Norton has been always considered to be a synonym of security. Some of their products have been in the market for years and are used by millions of computer users around the world on a daily basis.

The new Norton Antivirus 2009 promises a faster, easier installation and a better updating technology that protects your computer without interrupting your work. And I must say it really meets the expectations. I'm always afraid of anti-virus tools being too heavy on memory or displaying too many annoying messages, but Norton Antivirus does its job in an excellent way. Besides a really quick installation in just three steps, the program doesn't hog system resources at all and doesn't disrupt your workflow either. What's more, it now includes a "Silent Mode" that temporarily disables alerts and other background activity, perfect for those moments in which you need to really concentrate on work.

The new Norton Antivirus 2009 displays a completely redesigned interface and includes some configuration settings which you can tweak to fine tune the program's behavior, including the elements that should be monitored (e-mail, messenger chats, etc.) and the possibility to schedule automatic scans.

On the downside, I found that the new interface in Norton Antivirus 2009 design lacks information. In their attempt to create a simpler, easier design I think they've gone too far and now the main interface doesn't show as many interesting data as Norton Antirivirus used to. Also, bear in mind that you'll have to set up a free Norton account even if you only want to test this product during the 15-day trial.

Norton Antivirus is a powerful yet light security application with which you'll keep viruses, worms and other online threats away from your system without hassle.

Download Norton AntiVirus 2009 in Softonic

CPU and RAM memory are among the most important factors to determine computer's power. The first one refers to the velocity of the computer to operate data; the second one refers to the amount of memory the PC has in order to handle those data. This is one of the cases in which it's always true to say, the more the better. Unfortunately, we are not always financially able to upgrade our computer.

Another way to increase the performance of your PC is to use a program that optimizes the usage of these crucial components, CPU and RAM. Mz Ram Booster is a free application that is supposed to do so. It's fairly friendly to use and there is also a comprehensive manual at your disposal. For non-expert users I would just recommend pressing the 'recommended settings' button and applying the settings before closing the program. This will free RAM when CPU usage is lower then 30% and will auto optimize the memory every two hours.

It is also interesting that you can set the CPU's priority, choosing to give the best response time to foreground applications or to background ones, or to apply the same priority for both. You can also set your processor's L2 cache size if you know it exactly, otherwise run CPU-Z to get the exact number of Kilobytes.

Give your computer a boost improving RAM and CPU usage. It can make a difference, especially if your computer is not particularly powerful, otherwise its benefits may be limited.

Download Mz Ram Booster 2.5.1 in Softonic

Video is becoming an increasingly important element in multimedia creations, which means you need powerful tools to work with it in proper conditions.

CyberLink PowerDirector is probably your best option when choosing a decent video application. This program lets you create stunning video composition featuring videoclips, images, transition effects, clipart, text layers and of course, a personalized background soundtrack.

As complicated as it seems, the truth is that CyberLink PowerDirector is really easy to use. The main working area follows the standard interface design in video editors, which include a media library window to browse your multimedia library, a timeline to drag and drop elements for your creation and a preview window to check how everything looks when put all together.

CyberLink PowerDirector features all the necessary tools for the whole creative process, from assisting you in with the very first step (capturing video from several different sources) to adding the final touches to your creation (a totally customizable DVD-style menu).

When you’re done, you can save your video as a streaming file, write it back to the videotape or even upload it to Youtube straight away. The program also allows you to record the video on a CD or DVD.

CyberLink PowerDirector is the perfect combination of powerful features with an appealing, easy-to-use interface that will please power users and beginners alike.

Download PowerDirector 7.0.1829 Ultra in Softonic

Video is becoming an increasingly important element in multimedia creations, which means you need powerful tools to work with it in proper conditions.

CyberLink PowerDirector is probably your best option when choosing a video editor. This program lets you create stunning video compositions featuring videoclips, images, transition effects, clipart, text layers and, of course, a personalized background soundtrack.

