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

DVD protection is advancing at an ever increasing rate but unfortunately for the manufacturers, so are the ripping programs. If you’ve ever had problem’s copying one of your favourite DVD’s (just to make sure you’ve got a backup of course) then DVDFab could be what you’reve been looking for. It has proved popular a hit with thousands of Softonic users so far and there seems little prospect of its popularity waning.

DVDFab is an all-in-one DVD copying/converting/burning software. In just one or two steps, you can copy DVD’s to DVDR/PSP and even iPods. For such a powerful package, it only requires a mere 1.3MB of your hard drive hardrive so its not bulky like similar packages. However, note that this is the ‘lite’ version of the software; and the fully featured Express edition will probably weigh-in at somewhat more than this.

The conversion process itself couldn’t be easier. There are 5 DVD to DVD copy modes available - Full Disc, Main Movie, Split, Customize and Clone. To use any, its simply a matter of inserting your disk and Windows will ask you if you want to open it with DVDFab amongst other programs installed on your PC. In Full Disc mode, all movies, menus and trailers, are copied to a DVD in one click. In “Main Movie” mode, only the movie is copied with your specified audio. In “Split”’ mode, you can copy a DVD-9 onto two DVD-5 discs but also preserve the original menus on both discs. According to the developers, this rare little feature is apparently ideal for TV series DVD’s.

The handy “customize” mode allows you to personalize your DVD’s by recording such things as only your favourite scenes, removing adverts or selecting only certain audio tracks. Finally, “Clone”’ mode allows you to make exact 1:1 bit-to-bit copy of DVDs or even copy games disks such as PS2 DVD’s. There is also a DVD to Mobile option so you can reduce your favourite films to watch on your iPod or other favourite hand held device. Formats available include MPEG-4, DivX, XVID and Mp4.

DVDFab is a tough cookie – even those disks that refuse to be copied with other programmes can usually be cracked. The customise option allows you to get rid of pesky files that stand in your way and just rip the actual movie or essential files. It can also help in reconstituting recovering scratched or dirty disks that don’t play properly in your DVD player anymore. In addition, the ripping speed is remarkably fast. Depending on the size of disk, you can record a new one in less than 10 minutes although the average time is around 30 minutes.

One of the minor drawbacks to this ripper is that the inevitably heavy processing power needed to rip a disk often results in crashes. This will obviously be less of a problem on more powerful machines but on machines with old processors, using DVDFab may become impractical. Many user forums are however full of praise for DVDFab claiming that it can rip more disks and whatsmore, faster than comparable products such as DVD Shrink or ShrinkTo5. At the end of the day, most users consistently report they appreciate the simplicity and power of this rip-roaring ripper.

Download DVDFab HD Decrypter 5.0.9.0 in Softonic

If you've ever dreamed of moving to the country and living the simple life, then Farm Frenzy 2 might give you a taste of what you can expect.

Farm Frenzy 2 sees you assume the role of a budding farmer who starts with nothing and must build a successful business by managing lifestock and producing goods to export for money. It's all set in a wonderfully colorful cartoon world with great sound effects and a cracking hillbilly-style soundtrack.

Farm Frenzy 2 starts with you rearing a few chickens to produce some eggs and the levels progress to the point where you own bakeries, factories and keep cows, pigs and other animals. Each extra level adds one more thing to think about than the last, whether it's shipping products into town, flying resources in by plane, or caging and selling the pandas (?!) that prey on your animals. After a few levels things can get pretty frantic.

Luckily, the controls in Farm Frenzy 2 are simple and largely require nothing more than pointing and clicking on a part of the screen you want to apply an action to (i.e. clicking the well to fill it up, clicking an egg to collect it, etc.)

After a while, Farm Frenzy 2 starts to get a little too difficult to keep up with and after playing a few levels your head gets a bit scrambled from all the fast-paced action, the infectious looping soundtrack and the sheer repetitive nature of the game.

Farm Frenzy 2 is very well presented and great fun to play, although enjoyment quickly turns to frustration as the levels get more hectic.

