Real Desktop is one of those PC applications that aren't really that useful, but have such an attractive effect on your system that you want to install them anyway.

This app turns your Windows desktop into a three-dimensional environment where all your shortcuts look like small pieces that have been dropped on the floor – and they actually behave like that. You can move them, rotate them, lift them a bit from the floor and mix them all around the desktop surface. The only icon that remains somewhat apart is the Recycle bin, probably to help you find it faster.

This precisely the main drawback in Real Desktop: finding icons. The 3D effect is really amazing, as well as the icon behavior almost as Lego pieces. But having them scattered all over the places doesn't exactly make your PC easier to use – especially if you're anything like me, who likes to have as few icons as possible, and always perfectly organized.

With Real Desktop you can apply an amazing 3D effect to your Windows desktop, although you'll lose a lot of icon usability on the way.

Download Real Desktop Light 1.42 in Softonic

FoxTab is an innovative new way to organize your tabs in Firefox in order to view what's on them and what you've got open at a glance.

FoxTab is probably best utilized by those that have way too many tabs open to, excuse the pun, keep tabs of. It can spread your tabs in five different ways depending on which view you prefer - inevitably you'll end up preferring one or the other so four of the views very quickly become redundant.

The five layouts that you can choose from are "Stack" - tabs which are stacked in 3D form one behind the other; "Wall" which are tabs are displayed on a wall (basically your desktop); Grid means that tabs are aligned on a grid; Row means tabs are arranged horizontally and finally Circle where tabs are placed around a 3D circle. To change views, you simply use CTRL+TAB (or a key combination of your choice) to cycle through them one by one. If you've ever used CoverFlow on the Mac, then FoxTab is based on the same principle

FoxTab is an innovative way to view the number of tabs you've got open and what's on them. However, it does tend to put quite a load on your RAM so make sure you've got plenty free otherwise it's more hassle than it's worth.

Download FoxTab 0.9.9 in Softonic

EarthBrowser delivers a 3D model of the earth with constantly updating live meteroligical information to your desktop. Exploring the earth is fun and easy with a point-and-click interface that lets you rotate and zoom to any desired location. EarthBrowser's dynamic nature makes it an information resource that is useful and fascinating to use.

Highlights of the program include:

• Global weather forecasts for over 17,000 locations
• High resolution 1km/pixel satellite map of the Earth
• Live hurricane and tropical storm tracking
• Satellite cloud animations are updated every 3 hours
• Live earthquake map with magnitudes and links
• Live ocean buoy data for over 250 buoys
• Daily fire hotspot display
• Hundreds of dynamic webcams all over the globe
• Political borders/Tectonic plate boundaries
• Times in cities of all world time zones

Download EarthBrowser 3.0.4 in Softonic

If you're tired of always having the same wallpaper – and tired of looking for more as well – then Desktoptopia is just the application you need.

This program runs in the background and connects to the online Desktoptopia wallpaper collection, downloading new background images for your desktop, either automatically (according to the time period you set) or manually, every time you click on the program's icon in the system tray.

The wallpaper collection is pretty impressive, not so much for the number of pictures included in it, but mainly for their quality and beauty. As they're classified into different categories, you can select those that you prefer and leave out those ones you're not interested in.

However, there's one important drawback to Desktoptopia, and that is its stability. I understand the program is still in beta, but it crashed a few times while testing it and sometimes didn't download wallpapers properly.

Desktoptopia features a beautiful collection of wallpapers you can download and use automatically in your PC. Sadly it's still quite buggy.

Download Desktoptopia 1.0.0.18 Beta in Softonic

Shock 4Way 3D installs a Windows management system similar to Windows Vista or Aqua Macintosh.

When you activate the button of the program in the system tray it launches a three-dimensional vision of four desks. They can be ordered as faces of a cube, as a tapestry with all the desks in the same light or as a succession of them arranged in a row. Shock 4Way 3D has a system of keystrokes to change the view and move from one desktop to another with ease.

The combinations can be customized, but by default they are: Ctrl + Alt + `: Changes to the active window; Ctrl + Alt +1: Changes to the first screen; Ctrl + Alt +2: Changes to the second screen; Ctrl + Alt +3: Changes to the third screen and Ctrl + Alt +4: Changes to the fourth screen.

