REAPER (Rapid Environment for Audio Prototyping and Efficient Recording) is a powerful but sensible Windows application that lets you record, arrange, edit, and render multi-track waveform audio. REAPER provides an extensive set of features, but is a very small and lightweight application as the installer is less than 1 megabyte, and includes many effects and a sample project.

Basic features:

• Supports ASIO, Kernel Streaming, WaveOut, DirectSound for playback and recording
• Reads WAV, OGG, and MP3 files, records WAV files
• Lets you arrange any number of items in any number of tracks
• Supports audio processing plug-ins (DirectX and Jesusonic)
• Volume, pan controls and envelopes per track
• Multi-layer undo/redo support
• User creatable color themes

Advanced features:

• Unlimited bus support with collapsable bus views
• Item grouping
• Selection length granularity to ease in loop cutting
• An architecture that allows you to easily cut loops of many tracks simultaneously
• Support for plug-in generated media
• 64-bit floating point sample pipeline for high quality
• Advanced recording and monitoring options
• Options to build peaks for recorded files on the fly
• Controls for the user to specify where recorded files go
• Template support to make it easy to load a project template
• Input channel name aliasing

Download REAPER 2.44 in Softonic

TechPowerUp GPU-Z is a simple but practical utility to find out which graphics card is installed on your computer.

But much more than that, it gives you the full lowdown on its capabilities, status and whether it can handle the type of games or applications you¡re trying to push through it. The program is compatible with just about every brand of card there is and gives you data such as the name, brand, model, memory, bios version and DirectX driver among many other things. The other nice thing is that there's absolutely no installation required. An added bonus is that the program can take you directly to the TechPowerUp website which shows the percentage of users who use each brand and where in the world they can be found. Apparently, the program does have a slight bias towards NVIDIA and ATI cards but its very useful for diagnosing if you're suffering from overclocking.

This is a simple but handy tool for anyone wondering whether their graphics card is able to handle the latest programs and games.

Download TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.2.6 in Softonic

DirectX is one of the most powerful and problematic graphics engines and when it comes to gaming, can be a blessing or a curse.

A blessing because it allows such brilliant special effects and add ons but a curse because it is so prone to bugs and crashes. Construct allows you to create stunning DirectX animations and gaming add ons without causing too much of the latter. It's a WYSIWYG editor that requires a certain amount of DirectX programming knowledge but does not entirely exclude beginners. YIn fact, you needn't even take your hand off the mouse for the most part - you can simply drag and drop and manipulate your graphics in the way you want to with tons of options for specialists kinds of movements and objects. You can preview all of your creations in real time before you save them and save them directly to EXE files so they can be executed directly by others without the need to install the program. With advanced rendering effects such as motion blur, skewing and 3D lighting this is one DirectX programming environment to be reckoned with.

An excellent DirectX programming environment that's suitable for experts but also can be worked out by beginners.

Download Construct 0.96.2 in Softonic

A system analyzer is often overlooked as the toy of PC modding fanatics, but the reality is that these applications are very effective at dissecting your PC and giving you the hard truth about its performance. PC Wizard aims to explore the insides of your system and give you the complete low down on its strengths and weaknesses.

Once you launch PC Wizard you’ll notice it takes some time to detect all the hardware installed on your PC. Use the left side of the interface to navigate through the different categories. PC Wizard reveals all the basic details of your hardware, like ports, drivers and processors, but you’ll soon realize there’s much more to it, like analyzing system files or investigating the configuration of elements such as your Internet connection or your Control Panel. Over-sized icons make it fairly obvious what you can inspect, however we would have appreciated an explorer type window to navigate through components and select exactly what to analyze.

The core of any self-respecting system analyzer is the benchmarking tool and that is where PC Wizard excels. The application lets you inspect everything from processors to cache, RAM and multimedia like DirectX, MP3 compression and video. Benchmarks provide the results as a list of information or via comprehensible graphs. These will show you straight away where you’re PC stands and the “compare with” button will let you measure your processor up against well known models. We have to warn beginners though that the information is fairly technical and will be more relevant to experienced users. Just for fun, test out the video benchmark to obtain a swarm of multicoloured balls and lines all over your screen.

