The first thing we noticed about Google Chrome is that it's unbelievably lightweight. While Firefox was consuming anything from an average of 20-30% of a Mac's CPU, Chrome barely registered on the scale, occasionally touching 1%. For anyone plagued with Firefox memory leaks and crashes, this alone is surely going to be a compelling reason to give Chrome a go.

As you'd expect, Google Chrome also features tabbed browsing, which visually, is more attractive than Firefox which tends to cram them together somewhat. Extensions and bookmarking (including syncing across machines) are included, as is Adobe Flash.

Chrome for Mac only works on Intel Macs and you might find that some add-ons that you used with previous browsers aren't available for it yet. This is rapidly changing however and most popular add-ons are now available on Chrome.

Perhaps most importantly, Google Chrome is extremely quick. Surfing the Softonic site, page-loads took less then a second and all images were loaded very quickly. YouTube in particular loaded with lightening speed.

Overall, the handling of sites using JavaScript in particular is mightily impressive and this has been made even better with the implementation of a V8 Crankshaft. Its also nice to know that with Google Chrome, even if there is a problem with one of your tabs, that it won't crash the whole browser - just the tab itself. However, sandboxing of Flash still isn't available in the Mac version, even though it is on Windows.

The final version ensures that you'll be able to synchronize not only bookmarks across multiple computers, but also browser preferences - including themes, homepage and startup settings, web content settings, preferred languages, and even page zoom settings. Meanwhile, you can also enable each extension to work in incognito mode through the extensions manager.

With thousands of extensions, super fast browsing and all the intelligence and slickness you expect from a Google product, Chrome delivers an excellent browsing experience.

Download Google Chrome 17.0.963.46 in Softonic

If you own an ebook (electronic book) reader, or just feel like reading ebooks on your desktop or netbook, Calibre will help keep them organized.

Calibre is a library for eBooks. It has a big, bold interface that's really easy to use, and ebook files of most formats can just be dragged into the Calibre window. Editing the metadata (title, genre etc) is just a case of hitting the button on the tool bar, and typing in your changes. You can select multiple books and edit them in bulk too, for example if you want to regroup some books in a particular genre.

Viewing is also just a button click, and opens an ebook reader window. Here you can increase or decrease the font size to your comfort, add bookmarks and more. You can also set Calibre to download feed from news websites, although the layout results are sometimes a bit odd. There is also, of course, ebook reader synchronizing, so you can easily keep your device up to date.

Free, open-source and easy to use, Calibre is a great e-book library tool and reader.

Download Calibre 0.8.36 in Softonic

Path Finder is a superb file browser and management application that will make you wonder how on earth you only managed with just Apple's Finder for so long.

Path Finder basically takes Finder's interface and adds many more powerful features plus it tweaks the interface to make it look and feel much better. Probably the best improvement you'll notice are a new dual pane browser, cut and paste support, a completely overhauled Leopard-friendly interface and it now supports Coverflow.

The number of features in Path Finder are too numerous to mention in full but some of the highlights are network share browsing which means it auto-detects Mac and Windows network volumes and it allows you to activate screen sharing from within the file browser.

In addition, it supports tabbed browsing, a bookmarks bar, a reload button and a find window, and filter inside the browser. At almost $40 for a full licence, Path Finder is not a cheap upgrade for Finder but it definitely adds a whole new world of functionality and ease of use to file browsing and management on your Mac.

If you get frustrated by Finder, or you simply need a better way to manage your files, Path Finder is a truly comprehensive solution.

Download Path Finder 5.8.1 in Softonic

Cyberduck is a free FTP client with a simple GUI that makes it very easy to handle your uploads and downloads.

The client handles FTP, SFP, Webdav and Amazon S3 transfers. Adding a new connection is very simple and only takes a couple of seconds. You can also drag and drop bookmarks to and from your Finder. The interface is easy to use and will probably be well suited to first time users. You'll also find that Cyberduck is compatible with most external editors like BBEdit, TextWrangler or TextMate.

One major complaint coming from Cyberduck users is that FTP login and transfers can be a little slow. Obviously this is a bit of a drawback, since transfer speed is one of the main benchmarks of FTP clients. However, many of the fixes introduced in the latest version compensate somewhat for this. The CPU hogging issue after completed downloads has been fixed as has the option to connect to services such as Dropbox.

Overall, Cyberduck is an efficient and elegant open source FTP client.

Download Cyberduck 4.2.1 in Softonic

Download Bookdog 5.3.20 in Softonic

Alfred can help you access applications, websites and other aspects of your Mac in the touch of a button. For instance, by configuring a few keyboard strokes, you can make Alfred provide instant access to web searches, bookmarks, your iTunes library and even the copying and pasting of files. You don't even have to configure keystrokes though - Alfred will learn which apps you use often and prioritise them when you search.

Alfred also comes with a high number of customisation options so you can control exactly how Alfred interacts with your Mac and how it looks. If you've ever used Quicksilver, you'll be impressed by both the customisation possible with Alfred and the incredible speed and effectiveness it makes to your working day. There's very little to fault.

Alfred is an excellent launch tool that is guaranteed to improve your productivity if used correctly.

Download Alfred 1.0 in Softonic

Safari is Apple's iconic super fast and elegant web browser for Mac.

Version 5 sees some exciting introductions such as a new Reader icon for easier reading in one page, faster page load times and vastly improved HTML5 support. All of the previous features in Safari, such as tabs on top for easier page management and Cover Flow to flip through your bookmarked sites iTunes style have been retained too.