This program looks great and makes you feel like you're working with a really flashy operating system but be warned - it hogs your RAM terribly and will slow down anything else you have running unless you've got plenty of RAM installed in the first place.

A great looking program that quite literally, adds a new dimension to the way you work on multiple desktops.

Download Shock 4Way 3D 1.21 in Softonic

If you’ve had enough bad experiences upgrading your Microsoft products, you’re too poor to upgrade to Vista or you just refuse on principle, you can always customise Windows XP to make it look like Vista. The Windows Vista customisation pack gives you all the flashy features of Vista without having to shell-out a few hundred dollars for the original. It’s certainly proved a hit with Softonic users so far who have made this pack one of the site’s most popular downloads.

The pack includes a booty of Vista features including transparency of the windows, 3D Vista style icons, mouse cursors, boot screen, login screen, and a whole host of Vista themes to name a few. After installing the pack, you’ll be asked to restart, when you’ll find that your system has been through an impressive transformation although the fact that Windows Vista isn’t actually that radically different from XP, shouldn’t be held against this pack.

Amongst the major differences you will notice are some jazzy changes to your systems icons, skins and toolbars as well as new enhancements to your desktop such as a dock bar or if you prefer, a totally different system tray clock. Transfer file progress dialogs are transformed with swanky new 3D graphics and the sounds scheme has been beefed up to blow you out of your chair. Microsoft certainly spent lots of time designing these features. It was recently reported that they spent a year and a half just coming up with the start-up music alone.

Other changes include Windows Media Player which also receives a facelift although nothing worth getting excited about. The colours have been changed to a metallic-blue and the drop down menus have been replaced by an invisible menu which pops up when the mouse is waved over it. However, this feature actually becomes increasingly annoying with regular use and is best deactivated.

Whilst initially impressive, after a while these changes can cause problems. Users have reported that the new schemes not only slows down their PC’s but also cause it to crash randomly. It can also be a pain whenever there’s a problem with your PC. Since you are running a somewhat modified version of XP, normal troubleshooting guides may not work. You’ll subsequently have to uninstall the pack to make sure that it isn’t causing the problem. Fortunately however, the pack comes with an uninstaller that makes reverting back to XP simple although in time honoured Windows style, you’ll have to restart the computer.

For anyone who doesn’t add or remove programs regularly, we’d recommend this pack as it does an impressive job at emulating the $200+ Vista look. However, for those that make regular changes to their PC, the pack can end up being more hassle than its worth as the changes made can conflict with interfaces of other programs.

Download Vista Customization Pack 3.6 in Softonic

If you're a real Twitter junkie you're going to love this screensaver: with TwittEarth you'll be able to follow twits from all over the world in real time.

The screensaver is actually based on a web mash-up created by a group of developers (who are also Twitter fans, of course) just for fun. The screensaver loads up the Twitter timeline and displays it on a colorful animated globe, with cute characters representing each Twitter user.

In spite of being a 3D screensaver, TwittEarth doesn't use up a lot of resources and works fine almost on any computer. The only flaw I found was that twitts written in special characters (i.e. Japanese, Chinese) don't show up properly.

With TwittEarth you can follow live twits from all over the world in a nice 3D planet Earth that moves on your desktop while you're away.

Download TwittEarth Screensaver in Softonic

Desktop Author sets out with an ambitious promise - to provide you with everything you need to publish your own eBook. Whether you want to create multimedia presentations, newsletters, photo albums or marketing infromation, the program aims to oblige.

The published output is designed to be as true to a real book as possible, allowing the reader to flip the pages realistically by clicking on the right side of the page to move forward, and the left side to move back. Besides text, you can adorn the pages of your virtual tome with images, MPEGs and even Flash movies.

There are many slick looking magazines and books appearing on the web these days that are beginning to seriously compete with traditional print publications in terms of reader experience. Judging by some of the example files on the publisher's site, there's certainly a lot you can achieve with Desktop Author, considering you need no special knowledge or programming skills, as used by many of the Flash-built flip-page publications online today.

The GUI is loosely modelled on a traditional desktop publishing app, and although it lacks the range of tools of a heavyweight like InDesign or Quark, Desktop Author contains the standard features you'd expect in such an app, including snap-to guides, image insertion, text formatting and shape drawing.

