Version 1.1.7 of VLC media player doesn't actually look that much different from previous versions of VLC but it does introduce many new features, formats and codecs to the VLC multimedia framework. It also fixes several major bugs that were in earlier versions.

Firstly, don't be fooled by appearances. VLC media player may look basic, but it's this simplicity and power to play anything that makes VLC media player so good. This includes downloading streams from the web. Indeed, we've often found that where other media players have failed, VLC media player has always allowed me to stream content quickly and reliably. This is because VLC media player is so lightweight and doesn't spend as much time processing images as some players do. If you want to stream your own audio or video across the net, there's also a useful streaming wizard to help get you going.

VLC media player isn't quite as intuitive as iTunes when it comes to media management - it's much more basic and stripped down in that respect - but it's a much more flexible player in terms of file formats. And if VLC media player doesn't recognize the file type it will often try playing it anyway and will display the scrambled video in its raw form.

If you don't have any media to play, then VLC media player 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 playlist. Click on it to reveal the the different categories of channels available on VLC media player. Click on the category you want and a drop down list of all available channels appears. Just click on the channel you want to watch and streaming should begin almost immediately.

As regards control, VLC media player offers superb hotkey support allowing you to define a key to do anything from taking video snapshots to skipping tracks. It also features subtitle support for all major subtitle formats and even allows you to switch languages in the click of a button.

Note that all versions of VLC media player compatible with Mac OS X 10.1 to 10.6 are available here. The main download link is for the 64 bit Intel version compatible with OS X 10.5 and above. However, you will be offered download links for older OS X versions when you click the free download link. Alternatively, you can download older versions at the foot of this page if you know which one is compatible with your OS. There is not, and there will never be, a version of VLC media player for Mac OS 9.

There's very little to fault with VLC media player. It's a superb lightweight media player that will successfully play the most stubborn files where other players fail.

Download VLC media player 1.1.12 in Softonic

Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer for Mac on December 31st, 2005, and does not provide further security or performance updates. Since the browser is no longer designed to handle the requirements of most modern web pages, we strongly advise you to try Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Opera instead. Alternatively, just check out all of the other browsers available for Mac.

However, if you really can't help yourself and are an Internet Explorer nostalgic, you might want to try it for a trip down memory lane. However, for normal internet browsing we'd really discourage you from using it. We couldn't even render the Softonic website in it and indeed, most websites failed to load properly. Internet Explorer for Mac is incredibly slow, buggy, prone to crashes and freezing and is woefully short of security settings.

Since development finished in 2005, Internet Explorer for Mac doesn't offer even the most basic features that you would consider a prerequisite on any browser nowadays like tabs, extensions, saved sessions or private data management.

There are absolutely no compelling reasons to use Internet Explorer for Mac. If you've just switched from Windows to Mac, try one of the browsers suggested above instead.

Download Internet Explorer 5.2.3 in Softonic

It's not often that a Microsoft product gets remade for Mac but Paintbrush is more or less a version of MS Paint which comes by default with Windows - you know, the kids app that you never used when you were on Windows. Be warned that it's not quite as simple as Paint, but it follows a similar pick-up-and-paint format and is easy to learn with just a little perseverance.

Paintbrush is an extremely simple app – don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s a photo editor or replacement for an image editor like Photoshop. You've got a toolbox which allows you to use a paintbrush, rubber, color palette, area selector and little more than that. In other words, Paintbrush won't appeal to any serious artist but it could be useful to keep your kids happy for a while or simply if you want to doodle a few minutes away.

You can save your Paintbrush masterpieces in most major formats, although you can only select one default save format (.PNG). It's not easy to paint on Paintbrush when using a mouse, however; the app should support the addition of a light-pen and pad to make it more usable.

Simple to use and easy to get going, Paintbrush is the blank canvas that will take you back to kindergarten.

Download Paintbrush 2.1.1 in Softonic

RAR is from the same developer who brought you WinRAR for Mac but of course, it isn't called WinRAR because it's a Mac and not a Windows application! RAR is a powerful archive manager. It can back up your data and reduce the size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format. The application not only includes support for extracting virtually any kind of file compression format, it also boasts a no-nonsense approach to reducing file sizes.

