Although web-based e-mail has meant that many desktop based clients are redundant, there's nothing that beats your own personal client. Koma-mail is the sort of client you can take anywhere on a USB stick which makes it ideal for those that are worried about the security of web based mail.

Best of all, it requires absolutely no installation and supports the all important SSL and APOP protocols. It also features support, as you would expect, for POP3 and IMAP plus it includes some other extra security add-ons such as ActiveX script blocking. From an aesthetic perspective, it's not the best looking e-mail client you'll ever use but it's very easy to find your way around, much simpler than something like Outlook and has everything you need. If you share the client amongst colleagues and employees, you can

You can define multiple user profiles so that each of them have their own settings and it supports multiple accounts, use of templates and both a simple spam filter and RSS reader.

If you're looking for a portable e-mail client to use between various people, then you'll find this helps you easily configure multiple profiles and does a simple but effective job.

Download Koma-Mail 3.75 in Softonic

I've spent many an hour beating my brains over a beastly crossword in a newspaper and have often thought it would be nice to construct my own in order to exact revenge on some of my enemies. Well, as the name suggests, Crossword Forge gives you the power to do just that. Creating a crossword is a very easy task in the program and is simply a matter of writing the question of the clue and entering the correct answer. Of course, the tricky part is to make all the letters and words match up, but with some practice it becomes easy to juggle the words around to fit.

There are some neat ways you can customise your puzzles with Crossword Forge, such as changing the font and colours, adding foreign characters and applying a picture in the background of the crossword. What's more, the grid can be as big as you like, meaning you make the puzzle really easy or really difficult depending on the intellegence of the person you're making the crossword for (or on how much you hate them!) This makes Crossword Forge a perfect way to entertain your buddies or for use a teaching aid.

Download Crossword Forge 5.4 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 1.8.2 in Softonic

Music is great for dancing to, but did you know that it's also makes the perfect accompaniment to chopping wood, playing tennis and making sandwiches? Install Jaybot's Catchy Cadence on your device and you'll find out why.

Catchy Cadence is a free game where you must test your rhythmic abilities by tapping the screen to the beat of a song. It includes more than a dozen games each with its own song and unique storyline and graphics.

What I loved about Catchy Cadence is the sheer diversity of the gameplay. One minute you find yourself hopping on pipes as a robot in a futuristic world to techno music, while the next you're entering a latin dancing competition in a Simple Simon-style beat-matching game. The graphics in Catchy Cadence are colorful and well rendered and all the scenarios are wonderfully presented.

In terms of the music, Catchy Cadence doesn't contain any licensed tracks, so you won't recognize any of the tunes. Nevertheless, the original songs are very catchy and you'll find yourself humming many of them for some time after you've finished playing.

The control system is ultra-simple and you just need to tap the screen in the right place at the right time. Mastering the games in Catchy Cadence is not so straightforward though, as they move at a very fast pace most of the time. Because you can't progress to the next game until you've completed the previous game, this can become frustrating.

Although there's no two-player mode to speak of, Catchy Cadence still has enough to keep you coming back for more, and the novel Extras menu, where you can unlock songs and other goodies provides a good incentive to stay glued to your screen.

If you're a fan of games like Guitar Hero, Rockband or Frets on Fire, then you'll love playing Jaybot's Catchy Cadence.

Download Catchy Cadence 1.0 in Softonic

Sometimes simpler is better. This is the case of Katakijin, a fun, simple platform game with a cute ninja as the main character.

Katakijin is perfect for taking a break during work and have some easy fun fighting any enemies you stumble upon in the most authentic ninja style. The game doesn't have realistic graphics at all; on the contrary, it reminds me of those good old arcades we used to play 15 years ago, because it mixes elements of platform games with side-scrolling games.

This graphic simplicity doesn't mean Katakijin is a bad game. In a way it makes it even more attractive. Also, don't let yourself be fooled by the game's apparent plainness: it can be more difficult that it seems. Your character, a small ninja, has to make his way through endless levels full of enemies and other obstacles you must overcome with your special ninja movements and weapons. And when you find two or three enemies together, you have to work hard to beat them up!

Katakijin is a simple, action-packed game with typical characteristic from old arcades and which will enable you to have fun for a while.

Download Katakijin 1.1 in Softonic

They say the key to beat procrastination is managing your time properly, and FruitfulTime TaskManager can help you with that.

FruitfulTime TaskManager is a lightweight, effective task manager that helps you organize your tasks in a more productive way and thus make the most of your time. With FruitfulTime TaskManager you always have your tasks at sight, which makes it easier to track their progress and prioritize certain projects over others.