Considering the program is supposed to be aimed at beginners, the interface is a little cumbersome to navigate at first. Of course, you get used to it, but perhaps the program would have benefited from a Properties Inspector displaying the information about the currently-selected item, allowing you to move, edit, resize, apply styles or just view data on the file in question.

Having said this, there are a few useful tools that speed up the eBook creation process, such as the integrated (albeit basic) image editor, preset buttons to add to your pages, and a collection of built-in templates to get you started. This makes it possible to rustle up a decent looking book in just a few minutes. Of course, as with all creative applications, the more time you spend honing your skills the better the results will become.

Publishing your finished digital books is a matter of simply pressing the 'Publish' button and waiting for everything to be neatly packaged into a DNL file. This can take some time, and once it's done, you still need to install the DNL Reader provided by the developer. There is, however an option to package the eBook inside an executable file, which might be the best option to ensure everyone can read your words of wisdom.

The trial version only allows you to create two pages, but if you have the patience to overcome the slightly awkward toolset layout you'll be crying out for the functionality to add more, making the full version worthy of its $189 price tag.

Download Desktop Author 5.6.1 in Softonic

Dear Windows users, you have always had to suffer from Mac users' statements regarding the superiority of their system stability, functionalities and graphic design. For the latter it wasn't really possible to counteract anything, until now. The day of revenge is arrived, or it's nearly here at least.

With CubeDesktop you can have 6 independent desktops always available, which is useful, but the coolest thing is that to change from one to the other you have a very well designed full screen 3D cube to rotate. If you prefer, you can also choose a 3D flip or a 3D carousel menu. They all present the different desktop with the applications you may have opened and the background image you have. Linux users may argue that they already had this utility many years ago but first of all Linux is not normal-user friendly (ok, now Ubuntu has made things a bit easier) and it wasn't anyway so graphically pleasant and so fast to load...was it?

The downside of this application is that it uses nearly 50Mb of your RAM and it requires a powerful PC to run smoothly. Someone may also ask himself why one would want to use 6 desktops. I have enough mess with one.

I'm sure purists will say it's an unnecessary waste of resources, but if you like the possibility of having different desktops always available and you are a bit envious of Mac graphics, take your revenge now.

Download CubeDesktop 1.3.1 in Softonic

Deskspace (previously known as Yod'm 3D) allows you to use multiple virtual desktops and change between them with a fashionable 3D effect in the shape of a cube.

By default, the rotation of the cube is done with Ctrl+Shift and the arrow keys: left and right to move from one desktop to another, and up and down to zoom in and out. However, you can also change between desktops with Ctrl+Shift and the mouse, plus zooming with the mouse wheel.

You can have different desktop images and applications on each desktop. The 3D effect looks really nice and it doesn't use much system resources.

Download Deskspace 1.5.4 in Softonic

The PrtScr key is quite useful – it lets you capture the screen without any third-party app. But this simplicity also makes it quite limited.

If you want to get rid of those limitations, use, the PrtScr app instead. In spite of sharing the same name, this capturing tool has nothing to do with Windows standard capturing function. It offers extended functionality, such as the ability to capture user-defined areas or send the captured image by email straightaway, and also features a fairly complete settings menu where you can customize the keyboard shortcut to launch the program and the format in which to save captured images, among others.

When running, PrtScrt displays an icon in the system tray from where you can access the program's tools. I loved the way images are displayed on the desktop right after capturing them – floating in a kind of smooth 3D animation.

On the downside, it took me a while to distinguish between its three main functions - and to find the help file as well, hidden in the "About" window. I also missed some editing tools, at least the most basic ones.

PrtScr lets you capture images in a stylish way and share them by email right away, but lacks documentation and also editing tools.

Download PrtScr 1.0 in Softonic

I don't know about you, but when I choose a screensaver, I want something that looks good and is original. Nothing like the default ones that come in my computer.

Strands is a pretty cool screensaver which shows a flow of glowing lines weaving on your screen. The lines change color every few seconds, going from red to yellow, green, or many other colors. You'll need at least a 16MB 3d card to be able to enjoy the screensaver without any slowdowns. Obviously, if you stare at it too long you'll notice that Strands does get a bit repetitive, but that is the case with most screensavers you'll find.