That’s the only bit of excitement you’ll get with this application though. PC Wizard is not here for fun it's here to be effective. The detailed information and thorough benchmarking tests give you reliable data on all the characteristics and components of your PC. The complexity of this type of application means beginners are best kept away from it altogether, however advanced users will revel in the wealth of knowledge it will uncover on their PC’s performances.

Download PC Wizard 2008 1.85 in Softonic

This has to be one of the most comprehensive programs I've ever laid eyes on. It's pretty much an entire entertainment solution ranging from gaming to a home entertainment centre. It features multiple emulators for gaming fans, music playlists, a fully functional Jukebox, Picture and Slide show viewer, Ebook and Comic Book reader, CD Player and CD Ripper with Automatic lookup of CD information and even a News Reader.

In addition, GameEx features a DVD Player with support for FFDSHOW which can also be controlled with a Gamepad, The Video module can also play DVR-MS using FFDSHOW (on Windows XP). Registered users can also use GameExtender which is like a networked LCD display for GameEx but for a real PC Display or TV, it can also be viewed through a web browser according to the developers.

For anyone that wants an all-in-one package, GameEx is certainly impressive although it packs a bit too much into one entertainment centre for my liking.

Download GameEx 9.37 in Softonic

DirectX is a package of special libraries developed by Microsoft that attempt to improve and optimize audiovisual performance on your system.

These drivers enable you to make the most of modern graphic cards with 3D capabilities, which makes them generally advisable for multimedia tasks and an absolute must-have for gamers – in fact, DirectX is usually a compulsory requirement to install certain games.

Installing DirectX on your computer is as easy as launching the executable file, which in turn will download some necessary components from the web. Then just follow the wizard's instructions and you're done.

Note that, when installed, this new version will overwrite any other previous versions you may have of Directx.

DirectX is an indispensable package of drivers and libraries to achieve an optimal level of performance in games and multimedia on your system.

Download DirectX 9.23.1350 in Softonic

Sometimes I prefer watching movies and TV series on the computer rather than doing it on the couch. The image quality in my PC monitor is better and I can handle more formats than just DVD.

Of course, I need a good video player in order to enjoy my favorite movies at their most, and my choice is no other than BSPlayer. This great video player features anything you need to watch movies or any other kind of video on your PC. It supports all popular video formats (and audio as well, in case you were wondering) and though its basic interface is not really the nicest one I've seen, you can easily customize it with skins.

BSPlayer supports video subtitles, takes screenshots of movie currently playing, lets you create bookmarks and chapters to move along videos more easily and has also support for plug-ins. I especially liked the way you can control playback, either by using keyboard shortcuts or simply your mouse: one click to stop the video, two clicks to go full screen, mouse wheel to raise or low the volume…

The only thing I didn't like was the fact that, being a free version, you're obliged to install an adware element on your PC that displays ads from time to time while you're browsing the way. It's a safe app that doesn't compromise your privacy, but still it's not my cup of tea. I guess it's just the price you have to pay for having such a great video player for free.

BSPlayer lets you enjoy your favorite movies on the PC with a wide range of features (subtitles, screenshots, bookmarks and more) provided you're willing to accept some ads on your desktop.

Download BSPlayer Free 2.28.964 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

Screen captures are useful for a variety of tasks from building tutorials to helping out those with technical issues.

The program is a great way to create help documents, online tutorials, manuals, training handouts, presentations, marketing materials, web pages, emails and more. You can capture
text and edit it from just about any part of your screen plus capture, edit and annotate screenshots and pictures. One of the most important aspects of this program is that it can capture frames and images from DirectX graphics and applications. Normally DirectX can cause problems when trying to capture shots and images but HyperSnap allows you to do so quickly and efficiently. In addition to everything else, it also includes a button capture tool which is perfect for professional technical writers who want to capture multiple documents at once rather than having to create a new capture file for each object. The program is easy to access from the context menu and it integrates with Windows clipboard to facilitate repetitive tasks.

