The Gimp is the open source reference in image manipulation. This free application will allow you to retouch, author and edit your photos thanks to a wide set of tools.

Let’s quickly go through what you can do with the Gimp. The painting function has the essential clone, airbrush or pencil tools and a powerful gradient and blend tool. You can also create and save your own brushes and patterns for later use. The program lets you manipulate your photos, adding layers, doing Bezier and polygonal selections or setting text. Load and save animations in a frame-as-layer format and batch process all your photos for quick editing. The multi-windowed interface can be moved around to fit your needs and resized according to your desktop space.

What’s more, the Gimp can be expanded with over 100 different plug-ins and extensions available on the Gimp’s website. These apply in majority for layer effects such as render, distort or blur and make a great addition to the ones already present in the program.

While the Gimp is user friendly, the installation process can result a bit hairy. Because the application works under the GTK Runtime Environment, you will have to install this kit to successfully launch the program. The process is fairly lengthy and some error messages tend to pop up, however if you persist, you will be able to install the Gimp properly on your PC

Despite this fairly hazardous installation process, the Gimp is a program we recommend. Whether you’re out of dough or are looking for a free alternative to Photoshop, the Gimp is excellent image manipulation software with all the tools you’d expect. The friendly interface and expandability make this a program of choice.

Download The GIMP 2.6.1 in Softonic

It's really unbelievable to find free software applications as amazing as Photoscape. But as they say, truth is stranger than fiction. Here you have a really excellent photo editing tool that includes just about everything you need to view, optimize, edit, print and have fun with your photos, all for free.

Photoscape strikes us from the very beginning with an uncommon interface design from which you can choose what you want to do: view pictures, optimize those that didn't come out so well, print several photos on a single page collage-style or perhaps add any of the dozens of filters and special effects included in the program. Other extra tools featured in Photoscape are a file renamer, a color picker, a screen capture tool and even a RAW converter.

We really have nothing negative to say about Photoscape. Just download it, test it, love it and keep it forever. It's free!

Download Photoscape 3.2 in Softonic

Easy GIF Animator is powerful yet very easy to use software for creating and editing animated GIF images. With this animated GIF editor you can easily create animated pictures, banners and buttons in no time.

You can use special features to add stunning visual effects and prepare your animation for publishing on your web page. Easy GIF Animator supports all types of GIF animation and provides high compression and great quality for your animated GIF images. To top it all off, Easy GIF Animator is the best priced animated GIF editor on the market today.

Download Easy GIF Animator 4.8 in Softonic

Some years ago ICQ was one of the most popular IM applications among Internet users. But when Microsoft launched MSN Messenger, many of these users forgot about their original IM client and joined a network that was growing very quickly. In the meantime, ICQ continued to be upgraded until finally reaching version 6, which sets a new milestone in the history of this classic piece of software.

To begin with, the installation process is fast and easy, the only downside being the fact that you must set ICQ Search as your web browser's default search engine, as there's no way of getting around this option.

This new ICQ boasts a fresh-looking interface which has been completely redesigned. Also, you can customize it with skins, although you'll have to download them because there's not a single skin included in the program. It does include, however, a very complete personal profile which you can fill in with all your information, including name, location, interests, spoken languages and a personal avatar that ICQ oddly refers to as "devil".

Generally speaking, ICQ 6 offers all the functions that we find in other IM applications, namely instant written messages, voice calls and video calls. All of these are complemented with a very nice set of animated smilies and the so called "Tzers" which are the equivalent to Messenger's "Winks". Chat sessions can be grouped together under the same window, which prevents your taskbar getting cluttered. ICQ allows you to start text conversations right from the contact list using the Quick message feature. There's also the option to send SMS messages to your contacts, but this is not available in all countries yet.

This new version promises to give you complete control over configuration settings. However, we must admit that we had some trouble in finding them, until we happened to click on the "Main" button on the interface. The configuration options are quite complete indeed, allowing you to change every single detail regarding sounds, notifications, privacy and security, message history, appearance and the program's general behaviour.