Download Farm Frenzy 2 in Softonic

When it comes to P2P file sharing, eMule usually wins hands down but UseNeXT is an interesting, slightly more sophisticated offering which has a lot to offer.

For starters, depending on your connection, it can be remarkably quick. You can download at speeds of up to 25 Mbps with DSL/Cable and it¡s pretty constant rather than the fluctuations you often get with such services. The network also prides itself on security over it's rivals such as Limewire and eMule - with ISPs continually cracking down on users, UseNeXT promises users far more anonymity than most.

The Usenet archives are supposedly some of the biggest in the world - more than 300 Terabytes of data available at all times and they claim that around 2,000 Gigabytes of new files are added daily. The problem in the past was that UseNeXT used to be a very complicated affair that only tech geeks can handle. However, nowadays, it's been simplified to such an extent that eMule, Limewire and other P2P users will feel more than comfortable with it.

While it can't possibly hope to compete with the reach and depth of the major P2P networks, UseNeXT offers an impressive selection with some super fast downloads.

Download UseNeXT 4.81 in Softonic

Keeping track of hundreds of passwords that you need to use the internet everyday is a full time job in itself.

TyphoonPassword does the hard work for you by allowing you to store all of your passwords in one secure program. TyphoonPassword automatically displays a password reminder, whenever you open or visit a web page or window that requires a password. The developers claim that all passwords in TyphoonPassword can be secured using "military strength" encryption tied to one master password. How strong the encryption actually is is not clear but this is obviously a major concern when entrusting your precious passwords to one single application such as TyphoonPassword.

If on the other hand you're more worried about losing your passwords or TyphoonPassword crashing and losing all your data, then it does allow you to export them to a document. In addition, if you need to create a new password, TyphoonPassword has a password generator that generates hard to crack passwords.

If you trust it, TyphoonPassword can take the burden of remembering passwords off of you.

Download TyphoonPassword 1.00 in Softonic

The threat of website design theft is of significant concern to many website developers. Whilst copyright laws help to protect a work, they are often difficult to enforce, particularly when the dispute involves individuals in different countries. PageLock provides added physical protection by acting as a deterrent for possible offenders.

PageLock encodes HTML (the code used to design webpages) in a way that makes it difficult to make unauthorised copies whilst still allowing the resulting webpage to be displayed in a JavaScript compatible web browser without disruption to the webpage's design. PageLock also provides options for preventing text from being selected or the right mouse button being clicked in the body of the webpage.

As is the case with any copy protection technology, it is impossible to be absolutely certain that the encoding used won't be cracked. The same applies to webpages protected by PageLock. When you encode your webpages using the program, you can be assured that your page is encoded in a way that makes it more difficult for others to copy. The protection is intended to act as a deterrent for opportunistic copying of your site's design.

Download PageLock 7.2.1 in Softonic

UnHackMe is specially designed to detect and remove Rootkits. The intruder installs a rootkit on a computer using a user action or by exploiting a known vulnerability or cracking a password. The rootkit installs a backdoor giving the hacker a full control of the computer. It hides their files, registry keys, and process names, and network connections from your eyes.

Your antivirus could not detect such programs because they use compression and encryption of its files. The sample software is Hacker Defender rootkit. UnHackMe allows you to detect and remove Rootkits.

Download UnHackMe 4.8 in Softonic

Mystery Island II is fun game that combines elements of puzzle games, adventure games and science fiction.

The plot is thus - you are a Navy Seal currently serving aboard the USS Volarus when your submarine is destroyed by an unidentified vessel, probably a Russian nuclear warship. You escape the final blast and wash up on a tropical island. That's where your adventure begins. It turns out that the world has been invaded by aliens and it's your job to find clues and save the world from an alien takeover.

The island is littered with clues that eventually guide you towards the final defeat of the aliens. The games can be anything from puzzles to codes you must crack and locations you must find. In this way, the game is very similar to Escape From Monkey Island except with less detail and worse graphics. In fact, the graphics are probably one of the biggest letdowns although considering this is a pretty cheap adventure game, you can't expect miracles anyway.