Very easy to access and use, HyperSnap is an essential tool for anyone that regularly needs to take snaps of DirectX applications and videos.

Download HyperSnap-DX 6.31.01 in Softonic

If you're tired of the Windows native image viewer and want to use another tool to browse through your photos, look no further. We found it for you.

FastPictureViewer is a fast, straightforward photo viewer that lets you scan the contents of a whole photo folder in a very easy way. You can move along pictures with many different key combinations (arrow keys, + and – keys, page up and page down keys) and also the mouse wheel. Plus the mouse buttons can be customized to quickly zoom in a photo. The program works only with JPG and HD photo formats, and also supports XMP ratings which are compatible with popular photo tools like Adobe Lightroom.

That said, don't expect to find many other features in this program. FastPictureViewer doesn't include all the bells and whistles you could expect from an image viewer. I would say it's especially addressed to users who just need a tool to quickly review photos and pick those which need further editing.

The program features a sleek, dark interface with a minimalistic design that contributes to put all the attention on the photo itself.

FastPictureViewer is an attractive, easy photo viewer that's mainly focused on browsing large picture collections and doesn't include any extra tools like the ones you find in similar apps.

Download FastPictureViewer 1.0.31.0 in Softonic

Fraps is a universal Windows application that can be used with all games using DirectX or OpenGL technology. In its current form Fraps performs many tasks and can best be described as:

Benchmarking Software

See how many Frames Per Second (FPS) you are getting in a corner of your screen. Perform custom benchmarks and measure the frame rate between any two points. Save the statistics out to disk and use them for your own reviews and applications.

Screen Capture Software

Take a screenshot with the press of a key! There's no need to paste into a paint program every time you want to capture the screen. Your screen captures are also automatically named and timestamped.

Realtime Video Capture Software

Have you ever wanted to record video while playing your favourite game? Come join the Machinima revolution! Throw away the VCR, forget about using a DV cam, game recording has never been this easy! Fraps can capture audio and video up to 1152x864 and 100 frames per second!

Download Fraps 2.9.4 in Softonic

What's better than learning to play a musical instrument to unwind from a busy day? Although my advice would be to take an instrument and start playing it learning bit by bit, more methodical and expert users may advise you to follow a guide and practice theoretical exercises.

aGuitar Pro lets you manage your guitar or bass progress with exercises on the notes and on the accords. There are many advanced lessons you can follow and surely it can be helpful for advanced students as a reference point. The program features testing tools to sample your knowledge of the harmonic world.
Unfortunately, I don't see it as an easy tool for beginners. This is because of the way information is displayed which seems to be too technical. It would have been good to have a simple mode display for beginners so to ease things when learning and testing basic notes.

The tab reader and tab editor are also interesting as they can modify or create music sheets with text and notes of your favourite songs. It would have been good to have a function to search for songs online in free databases, but you will have to do it manually.

aGuitar Pro can be useful to study and test your knowledge of guitar theory if you are already a medium experienced player. It also includes a tab reader and editor, which ease the transcription of songs for professionals.

Download aGuitar Pro in Softonic

I don't know about you, but when I choose a screensaver, I want something that looks good and is original. Nothing like the default ones that come in my computer.

Strands is a pretty cool screensaver which shows a flow of glowing lines weaving on your screen. The lines change color every few seconds, going from red to yellow, green, or many other colors. You'll need at least a 16MB 3d card to be able to enjoy the screensaver without any slowdowns. Obviously, if you stare at it too long you'll notice that Strands does get a bit repetitive, but that is the case with most screensavers you'll find.

Installing the screensaver is a fairly easy process. Simply extract the file from the archive and save it in a safe place where it doesn't risk being deleted. Then simply go to your computer's settings and select it as you would any normal screensaver.

Strands may not work properly with all graphics cards or system configurations as it still is in beta.