In all, ICQ seems to have developed a new version with a fresh redesign only to measure up to its main competitors but without really offering any new functions. Again, choosing ICQ (or any other IM app) ends up being just a question of which IM your friends use.

Download ICQ 6.0.0.7015 in Softonic

The little known programming language Logo isn't know for its power but it can actually produce some pretty decent 3D models - and it's a hell of a lot easier to learn than most languages.

Elica is specially designed for Logo programmers who want to creating impressive 3D animations, object-oriented programming, visualization and mathematical games for educational purposes. Elica features all the standard things you expect in a programming environment such as syntax coloring, comprehensive help file and in this particular environment, a very powerful graphics engine to handle 3D modeling.

From the developer's website, it mainly seems that Elica has been used by Logo programmers to create simulations of artificial life to mathematical games like Tangram and Towers of Hanoi. You can take a look for yourself in the Elica Online Museum exactly what the program is capable of and it's safe to say you'll probably be amazed by some of the results.

If you're a Logo programmer or have been thinking about 3D modelling or design, you should definitely get to know Elica.

Download Elica 5.6 in Softonic

If you're a serious gamer then you'll need some help to get the most out of your system and ensure your graphics card is performing to the peak of it's abilities.

Game Gain 2 is the latest version of this popular gaming assistant which attempts to take gaming to the next level. It can help you enjoy games like you never have done before by using those parts of your processor and graphics card that had formerly laid dormant. The program is remarkably easy to use requiring just the tweaking of a few throttles and switches to blast your PC into the gaming stratosphere. However, you should use this utility with caution because it does change registry settings that could unbalance your system if your registry is already damaged. It works by making direct changes to system registry and system files to enhance memory, screen drawing, animations, refresh rates, CPU threading speeds. However the developers assure that it only optimises based on the capabilities of your system and won't try and push it past anything it can't handle. If you do experience problems afterwards, the system analyzer should help remedy them.

A great tool for gamers although if you've got the latest Intel Quad processors, you'll probably have little use for it.

Download GameGain 2.9.29.2008 in Softonic

Keeping Windows continually optimised is an ongoing challenge and the worst problem is when software conflict with each other.

PCHeal is designed to step in when you've suffered a major software conflict or system slowdown. It makes direct changes to your system registry and files to enhance memory, screen drawings, animations, refresh rates and CPU threading speeds. According to the developers, it automatically adjusts settings and changes made based on computer specifications although it's hard to tell if anything really has been done or not after running the program There is also a deep system analyzer and diagnostic tool which attempts to find and repair any potential problems with the computer which is affecting its performance. The software also focuses on over-clocking features to enhance memory and CPU priorities and there's an easy and intuitive user interface which performs all setting changes immediately. In reality, in the case of a major software conflict, there's little you can do but this program offers some hope of at least recuperating some of your system's performance without uninstalling the guilty products.

Worth a try if you've experienced a major system failure although don't expect it to perform miracles.

Download PCHeal 1.9.29.2008 in Softonic

GameThrust sets the standard for PC and internet optimizing software. GameThrust increases overall speed and performance your computer and internet connection is capable of. Very easy to use, fully compliant with all versions of Microsoft Windows and adjusts itself to your computer specifications.

Makes direct changes to system registry and system files to enhance memory, screen drawing, animations, refresh rates, CPU threading speeds, internet speed. Automatically adjusts settings and changes made based on computer and internet specifications, complete fault tolerance system implemented.

Deep system analyzer and diagnostic features which attempt to find and repair any potential problems with the computer affecting its performance. Bring your gaming to the next level.

Download GameThrust 1.9.29.2008 in Softonic

As one of the mainstays of the instant messaging world, Yahoo! has finally decided to drag itself onto the VOIP bandwagon with the launch of this Voice version of its popular client. As well as offering free PC-to-PC calls and cheap PC-to-phone (landline and mobile) calls, the program throws in all the usual over-the-top gadgetry and gimmicks we've come to associate with Yahoo! Messenger.

