and zooming in and out at your will. In a way it works very much like the popular Google Earth but with a slight difference: Satellite Live offers live, real-time images.

The program uses former military technology that has now been released to civilians. Software developers have quickly taken advantage of it, producing a striking piece of software like you'll never have seen before.

You're able to watch people actually walking down the street, parking their cars, buying groceries from the market stall or going for a walk in the park. Obviously the program only shows images from public and open areas so forget about peeking into somebody's bathroom to witness private stuff. Nevertheless, Satellite Live features an extraordinary zoom level with which you won't miss a single thing.

The program includes also a locating feature (which finds any place on Earth in a matter of seconds), an embedded screen capturing tool and navigational buttons to move around maps. However, there's no support for extra information layers yet.

Bear in mind that the level of detail may vary from one place to another, which means that populated areas such as New York, Los Angeles, London or Tokyo have more image quality than the Nevada desert or the Amazon jungle. In any case, Satellite Live is still an incredible application that opens a window to the world from your own computer.

Satellite Live lets you witness what's going on in any location on the planet, in real time. Though the level of detail may vary, it's still an impressive app with which to learn how life is in other parts of the world.

Download April Fools Satellite Live 1.0 in Softonic

Where do I come from? Who were my ancestors? Who comes before my great grandparents? Family Tree Builder has the answer to all these questions… and many more.

This comprehensive genealogy application enables you to build a complete family tree from scratch, featuring every single member of your family since the beginning of humankind – that is, if your own personal recordings reach that far in time.

Each family member has a highly detailed profile that includes all the basic data (name, date of birth, their relationship with the rest of the family) as well as other extra elements such as pictures, physical description and important facts and dates in their personal life.

Despite this huge amount of data, Family Tree Builder is really easy to use. It lets you browse the tree in several ways and also view or export it in a variety of formats. What's more, you can publish your family tree to your webpage right from the program. The program's only flaw, if any, is the compulsory registration in order to use it. But hey, it's free: what else can you ask for?

If you've decided to study your own personal history through your family ancestors, Family Tree Builder is the perfect software tool to help you out with this task.

Download Family Tree Builder 2.0.0.640 in Softonic

LenMus Phonascus automatically composes music scores so that you can exercise your music reading skills without having to repeat the same music score.

The parameters that control the composer module are set up automatically by Phonascus to suit the needs of the exercise chosen and of your level. You can also set up manually this parameters to suit your personal needs.

For example, to practise a certain rhythmic pattern on which you have difficulties or to practise reading a clef.

Download LenMus Phonascus 3.6 in Softonic

The Schmap Player is a small and easy-to-use piece of freeware. Install it on your Windows PC, select from our growing range of interactive Schmap Guides and then... get Schmapping!

The Schmap Player dynamically integrates maps, photos, reviews and online content, giving you complete freedom to explore. Search the city, a neighborhood, or within a radius of your hotel - find sights of interest, restaurants to match your taste. Play, pause and fast-forward your way through one of our suggested tours, or your own custom selection of places of interest.

Take your bookmarked places or any other selection of guide content, then custom print a full-color guide, with maps, photos, reviews etc. Email a favorite place, explore with our cool map tools, click online for user reviews, web search, and driving directions.

Download Schmap Player 2.0 in Softonic

NASA released World Wind six months before Google Earth, yet it failed to make as much of an impact. However, anything coming out of the prestigious American aeronautics administration is definitely worth a closer look. So what sets World Wind apart from Google Earth?

World Wind's real selling point is the quality of its satellite imagery. World Wind reveals Earth in many different perspectives thanks to the large variety of maps. Blue Marble exposes Earth in its true colors, Landsat 7 gives you high resolution imagery, and MODIS can display time relevant data such as earthquakes, fires or floods. Browse over mountains and observe the snowy peaks, the clouds, and the different colors of the rock, with incredible precision. Be aware though that the lower you go, the more detail will appear, and World Wind will take more time to process the image.

A digital globe wouldn't be complete without its own search option. Find a destination by typing its name in the search tool located on the top bar. Landmarks are particularly well catalogued. If you select the landmark finder tool from the top section, World Wind will exhibit small tags for all locations it considers of significance. Click on the tag and you will be directed to the Wikipedia page for that particular landmark, where you'll be able to read all about it. It is important to point out however that the search function in World Wind is not as good at finding cities as it is with landmarks.

Another of World Wind's assets is its usability. Zoom in over the map using the rollover button of your mouse and skim to parts of the screen with your mouse. The more you focus down on a place the more names of cities and significant locations pop up. These can clog up your screen however, so you'd be wise to configure World Wind to only show the information you need, like country borders and urban areas.

To set itself apart from Google Earth, World Wind provides two original tools. Capitalizing on its lunar explorations, the aeronautics administration lets you view the Moon in extremely high definition. Focus in on its craters, deserts and plains and search for Apollo 11's landing site. Additionally, World Wind recreates the infamous Oregon trail mapped out by American adventurers Lewis and Clark at the beginning of the 19th century, stretching out from Independece, Missouri to the Pacific state of Oregon. World Wind points to significant landmarks which should be of interest to students or history amateurs.