As complicated as it seems, the truth is that CyberLink PowerDirector is really easy to use. The main working area follows the standard interface design in video editors, including a media library window to browse your multimedia collection, a timeline to drag and drop elements for your creation and a preview window to check how everything looks when put all together.

CyberLink PowerDirector features all the necessary tools for the whole creative process, from assisting you in with the very first step (capturing video from several different sources) to adding the final touches to your creation (a totally customizable DVD-style menu).

When you’re done, you can save your video as a streaming file, write it back to the videotape or even upload it to YouTube straight away. The program also allows you to record the video on a CD or DVD.

CyberLink PowerDirector is the perfect combination of powerful features with an appealing, easy-to-use interface that will please power users and beginners alike.

Download CyberLink PowerDirector 7.0.1915 Deluxe in Softonic

If you're anything like me, you get bored of your desktop wallpaper very quickly. And like me, you'll be interested in testing tools like Wallpapers from MSN.

This app is a complete wallpaper manager that includes a collection of more than 50 images you can use as desktop background right away. You can also add you own photos to the Wallpapers from MSN collection and comfortably browse through them thanks to a thumbnail list and a small preview window.

What makes Wallpapers from MSN different from other similar applications is the fact that you can add special effects to the images. By "special effects" I mean you can add clipart on top of the image, insert a line or two of text and, of course, crop, resize and adapt the image to make it fit your computer monitor.

On the downside, there's no clear indication if you'll be able to download more wallpapers apart from the ones that come already bundled with the program. Also, Wallpapers from MSN is certainly a bit too heavy on resources to have it permanently running in the background – a requisite if you want it to cycle through your wallpapers automatically.

If you're a wallpaper collector, Wallpapers from MSN is made for you: a wallpaper manager that includes more than 50 images and also lets you edit them.

Download Wallpapers from MSN Beta in Softonic

Security is one of the main concerns among computer users. This is why it's important to count on reliable applications that can protect our system and data from potential dangers. Sometimes free security apps are regarded as being less safe but you might change your mind after testing AVG Antivirus.

AVG is one of the handiest antivirus systems I've seen so far (and believe me, I've tested a few). Being a smaller application, AVG may not feature such a wide range of tools or utilities as the other antivirus programs do. However, it makes up for it by offering a neat, effective protection which stays silently minimized in your system tray and only activates when needed.

This is precisely one of the best things about AVG. It works completely in the background, without the need of half the system resources and of course, without constantly bothering you with warning windows or update messages. You can just go on with your work and you won't even notice you have an antivirus application up and running. Being the free version of a complete program, AVG shows the odd nagging notification encouraging you to buy AVG Professional which may annoy the more sensitive users.

AVG features real time system protection, an email scanner (which doesn't prevent spam from coming into your mailbox though – spam filter is a Pro-only feature) and as new features in AVG 8, an anti-spyware tool and the so called LinkScanner technology to protect your web browsing. The whole package should be enough to ensure you're not infected with any virus. Also, it integrates seamlessly with Windows Explorer, thus allowing you to scan files from their context menus. AVG's virus database is automatically updated on a daily basis, so you're always protected even from the most recently discovered threats. The program supports scheduled scans as well.

AVG Antivirus remains a perfect security solution for the average computer user, providing quite a powerful weapon against viruses.

Download AVG Anti-Virus System Free Edition 8.0.173 in Softonic

Say you just came back from a long holiday trip and you have a ton of photos to show. Would you punish your friends and relatives with a two-hour photo album session or would you rather create something more special?

With Photo Slide Show you can create nice photo presentations in a snap. It doesn't include all the bells and whistles you find in other similar apps: the interface design is quite basic and the program basically lets you load photos, insert transition effects and add some background music. Also, the only accepted target format is AVI, and as the program lacks a progress bar, you have no clue about the progress of your presentation.

That said, the truth is that Photo Slide Show is a handy solution when all you need is a quick way to create a photo presentation without having to sit in front of the PC for two hours. It includes a varied selection of transition effects and can synchronize images and music automatically, so that they last exactly the same.