Installing the screensaver is a fairly easy process. Simply extract the file from the archive and save it in a safe place where it doesn't risk being deleted. Then simply go to your computer's settings and select it as you would any normal screensaver.

Strands may not work properly with all graphics cards or system configurations as it still is in beta.

Strands is an original screensaver which shows weaving glowing lines changing colors.

Download Strands 1.2 b1 in Softonic

I always wanted to be a breakdancer but nowadays this is about as close as I will ever get. My dreams of being in a Jason Nevins video died a long time ago.

But this is not bad in way of reminding me of what could have been and whatsmore, even learn a few moves. Free B-boy 3D Screen Saver is a fun screensaver that displays a skeletal outline of a break dancer that jumps around like it's got ants in his pants. Around his moves, are trace marks so you can see exactly everything that he's done and how he's done it. So it's great for those that are simply fans of the art-form or even those that want to learn a thing or two (although I wouldn't advise trying the head stand followed by double back somersault). It's a shame that they couldn't have added some decent music and perhaps made the skeleton a real B-Boy - which can't be difficult - but nevertheless, it's a great little screensaver that gives you something a bit different on your desktop that people will certainly notice.

Very impressive moves and lots of colour combine to make this one of the better screensavers out there and a must have for B-boy fans.

Download Free B-boy 3D Screensaver in Softonic

This revolutionary program brings life to your desktop. A DesktopPlant grows directly on your desktop and needs your care just like a real plant! You will be surprised by the extremely realistic growth based on a 3D model of a real plant, photorealistic graphics and adjustable size and position.

Here are some care tips for the shareware azalea: it grows best in a sunny and warm place and needs a lot of water. Do not fertilize it too much! If you take good care of your plant, it can start flowering after a few days.

Main features:

• Amazingly realistic growth (realistic plant development depending on water, fertilizer, environmental parameters, etc.)
• Random effects will guarantee that each plant is unique
• DesktopPlants are 3D models of a real plants with enhanced visual effects
• Optimized routines for beautiful photorealistic graphics
• DesktopPlants grow directly on the desktop - above the selected wallpaper but below the icons
• Adjustable size and position
• Many plants can be displayed simultaneously

Download DesktopPlant 2.3.0 in Softonic

Would you like to escape to the ocean depths? Dolphin Aqua Life 3D Screensaver takes you to the bottom of the aquatic world. The soothing movement of the dolphin and the calming sound of the waves help you to relax after a busy day. Enjoy the serenity of Aqua Life, the graceful dolphin swimming through the blue depths and the amazing play of light on its skin.

This screensaver is the prefect product for everyone who wishes to view peaceful aquarium scenes and is looking for something special. It turns you desktop into a porthole for viewing charming underwater scenes with rocks, plants and tropical fish. You can also become a virtual dolphin swimming through the water and observing underwater life from an underwater perspective.

Download Dolphin Aqua Life 3D Screensaver 3.0.3.1 in Softonic

Digitope Pixelshop is excellent for icon and cursor development. With this full-featured icon and cursor editor, you can create and edit existing icons (ICO), cursors (CUR) and animated cursors (ANI), in all sizes and formats, including the new Windows XP Alpha format.

You can create an icon by using Pixelshop’s easy to use, built-in utility for converting an image (most formats including Adobe Photoshop Images) to an icon, or by using Pixelshop’s simple icon designer interface.

You can also apply several effects to your icons, such as a 3D drop shadow, smoothing or colorizing. Incorporated in Pixelshop is an extensive help file, including tutorials. Create personalized folder icons. Customize your desktop. Add a favicon to your website. Make a cursor. Import Adobe Photoshop files. Modify your icons. With Pixelshop you can.

Download Pixelshop 5.12.7 in Softonic

If you're a racing fan or just love your flash cars, and can't afford one, then this is the next big thing.

