Have you ever wanted to search for and download your favourite videos without using your browser? Free FLV Converter lets you automatically access sites such as YouTube, DailyMotion, Google and Metacafé without opening anything else.

You can search by keyword and preview each video found in the rather basic interface and also download them in FLV format. After that, you can convert the files to AVI, IPod, IPhone, 3GP or PSP format. It also works vice versa and if the files in question are already in FLV format, it can convert to DivX, Xvid, MPEG, DVD and AVI with automatic HTML embed links. This means you can paste them into your website or blog to share instantly with the world. If you don't require these functions, the program interface still provides a convenient search platform because you can browse and watch videos at the same time. With just one click, you can download the video you are previewing. For ease of use, it allows you to create a download list of videos you want to save. Once it's complete, you can just leave the program to download the videos whilst you get on with something else although unfortunately, it still doesn't support batch downloading.

A very useful application for those who are not content with only having videos on the Internet but also want them on their hard drive but don't want to visit each video content site seperately.

Download Free FLV Converter 5.5 in Softonic

Archivarius 3000 is a full-featured application to search documents and email on the desktop computer, your local network and removable drives (CD, DVD). The documents can then be searched by keyword or using a query language.

Due to full Unicode support, Archivarius 3000 allows correct search in multilingual documents. For instance, a Greek-German bilingual document can only be handled in Unicode, otherwise Greek symbols and German diacritics would be lost.

File names are also in Unicode, which enable correct handling of Asian documents (Japanese, Chinese, Korean). Archivarius 3000 searches not only e-mail messages, but also attachments, including compressed ones. The following formats are supported: Outlook, Outlook Express, The Bat!, PocoMail, Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox, and those that are compatible.

Server mode allows you to search remotely and have remote access to your documents through any web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer). This mode can be switched on with a single mouse click.

Download Archivarius 3000 4.09 in Softonic

OpenOffice 3.0 is already here, at least in beta version. The most popular alternative to the almighty Microsoft suite has released its first public beta to allow users to provide feedback and help fine-tune the final product. So here's our two cents.

First, though the OpenOffice site displays a warning about possible instability issues in this beta, fear them not. The complete suite was perfectly stable during our tests, with all its applications running as smoothly as expected. This new OpenOffice is compatible with all file formats from Microsoft Office, including the latest docx, xlsx, pptx and so on from Office 2008.

All OpenOffice tools, along with your more recent documents, are easily accessible from a launcher ("Start Centre") with freshly designed icons, which is one of the main new features in this version. The launcher includes a handy template manager as well, though it's quite empty at the moment.

The suite's applications met our expectations in every aspect: they're easy to use (especially if you're used to working with Microsoft's suite) and feature all the necessary tools to create complete documents, spreadsheets, presentations and databases. I particularly liked the wizard-style interface in Impress (the "Power-Point" app) which enables you to create presentations in no time.

OpenOffice 3.0 left a very good taste in our mouths. In spite of being labeled as Beta, the whole suite works perfectly fine and enables you to enjoy all of its new features right now.

Download OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta 2 in Softonic

Getting copyright free desktop wallpaper is sometimes not easy, with those available often having time limits or requiring fees for permanent use.

TyphoonWallpaper, however, is a free tool that offers access to hundreds of high resolution wallpaper images. TyphoonWallpaper allows you to select a range of images that it will later cycle through automatically while you are using your PC so that you'll always have a fresh desktop.

What's particularly nice about TyphoonWallpaper is the fact that the images are not only incredibly high definition but it also supports dual monitors meaning you can have alternative desktops on different monitors attached to your PC. This even extends to three monitors connected - great for video editors. The wallpapers don't contain adware although they do feature links to try and lure you to buy more products from the developers but it's a small price to pay for some great images.

There might not be many images to choose from when compared to other desktop wallpaper sites but TyphoonWallpaper offers great images on as many monitors as you need to cover.

Download TyphoonWallpaper 1.00 in Softonic

Are you worried about privacy in your email communications? If so, you can trust your
messages to eCipher from now on.

This tool secures the contents of your email messages by protecting them with two of the
most powerful encrypting algorithms available today, 256-bit AES and 2048-bit RSA. As
complicated as it sounds, the good thing about eCipher is that it's very easy to use.

The program features a launcher-style small interface from which you can access the
settings menu, open an encrypted file that's been sent to you, manage your contacts
and, of course, compose and send encrypted e-mails. Bear in mind though that your
recipient must also have eCipher installed on their computer in order to open your
messages.

Unlike other encryption tools, eCipher is not directly embedded into your email's interface
– which would have probably been easier – but works as an independent email tool that
uses your email server settings to send messages. eCipher is currently compatible with a
wide variety of email clients and webmail platforms, including Outlook, Thunderbird and
Gmail.