Photo Slide Show may be simpler than other similar tools, but it's also one of the easiest ones you can use to create a presentation with your photos.

Download Photo Slide Show 3.2 in Softonic

Wallpaper Master offers a number of options to renew your desktop background image. Create categories to organize your wallpapers and order your different images in a list on the interface. Individual Overrides, like style, alignment or border can be modified directly from the program window. Images can also be set up on multiple monitors in one click.

Despite a good deal of options, we were slightly disappointed with Wallpaper Master. There's no drag and drop, which means you have to browse and select all the pictures you want to use as wallpapers. The effects you can add to them, mirror, black and white and mosaic, are fairly limited and do not add much to your images.

Once you chosen the image you'll use as wallpapers and set up the rotation you can let Wallpaper Master take care of the rest. The program could be a bit more intuitive and offer more effects, but on the whole is a good piece of software to manage your wallpapers.

Download Wallpaper Master Pro 2.16 in Softonic

Do you get bored frequently of your desktop background or wallpaper? If variety is your thing - and they say variety is the spice of life - then this might be for you.

Any Wallpaper works by allowing you to set up a list of folders containing your favorite images that the program will rotate through on your desktop. Any Wallpaper lets you change the background when you decide, every set number of hours or minutes or at a random timescale of your choosing. The program isn't very flexible in terms of the formats it supports but it does handle BMP, JPEG and PNG files. It can automatically search wallpaper folders (including subfolders), search through random or sequential selections of wallpapers and add a wallpaper change on Windows startup. The program also offers additional wallpaper positions that allow you to fit backgrounds horizontally and vertically but it also auto detects the best size and position according to your screen size.

A very useful little program for all those that get bored with same old desktop background every day but needs to support more formats.

Download Any Wallpaper 1.1.1 in Softonic

VSO ConvertXtoDVD is an attractively designed and easy-to-use video burner that gives you the power to convert and burn a huge range of formats.

VSO ConvertXtoDVD can handle just about any format you throw at it including AVI, WMV, MKV, YouTube, OGM, MPEG and Quicktime. So instead of having to watch your downloaded films and videos on your PC, you can watch them in the comfort of your lounge on your DVD Player. VSO ConvertXtoDVD goes much further than just mere DVD creation though because it helps you create and author DVD menus.

It offers the possibility to add background video, image or audio and even have chapter and audio/subtitle menus. If you do want to add subtitles, it supports most of the major formats including SRT, .SUB/ID and .SSA and VSO CovertXtoDVD gives you control over color and font selection, and supports tags like italic, bold and the ability to toggle them on or off with DVD player remote control. The encoder makes a decent job of converting videos in terms of the output quality although it is slightly slow - estimate about 1 hour for conversion of a full movie.

A powerful and easy way to get your favourite movies and video clips onto DVD and give them an extra touch of class with a menu.

Download VSO ConvertXtoDVD 3.2.1.55 in Softonic

There are many necessary evils in this life including queues, rain, and, perhaps most annoyingly for computer users, RealPlayer.

The latter of the three has traditionally been cursed for its slow buffering times and the fact that it comes rammed with all manner of obnoxious advertising and intrusive web links. Unfortunately the application has always been the only tool available to play streaming media files in the rather arcane RAM format, in which many sites still insist on encoding their video and audio in. Luckily, there’s a saviour around these days, in the shape of Real Alternative, which is designed to play these files with less hassle.

The program is a streamlined advertising-free application designed to easily play most media content, including RealAudio (.ra .rpm), RealMedia (.rm .ram .rmvb .rpx .smi .smil), RealText (.rt), and ReadPix (.rp) formats, along with as non-Real media content such as MP3s, MPEGs, AVIs, QuickTime movies, and CD/DVD content. You can also use the program to stream media embedded in web pages.