If you're new to Safari, the first thing you'll notice is how clean it feels compared to many other browsers. There are no annoying toolbars or plugins installed and the result of this is that Safari looks trim and loads pages very quickly. The other benefit is that maximum space is given to the contents of your page rather than a chunky browser.

In the previous version of Safari, Apple introduced Top Sites which is one of the most impressive aspects of Safari. It shows a panoramic thumbnail view of your most visited sites in one screen. Just click on the window you want to visit that site. This certainly looks cool, although its day-to-day usefulness is questionable. It is a good way of tracking which sites you visit most frequently though and you can lock your favorite sites to one single position so that you'll always know where it is when you open Safari. Sites with a star in the corner denote those with new content.

Meanwhile Cover Flow lets you browse through your bookmarks presenting full page views of the sites as they looked the last time you browsed them. The principle is based on flipping through albums in iTunes. Again, this looks cool although usually, I don't really care what the site looked like the last time I visited it - I just want to get there as quickly as possible. What I do like is the History Search - just type a word and Safari throws up every single page it has cached with that word on - very useful when you can't remember where the hell you saw the name of that person or game.

Other handy features in Safari include Tabs on Top which makes it a little easier to access and open your tabs at the very top of Safari. You can even drag and drop tabs into another Safari window. Speed has always been of the essence in Safari and Apple have stepped up the pace with an enhanced Nitro engine which it claims executes Javascript 25% faster than the last version. It's certainly damn quick and I'm mighty impressed at how fast it's loading my favorite sites such as YouTube and the BBC (and Softonic of course!).

In this latest version of Safari, the most notable feature is the new Reader which allows you to view all of your content on one page although there is no way to change the font. There's also a new Bing search option for Safari's search field, in addition to Google and Yahoo! HTML5 support has been improved meaning you can now view HTML5 video in full screen plus HTML5 Geolocation features are now available to Safari users. Navigating in Safari has also been made much easier due to a more predictive URL bar which actually searches cached webpages for keywords and archiving of exactly when you viewed certain pages is more precise and refined.

In addition to these changes, all the standard features in Safari remain. By clicking on the RSS tag in the URL bar, you can get a view of all the posts in a feed, which you can present chronologically and get a detailed or a title view. There will be inevitably some programs and plugins - such as 1Password - that don't work with this new version of Safari but these issues will quickly be ironed out by the developers of respective software.

I love the look and speed of Safari but the lack of plugins available compared to Firefox and general instability issues mean that it's still going to be a while before Apple can lure me over to their browser.

Download Safari 5.1.2 in Softonic

Hot Plan helps you keep all your notes and ideas organized. This personal planner lets you add labels and priority levels to your different actions.
Create plans to store your actions and set start and target dates. Although a bit imprecise, the completion tool lets you set the completion percentage for every action.
Hot Plan wouldn't be a proper productivity tool if it didn't include hotkeys though, and the program also lets you automatically grab text and bookmarks saved into your clipboard.

It's a shame that the program doesn't feature a start up tutorial or some example actions to get you up and running. We were also disappointed to find that there is a limited number of labels to add (7).

On the whole we felt Hot Plan is a solid personal planner. The interface lets you quickly see all your plans, how many actions you have to undertake and even quickly browse actions.

Download Hot Plan 1.6.3 in Softonic

Kindle for Mac is a very simple e-book reader which allows you to read and sync your library with your Kindle. You can purchase books online and have them directly delivered to Kindle for Mac and then sync it with your device.

Kindle for Mac is extremely simple. When you first install it you're required to enter in your Amazon account details or sign-up for one. You can then either transfer books from your Kindle to Kindle for Mac by clicking the rather small synchronization symbol or go directly to the Amazon site by clicking Shop In Kindle Store. You can sort titles by name, author or most recently purchased but other than that there are absolutely no other preferences. It's a little annoying that long book names are truncated on your Kindle for Mac library page and there seems no way of changing this.

Reading with Kindle for Mac is a simple case of dragging pages up and down with your mouse or using your mouse wheel. Alternatively, you can use the white arrow on the right to skip pages. Strangely though, you can't seem to zoom in or out which you'd imagine as a basic feature in something like this. You can add bookmarks on any page by just clicking Bookmark and a small fold will appear in the top right corner of the page for when you return too the book later. There are extensive keyboard shortcuts also, details of which can be found on the Kindle for Mac help page.

Overall Kindle for Mac does an efficient but basic job of managing your Kindle books but considering how long its taken to arrive, its a little disappointing.

Download Kindle for Mac 2.8.5 in Softonic

SyncMate is an easy to use little program works with all Windows Mobile devices, including Standard, Classic and Professional versions.
Most recently, it's been updated to work with Android devices including synchronization with Android devices via USB cable, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and also mount them as a volume on Mac (via USB cable, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth).

Because it is built specifically for Mac, SyncMate works seamlessly with applications, such as iPhoto, iCal, iTunes and your Address Book.
SyncMate's interface is structured, letting you easily browse the elements you want to sync with your Windows Mobile device. You can transfer all your bookmarks from your browser to your Windows Mobile device.
SyncMate also lets you manage all your text messages and transfer them onto your Mac, and simply resize videos.
However, this free edition of SyncMate is a bit limited.
You can't create, send, delete and search SMS messages from Nokia or Windows Mobile on your Mac or analyze and search call history unless you upgrade to the Expert edition.
You also can't install any . cab files to your Windows Mobile phone right from your Mac.
All in all though, SyncMate is an excellent tool to synchronize your Mac with any Windows Mobile or Android device and more.

Download SyncMate 3.1.1684 in Softonic