As we've seen before from programs that try to be all things to all people, there's always a danger that things can get a little out of hand for the user, and this is the territory that Yahoo is entering with this latest incarnation of its messenger. It's true that the voice facilities in the program are top-notch, delivering crystal-clear clarity for most calls to PCs and phones. It's also true that the application boasts a bevy of interesting and innovative features, such as the ability to play games and listen to online radio together, send animated, talking emoticons, and quickly share files and photos simply by dragging and dropping them into the chat window.

Although, in the main, these features are good for a laugh, we did have a couple of things that we'd like to raise if we ever met Mr Yahoo! Firstly, we like the games but they lack instructions, so sometimes it can take a while to figure out how to play them. Also many of the so-called 'Audibles,' which are essentially animated, talking emoticons, are a little vulgar to say the least, and not really suitable for anyone with a reputation to uphold.

There are plenty of ways to customize the client to suit your mood too. The main interface is fully skinable, and you can also change the way the chat window looks by selecting from dozens of themed 'IMvironments', which certainly helps to inject some variety into your chat experiences. You can also build your own avatar – a process which can take hours as you carefully select the right haircut, clothes, sunglasses and even breed of dog to have sitting at your side in your IM profile.

Individually, these features are both innovative and compelling, but ironically they combine to contribute to the downfall of Messenger for Voice. The fact is that all of these options serve to swamp the interface and if you have a lot of the features running at the same time it's often hard to find even the text window. While it's fun and novel at first, the messenger very quickly becomes an irritant more than anything. Our advice – stick with Skype.

Download Yahoo! Messenger with Voice 9.0.0.1912 in Softonic

Have you ever wondered if there's an easy way to make 3D models? Most 3D modeling applications require a degree in computer engineering to understand but not Misfit Model 3D.

Misfit Model 3D is based on OpenGL, which can build models from basic shapes such as spheres or cubes. These can then be modified through flattening, subdividing and trimming, etc. However, it's worth noting that Misfit Model 3D is not powerful enough to render images.

Misfit Model 3D is pretty easy to work with and it supports multi-level undos (meaning you can make as many mistakes as you like), skeletal animations, simple texturing, command-line batch processing, and a plug-in system for adding new model and image filters. There is an extensive online help directory that can get you started whatever your level. You can't produce anything spectacular on Misfit Model 3D but it's not bad by any means.

If you fancy trying your hand at 3D modeling but don't have the time to take on a heavy-duty app this is an excellent starting point.

Download Misfit Model 3D 1.2.4 in Softonic

If you ever feel guilty about spending too much money in online shops, here's a way to redeem yourself.

AidMaker is a software app that grants you access to hundreds of online shops worldwide and automatically donates a given percentage of the money you spend on them to a charity of your choice.

The program is embedded as a browser toolbar that works with both Firefox and Internet Explorer. From this toolbar you can open the settings menu, check the list of available charities and keep track of how much money you have donated so far. AidMaker includes all sorts of organizations, dedicated to such diverse causes as children, animals, human rights, diseases and more, from many different countries (you can select yours during the installation process).

AidMaker lets you choose which charity you want to donate to, but the percentage of this donation is set by the shop. Needless to say, there's no extra charge for you. This is certainly the kind of software that should come bundled with your browser.

With AidMaker you can do your bit in making the world a better place by automatically donating part of your online shopping to your selected charity.

Download AidMaker 1.0 in Softonic

When I was younger I used to spend hours hanging around in chat rooms and meeting new people from all over the world.

Today I've had the chance to chat again, but in a slightly different way. I've used Weblin, a very original software app that works together with your web browser, enabling you to chat with the people who are visiting the same webpage as you. Also, your chat personality is more than just a plain nickname: it's a fully animated avatar that walks around the bottom bar of your browser window.

At the beginning it may be difficult to find people to chat with, but you can start by the program's "topcloud": a list of the most populated webpages that you can access from Weblin's icon in the system tray. Following this method I soon met some nice people on Youtube and had a short chat with them. Conversations can be held via text balloons or standard chat window, but I wasn't sure which one to use. On the one hand balloons behave in a strange way, as the text you send is not erased and you have to delete it before writing again; on the other hand, the chat window takes way too much space and it doesn't let me read webpages properly.