In terms of performance, Real Alternative beats the pants off RealPlayer, and for that matter, Windows Media Player, playing all the files we tested smoothly and virtually instantaneously. The app contains enough features to keep more serious users happy, including the useful ability to bookmark favorite files, adjust volume in the window, track progress of the file, and more. Although not as quite as fully loaded with tools as its more established rivals, we can live without all manner of channel guides and visualizations in exchange for a much slicker playback experience.

There are some areas where Real Alternative falls down, such as its inability to handle .smi files or its lack of support for CDDB look-ups. But if you’re looking for something that will play audio and video quickly and without interruption, you can’t fault Real Alternative. There are programs, such as KMPlayer, which also offer superior playback quality, but Real Alternative excels in the way it handles streaming media, making it a worthwhile addition to your PC’s arsenal of programs.

Download Real Alternative 1.9.0 in Softonic

Due to lossy nature of the JPEG format each editing and subsequent recompression of JPEG images in generic image editors such as Photoshop results in progressive degradation of image quality.

Fortunately, in many cases there is a way to avoid the unnecessary recompression. If all you need is to quickly process a bunch of JPEG photos from the latest vacation - rotate, crop, remove red eye effect, imprint date or comment - you don't have to compromize the quality. Better JPEG is a batch JPEG editor capable of doing all this editing losslessly.

Main features:

• Lossless transformations - rotation, flip
• Lossless crop (free, fixed aspect, fixed size, predefined and user-defined aspects and sizes), composition guidelines (diagonals, golden mean, rule of thirds)
• Highly customizable lossless date/EXIF info/text insertion (position, font, size, color, background, language, format, etc.)
• Advanced lossless red eye removal (anti-aliasing, adjustable size, sensitivity, darkening)
• Copy/paste to external editor and back for local retouching without full recompression
• Batch image processing
• Multi-level undo/redo
• Metadata preservation
• Compression optimization

Download BetterJPEG 2.0.0.6 in Softonic

Organizing how many Windows you've got open can be a real nightmare if you work with multiple applications.

Actual Window Manager is an innovative desktop organization application which changes the way you organize your windows and workspace. The aim is to make your working environment more productive, convenient and enjoyable. The application features more than 40 tools to help you work.

Actual Window Manager works discreetly in the background and automatically places windows exactly in the most convenient space to maximize your working area. They can be resized according to automatic parameters that you've defined or you can make certain windows automatically stay on top of others. Alternatively, you can ensure that windows are minimized, rolled up or made semi-transparent.

If you're struggling to organize the windows open on your desktop, then Actual Window Manager can help ensure it doesn't affect your productivity.

Download Actual Window Manager 5.1 in Softonic

Copying DVDs (for your own use, of course) is becoming increasingly difficult as manufacturers improve the security encoding on DVDs. AnyDVD however claims to be able to crack any DVD encryption code and judging by the number of downloads, Softonic users are certainly endorsing it too.

The beauty of AnyDVD is that it simply works in the background to automatically remove the copy protection of a DVD movie as soon as it's inserted into the drive. In this way, it can decrypt data without actually saving it to your hard-disk. You can watch the DVD at the same time or just insert a disk and let AnyDVD do its stuff. When you insert a disk, you are automatically prompted whether you want to decrypt it. When it has finished inspecting the disk, the program prompts you to backup the DVD using your preferred backup tool such as CloneDVD or Power DVD Copy.

The programme goes much further than this though. A handy bonus is that you can also remove the RPC region code, thereby making the movie region free and viewable on any DVD player. This is especially useful for those who buy many of their disks abroad or travel a lot. If you want to create a stripped-down version of a DVD, it can also remove unwanted movie features, including subtitles and extras for example. The programme also moves beyond decryption and allows you to control the speed of your DVD drive. This is useful if you’re having trouble playing a DVD properly or if the noise of your drive is causing annoyance. Finally, there’s also an option to display the frequency of your monitor for both NTSC and PAL displays although you probably won’t use this unless you’re having serious display issues.