World Wind is as good a digital imagery program as Google Earth. While the image resolution process can be sluggish, World Wind manages to set itself apart thanks to its landmark finder and fun tools like the Moon visualizer and the Lewis & Clark trail.

Download NASA World Wind 1.3.5 in Softonic

Have you ever asked yourself where the Voyager space probes are? What does Saturn look like in Titan’s sky or, better yet, what does the rise of Jupiter look like from the surface of Europa? WinStars can help you find the answers to these questions.

WinStars uses the latest 3D technology to show the objects of our solar system in a realistic manner. Thus, it is possible to move from one planet to another, to follow a space probe on its long voyage or to observe a celestial event from a place to which you could never go.

The use of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s DE 404 planetary theories allows us to have a precise representation of the events displayed.

Download WinStars 2.076 R2 in Softonic

Click MusicalKEYS will change your computer into a virtual music lab. With 128 musical instruments, you can play the best music of your choice. You can also save your favorites in the MIDI file format for free using the MIDI Converter utility.

Click MusicalKEYS can be used as an accompaniment just like electronic keyboards and it is also ideal for people who want to learn how to play tunes in musical instruments. You can also download tunes from your friends and send your favorites to them, so with Click MusicalKEYS, it is very easy and fun to use the computer as a musical instrument.

You don't need any experience about music staves and sheets. Click MusicalKEYS will do all the work.

Download Click MusicalKEYS 3.0.214 in Softonic

Those of us who work with computers on a daily basis need to be as fast as possible with the keyboard, and programs like Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor can be really helpful.

Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor is a simple tool that teaches you the basics of typing and also lets you practice to improve your speed and accuracy. Lessons in Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor grow in difficulty as you make progress through the program, from single letters on the keyboard to complete texts.

The good thing about Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor is that it offers support for many different keyboard layouts and languages, which makes it suitable for a wider number of users, no matter what their mother tongue is.

On the downside, I missed some extra features found in other similar tools, such as the possibility to keep track of your results with statistics, or to customize the text with which you can practice.

Use Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor everyday and you'll be able to improve your typing speed and accuracy.

Download Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor 1.1.4 in Softonic

If you write many articles, you probably know what a pain it is to have to regularly skim through a heavy dictionary to find the word you’re looking for. Luckily there’s a whole batch of lexicon applications that’ll send it back to the shelf (or in the trash can) forever. WordWeb is the perfect example of this type of dictionary and thesaurus combo in a hands-on interface.

What you’re looking for in a dictionary application is something you can open in a click, paste your word, and immediately get the results. You get that in Wordweb via system tray integration, and a Ctrl+Alt+W hot key combination. On install WordWeb will ask you the English locale you will use, such as Australian, Canadian American or New Zealander. The program keeps a history of your searches and you can quickly access them via the side arrows. You can refine your search by selecting word category like nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs and decide to show pronunciation, usage and offensive or vulgar words. WordWeb isn’t associated to any world famous reliable dictionary like Webster’s ,preferring its very own online source, comprising of more than 240,000 words and updated regularly, according to the developer.

The heart of WordWeb resides in the results tabs, although the difference between them all wasn’t obvious from the start. After a bit of testing we found that the “nearest” tab showed you the preceding and following words in the dictionary, “see also” was a suggestion of related words and “similar” presented a word that resembled your search but had a slightly different meaning. “Types” goes down to the meaning of the word, for example solid “types” will be plastic, crystal or block. The “type of” tab is another variation. “Types of” solid will be substance, state or form. These tools will be particularly helpful if you feel limited by your vocabulary and are looking to diversify your choice of words in the document you are writing.

WordWeb is a reliable dictionary and thesaurus with a simple, hands-on approach. It is an ideal partner to fight off writer’s block and improve your vocabulary. The online dictionary is a rich source and WordWeb should help you out of any mind jam whenever you’re writing an article.

Download WordWeb 5.5 in Softonic

Wikipedia must surely be on of the greatest innovations on the internet since the advent of Google and YouTube in my opinion.

The secret of it's success was to harness the power of user general knowledge via an extremely easy to use and read interface - a wiki. MediaWiki is a small package which contains everything you need to create your own wiki on any subject you choose. MediaWiki is already being used by several other projects of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation including the MediaWiki developer site.

MediaWiki is basically a free server-based software which is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). If you're intent on creating a big or popular wiki don't worry - it's designed to be run on a large server farm for a website that gets millions of hits per day. MediaWiki uses PHP to process and display data stored in its MySQL database. However, it requires no SQL database knowledge on your part and pages use MediaWiki's wikitext format, so that users without knowledge of XHTML or CSS can edit them easily.

MediaWiki contains everything you need to get up and running with your own no matter how big or small your project.

Download MediaWiki 1.13.0 RC1 in Softonic

If you're one of those mad scientists who don't have enough with the Windows calculator, then SpeedCrunch is for you.