When you download RAR, you might be confused by the fact that it's just a folder of files. This is because there is no graphical user interface for RAR. It works only via the command line using Terminal so if you've got no experience of using Terminal, then you're going to be a bit stranded. If you're willing to learn however, here's how to do it...

Place the files in any folder on your hard drive, and run the utility by typing in the full path to the application (e.g. to run from the current directory, type "./rar" or "./unrar" followed by the appropriate parameters). If you get stuck, simply type the application name (RAR or UNRAR) without any parameters to see list of useful commands.

However, this will no doubt prove too complicated for most general users and considering the fact that you have to buy a license too for RAR, there are far better applications out there such as Zipeg which is both free and has a GUI thus making it much easier to use.

RAR is a powerful compression tool but if you don't know how to run programs from the Terminal, it won't be much use to you.

Download RAR (WinRAR for Mac) 4.0.1 in Softonic

Microsoft Word 2011 is a component of Microsoft Office 2011, which has been significantly improved for Macs from the 2008 version. In Microsoft Word 2011, the toolbar has been vastly improved and is far more practical thanks to the Ribbon interface inspired by the Windows version. As a result, you now have different sets of tools depending on different types of document that you're working on.

Microsoft Word 2011 makes much greater use of screen real estate too. By using the Ribbon, you can view documents in glorious full screen mode which really makes your documents look great and focuses you on the document rather than the toolbars surrounding it. Also in Microsoft Word 2011 for Mac, Microsoft have added support for SharePoint. This allows Mac users to connect to Microsoft's Sharepoint servers directly and collaborate on documents in realtime.

Microsoft Word 2011 and the entire Office suite have been through some major changes over the past 3 years and it now finally feels like a real OS X product.

Download Microsoft Word 2011 for Mac 14.0.0 Preview in Softonic

Open Facetime and you'll immediately see yourself on screen, and you have to sign in with your Apple account to get started. Once done, FaceTime will sync with your address book, allowing you to immediately call anyone who has the capability.

Calling an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch is easy, once you have your contacts. Image quality is excellent, and the display is pleasantly free of distractions. If the iPhone is rotated, the image also changes on FaceTime for Mac, from landscape to portrait and back. It's a very smooth, simple and comfortable video call experience.

FaceTime is not perfect though. While integration with your contacts on the iPhone makes perfect sense, on the Mac it's less useful. You can't add contacts to FaceTime directly, but have to do it via Address Book. If you don't use Address Book, you have to start. Hopefully integrating contacts will improve in later versions, and perhaps include other services like Facebook. It would also be nice to have FaceTime open without constantly seeing video of yourself!

FaceTime is a very promising video chat application that's certainly the best option between Apple users who are able to use it. However, it still needs more development, and will struggle to knock Skype off its perch unless a Windows version is produced.

Download FaceTime for Mac 1.0.2 in Softonic

The first thing we noticed about Google Chrome is that it's unbelievably lightweight. While Firefox was consuming anything from an average of 20-30% of a Mac's CPU, Chrome barely registered on the scale, occasionally touching 1%. For anyone plagued with Firefox memory leaks and crashes, this alone is surely going to be a compelling reason to give Chrome a go.

As you'd expect, Google Chrome also features tabbed browsing, which visually, is more attractive than Firefox which tends to cram them together somewhat. Extensions and bookmarking (including syncing across machines) are included, as is Adobe Flash.

Chrome for Mac only works on Intel Macs and you might find that some add-ons that you used with previous browsers aren't available for it yet. This is rapidly changing however and most popular add-ons are now available on Chrome.

Perhaps most importantly, Google Chrome is extremely quick. Surfing the Softonic site, page-loads took less then a second and all images were loaded very quickly. YouTube in particular loaded with lightening speed.

Overall, the handling of sites using JavaScript in particular is mightily impressive and this has been made even better with the implementation of a V8 Crankshaft. Its also nice to know that with Google Chrome, even if there is a problem with one of your tabs, that it won't crash the whole browser - just the tab itself. However, sandboxing of Flash still isn't available in the Mac version, even though it is on Windows.

The final version ensures that you'll be able to synchronize not only bookmarks across multiple computers, but also browser preferences - including themes, homepage and startup settings, web content settings, preferred languages, and even page zoom settings. Meanwhile, you can also enable each extension to work in incognito mode through the extensions manager.