The only drawback of AnyDVD is the number of daily updates that are released. Whilst this is obviously a good thing in terms of keeping it up-to-date with the latest encryption methods, the update alerts can be rather annoying and are prone to slowing your computer down.

However, this is a small price to pay for a programme that seems able to crack all but the toughest disks and for anyone who likes to create backups of their favourite DVDs, it’s an essential addition to your software collection.

Download AnyDVD HD 6.4.6.9 in Softonic

If you want to know how much load is being put on your CPU or RAM, then you can always use Windows Task Manager.

However, this involves pressing ALT-Ctrl-Del and it doesn't exactly look great or give you much info. All CPU Meter on the other hand is a handy little gadget that shows on your desktop in graphical form, exactly how much work your CPU and RAM are doing. It's designed especially for Windows Vista and those PCs equipped with Quad Core or Dual Core processors.

All CPU Meter uses numerical values, percentages and status bars to display the memory consumption, processor load, along with a historical graph to show how your components are performing. There aren't many customization options although you can change the mode of presentation to bar graph format and change the background color.

All CPU Meter is a useful tool to monitor how your RAM and CPU are performing or to diagnose memory leaks and system slow downs.

Download All CPU Meter 1.0 in Softonic

It's always a pain trying to remember to backup things so why not let an application take care of it automatically?

Cobian Backup works as both an application and service. The program is very light on resources for a backup program of its size and runs in the background very discreetly. it makes periodic backups but unlike some programs, doesn't seem to slow down your PC in the process. It acts too quickly to really slow down whatever you are doing although if it has to backup a very big file, you will notice some lag (more than 1 GB). The program only copies your files and folders in their original or compressed mode to another destination and does not perform any compression itself. This is to ensure that nothing is corrupted during the backup process but if you are backing up particularly large files, you might find this something of a problem unless you've got lots of backup space. However, there are limited compression and strong encryption methods available if you need to reduce the size of your files and protect them at the same time.

A very convenient program that backups quickly, quietly and without any further prompting from it's user.

Download Cobian Backup 9.5.0.201 in Softonic

Many people spend hours on Youtube and other similar sites watching online videos. But wouldn't it be better to download them to your PC and watch them any time you like?

xVideoServiceThief is precisely the tool you need. This smart app lets you download online videos from more than fifty video sharing sites and convert them straight away from FLV to other popular video formats including AVI, WMV, MPEG, 3GP and MP4 (iPod-compatible format).

xVideoServiceThief is extremely easy to use. Just copy and paste the video URL from your favorite video site and it'll be added to the download list. You can then start downloading it right away or collect a few videos to download them all at the same time later on. This is quite convenient, as you can leave xVideoServiceThief working in the background while you keep on working on something else, and you'll get a notice window as soon as the download process is finished.

Like I said before, xVideoServiceThief supports more than fifty video sharing sites and allows you to block inappropriate content if necessary. The program also features a handy drag-and-drop window where you can directly paste the video URL. It would be even nicer if it recognized URL addresses when copied to the Clipboard though.

With xVideoServiceThief you can easily download and convert online videos from pretty much every video sharing site you know.

Download xVideoServiceThief 1.8.2 Alpha in Softonic

When playing RPG games, some people prefer real time action while others fall for old school turn-based strategies. But what if you could have the best of both worlds?

King's Bounty is an original RPG game that mixes real-time free exploration with turn-based battles, all set in a medieval environment with kings, dragons, wizards, treasures and spells.

The first step in King's Bounty is creating your character, though unlike other similar games this process is limited to choosing any of the three classes available (warrior, paladin or mage) and coming up with a name. You're then introduced to a bit of historical background, but you can skip that if you can't wait to start questing.

The gameplay in King's Bounty slowly unveils a main plot while presenting the player with various quests, puzzles and mysteries. You're free to explore the game's universe at your own pace, but as soon as you engage in a battle, the game will change to a turn-based structure in which you need to plan your next movement very carefully if you want to defeat the enemy.