Likewise, the sound effects are passable and you can choose from a gently paced one to one that's a bit more racy. Everything is controlled by the mouse with left and right movements indicating the direction you want the character to go and you wave the cursor over an object to see if it can be picked up or used or not.

All in all, this is a decent attempt at an original adventure game and if only the developers had had a bit more money to invest in it, you can't help feeling that it would be so much better.

Download Mystery Island II 1.8 in Softonic

What are the benefits of using Handy Password?

• It automatically saves data from web forms - passwords, logins, etc.
• It automatically fills out web forms.
• It automatically enters into sites: fills out web forms and logs in.
• It securely stores data - passwords, addresses, credit card numbers, PIN codes, etc.
• It generates crack-proof passwords

Autosave

This function allows you to save data, which you have entered into site web-forms (logins, passwords, etc.). All data saves into Handy Password file.Saving of passwords and other login information with Internet Explorer is not safe enough: anyone who works on user's PC can access to his/her Email and to all services where he/she has been registered.

Automatic login

Automatic login function allows to open your e-mail account or any other webpages protected by password with minimal efforts. So automatic login function in Handy Password saves your time and increases effectiveness of your working in the Internet.

Bookmark Manager in Handy Password: easy navigating and automatic login

What is a bookmark? When you find Web sites or pages that you like, you can save site's URL by creating a bookmark. Bookmark is placed on the top of the IE window. It allows to quickly open site or page, once clicking the bookmark. Handy Password is a bookmark manager, combined with password manager, which allows not only to bookmark favorite sites, but to login to them automatically. This is done by saving not only the site's URL, but also the form fields (for example, login username and password) by Handy password manager. Saved bookmarks are placed on the IE toolbar.

Download Handy Password 4.3 in Softonic

Mail PassView allows you to view detailed information on each of the email accounts you have configured on your system. Mainly, it's used for the recovery of passwords although undoubtedly, some people will use it to crack passwords. The information it reveals includes details such as account name, name and e-mail server type of application you use, user name and password. You can save all this information in a text file or copy it to the Clipboard.

The program supports the most popular email clients such as Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook 2000 and 2002, IncrediMail, Eudora and Group Mail Free. It also reveals passwords and info for IncrediMail, Eudora, Netscape 6.x/7.x, Mozilla Thunderbird, Group Mail Free, Yahoo! Mail & Hotmail/MSN Live Mail (If the password is saved in the applications.). It can even work for Gmail if the password is saved by the Gmail Notifier application, Google Desktop, or by Google Talk.

If you've lost your passwords or just want to snoop, it's worth a try but very hit and miss in it's effectiveness.

Download Mail PassView 1.44 in Softonic

Jardinains 2 is a fun and original twist on the block breaking genre that reminds me of something I might have played on my Atari 20 years ago.

It's slightly more advanced than Pong but not much! Basically, you have a paddle and a bouncing ball that require you to destroy a bunch of bricks. However, the twist is that inside the bricks are what are called "nairns". Nairns are basically little critters that are there to make your life hell. They throw things at your paddle and basically attempt to stop you from cracking open any of the remaining bricks. Your aim is to strike the nairns with your ball and knock them out of action. However, the fun doesn't stop there - you can bounce the little critters off your padel to destroy even more bricks so it's quite satisfying in a sadistic way. Using their bodies, you can clear a screen much faster although it's quite an ordeal trying to keep a ball and several critters flying up in the air for several minutes at a time. This demo version is only limited to a few levels and you are prompted to buy the game when you close it down. Whether you decide to buy or not depends on whether you can see much worth in bouncing critters against bricks for long. Personally, I got bored after a few minutes although if you've had a bad day at the office, it's a good way to get some agression out. Oh, and don't expect wonders in the graphics or sound deapartment - this is proudly an old skool style game.

An interesting take on the Pong genre although they needed to make it a bit more interesting to hold my attention.

Download Jardinains 2 in Softonic

Copying or cloning CDs has become increasingly difficult with copyright encryption getting more and more sophisticated.

