Gizmo Central is a package of tools intended to make computer tasks easier and more comfortable to do. The program works as a main basic app to which you can add several plug-ins in order to obtain new functionalities. These plug-ins are chosen during the installation process and can be changed at any time by running the installation again.

According to the author, Gizmo is addressed to all kinds of users, but I think it's more suitable for advanced ones. Among the featured plug-ins you'll find a launch toolbar, a synchronization server, a database tool or a disc image manager, which are generally very useful but certainly not the kind of apps that beginners are looking for.

On top of that, Gizmo is not intuitive at all as regards program configuration, nor does it have support for dragging and dropping elements, which would have been especially useful for the toolbar plug-in.

Gizmo Central is a convenient pack of tools designed to help you perform very diverse tasks.

Download Gizmo Central 2.6.2 in Softonic

SUMo, short for Software Update Monitor, scans your system and finds out whether there are newer versions for all the applications installed on your PC. The whole process is fully automated and doesn't hardly require any user intervention. A couple of clicks is all you'll need to always enjoy the latest versions of your favorite software tools.

SUMo is, therefore, very easy to use. Both the system scanning and version checking are also quite fast. Once finished, you'll see a list with all the apps installed on your PC and the ones that need updating marked with a special icon.

However, the actual update process isn't that easy. The program displays a "Get update" button but instead of downloading the file or at least taking you to the developer's website, it only links to SUMo's website and a Google link to find the update by yourself.

Have your software always up to date with SUMo.

Download SUMo 2.3.4.60 in Softonic

MatchWare ScreenCorder is a video recording program that captures everything happening on your screen.

It's the kind of tool you need when you're building tutorials or instructions about how a particular program should be used. You've got two ways to control MatchWare ScreenCorder - either by mouse or by keyboard shortcuts. Mouse is a lot easier but keyboard shortcuts are useful if you don't want the annoyance of a mouse cursor on your screen.

What makes this particular screen recorder a bit different are the multimedia elements which means arrows, boxes, magnifying glasses and notes that can be used to annotate your screencasts in an interactive way. For example, you can add elements such as self-assessment questionnaires, the results of which can be sent automatically by mail to the researcher. Screencasts can be imported to WMV, AVI of Flash although the developers only recommend exporting to Flash if you've used a questionnaire.

If you're looking to do more than just show but also question people how they use a program, MatchWare ScreenCorder is a very promising solution.

Download MatchWare ScreenCorder 5 in Softonic

I must admit I don't like updating my software. It's just too boring a task to do: search the web, then download the new file, then install it on the PC... no, thanks. Fortunately for me and for all the people who also remain blissfully outdated, someone has come out with UpdateStar.

This tool scans your system and finds all available updates for the applications installed on your PC. Bear in mind that it doesn't work with anything you have, because the updating process it's based on a database created and maintained by the program's developers. But still, it does recognize the most popular tools and provides links to download them directly from its interface.

UpdateStar can be scheduled to look for updates on a regular basis and also enables you to mark certain apps so that they're not updated. However, I really missed the possibility to add my own apps to the list, or at least having the opportunity to check the database used by the program itself.

UpdateStar helps you keep your software updated, although it still needs some improvement.

Download UpdateStar 2.3.654 Beta in Softonic

If you haven't got a default scanning software loaded onto your machine, then take a look at Vuescan, which simply and easily allows you to connect to your scanner in minutes.

The developers of VueScan claim that it's the world's most widely-used scanning software among photographers, home users and corporations. Although this would seem far fetched, it's certainly true that it must be popular simply by virtue of it's simplicity and ease of use for anyone not familiar with scanning software.

VueScan is highly flexible which is another great aspect of it - it doesn't matter if you change scanner as it still continues to support it whatever model it is. According to the developers, VueScan supports more than 400 scanners and 185 digital camera raw files so you won't find any incompatibility issues. Installation is lightning quick as it's such a light package and there's little waiting around - just open VueScan and you're ready to scan.

There's not much to it but in a way, that's the great thing about Vuescan - it doesn't bloat your system with unnecessary features or scanning options.