With thousands of extensions, super fast browsing and all the intelligence and slickness you expect from a Google product, Chrome delivers an excellent browsing experience.

Download Google Chrome 16.0.912.77 in Softonic

In fact, FrostWire has more than just a few similarities to Limewire although unlike the latter, it does not carry advertising and there are no annoying pop ups. Just as Limewire was, FrostWire is straightforward and easy to use. A simple search bar, divided by category, makes it a breeze to browse for a file, whether it is a video, image, audio, or program. FrostWire also has a What’s New button to check out what popular files users have recently exchanged.

One particularly handy feature of FrostWire is a special direct connect option. If you know the IP address of one of your friends, type it in the box and FrostWire will browse to that user’s files. This is a quick way of sharing files with someone you know although it would be even better if you could enter the username of a user rather than the IP address.

In terms of speed, much will depend on the speed of your own connection. It definitely helps though if you've correctly opened your router’s ports and whether you’re downloading a popular file or not. To avoid the risk of downloading copyrighted or adult material, FrostWire also allows you to apply content filters. Another handy feature of FrostWire is a built-in media player. Video and audio can be tested using Frostwire’s media player which gives you an immediate preview of your file.

However, one major annoyance with Frostwire is the number of fake files on it. Many songs and files look genuine but are in fact either completely fake or in the worst case scenarios, malicious. You should be very careful when opening files. It should also be noted that FrostWire is basically a stripped-down version of Limewire, but is a not-for-profit project. The developers claim it will never support Digital Rights Management (DRM) or any type of advertising. However, the demise of Limewire due to legal issues mean that FrostWire may well be targeted in the future for closure.

FrostWire for Mac is a hugely popular alternative for anyone who misses Limewire but there are a lot of fake files and it doesn't quite measure up to the latter in most areas.

Download FrostWire 5.3.2 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 1.1 in Softonic

With Skype you can call other Skype users absolutely free wherever they are in the world thanks to P2P technology. Skype 5 brings together the main functions of talk, chat, video and file sharing in one main window. By default, your contacts list is on the left, the other basic functions are in the main part of the program window making it more streamlined and slicker than previous releases.

New in Skype 5 is the ability to video conference with up to ten participants. Group conferencing has also been made easier thanks to the redesigned call window which means that all distractions (such as other conversations) are minimized and only the names of participants displayed. However, although you can video chat with one contact for free, group video conferencing is now a premium feature which you have to pay for which will disappoint many users.

Skype 5 features a new contacts list sorted by category and you can add favorites to the top of the list. Searching for them has also been made easier by integrating them with your Mac address book. You can also now rename contacts so that you're not stuck with their default username. Finally, accessing Skype is now easier thanks to a mini Skype control bar that sits on top of any web pages, documents or photos you've got open although some may find this a bit intrusive.

Although Skype 5 adds many improvements, some people may miss the smaller and more discreet interface of Skype 2.8.0.866. There is a feeling that the developers have gone a bit over the top in expanding Skype and "hiding" certain features and it will take users of the old version some getting used to. The fact that video conferencing is now a premium feature will also annoy many faithful users.

Skype 5 brings video conferencing and a more intelligent user interface that once you've adapted to, should make Skype an even better way to keep in touch while you're away.

Download Skype 5.5.0.2069 Beta in Softonic

Open up your archive with the program and it will take care of the rest. It's most important feature is handling multi part archives, quite useful when you're expanding a file containing multiple video parts for example.

RAR Expander will also work with password protected files, but you'll have to make sure you remember your password before expanding.

While this is one of the most common formats you'll come across, it's a shame that the program doesn't let you expand other popular formats like Stuffit Expander does.

Users have also been known to prefer unRarX, which effectively restores corrupted archives, something that RAR Expander doesn't seem to handle.

Download RAR Expander 0.8.5 Beta 3 in Softonic

It is indeed bloated and often intrusive but RealPlayer Gold has a lot of functionality - it can do a hell of a lot from streaming radio and video to burning CD's but it's often slow and cumbersome. Note that RealPlayer Gold is the original version of RealPlayer which went "Gold" after beta testing was finished between versions 10 to 11. After that, confusingly RealPlayer went back to version 1 again with RealPlayer SP although even more confusingly, the latest version is labeled version 12.0.0 in the program's "About" section but version 1.0 on the Real download site.