Tasks in FruitfulTime TaskManager are organized by tags. You can add as many customized tabs as you want and also create subtasks to any task. The program also features a built-in notes tool, a basic contacts list and a reminder tool that makes sure you don't forget any significant date or miss an important event again.

That said, it's worth bearing in mind that FruitfulTime TaskManager is the "lite" version of a more complete task manager, so you may find it a bit basic in terms of its tools and configuration options. But if you only need the standard stuff – that is, basic task managing tools - FruitfulTime TaskManager may be perfect for you.

FruitfulTime TaskManager is a basic, lightweight task manager that helps you track all your tasks in a more efficient way.

Download FruitfulTime TaskManager Free Edition 1.0.5.0 in Softonic

If you're not familiar with file hashes then don't beat yourself up too much about it because you probably won't ever need to think about them. However, if you are interested then basically they are check codes used to identify the validity of files. This is sometimes useful if you're transferring some data from one source to another and want to make sure it's the same packet.

What HashTab does is to put a new tab in the Windows Explorer File Properties menu called 'File Hashes'. Selecting this tab will displaythe hashes used for that particular file, and allows you to quickly compare it to a second file on your system automatically, by clciking the 'Compare a File' button.

If you know what you're doing, then HashTab is very straightforward and serves its purpose well. There's no real help system in the program so if you don't really understand file hashes then don't bother using it.

Download HashTab 2.1 in Softonic

Music Makers fall into two categories for me - inspirational and a pleasure to use or cluttered and down right depressing.

Music Maker 14 is one of the better efforts on the market containing so many features that it's almost impossible to go through them in depth. However, this is no bad thing because many of the features are a little overkill but the basics are so easy to get to grips with, you'll be making sweet music in minutes. The program works with sixteen tracks laid out at the top of the screen although you can only see six at one time. You can drag and drop music samples from the soundbar into any track, and building a basic tune is simply a matter of picking out some drum, guitar, bass and keyboard samples. Then just add some special effects and the tunes you create will really impress. To get the mix and pitch of your composition right, there's a list of pitches labelled one to seven from where you can experiment and make it sound pitch perfect. On the left of the track, you'll find a panel which allows you to adjust the overall beats per and apply effects such as those simulated by a guitar pedal.

Overall, this one of the most powerful and fun music makers out there and if you can't make decent music on it, then try another hobby.

Download MAGIX Music Maker 14 (UK) in Softonic

Need For Spped is widely acknowledged as one of the best racing series ever made and Need For Speed Carbon doesn't let down in stunning style and realism.

Need for Speed Carbon is a fast and furious racing game that features both city and canyon racing environments. However, be warned that the download is huge and you'll need a good 5 minutes to let the installation take its course but after you do, you'll think it well worth it. In this demo, you can adapt three main cars - a Chevy Camaro SS, Lamborghini Gallardo and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. Once you are strapped in, you race with three other team mates against 4 Scorpion cars. There is a huge amount of G-Force placed on the cars as they take the bend and you'll find yourself drifting an awful lot. However, this is exactly how you earn points - the more drift, the more points. It is however, almost impossible to beat the lead Scorpion car - they're just too damn quick and one mistake sees you out of the game for good.

A great racing game that has definitely been improved although the gameplay can be so challenging, you want to give up easily.

Download Need for Speed Carbon in Softonic

The game presents the hard battle between the forces of evil and a powerful hero – the character we control. This time it's not just Dante (the original protagonist), but two people instead: the aforementioned Dante and also Nero, who appears in this demo and has nothing to do with the CD burning tool.

The game's objectives involve completing several missions, gathering objects and of course, killing all the evil creatures you'll find on your way to the final boss. And the best part in the game is precisely these fights against demons, monsters and other strange living beings. Being a hack and slash adventure, Devil May Cry 4 focuses on close combats and enables you to perform extraordinary movements and incredible combos with your sword and a new powerful weapon, the Devil Bringer. Plus, battles feature a hard-beating background music that reminds me of the Blade original soundtrack and which only make them more exciting.

The graphics in Devil May Cry are impressive. I tested the game on a Vista machine with DirectX 10, and I can tell the game makes the most of the computer's resources, rendering beautiful landscapes, realistic light effects and smooth movements.

On the downside we find game's controls. You can really tell this game was originally developed for consoles, because it's really hard to control it with a keyboard. If you have a gamepad you can plug into your PC, I'd recommend using it even if it's only to test the demo.

Devil May Cry 4 presents us with a new episode in the war between Nero and Dante against the forces of evil. Great graphics and brilliant battles make of this game a worthy action adventure, despite its difficult keyboard controls.