This powerful advanced calculator lets you perform many mathematical tasks with an up to 50 decimal precision which I personally find impressive. Also, instead of a tiny rectangular screen like the one you find in real calculators, SpeedCrunch features a huge, blank space where all your operations are conveniently saved, so that you can review your calculations at any time.

SpeedCrunch supports on-the-fly calculations, includes more than 50 built-in math functions and can be easily customized. You can use it with its virtual keyboard or your own physical PC keyboard, though math functions can only be entered from the virtual one. It would have been a great idea to create shortcuts for those functions.

With SpeedCrunch you can easily perform many different maths calculations and functions with a high precision and the possibility to review results at any time.

Download SpeedCrunch 0.10.1 in Softonic

Let’s say you’re a bit of a catastrophic person, worried about potential Earth events like volcanoes and earthquakes, maybe near where you live. Earth Alerts is just the program you need to have the situation under control and make you feel safer. At this stage, it only provides data for American cities, but maybe in the future the rest of the world will be reassured about fires, severe weather conditions and, as we mentioned, seismic activity.

To start monitoring a city, just click the New Location option you find in the Settings menu. Normally, if you write the name of city the program should find it in its database and automatically fill in all the information, like Time Zone or Weather Zone, which otherwise could be tricky to insert manually. Add as many cities as you like to receive regular updates during the day.

On the left side of Earth Alerts’s window, you have the list of your chosen cities, with the corresponding volcano, fire and earthquake alerts and also severe weather indications. There is also a global overview with ongoing Earth activity, with a special Tsunami and Tropical section in addition to those mentioned above.

Earth Alerts provides regular updates on Earth geological and meteorological activities, both globally and for specified American cities. Information is presented in a clear way, although you shouldn’t expect to receive lots of it every day… hopefully.

Download Earth Alerts 2008 1.74 in Softonic

If you're scientific or mathematical work involves highly complex linear and non linear problem solving, then you may find that Octave provides the power you've been looking for.

Octave is a high-level language developed by the open source community which functions simply by providing a command line interface for solving linear and nonlinear numeric problems. For those that are familiar with Matlab, they will have few problems picking up Octave because it works in conjunction with the former language.

The program basically features several very powerful tools for solving the kind of linear algebra equations that would send shivers down the spine of even the most experienced mathematician. According to the developers, it also includes functions for manipulating polynomials and integrating differential and differential-algebraic equations if you know what those are in the first place! The one bonus for those familiar with other languages is that Octave can also be extended or used in conjunction with modules written in C++, C, Fortran and others.

This is an extremely complex language that only those familiar with Matlab or Fortran will pick up quickly. Anyone else should be prepared to put a lot of hours in although the problem solving skills it will provide you with seem virtually limitless.

Download Octave 3.0.1 in Softonic

Fractals have always been fascinating for their characteristic of never ending and rebuilding themselves each time you zoom in on them. It’s a never ending journey and a never ending world. With Fraqtive you can play with fractals, creating and editing their parameters, changing tones and shades.

If you are a mathematician you will probably understand what all the parameters stand for and what you can obtain by changing the X and Y values, the zoom factor and the rotation angle. If you are just curious like me, change the settings and see what happens. I managed to create a perfect pink rectangle which doesn’t really look like a fascinating fractal!

There is also a 3D rendering feature which is very nice, you can rotate it with the mouse and zoom in and out. Unfortunately, unlike the 2D rendering where you can zoom in infinitely times, in the 3D mode, you only have a section of your fractal to play with, but it doesn’t recalculate itself if you try to enlarge the image.

Fraqtive allows you to create your personalized fractals. The full screen mode lets you immerse fully in this psychedelic world and take screenshots for your mathematical studies or, more commonly, for beautiful wallpapers.

Download Fraqtive 4.3.4 in Softonic

WorldWide Telescope could be regarded as Microsoft's direct competitor to Google Sky, but I wouldn't agree with that.

WWT does contain space imagery that enables you to observe starts, planets, constellations and other celestial elements without having to buy an expensive telescope, that's true. In that sense, it's similar to Google's space browsing tool. But in my opinion, this app is much more intended for professional astronomers – or at least serious astronomy fans – rather than for people who just want to take a sneak peek at our planet as if they were taking a ride on a NASA shuttle.

Don't get me wrong here: there's nothing wrong with being a serious astronomy app. I'm just warning you in case you expect something else. Other than that, WorldWide Telescope is a great tool that all astronomy fans are going to love. It includes loads of information and also lets you download guided tours from the program itself to learn more about a certain topic.

You can freely move around the sky with your mouse, but I found this a bit confusing and soon preferred to use the image galleries under the Explore menu. These galleries were a bit disappointing though, because you can perfectly see the boundaries of the image you're viewing and so it doesn't feel like a real telescope anymore.

Worldwide Telescope is not a space browser like Google Sky; rather than that, it's a comprehensive astronomy atlas with loads of data, photo galleries and freely downloadable guided tours.

Download WorldWide Telescope Beta in Softonic