However, there are always a few programs out there that seem able to crack just about anything and CloneCD is certainly one of them. CloneCD gives you the option to clone as much or as little as you want from not only CDs but DVDs as well. Why the developers chose to keep the name CloneCD is a mystery because this program is more than capable of both.

The utility can compress extensive footage at high speed due to what the developers call "advanced transcoding technology" and it allows you to select both the audio and language you'd like to use from DVDs. The program works very well with ISOs and UDFs and is particularly useful to "unblocking"copyrighted disks - i.e. those CDs or DVDs which are copyrighted and won't play in your CD player. However, it should be noted that copyright laws vary from country to country and that you should not be using this program to break copyright laws or decode commercial disks - it's entirely for your own use.

For unblocking or copying locked or heavily encrypted DVDs or CDs, CloneCD is an incredibly powerful application.

Download CloneCD 5.3.13 in Softonic

It's no big secret that in order to get a top search engine placement, you need other websites to link to your website. And you may need hundreds, thousands of links to crack the top 10 in the major search engines.

Why doesn't everyone trade links if it gets you top rankings, you ask? The answer is simple. It takes an awful lot of time and work to manually exchange links with other websites. LinkAssistant will cut all this work down and make it easy for you to promote your site.

Download LinkAssistant 2.5.19 in Softonic

Now that Blu ray has finally arrived, there's going to be a deluge of programs and utilities that attempt to crack the sophisticated region encryption it uses.

This program does exactly that by removing Blu-ray regional codes from Blu-ray discs thus allowing playback regardless of your wherabouts or from what country your Blu-Ray is from. This is great for those people in Europe that want to say, buy Blu-Ray discs on Amazon in the USA and play them in Europe (and vice versa of course). Blu-ray discs can feature various methods of encryption and this program is specifically aimed at removing "Blu-ray Disc Ripper 1.2 for .NET" encryption. However, it also supports removal of encryption by BD-J script. Version 2.0 supports removing of region code from ALL current and future Blu-ray titles, both with BDMV and BD-Java navigation. To keep up with Blu-Ray, the latest versions of this program have been updated with facilities for the removal of "Prohibited User Operations" on Blu-ray titles which enables you to do all those things that the disc previously wouldn't allow you to. Note that Blu-Ray region code remover requires .NET Framework 2.0 to run before you install it.

A handy Blu-Ray decoder for all those that want to buy and view disks from different regions although according to the forum, it can't unlock all discs so it comes with no guarantees.

Download Blu-ray Region Code Remover 2.3 in Softonic

Are you always looking for wireless hotspots or are you dissatisfied with Windows wireless network manager?

If so, CommView for WiFi is a powerful alternative for 802.11 a/b/g/n networks. Despite it's power and advanced features, it still remains remarkably easy to use and is suitable for anyone who's new to wireless networking. The display shows you a list of the nearest access points and stations including per-node and per-channel statistics, signal strength, a list of packets and network connections, protocol distribution charts, etc. By doing this, the program allows you to examine packets, pinpoint network problems, perform site surveys, and troubleshoot software and hardware. Although not an official use, the program can be used to decrypt WEP or WPA-PSK keys by "sniffing" packets and then using a program to crack them. However, one problem you may find is that it doesn't work with all wireless adapters especially those that come pre-installed within laptops. The list of cards that are supported can be found on the developer website although they are listed by manufacturer, not the model of your laptop.

Powerful and easy to use, this is an interesting alternative to most wireless managers although note that it won't help you find more networks - only upgrading your wireless card can do that.

Download Commview for WiFi 6.0 in Softonic

Your aim in UFO: Alien Invasion is to fight the forces of evil in a world that has turned over a leaf in the next stage of it's evolution.