Download Devil May Cry 4 Trial Edition in Softonic

Ableton is known for making excellent audio software, with Ableton Live one of their star apps. This program will allow you to manage all the processes of audio production, from beat creation to adjustments, recording and live sets.

The application, which could compare to a powerful combination of sequencer and sampler, comes with a library full of instruments, MIDI and audio effects to start working with. Ableton offers two sorts of views, arrangement and session, the first being like a traditional timeline, while session lets you add and play around with effects. One thing that impressed me is that you can associate any key on your keyboard with any effect, which makes for a really intuitive track creation process.

Ableton Live includes real-time stretching and warping of audio and even video import to sync audio to video.

Although you'll definitely need some technical knowledge to use Ableton I found the application very well detailed, with the info view box on the bottom left giving clear explanations of everything. Ableton Live also comes with loads on tutorials to master the program.

Ableton is a highly flexible and powerful audio solution for music production. Fitted with a great interface, a wide library of effects and loads of help, you won't find many programs as good as this.

Download Ableton Live 7.0.7 in Softonic

One of the easiest ways to save time and speed-up your productivity is to record your e-mails by voice.

At first this might seem like an odd idea - why not just make a phone call? However, leaving a voice e-mail message allows the recipient to pick them up when they want, forward it on to other people, and generally get a much better idea of how you are feeling based on the tone of your voice. HandyBits Voice Mail makes it incredibly easy to get going by allowing you to record and playback voice messages in literally a few clicks. It's also very good at compressing voice messages so there's no need to worry about huge files blocking your inbox or bringing down your mail sever (which can be a common problem with such programs). In fact, according to the developers, it will compress messages to less than 10 times their original size which is pretty impressive. You can drag voice mail messages any way you want so you can drop them out of the interface and onto your desktop but unfortunately not directly into the attachment of an e-mail. It does offer regular tips which can be useful depending on how familiar you are with the program but they can be annoying when they pop up all the time.

Get yourself into the world of voice e-mails with HandyBits Voice Mail and you'll be surprised at how much your productivity can increase although in my mind, nothing beats the simplicity of sending an e-mail when you don't want to talk.

Download HandyBits Voice Mail 6.0 in Softonic

If you're throwing a party at home and would like to have some nice background music without having to pay an expensive DJ, this tool is what you need.

Zulu DJ is a free music mixing app that will enable you to perform as a professional DJ by yourself, just with the help of your computer and using your favorite songs. To be honest, the program is not the most complete DJ tool I've ever seen (meaning, don't expect it to be remotely similar to Virtual DJ, for example). However Zulu DJ is an excellent choice for beginners and DJ newbies who prefer an easy-to-use tool to a feature-ridden mixer that they can hardly use at all.

The program includes two main tracks to load the songs you want to mix, plus a series of sound effects you can apply on the go. It works with MP3 – among other formats - and supports drag-and-dropping of files, which makes it really handy. I especially liked the automatic BPM synchronization and the possibility to "preview" a song only through earphones before actually mixing it with the one on air. Just be aware that Zulu DJ is meant to mix music live and does not record your mixes.

With Zulu DJ you can give your first steps as DJ and easily mix your favorite songs. It may however fall short of expectations for more experienced DJs.

Download Zulu DJ 1.00 in Softonic

At a time when every computer game released seems to add more levels of detail and complexity to the world of gaming, it’s good to see that some developers make the effort to bring out titles designed for a bit of mindless enjoyment. Icy Tower looks like a game that could have been made ten years ago, and even then, wouldn’t have looked particularly impressive. The game play consists of the single-minded pursuit of reaching the top of the tower in which our homeboy character finds himself by jumping onto the ledges throughout.

This might not sound like much and frankly, it’s not. The only controls you need are left, right and jump. What makes this game fun is the speed of play, the wacky sound effects and messed-up way that you can jump three stories at once if you happen to get the perfect run up! You gather points by beating the clock to the top of each level and also by building jump combinations. The result is a quick, enjoyable game that you could come to at anytime and play for a minute or half-an-hour.

Download Icy Tower 1.3.1 in Softonic

Launched in 1995 Transport Tycoon Deluxe is a classic economic simulation, where you aim to make it big by building and developing your own transport company. Grow your own transportation network and sell off goods to beat your main rivals and become the leader on the market.

Nostalgic fans of the game will be glad to discover OpenTTD, effectively a completely free version of the game. What's more it has been completely revamped. Graphics have been slightly improved, adding more color, and many new features are now included. The Euro is now part of currencies, you can bribe town authorities and set up international and metropolitan airports among others. Usability is also better, with new features like the autorail build tool or being able to get a cost estimation. You can even play online with up to 8 other players.