Download VueScan 8.4.86 in Softonic

The Start menu is supposed to give you quick access to programs and files, but it often ends up being a real mess. This is the time when you need some alternative like Executor.

Despite its scary name, Executor is a nice, useful application that enables you to open files and launch your favorite applications and websites just by typing the keywords you have previously assigned to them. What's more, as the program auto-completes each entry, the first few letters are usually enough. The program also includes some built-in keywords for the most common tasks, such as performing a Google search or opening the Control Panel.

Executor features an extensive configuration menu that enables you to customize every single detail. It also has support for skins, but the included skins are generally very dark and hard to read. Luckily enough, you can create your own personal color combination and save it as skin.

Download Executor 0.98b in Softonic

Have you ever stopped to think how many button presses and mouse clicks you've made on your computer over the years? Well, you need wonder no longer thanks to WorkMeter XP.

A simple yet somewhat amusing program, WorkMeter XP measures a range of different actions performed on your PC as you work. It notes the number of keystrokes you make, the number of mouse clicks, along with the mouse trajectory in pixels and meters. You'll need to make sure you have the correct monitor size selected in the WorkMeter XP interface, otherwise the information it gives you will not be accurate.

Besides just recording the stats as you type, WorkMeter XP also keeps a history of your records, so you can compare the amount of key presses and mouse movement over time, which I thought was an interesting feature. You also get an option for auto-starting WorkMeter XP at Windows startup.

Ultimately I guess WorkMeter XP doesn't really serve any purpose other than being a brief novelty. Actually the best use I found for it was to race your pals to being the quickest to move the mouse a total of 100 meters.

If you're interested to know exactly how many buttons you press on a daily basis, WorkMeter XP provides an accurate and easy-to-read solution.

Download WorkMeter XP in Softonic

With screen sizes, even on laptops, rapidly expanding and external monitors now well above 20 inches, sometimes it can be useful to be able to measure distances on your screen.

StormRuler is a simple utility that enables you to measure objects and distances across your screen. All that's required is that you place StormRuler next to the object you want to measure and anchor StormRuler at the point you want to start measuring from.

If it doesn't have much real practical use for most users, StormRuler does at least look quite cool with semi-transparent skin. However, unfortunately it doesn't seem to work in Vista yet and is only available for Windows 9X/2K and XP. It's rather annoying as well that you can only measure in pixels - there's no way to change the unit of measurement to imperial or metric units.

StormRuler is useful for designers or anyone else that needs to measure the pixels of a certain image or file and has no other way of doing so.

Download StormRuler 1.0 in Softonic

Volumouse provides you with a quick and easy way to control the audio volume on your system - simply by rolling the wheel of your wheel mouse. It allows you to define a set of rules for determining when the wheel will be used for changing the sound volume. For example: You can configure Volumouse to use your mouse wheel for volume control when the Alt key is hold down, when the left mouse button is down, when the mouse cursor is over the taskbar, and so on...When the conditions that you define are not satisfied, your mouse wheel will be used for the regular scrolling tasks, exactly as before.

Download Volumouse 1.57 in Softonic

If you don't have the confidence to use Linux or it's not really practical for day to day use but you like the way it adds and removes programs, Quick Winapt Tool could be for you.

Quick Winapt Tool displays a list of programs arranged by categories, much in the same way as Synaptic on Linux, which are ready to download and install them directly. Quick Winapt Tool makes programs much easier to update automatically rather than having to do them separately or visit developer pages.

The range of programs supported by Quick Winapt Tool is quite wide, including applications for the Internet, office programs, games, system accessories, etc. The first time you run Quick Winapt Tool, you will be prompted for a simple configuration process which just involves choosing the base directory that need to save the downloaded files. You can then update DB file by clicking the "Update" button in main control panel.

For Linux lovers, Quick Winapt Tool is a cool little application that makes it easier to update programs although you'll find that many mainstream apps simply won't update with it.

Download Quick Winapt Tool 0.1.0 Beta in Softonic

JoneSoft Date Calculator might be a simple tool but it does an important job - it provides an exact count of the number of days, hours and many other variables between one date and another.