After chatting for a while, I started browsing Weblin's website and I was surprised to discover a highly detailed customization menu for your personal profile and avatar, which can't be found on the program's settings. So once you've registered your account, be sure to visit the site and explore it for yourself.

Generally speaking, I found Weblin a very original chat app where you can have fun and make friends. On the downside, having a dozen avatars sitting on a certain webpage really disturbs your web browsing.

An original way to chat with other people in your web browser, although certainly difficult to combine with actual web browsing.

Download Weblin 2.8.2.1 in Softonic

Are you tired of heavy instant messengers, which are slow to load, full of colours, animations, and add-ons that put a considerable strain on the whole performance of your PC? If so, then consider an alternative, lightweight solution like Pidgin Portable which has the advantage, like its name says, of running from a USB pen drive. You will be able to use it wherever you are, without having to install anything on any computer while travelling or working.

Just plug in your USB pen drive and run the exe file to have all your contacts from different accounts, available for a chat. Pidgin Portable is able to connect to multiple networks: AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, XMPP, ICQ, IRC, SILC, SIP/SIMPLE, Novell GroupWise, Lotus Sametime, Bonjour, Zephyr, MySpaceIM, Gadu-Gadu, and QQ. You will never again need to use different messengers for every account you have, Pidgin manages them all at once. Although the interface is rather simple and the icons available are limited, the program is light and lets you choose a picture to represent you.

Try Pidgin portable if you are tired of heavy instant messengers and if you would like multi account application that can run from a USB pen drive, without any installation on the computer you’re using.

Download Pidgin Portable 2.5.1 in Softonic

Smaller Animals ThumbNailer is a Windows utility that allows you to create thumbnail images and image galleries. You can use it to convert between one graphics format and another, change image color depth, resize images, make image galleries for the web or CD and more.

Features of the app:

• Wizards to help you get up and running quickly
• JPG, GIF, MPEG, JPEG-2000, PNG, TIFF, PCX, BMP, WBMP, PhotoCD, Photoshop, TGA, ASCII, WMF and EMF
• AVI, TTF (TrueType Fonts), animated GIF and multi-page TIFF frame extraction
• Support for reading RAW, NEF, FlashPix, video files and more via plug-ins
• Batch or single file operation
• HTML page generator, with links, tables, HTML templates, and more
• Output images in a wide choice of formats and color depths
• Apply contrast, sharpening, brightness corrections
• Copy EXIF and IPTC data from JPG files

Download ThumbNailer 9.1.0.1 in Softonic

Nothing helps you get through a tough day at the office than a good old-fashioned viral email. Whether it’s funny, stupid, interesting or just plain sick, receiving a forwarded video, picture or text document is the highlight of the day for many a tortured office drone. Now, thanks to the rather unique MetaCafe, you don’t even need to wait for your pals to throw this spirit-lifting material your way.

The basic premise of the software is that it automatically trawls the web for popular viral items including movies, images, games and other time-wasting files. Within just a few minutes of firing up the app (or allowing it to load automatically on start-up) you’ll be presented with a series of the hottest files doing the rounds on email at the moment. Each item comes with a preview thumbnail and a brief description of what it’s about. You can then choose to download and play any movies, or view images within the MetaCafe interface.

The simplicity of this program is quite staggering and it makes it as easy as possible to siphon the stuff that’s likely to appeal to you. The categories (video, images, games, and other) can be customized so you only receive items that are of interest to you, such as funnies, news-related, sports-related etc. There’s a very helpful idiot’s guide that appears when you launch the program and the online help is particularly useful.

Other useful features include a ‘TV mode’ for viewing videos in full-screen with movie player controls, and the ability to forward links to the items to your buddies from within the program. You can even submit your own files to MetaCafe if you’ve been forwarded a particularly good file that you want to share with the rest of the user base.