One of the most annoying aspects is that it can take a while to start whether streaming a clip or just opening a standalone video file. This is because all of the hundreds of extensions and plugins that come pre-installed with it. There are also too many clicks and mouse movements required just to switch to a full-screen playback mode when viewing a clip on a web page. The most recent incarnation RealPlayer SP has done much to solve these problems and also includes ways to share videos on mobile devices as well as download videos that are absent from RealPlayer Gold.

In saying this, RealPlayer Gold isn't bad at all. It's comparable to Windows Media Player 10 as they both have some impressive ways of organizing your music and for me the best feature is the CD burner which is one of the easiest burners I've ever used.

RealPlayer Gold is a bit of a bloated media player, which is slower and less user friendly than the competition

Download RealPlayer Gold 11.1.0 1116 in Softonic

A step-by step tutorial launches the first time you run LogMeIn Hamachi and shows you how to use the main functions. At first sight, LogMeIn Hamachi looks very easy to use. Complications arise later on when trying to share files between the computers: you'll need to have a user account with privileges in the target Mac, or so it seemed in our testing, during which we were unable to share files due to right issues. Oh well, at least we could have a chat – a very safe one, of course.

LogMeIn Hamachi is an extremely handy tool especially if you're working in technical support and need to help remote users behind firewalls. It can however be slow sometimes but much will depend on your connection.

LogMeIn Hamachi is a great solution to establish safe, private P2P connections between two computers although it's not as easy to use as it seems at first sight.

Download LogMeIn Hamachi 2.0.1.23 in Softonic

Appcleaner features simple drop and uninstall, like other uninstallers but also lets you browse through your programs, divided in applications widgets and others. This last one I really like as it shows all your plugins and components, which you normally have to go digging for in your library. Note that it will also take care of caches and receipts.

Appcleaner includes a search function to find applications faster, and I liked having the SmartDelete feature which will detect and trash related items. You can protect launched and default apps and 3D transitions and choose other ones you don't want to delete.

The only drawback in my opinion is the uninstall process, where you first have to search for the program, then uninstall it.

Apart from this minor issue, I think Appcleaner is an excellent uninstaller with both protection and smart removal, and surprisingly it's free! A must.

Download AppCleaner 2.0.5 in Softonic

The most notable changes in Firefox 10 are bug fixes, better extension management, an auto-hiding forward button, improvements to CSS3 capabilities, antialiasing support for WebGL as well as some other minor additions.

The slight disadvantage of Firefox 10 is that many add-ons won't work from the start until the developers have upgraded them although the beta testing period for version 9 should have given them chance to do so. The interface in Firefox 10 is pretty much the same as Firefox 9, with a minimalist toolbar and hidden buttons.

Firefox 10 isn't a revolution in the development of Firefox, but there are some useful improvements that still make it a decent browser.

Download Mozilla Firefox 10 in Softonic

UnRarX is very easy to use. Simply drag and drop RAR files onto the UnRarX interface and your files will be automatically unzipped. The extracting process appears in the main section of the UnRarX interface to indicate the progress of the extraction.

The main controls for UnRarX are in the top-right of the main interface. These functions allow you to browse for a file, extract files and test files to see whether they are corrupt. If your file is password protected, just press the 'password' button and enter it to open and extract the archive.

You may encounter a few problems depending on your file type. If you receive a CRC error, it's likely that one of your RAR archives is corrupted. Also, if you experience a "UnRarX cannot extract archive" error message, try re-directing the output volume to your desktop instead of File Directory. These little glitches can make UnRarX a bit tricky for beginners but most people should experience fre problems.

Unfortunately there seems to be very little developer support for UnRarX although there is a support page with links to a forum and bug report page, where you may be able to find help with problems you're having. Note as well that UnRarX only unarchives RAR files - it won't create them for you.

UnRarX is one of the closest things to WinRAR on Mac for unzipping RAR archives.