The only real drawback to the game is that you' ll the original version of Transport Tycoon Deluxe data files in order to make it work.

In all, anybody who's even the least bit interested in games should get their hands on this free version of an excellent classic simulation title.

Download OpenTTD 0.6 in Softonic

Pistonsoft BPM Detector analyses your MP3 collection to determinate the bitrates of each song. Beats per minute (BPM) is a unit typically used as either a measure of tempo in music, or a measure of one's heart rate. A rate of 60 BPM means that one beat will occur every second. The idea is that, the higher BPM a song has, the faster it should be. Hip-hop typically uses a BPM tempo of 80-100, while house music is faster: 110-140 BPM. Jungle music goes even faster: 160-185. Gabba and Speedcore exceed 200 BPM.

This information should come handy, not only to DJs having to choose the right song on the fly but also to home users. They may want in fact to play slow songs after coming back home from a tiring day, or they may prefer something more energetic as the soundtrack for their spring cleaning!

The program automatically analyses selected files and saves the beat per minute information to the music file's ID3 tag so that you'll be able to know the song's BPM with every player you use. I'm not sure about the efficiency of BPM in order to decide what a fast or a slow music is though. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, for example, had a BPM rate of zero while Quien Fuera by Silvio Rodriguez received a rating of 150.75. Personally, I would use the latter for relaxing moments and the former when I need to listen to something faster.

The idea of an application that can understand the type of songs we have and classify them accordingly is great but I don't think we have achieved that level with this application.

Download Pistonsoft BPM Detector 1.0 in Softonic

Metin2 is a new online role-playing game in which you enter a world of fantasy in the Eastern world and attempt to become a grand master.

You can use a range of martial arts in your struggle against the dark forces of the Stones Metin.

This classic role-playing game is based online with different classes based on various martial arts weapons. You can use swords, spears or bows and over time, your aim is to become the most powerful warrior in the Orient. Graphically, the game is steeped in Oriental symbols with some fantastic buildings and backdrops although it's the excellent soundtrack that sticks in the mind. The battle scenes are also pretty memorable as you take on warriors from other empires in your quest for dominance of the continent. You can switch between a mix of martial arts from what seems like kung fu to taikwando and karate.

If you like kung fu and martial arts games, then you'll love this - great graphics and a great soundtrack mix to make it a beat-em-up classic.

Download Metin2 20080205 in Softonic

I'm not a big fan of chess but if I do play it, at least I want it to look good. Brutal Chess certainly fulfills this with excellent 3D graphics and some cool features to keep the game interesting.

Despite the name Brutal Chess, the game is in no way violent or brutal. The rules and gameplay are as in any other Chess game except here you can choose some pretty cool chess piece designs and the 3D graphics make it look great. The developers have added a few other touches of realism too including shadows, the ability to rotate the camera in any position and history arrows to show your previous moves. However, because the game is under constant development, it is prone to bugs. One is that you can't move white pawns backwards and it does have problems with operating systems earlier than XP according to the developers. The game will soon utilize what's called the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) which allows chess fans from all over the world to play against each other. To connect to FICS you need to open a socket to freechess.org on port 5000 in your router and you'll be able to play against anyone anywhere which will enhance the game greatly.

A good looking 3D chess game which will pack a much greater punch when some of the bugs are ironed out.

Download Brutal Chess 0.52 Alpha in Softonic

X-Moto is a challenging open-source 2D motocross platform game where realisitic physics effects play an all important role in the gameplay.

You need to take your bike to its limits to make it over the obstacles to become one of the fastest finishers and progress a level.

Download X-Moto 0.4.1 in Softonic

We've all had embarrassing moments where the boss walks by and we're looking at something we shouldn't be.

Magic Boss key immediately cleans your desktop, taskbar and any other program or folder that you may have open at any one time. You can do this without even touching your keyboard. By clicking with the two mouse buttons at the same time you can remove all open windows, including Magic Boss. There's no real noticeable difference in the performance of your PC whilst Magic Boss is working although if you're running a lot of applications at one time, you might find that Boss Key does not kick in as soon as you'd like it to. In which case, the boss will see both what you're looking at plus see that you've got Boss Key installed so you're running a bit of a risk. The one thing it does not do as well is remove icons in the system tray so make sure you've got nothing dodgy running that shows up there.

This is one easy way to beat the boss although don't rely on it if you've got lots of applications running at once.

Download Magic Boss Key 3.40 in Softonic