Calculations that JoneSoft Date Calculator perform can be based on days, weekdays, weeks, fortnights, months and years. There's not much use for JoneSoft Date Calculator if you¡re just using it for fun (unless you want to see how many days you've been alive since you were born) but if you're involved in project management, JoneSoft Date Calculator can give you a realistic view of how many working days are left to complete work.

However, note that all calculations in JoneSoft Date Calculator are based on the Gregorian calendar which means that it won't be applicable to all people in all parts of the world. Why the developers haven't included other calendar types in JoneSoft Date Calculator is not clear as it surely would have been easy to do so with such a simple app.

The JoneSoft Date Calculator interface is very simple - just enter the time period you want to calculate, select which type of incrementation you want to see the results in, and calculations are performed instantly. JoneSoft Date Calculator can't of course calculate days off due to bank holidays and other local holidays if you're using it for work related purposes.

Extremely easy to use and useful when you need to calculate the days, hours or weeks left in a certain time period, JoneSoft Date Calculator is all you need.

Download JoneSoft Date Calculator 3.0.4.23 in Softonic

Sofonesia Reminder is a simple reminder utility for those that need to be regularly reminded of dates, events and meetings.

The strongest point of the program is that its very easy to configure but it's also very basic and doesn't leave much scope for integrating it into Outlook or your e-mail client or sharing it with other users. To add a new event, just click on the "add" button and you'll be prompted for a name of the event, how you'd like to be warned and the date, time and frequency of the warning.

The program can be set to run automatically when you restart your PC so that you'll be reminded of anything urgent as soon as you log on. You can have just about any sound you choose as a reminder as long as it is in MP3 or WAV format. Alternatively, you can specify different alarms for different events and messages much in the same way as you can customise your ring tones on a mobile depending on who is ringing.

Reminders are categorised into three - day (for a particular day of the week), daily and regular which can be set to any date. If you're using this program to get you out of bed or don't want to be continually pestered, it also supports a snooze function, the length of which you can define.

Apart from that, there's not much to Sofonesia Reminder and anyone who uses Outlook won't find much need for it but all other users without a reminder system may be pleasantly surprised.

Download Sofonesia Reminder 1.0 in Softonic

Command and control your Window's computer through your voice. Operate your computer using a minimum of keystrokes or mouse clicks. If you want to move the cursor down one line, simply say: Down One. Want to check your emails? Simply say: Open Email. Add commands to open any Window's document or program.

Utilizing Microsoft's Speech Application Program Interface (SAPI) and Microsoft's .NET Framework, we have developed a very small and efficient voice command and recognition application. SAPI and .NET are both required to use this software.

Download e-Speaking 3.8.16 in Softonic

Desktop Messager is a utility allowing you to draw or write cursive texts on Windows' desktop, thus leaving a visual message on your monitor if you have to go away for a while. Messages are fully customizable and can also be saved. In fact, the way they are displayed is also very interesting because the sequences are played chronologically such as they were held during the recording process, therefore exactly like you made them!

Download Desktop Messager 1.21 in Softonic

SpeedyiTunes is an accelerator for iTunes. The program simply installs an icon in your task bar and claims to download iTunes music and videos up to 10 times quicker. In reality, you might find it's less than half of this although it depends on your broadband setup.

It includes speeded-up connections to shared bookstores, Podcast subscriptions and probably the most useful feature - radio streams. In fact, this was the best feature by far in that radio streams seem to be much more reliable and quicker with SppedyiTunes. The problem is however is that you never know whether it is genuinely speeding up the connections or its your own connection that fluctuating (known as bandwidth flapping.

However, if you are not satisfied with the speed of iTunes, SpeedyiTunes could be the solution you've been looking for - or at least - make your connections to the radio more stable.

Download SpeedyiTunes 1.7.0.58 in Softonic

While Google Earth remains the undisputed navigational heavyweight master of global mapping, Microsoft have weighed in with a reasonable effort.