Download UnRarX 2.2 in Softonic

Firstly, like the latest version of Messenger for Mac, you should know that it doesn't work with webcams. This seems criminal I know, but Microsoft has seen fit only to allow those willing to upgrade to the corporate edition to use a webcam with it. However, the rest of it is pretty much as you'd expect. It is fitted with all the basic functions you'd want from Messenger and the application lets you organize your contacts into different groups, set your status, and use emoticons, etc. New conversations open up in a new window, which you can be moved around anywhere on the screen.

While it's fairly easy to check your Hotmail account thanks to the Mail button at the top of the interface, sending files and images to other users can be a bit slow. MSN Messenger is sufficient as a basic IM client, but we'd recommend upgrading your version of OS X and updating to the latest version of Messenger for Mac. Not only is it more secure, but it will also offer more features and a sleeker interface.

MSN Messenger is a decent if basic IM client for anyone with a Mac OS under 10.3.9 but the lack of webcam function is a major drawback

Download MSN Messenger 4.0.1 in Softonic

Video DownloadHelper installs discretely - in fact, the only time you'll see it is when you look under the Tools menu, or browse a site with video. When it you see the little icon - usually in the top left corner - clicking downloads the video directly. Alternatively, click on the little triangle, and choose from other options, such as Copy URL, Convert file or Download as hidden file. This simple extension downloads anything from YouTube, to MySpace, Google Video, DailyMotion and more.

One of the great things about Video DownloadHelper is how many options it has. It's pretty impressive for a free browser add-on, and we'd really recommend checking them all out. From tweaking Video DownloadHelper's appearance and including and excluding video types to download, to sharing your videos and converting your files, Video DownloadHelper is a really slick app. Most people will be happy to use the app's default settings, but if you want a little more control over your downloads, this is most definitely an app you'll want to check out.

Video DownloadHelper is a video download app for Firefox that just gets stronger with every new version.

Download Video DownloadHelper 4.9.8 in Softonic

It's so easy to use, that you can create a presentation from scratch without any prior knowledge of using Microsoft Powerpoint 2011 and you can make it look very professional thanks to a wide selection of templates. Once you've created the first slide, you can change the subject and add new elements such as tables, graphs, charts, pictures, videos, songs and other animations.

The main features of Microsoft PowerPoint 2011 are the Arrange functions, which help you rearrange the elements of the slide and Quick Styles for changing the format. There are also group editing tools, tools for retouching photographs and much more. Finally, you can control the interval time between slides, and add notes to help you when you give your talk. You can even broadcast and share PowerPoint presentations online thanks to a Powerpoint Broadcast Service.

Microsoft Powerpoint remains the corporate favorite for creating presentations with style.

Download Microsoft Powerpoint 2011 for Mac 14.0.0 Preview in Softonic

Torrent sharing consists of sharing large files, like movies, software, or games anonymously and quickly with other peers. The file you want to download is cut up into small segments shared by users, creating what is called a swarm, and does not go through a central server, significantly reducing the bulk of file transfers, The Bittorrent client is actually the first P2P application to use this technology and became immensely popular when it was released. Torrents are considered by online users as a great way to download recently released movies or TV shows.

Thanks to a straightforward, uncluttered interface BitTorrent appears as a friendly torrent client that beginners will feel comfortable with. In fact, the latest version looks uncannily like uTorrent although the functionality is nowhere near as good unfortunately.

Once you’ve found the torrent you want, download it to your Mac, open it up inside BitTorrent and let the client do its job. The speed at which you download will depend on the number of seeds, that is people who have the complete file and are sharing it. The more seeds there are the quicker files will download. However, a frequent complaint with BitTorrent is that downloads rarely start and when they do, they can be notoriously unstable.

You can improve things slightly by changing the settings of multiple torrent downloads but there are few diagnostic tools to help you work out the problem. At the very least, you should choose the right port and setting upload and download rate limits to avoid hogging your bandwidth. It’s also good to set your downloads by priority to monitor more precisely how your torrents are doing.

Compared to the exhaustive Azureus, Bittorrent is very simplistic. And compared to uTorrent, it doesn't work half as well despite similarities in appearance. It doesn’t provide many statistics and doesn’t let you customize the interface. Integrating a search box is a great idea, but it limits searches to the BitTorrent website, not considered the most thorough source by torrent aficionados.

BitTorrent may have once been a good starting point in the P2P world but there are now several other clients which are far more effective.

Download BitTorrent 7.2.2 in Softonic