Generally, the operation and performance of MetaCafe is very slick but there are a couple of things that bugged us a bit. For instance, it can take a while for the program to find new items when you start and this is made more confusing by the fact that there is no progress bar to show you that it's actually doing something. You should also be careful to ensure that the adult content filter is checked, as some of the material can be a little risqué for youngsters or the faint of heart.

Despite these minor glitches, this is a very original software concept that will help brighten up your day and amuse your friends and family to boot. Just don't let the boss catch you playing around with it.

Download MetaCafe Pro 1.2.28 in Softonic

It's incredible to think it's been 15 years since the FIFA game dynasty began. FIFA 09 is a far cry from the blocky graphics and rigid gameplay of the original, 16-bit version. But, of course, the question is, how much better is this one than FIFA 08?

The answer, in short is: a little. The graphics in FIFA 09 have been refined, with more photo-realistic captures of the superstars of soccer, and some great new animations both on and off the ball. The presentation of the game is as exquisite as ever, with new match intro sequences featuring the players warming up in the tunnel, crowd chants specific to each club, not to mention the cool new 'widgets' system on the menu pages, where various online and offline stats are displayed at all times. Unfortunately, it was impossible to test the commentary in FIFA 09, as it's not included in this demo version.

In terms of its gameplay, FIFA 09 offers a smooth ride, although there are few changes to the way the game handles other than a few new tricks and the addition of more realistic collisions. I could've done without these clashes, as sometimes it takes your player a long time to get up after a heavy hit. In fact, one of the new gameplay enhancements in FIFA 09 is the physical presence of some players, which means large defenders are more likely to bundle you off the ball, requiring more cunning to get past them.

While this demo of FIFA 09 is limited to four-minute demo matches between a choice of six clubs, the full release looks set to really raise the bar in terms of its online modes. I'm particularly excited by the new Adidas Live Season mode, where player information is updated dynamically depending on performances in real life.

FIFA 09 is undoubtedly a great football sim, although unless you're particularly interested in the online aspect of the game, you may not see a great deal of benefit in upgrading from 08 (other than, of course, the updated transfers).

Whether it'll prove better than Pro Evolution 2009 is a matter of extensive debate, but FIFA 09 is definitely the best version in the EA series to date.

Download FIFA 09 in Softonic

If you're the sort of person who is easily fascinated by nature then you'll enjoy this National Geographic Extreme Earth Screensaver.

The screensaver contains a series of images the feature some of the most incredible landscapes and scenes from our planet. It covers extremes from the caves of Alaska, to the coves of Belize, and from Icelandic volcanoes to Antarctic ice flows. Be warned though, that these are mainly shots of rocks and landscapes rather than creatures, so animal fans may want to try a different screensaver.

The quality of the photography in the National Geographic Extreme Earth Screensaver is exceptional and the high resolution images really give you the impression that you're looking through a window onto this awesome world of ours.

On the downside, you have to put up with National Geographic branding on all of the images, and there is no options menu for customizing the screensaver.

On the whole though, the National Geographic Extreme Earth Screensaver will give your desktop a very eye-catching overhaul.

Download National Geographic Extreme Earth Screensaver in Softonic

By a bizarre twist of fate 3DS Max is now owned by the same firm that publishes its age rival, Maya, yet the pair of heavyweight 3D applications remain the two main choices for animators working in the three-dimensional realm. Although Maya’s popularity has increased of late (perhaps largely due to its superior accessibility for newcomers), 3DS still remains a key player within the industry, and this latest incarnation significantly improves upon the wire-frame mapping approach of the past.

Perhaps the biggest innovation within version 8 of the app is the inclusion of a ‘pelt mapping’ feature. For the benefit of those who don’t work for Pixar or Rockstar Games, this is basically a device for ‘unwrapping’ a wireframe model in order to paint its exterior. This can save you a lot of time and unnecessary Photoshop tomfoolery when working with organic objects, such as human faces or characters. However, it isn’t so adept at handling non-organic objects like cars, streets or houses, as the results are typically very liquidy.