With eCipher you can easily send and received encrypted email messages, no matter
which email platform you use.

Download eCipher in Softonic

Rainlendar is a lightweight and customizable calendar for your desktop.

When I first launched Rainlendar I was impressed by the widget-like appearance. Widget are small, handy gadgets that can pop up on your screen to show you all types of information, from weather forecasts, to stock charts or the time and date. They are usually small, attractive and very discreetly fit on your desktop. Rainlendar’s elements similarly have that cloud-like feel. The notes, events and calendar windows float around on your desktop and can be moved about your screen and disappear or reappear in a touch.

Rainlendar stands out from classic calendar programs thanks to a highly customizable interface and the possibility to quickly and effortlessly jot down notes and important events. Although it only comes with two different skins, the program offers a link to www.customize.org, where you should find the style which suits your tastes. But Rainlendar doesn’t stop there. You can set up hotkeys to manage Rainlendar at the push of a key and, thanks to various plug-ins present in the program, integrate Rainlendar directly to other utilities like Outlook and iCalendar. Rainlendar is always within reach as a tray icon on your desktop and bringing it up just takes a click of your mouse.

Unfortunately Rainlendar’s real originality is also its weakness. The program offers a wide range of skins but adding these to the program is far from straightforward. You have to drag your downloaded skin into the Skins folder for the Rainlendar program file and then browse to the new skin from the ‘Edit Skin’ option in Rainlendar’s drop down menu.

If you like to keep your calendar on your PC, but find the one offered by Windows too dull, Rainlendar is a good alternative. You’ll enjoy setting your own style and the way it discreetly fits onto your desktop.

Download Rainlendar 2.4 in Softonic

All My Movies is a nifty utility for cataloging one's movie collection. It supports all formats, new ones - DVD, Video CD, AVI and MPEG files, and old ones as well - VHS tapes, for example. The program helps easily track films - which movies are loaned, which ones are borrowed, etc. Most importantly, the program is specifically designed for DVDs and works fully automatically with all digital carriers.

Basically, all a user has to do is to insert a DVD or scan a hard-drive. The program will extract all movie information - title, director, actors, description, genre, languages, subtitles, etc. If absent, this information can be imported from online movie databases, like IMDb.com with one mouse click or entered manually.

The best thing about All My Movies is how easy it is to use. Having a tree-like database structure, program owner can quickly sort movies by genre, actor or director. Another great perk is an option to capture movie screens for DVDs and AVI files and attach them to the database. User comments can be added too.

True movie fans with thousands of titles in their collection are certain to like the fact that movie data stored with All My Movies can be exported to HTML, MS Excel or plain text files. In addition, the program comes with password protection options to prevent unauthorized access, and a straightforward loan manager. Another advantage is that the program support third-party plug-ins, including database import from other popular movie cataloguing applications.

Download All My Movies 5.0 in Softonic

GMDesk is the kind of application only Google fans would install. In any case, if you use Google apps on a daily basis, you may find it useful too.

With GMDesk you gain automatic access from your desktop to several different Google tools, including Mail, Calendar, Docs, Maps, Reader and Picasa web albums. The big advantage of using GMDesk is that you don't have to open your web browser, load the website of each one of those services, login with your username and password and then wait for it to load. GMDesk is not faster than your browser, but it makes the whole process just easier.

GMDesk is based on Adobe AIR and has no settings menu except for the possibility to choose which Google service you want to load first on launching the program. Like I said, GMDesk may be interesting for Google fans, but I wonder if it's really necessary, as it doesn't really add anything new to the Google apps we all know.

If you're hooked on Google apps, GMDesk is made for you: an app launcher that enables you to access Google tools right from your desktop.

Download GMDesk 0.99 in Softonic

Managing passwords is a difficult and sometimes stressful ordeal if you've got hundreds of different ones for various sites but Lastpass makes life that bit easier.

Lastpass is basically a free password manager that makes your web browsing easier and more secure by bringing everything under one password. Lastpass can create strong passwords that protect all sites, meaning that logging into your favorite browser, network or secure network becomes a one-step affair.

Lastpass is particularly useful for those that want to work together securely in different locations because it allows you share credentials to log in via Lastpass. This includes those that are working on Mac and Windows platforms as it works across both. Of course, the big concern is security - if your Lastpass password is lost or obtained by someone else, it makes everything protected under it vulnerable. However, it does use SSL and RSA encryption so you should be OK.

Lastpass is a great way to manage passwords under one umbrella without worrying about remembering the access credentials to them all.