While war and famine have been virtually eradicated, one major threat remains hanging over mankind - the threat of alien invasion. UFO: Alien Invasion is a free game rich in background history and strategy. You have to lead a crack commando team to destroy and investigate the increasingly dangerous extraterrestrial technology which threatens to wipe out the human race. The game takes the shape of a strategy/shoot-em-up action based thriller which requires a certain amount of guile and map reading ability as well as a quick trigger finger. The missions are incredibly well thought out and rich in detail and although the graphics aren't exactly stunning, there are some excellent special effects. It's easy enough however to pick up pretty quickly although to get the most out of the game, you'll have to consult the Wiki which has extensive details of the how to play.

A very well designed and thought-out game that, considering it's completely free, will thrill any UFO enthusiast or strategy game fan.

Download UFO: Alien Invasion 2.2 in Softonic

The credentials of Flash Crypt are certainly pretty impressive with the developers promising it allows you to "lock any folder on your computer with a couple of mouse clicks with military-grade 256-bit AES algorithm guaranteeing the highest level of data protection."

While there must be a touch of sales talk in there, it's certainly a very secure program. There seems to be very recorded cases of the program being cracked and it feels like a very solid and secure package from the start. If you're not convinced, then checkout the opinion of the US government who say that the encryption method used by Flash Crypt "is sufficient to protect classified information up to TOP SECRET level."

Whatever the strength of the encryption, it's certainly very easy to use which is one of the most important things. It's also ideal for those on the move because you can copy encrypted folders to another disk, flash drive, CD-ROM or by email - without having the program installed on any of the these external mediums - and the data will remain protected. And if you're worried about password loss, FlashCrypt has a special option that lets you save the encrypted password along with the protected data. The developers assure that the asymmetric cryptography used means that not even they are able to crack it, once it's applied.

An extremely powerful product that, if lives up to the hype, is suitable for most sensitive kind of data.

Download FlashCrypt 1.0 beta in Softonic

Magix Audio Cleaning is a full featured sound app with which you can digitize your old vinyl and CD collection.

The program features a nicely designed interface with three top tabs referring to the three main steps you must follow: importing your music from any of the sources supported by the program, cleaning it from noises and cracks and finally exporting it to a digital format of your choice.

The first impression you get when launching Magix Audio Cleaning is one of confusion, especially in the Cleaning section. There are just so many sliders to adjust, buttons to press and options to be taken into account that you feel completely lost. Luckily there's a one-click cleaning wizard that does almost all the hard work for itself, as well as some cleaning presets that you can use to fix typical noise and cracking issues in old vinyl records and cassette tapes.

The program works very fast during the whole process and also includes an embedded burning tool with which you can create an audio CD or DVD once your music has been properly cleaned.

Rescue your old vinyl records and cassette tapes and give them a new digital life with Magi Audio Cleaning. It takes time to learn how to use all of its features but it's definitely worth it.

Download MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 12 (US) in Softonic

Cain & Abel is a password recovery tool for Microsoft Operating Systems. It allows easy recovery of various kind of passwords by sniffing the network, cracking encrypted passwords using Dictionary, Brute-Force and Cryptanalysis attacks, recording VoIP conversations, decoding scrambled passwords, revealing password boxes, uncovering cached passwords and analyzing routing protocols.

The program does not exploit any software vulnerabilities or bugs that could not be fixed with little effort. It covers some security aspects/weakness present in protocol's standards, authentication methods and caching mechanisms; its main purpose is the simplified recovery of passwords and credentials from various sources, however it also ships some "non standard" utilities for Microsoft Windows users.

Cain & Abel has been developed in the hope that it will be useful for network administrators, teachers, security consultants/professionals, forensic staff, security software vendors, professional penetration tester and everyone else that plans to use it for ethical reasons. The author will not help or support any illegal activity done with this program. Be warned that there is the possibility that you will cause damages and/or loss of data using this software and that in no events shall the author be liable for such damages or loss of data. Please carefully read the License Agreement included in the program before using it.

Download Cain & Abel 4.9.8 in Softonic

ZuluPad is a notepad on crack. It's a place to jot down class notes, appointments, to-do lists, favorite websites, pretty much anything you can think of. The great thing about ZuluPad is that it combines the best parts of a notepad with the best parts of a wiki, a concept made popular by Wikipedia.

Download ZuluPad 0.42 in Softonic