This BMW S3 is brought to you in a high definition screensaver which shows the stunning car in all it's glory. The car is photographed in 3D from all angles and the screensaver camera revolves around the car revealing every contour of its tyres, spoilers and chassis. Are you a fan of Formula 1 or NASCAR? Do you feel adrenaline rushing into your veins when you exceed speed-limit while driving your car? You can also see the car put through its paces with the dials and speedometers visible in the exterior. The skyline is based on some sort of Manhattan skyscraper downtown scene which is the only drawback because it becomes incredibly repetitive as do the camera sweeps and brief burst of action the car launches into.

Still, if you're a sports car fan and would like to sex-up your desktop with something other than Angelina Joline, this is just as sexy.

Download 3D Sports Car Screensaver in Softonic

So you want to have Windows Vista, but you don't want to give up Windows XP yet and – of course - you don't want to spend a single cent on it. Believe it or not, we have the solution!

The answer to your prayers is called Vistamizer and it's a complete theme that will transform your current Windows XP system into a brand new Vista with all the 3D effects, transparencies, shiny icons and other eye candy. Don't worry, Vistamizer is just a Vista disguise for XP; the system core files and backbone will still be XP.

After trying a few Vista themes for XP, I was really glad to find Vistamizer, just because it's so easy to install! Unlike other similar tools, which demand external applications, third-party libraries and other strange elements, Vistamizer includes just about everything you need to have it up and running in no time. Installing it is a question of pressing on the "Next" button a few times, rebooting and you're done. Uninstallation is also very easy: as the program creates a restoration point, you won't have any problems to go back to the good ol' XP if you ever grow tired of Vista's style.

Vistamizer lets you select exactly which elements to install and which ones not. The list includes not only Vista graphical elements, but also some extra apps that reproduce Vista's features such as the sidebar, the toolbat tooltips or the 3D effect to switch between running applications. Note that if you want to uninstall any of these later on, you'll have to open the Control Panel and start the Vistamizer uninstalling process, as there's no visual interface from which to manage installed components.

On the downside, I noticed some icons don't show properly, for instance in the Start menu and My Documents folder. But in my opinion these are just minor flaws in a full featured theme that can transform Windows XP into Vista in a couple of clicks.

Vistamizer is one of the best Vista themes for Windows XP available today: it's very easy to install, lets you choose what elements and apps should be included and the final output is pretty much the closest you can get to Vista in Windows XP.

Download VistaMizer 2.2.10 in Softonic

Sometimes it's great to take a normal image and give it twist with a bit of texture to add some depth to it.

That's exactly what Xfader is designed for in that it adds texture to images without borders so that you can use them as original and impressive website images, screensavers or desktop backgrounds. The program includes several tools for adding filters, text, shape effects and even 3D sterograms. There are basic features such as color adjustment options (i.e. brightness, contrast, hue etc.) plus an image resize. The problem with this program is that you can add so many effects that you can easily get carried away and ruin your original beyond all recognition. There is however an undo function which can remove the last 10 steps or changes you've made. The program is also rather limited in the image formats it supports - only JPG and BMP are accepted. The latest version however has added some cool extras such as support for a few more more file types supported, more flexible color gradients, a better looking user interface and it can now be taken on the move on a USB stick or portable device.

This is a powerful program able to transform any image into something more original although it needs to support a wider range of image formats to score more highly.

Download Xfader 5.00 in Softonic

If you are one of the many that's been left unimpressed with Vista but like the look of it, Vista Buttons is for you. It helps you create Vista/XP/Win98 and Mac style rollover buttons and drop down menus with relative ease.

The interface requires 4 simple steps to create your buttons. You can create your own base on the program although if you import one of your own images as a base, you'll get the job done a lot quicker. The developers claim the program features more than 500 buttons, 100 submenu designs, 50 ready-made samples. This is certainly more than enough to create a really cool looking website menu or desktop buttons although some of the designs are a bit dull. The styles available include Vista, XP, Win98, Mac, Aqua buttons, round, glossy, metallic, 3D styles, tab and drop down menus.

The best thing about this program is that it's aimed at complete novices. You don't require any programming knowledge such as in HTML, JavaScript or CSS to create some really professional looking results. Vista Buttons generates all necessary images, html, javascript and css styles automatically. There's also a theme editor but unfortunately, it's not accessible in the free version.

This is a really excellent design utility and there is little to fault it except it would have been nice to have had a few wizards to take you through the first few attempts.

Download Vista Buttons 2.45 in Softonic