Download Lastpass 1.28 in Softonic

There are so many graphics cards and chipsets nowadays that compatibility problems with software inevitably arise. PowerStrip provides advanced, multi-monitor, programmable hardware support to a wide range of graphics cards - from the Matrox Millennium I to the latest ATI X850 and NVidia SLI solutions.

The developers claim this is the only program of its type to support multiple graphics cards from multiple chipset vendors, simultaneously, under every Windows operating system from Windows 95 to the x64-bit edition of XP. A simple menu pop up from the system tray provides access to some 500 controls over your display hardware, including color correction tools, period level adjustments over screen geometry, and driver independent clock controls.

The program automatically detects when programs are launched and responds by activating specific display settings, gamma adjustments, performance switches and even clock speeds - returning everything to normal when the program closes. A quick setup wizard gets you up and running with minimal fuss and and live updates are supported to ensure you're always running the latest release.

If you've had problems with games or compatibility issues with other software, look no further than PowerStrip.

Download PowerStrip 3.82.632 in Softonic

Hard Drive Inspector is a powerful, convenient and effective program based on the S.M.A.R.T. technology, which allows controlling the state of your hard disk drives. Most computer users argue that the information stored on their computer is the most valuable element of the computer system.

With the help of the S.M.A.R.T. System, Hard Drive Inspector allows you to predict a possible failure of the HDD before this occurs. As access to electronic information becomes more and more vital in business and at home, Hard Drive Inspector allows exceeding the traditional limits of HDDs reliability, thus extending the level of valuable user data protection.

Hard Drive Inspector has a flexible option system, which allows you to customize the functionality of this utility, according to your needs. Hard Drive Inspector has an easy-to-use, nice-looking interface. It also offers many useful features, which make the S.M.A.R.T. monitoring process full-scale and easy.

Download Hard Drive Inspector 2.100 in Softonic

Studiometry is a project management system that enables you to handle every single aspect of your work projects. Either if you work as freelancer or you're member of a professional team, you can take full advantage of all the tools features in Studiometry to make your work easier and also improve your relationship with customers.

The program takes care of every detail to such an extent that it looks very confusing at the beginning. In fact, I strongly recommend following the tutorial that you can access through the Help menu. Once you learn the basics of the program, you may start creating a new project, adding customers and customizing options. Also, there's a sample project for you to use to practice a bit before starting the real work.

In all, Studiometry is a very complete project manager that can really help you with your work. Just one small complaint: I hope they make the interface font size bigger in future versions. Maybe it's because I'm short-sighted, but I found them to be too small.

Download Studiometry 5.1.5 in Softonic

Computers are great and all that, but some tasks can get a bit boring if you have to do them every day. That's why it makes sense to install a macro recorder to perform these mundane activities for you - and JitBit's solution isn't a bad option. The application lets you record mouse click sequences, typing and the movement of the cursor on your screen for later use. Once these actions have been recorded they can be 'replayed' at any time and even compiled in an EXE file.

The program saves you a lot of time in filling out forms, generating information and performing maintenance tasks, and it's also good for creating presentations and video tutorials (although you can't export to different movie formats). However, the best thing about the app is its scripts, which allow you to program certain commands, such as launching programs or web pages, or even shutting down your PC without you having to record the action yourself.

When it comes to accessing the web, the app is a little cumbersome, but for general computing tasks JitBit Macro Recorder can be a real godsend.

Download Jitbit Macro Recorder 4.11 in Softonic

Microsoft has made the first public beta of Internet Explorer 8 available for download. While generally keeping the same design as IE 7, this new version features some new functionality and is also fully standard-compliant.

First of all bear in mind that this beta of Internet Explorer 8 is intended solely for web developers and designers, not for the average user. This beta is still under heavy development and may not work properly with certain web pages. True, you've got a button to "emulate" IE7 while running IE8 but that's not the point. So if you're not a programmer or do not like strong emotions you'd better stay away from this one.

Internet Explorer 8 includes a couple of exciting new features: Activities and Weclips. The first ones are a collection of customizable add-ons that let you access online services from the browser's context menu. As for webclips, they work like RSS feeds, but focusing only on certain areas of a given webpage that are being constantly updated. Besides these two elements, Internet Explorer also features some other goodies like integration with Facebook and Live Maps and a crash recovery system.

This first public beta of Internet Explorer 8 lets you take a sneak peek at the future next version of Microsoft's web browser and start playing with its new feature. For a more extended review, check out our blog OnSoftware.

Download Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 in Softonic

BWMeter is a powerful bandwidth meter, monitor and traffic controller, which measures, displays and controls all traffic to/from your computer or on your network. Unlike other products, it can analyze the data packets (where they come from, where they go, which port and protocol they use).