While this kind of battles may be a bit boring for those of us used to real-time action, there's one thing King's Bounty stands for: its graphics. Characters, objects and scenarios are depicted with a high degree of realism, great light effects and very vivid colors, creating an immersive atmosphere that makes the whole adventure even more enjoyable.

King's Bounty is an entertaining RPG adventure with excellent graphics and an original turn-based battle system that will put your strategic skills to test.

Download King's Bounty The Legend in Softonic

If you are a design professional or need to manipulate images in a very detailed way, then you'll need a program which can zoom in on your images in high definition detail.

Normally, if you try to reveal details in highlighted or shadowed areas using exposure correction (such as levels) you may spoil the parts of the image that you want to leave unchanged. However, the idea behind AKVIS Enhancer is that it intensifies color transition. and strengthens the difference between adjacent pixels having different color gradations. In this way, you can reveal not only details in the shadow but even details in the overexposed and mid tone areas. The program improves detail on an image, no matter what the cause of the blurring as it can detect in detail the underexposed, overexposed and mid tone areas of a photo with uneven exposure. It can bring into focus blurred images and now even supports HDRI technology. The program has three modes - Enhancer, Focus, and HDRI. In the Enhancer and Focus modes you can improve a picture using one single shot; in the HDR mode you need a series of shots but you'll be surprised at how much you can improve your images.

This program can't turn your photos into a work of art but it can certainly improve those images that have been blurred or are out of focus.

Download AKVIS Enhancer 9.5 in Softonic

Windows Live Messenger, previously known as MSN Messenger, was renamed as part of Microsoft's move towards the Live online community. So far, the most popular IM app in the world had already gone through a bunch of updates, but this new name also meant important changes that would somehow start a new period in Messenger's history.

Windows Live Messenger includes some outstanding characteristics that are well worth a mention. Firstly, its all-new interface features a completely different design from traditional Windows applications, which you can also customize by choosing your own color scheme. In order to maintain this neatness, the menu bar has been hidden under a single top right corner button but this makes it a bit uncomfortable to browse through options. Luckily, the most common actions (send email, call a contact, access MSN Spaces and view shared folders) have been implemented as nice little buttons right under your username, so they're easy to access. Another thing we liked is that you can hide side tabs in the main interface window (right click on any of them and check the "Hide tabs" checkbox). However, there's apparently no way to hide the bottom ad.

Windows Live Messenger offers plenty of emoticons and winks to cheer up your conversations with. You can expand both collections by easily adding new sets which you'll find by the hundred on the Internet. Customization possibilities include changing the chat window background or even adding a personal message to your nickname, but not creating custom status messages. At least this new version features the longed-for offline messaging tool, enabling you to leave a message to any of your contacts even if they're not online.

The two most important features in this new Windows Live Messenger are the ability of sharing folders and making free PC-to-phone calls. As for the first one, it proves as a very handy way to share pictures, while the second feature allows you to save some pennies on your phone bill. However, this service is currently only available in certain countries (United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Finland, Belgium, Spain and Italy) and requires a subscription to the Verizon Web Calling system.

In any case, you can always make use of the PC-to-PC call feature, which provides excellent sound quality. In fact, we must say this feature has been pretty well implemented in Windows Live Messenger. Its ease of use makes it a great alternative to written conversations: just click on the phone icon and your friend will instantly receive an invitation to answer the phone call on the chat window itself. A simple wizard will guide you through audio configuration and a couple of sliders enable you control the volume of your speakers (or headphones) and mic. You can still use the chat window while you talk, for instance to send a web link or a handwritten message.

Summing up, the main issue with Windows Live Messenger is that it has taken it too much time to offer tools that were already found in other IM apps, such as the VoIP calls mentioned above. However, its attractive design plus the huge number of people who are already MSN Messenger users (and who will eventually upgrade their client) will probably help this Live version reach the top.

Download Windows Live Messenger 2009 14.0.5027.908 Beta in Softonic