As always, 3DS Max allows you to be very precise in terms of the mapping of your creations, perhaps even more so than Maya. Besides the standard mapping tools, the application now contains all manner of alignment features to ensure that you get pinpoint accuracy when modelling. What’s more, 3DS now contains more flexible options for relax, the tool that averages UVs and allows for the automatic relief of texture distortion. If used in conjunction with another function, show edge distortion, then the mapping of your characters becomes all the easier.

There are dozens of other features within the software that will help you produce stunning 3D models without tearing your hair out. We were particularly taken with the render UVW template function, allowing very quick template rendering of your prepared UVs, either in wireframe, filled, mapped or shaded versions. With a raft of skinning and modelling tools, 3DS Max gives you very precise control over your models, without having to code or program every co-ordinate, making it a very user-friendly option.

Naturally, the cost of the full version of the program will put off many 3D hobbyists, but for serious animation professionals it’s an application that is to be ignored at your peril. Although it remains to be seen whether there will be an amalgamation with Maya, 3DX Max remains a world leader in its market and, given enough patience, can be used to transform the outer limits of your imagination into a fantastic reality.

Download Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 in Softonic

aMSN is an alternative to the classic MSN Messenger, with more features yet a much weaker interface. The chat client looks very similar to Microsoft's product yet differs on a number of points. aMSN developers have delved into the preferences menu, adding extra little features like event alerts and sounds, conferencing support or autoaway messages. Like with MSN Messenger you'll be able to transfer files and organize all your contacts into groups.

Audio/Video support is the number one function that users look for in IM clients nowadays, yet an area which aMSN doesn't particularly focus on. Webcam support is fairly weak and unstable, and instead of integrating into your chat window will open up in a new Quicktime window.

One of the biggest pet peeves of users with aMSN is the interface. It simply doesn't compare with more sleeker, more recent IM clients. To the developer's defense though you can download all sorts of skins from the program's website. Similarly it offers up a range of plugins, to customize your client to your liking. Chat addicts will also appreciate the animated emoticons on hand.

In terms of performance, you have to keep in mind that aMSN is still a Beta product, so still liable to some crashes and bugs. We did have some trouble when opening up new chat window and noticed that the client tended to use a lot of CPU.

In a few words, aMSN is a good alternative to MSN for users looking to add more plugins, skins and delve into the preferences menu.

Download aMSN Messenger 0.97.2 in Softonic

The world of dubbing and lip syncing has come a long way since the days when high-pitched voice actors would jabber away in not-so-perfect harmony to Japanese Kung Fu fighters in the martial arts movies of the 1970s. In fact, digital animation technology has improved so much that it’s now possible to animate your own talking heads from your home PC.

CrazyTalk Media Studio promises to give you all the tools you need to import images and photographs before quickly applying mouth, head and eye movement to create realistic looking avatars and fun animations. At first we were a little dubious about the value of such a product, but were soon pleasantly surprised by the power of the utility.

Granted, our initial efforts were limited to taking pictures of friends and giggling inanely as they repeated audio clips from famous movies or songs. These first experiments were a little clunky to say the least and looked far from realistic when we relied on the automatic lip-syncing functionality. However, once you delve deeper into the settings, you start to realize that you can actually produce some impressive animations.

With enough tinkering you can customize everything from the teeth in the character’s mouth to their facial movements and their range of movement. Best of all is the built-in timeline, which gives you complete control of the animation and sound, much as you would do in Flash, or a video-editing suite. Complete with alpha channel support, the program is ideal for producing talking presenters to welcome visitors to your web site or presentations. The simple-to-use export facilities allow you to save to a range of formats whether as a media file, email attachment or a personalized greeting.

There are a few flaws with the program that are a little frustrating, but they fail to prevent CrazyTalk Media Studio from being a great program. Minor niggles are the lack of MP3 audio import support, and the relatively low number of preset templates and characters. The app does have a fairly steep learning curve but it’s good fun to use and is surprisingly powerful.

Download CrazyTalk 5.0 in Softonic