This makes it possible to distinguish between local and internet traffic for example. BWMeter can also be used for traffic control by setting a speed limit for all kinds of connections or restricting access to certain internet sites. It creates statistics for all computers in your network, measuring and displaying all LAN traffic as well as download / upload from the internet.

You can even define filters which show your transfer with certain internet addresses (e.g. to see how much data you download from your favorite news server). BWMeter is ideal for home users to get an overview of how much bandwidth they use, as well as small to large businesses, where one computer can control the traffic and maintain the statistics of downloaded / uploaded data of all computers in the network. The product is easy to configure and offers a rich set of options and features for beginners as well as experts and network administrators.

Download BWMeter 4.1.3 in Softonic

Tabs can be created that show the contents of folders. These mini-explorer windows provide true explorer context menu access for folders and files as well as full drag/drop support. Enter richly formatted or plain text notes into note tabs. Each note tab is associated with a text file of your choice anywhere on disk. It offers basic word processing functions but more readily available than your average word processor.

You can browse the web using internet tabs. These tabs offer the rudimentary function you expect from a web browser but with the convenience of being readily available in a screen tab. These are great for sites that you frequent throughout the day like weather, traffic, news, etc. The tab manager is your control panel for Stick. Create, delete, edit tabs on the fly. Tabs are very customizable with the ability to have their font, colors, slide behavior, transparency and more changed quickly and easily. Save groups of settings as templates and apply them to other tabs with the press of a button.

The RSS News Feed Plugin is a simple RSS client that allows users to connect to one or more RSS feeds in a single tab. The plugin supports auto-refresh, auto-pruning and textual previews of items. It will also notify you via popup when new items are downloaded. Only supports RSS 0.91 and RSS 2.0.

Download Stick 2.8.0.82 in Softonic

If you want to access your favorite programs as quickly as possible, you may find Microsoft Speed Launcher interesting.

Microsoft Speed Launcher is an application launcher from which you can access and run your most frequently used programs. Not only does it work with software, but it can also open web pages. Plus the program comes with a few handy shortcuts bundled as an example.

Microsoft Speed Launcher stays on your desktop at all times for quicker access, but being a semi-transparent icon on the bottom right corner it won't disturb you. You can always reduce the size of the icon or hide it completely (in which case you'll have to use a keyboard shortcut to open the launcher).

You can easily customize Microsoft Speed Launcher with your favorite programs, either using the built-in shortcut manager or simply dragging and dropping the executable file on the launcher's icon.

Microsoft Speed Launcher works fine as an app launcher, but it's not certainly the handiest I've seen. I miss having more configuration options plus a more comfy way to access shortcuts. Then again, the program is still under development, so hopefully it'll be improved in future versions.

Microsoft Speed Launcher lets you quickly access applications and websites from a desktop customizable menu.

Download Microsoft Speed Launch 1.0.811.0 in Softonic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Download LimeWire Basic 4.18.6 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

As USB sticks and other flash memory drives increase in storage capacity, so does their popularity as software repositories. Many applications have developed special versions for these devices, usually known as "portable". One of them is CCleaner Portable.

In a few words, CCleaner Portable is the pocket version of CCleaner, an excellent cleaning tool with which you can erase unused files, thus gaining back valuable free disk space and making Windows run faster and smoother. The great advantage about CCleaner Portable is that it allows you to do just the same without leaving any evidence of use on the computer. In fact, you don't even need to install it. Simply run it from your USB memory stick and you'll have immediate access to all of its features. CCleaner Portable does create some necessary keys in Windows Registry, but these are deleted when the program is closed, so there'll be no trace of it left on the system.

Regarding its functions, CCleaner Portable does a very satisfactory job. The program helps you to get rid of many different files such as Internet cookies, temporary files, log files or all those leftovers found after months of installing and uninstalling applications. The configuration menu features interesting options like the possibility to keep certain cookies which may be useful for you or the ability to add custom file types to the delete filter. Apart from freeing up disk space, CCleaner Portable also lets you uninstall applications, find broken registry keys and list all the programs set to run when Windows launches.

On the down side, CCleaner Portable does not allow you to undo changes, so you must be very sure about what you want to erase before clicking on "Yes". Also, the program can take a few minutes before finishing the analysis that must be done prior to deletion. However, this is probably due to the fact that CCleaner Portable runs from a USB device and that we checked all the available options when cleaning our system – the test found 558 MB of removable material, which obviously took a while to be deleted.

All in all, CCleaner Portable is every bit as good as its "big brother" and comes in really handy when you want to use it on any PC without installing anything or leaving any traces behind you.

Download CCleaner Portable 2.11.636 in Softonic