This beta version of Virtual Earth combines local search with maps and aerial photography. Microsoft have included satellite imagery with maps in its local search results for quite some time but with Virtual Earth, the display is focused primarily around maps and aerial views. You can zoom in and out of maps or images, and drag the images around within the display at leisure and the basic search interface is similar to MSN's local search with "what" and "where" forms to specify what you're searching for. In addition, text results for searches are displayed in floating popup windows on the left side of the display. Aerial photographs are overlaid with labels, showing street names, landmarks, and other features, even including directional arrows for one-way streets plus permalinks saves a screenshot of everything open in Virtual Earth, including the map view location and search results.

It may not be in the same class as Google Earth but this is one of Microsoft's better efforts it has to be said.

Download Microsoft Virtual Earth Beta in Softonic

OneLoupe is a digital rectangular lens to zoom in on anything that appears on your screen. The only way you can open this program is by clicking on the icon in the system tray. Once you have done that you can move the lens around and, by turning the mouse’s scroll wheel, zoom in and out up to 9X.

The application is extremely light and can be useful for everyone, not just for people with sight problems. There are two major weak points I’ve noticed, though. One is that you can’t launch the program by simply pressing a combination of keys or with the right click button of the mouse. The other is that when zooming in, the application doesn’t even try to recalculate what’s displayed and both text and images become highly pixilated. Especially with texts, I don’t think it would have been a very difficult algorithm to implement.

While the lens is on, if you press the ‘b’ key, the program copies what’s being magnified to the clipboard. This is a useful and time-saving function, especially for presentations or whenever you need a visual example of what you are talking about.

OneLoupe can open a digital lens to zoom in on a text or a picture and paste what’s spotlighted in the clipboard with just one click.

Download OneLoupe 1.01 in Softonic

XP-AntiSpy is a small utility designed to quickly disable some built-in update and authentication features within WindowsXP that may raise security or privacy concerns in some people.

For example, there is a service running in the background which is called Automatic Updates... that may sound useful to most people, but suspicious to others. You can disable all these features manually by going through your configuration, find the settings for each etc. However with XP-AntiSpy there is no need to do this, since it will show you all of them at once and let you choose which ones to disable.

Not only will it save you a lot of time disabling them - it will also allow you to quickly re-enable them if you change your mind.

Download XP-AntiSpy 3.97 Beta 2 in Softonic

If you're tired of having to configure MySQL, Apache or PHP, then Appserv could be the answer to your prayers. Simple, easy to use and fast to setup, it provides everything that a reliable server does in half the time. At the moment, it works with the most common databases namely Apache 2.2.3, PHP 5.1.6, MySQL 5.0.24a and phpMyAdmin 2.9.0.2.

For anyone who is a novice with any of the above, then this program is real breath of fresh air. The setup process literally takes less than a minute with an easy to use wizard taking you through the process. You are prompted exactly which databases you need Appserv to support i.e. Apache HTTP Server, MySQL Database, PHP Hypertext Preprocessor and phpMyAdmin. After this, you are prompted to provide the username and details of each database so that Appserv can access them and you're ready to go.

If you need to install any program that demands use of PHP SQL or Apache and you're unfamiliar with how to use them, AppServ can save you a lot of hassle and time.

Download AppServ 2.6.0 in Softonic

If you've ever needed more control over your screen controls other than those offered by Windows, then DarkAdapted is the program for you. It allows you more control over your screen settings and users may define an unlimited number of gamma presets, and invoke them via global hotkeys, by menu selection, or by typing the first few letters of a preset’s name.

You can use the “Dark Red” setting to preserve your dark adaptation or create a preset to deal with monitor characteristics or viewing conditions. You can also adjust gamma values via sliders or from the keyboard. There's also High-resolution sliders which allow you to adjust red, green, and blue video components individually and in real time. Sliders can be set to report gamma values as percentages or as raw gamma values. You can also use the Gamma Toggle keys to offer a quick return to full brightness with minimum fuss.

For those that want more control over their screen resolution and contrast settings, Dark Adapted provides a powerful solution

Download DarkAdapted 2.3.2 in Softonic