Strands is an original screensaver which shows weaving glowing lines changing colors.

Download Strands 1.2 b1 in Softonic

DestroY MediaPlay is one hell of a flexible media player - it plays video, audio files, DVDs and can even display and play music online.

Not only this, but it features a mini web browser with which you can surf the net. It terms of flexibility, this player is hard to beat. The list of formats it can play is seemingly endless including asf, asx, wav, wma, wmv, ogg, mpg, mpeg and snd amongst many many others. The DVD players is also pretty impressive featuring full support for CDDB so there's no need to label your tracks manually once they are converted to mp3 format. The players also supports some audio streaming although it's designed mainly for SHOUTcast and Icecast streams.

The interface is pretty cool for a free player although it seems like there are only 7 alternatives to the default skin. However, there is an effective Spectrum Analyzer and Oscilloscope plus it supports Drag & Dropping of tracks plus the scheduling of tracks. This can be done by track number, date and up to a set limit of daily, weekly or monthly. In addition to all this, there are hotkeys configurable and you can type in the lyrics for your own karaoke sessions. Add this to an ID3V1/V2 & OGG tag editor, DirectX sound effects and Playlist HTML export and you have a pretty impressive package.

A very comprehensive and modern looking player but it could do with some more skins and slightly more streaming support.

Download DestroY MediaPlay 1.4.0 in Softonic

Sony's flagship sonic app is designed to everything an aspiring music maker needs to produce professional-quality audio on your home computer. Sound Forge allows you to record just about anything, edit and restore audio, burn CDs, create streaming media, and convert files with lightning speed — all using drag-and-drop actions and simple commands.

Core benefits of the suite:

Learn as you go

Capture from any source

Powerful editing tools

Effects processing

Download Sound Forge Audio Studio 9.0 d in Softonic

My favourite media player has always been VLC but I have to say, FF Player gives it a run for it's money. It plays all kinds of audio and video files quickly and with stability. It isn't packed with advanced features but as long as you've got DirectX codecs installed, it plays a remarkably wide range of formats.

To use it, you simply drag and drop the files you want to play into the playlist. Both the playlist and the video screen can be dragged to the size you want with an attractive slider. The overall feel of the player is very sleek although unfortunately, there are no extra skins that you can add to it.

A super simple little player that can handle almost anything and won't let you down.

Download FF Player 0.97 in Softonic

Some videogame genres are more likely to be set in certain environments or historical periods, such as RPG and fantasy, FPS and World War II and real-time strategy and medieval times. However, sometimes you find exceptions to the rule like Company of Heroes, an adventure set during the Second World War which all strategy lovers are going to enjoy.

The game enables you to play as the British army or the German Panzer Elite squad, in two of the most important battles in World War II. In spite of being a real-time strategy game, you're soon immersed into action-packed skirmishes and you really need to be quick if you want to beat your enemy. This is why we strongly recommend following the tutorial level instead plunging headlong into the campaign.

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts features extraordinary graphics, plus the ability to pan and zoom the camera with total freedom. I specially enjoyed the possibility to set the camera at ground's level and see action as if you were right in the middle of the squadron.

Get ready for some strategy and lots of action in this epic adventure.

Download Company of Heroes Oppossing Fronts Demo in Softonic

Super Screen Capture is an all-in-one software for free screen capture. You can capture screen in many ways, including full screen capture, region capture, window capture, scroll capture, directx capture, video screen capture, sound record and etc. You can choose many kinds of output ways, including clipboard, printer, email, editor tool, temp folder, and all popular formats. Super Screen Capture has an easy-to-use and intuitive interface. Whatever you can see on your screen, Super Screen Capture will easily and fastest capture for your immediate use.

Download Super Screen Capture 4.0 in Softonic

Mz Vista Force is a suite of tools to help you improve the performance of Windows Vista to run faster. It includes options for optimizing the use of the CPU, disk access, startup and Internet connectivity, and allows the deleting of caches and other slow-down elements of Internet Explorer or Windows Media Player.

It also has direct access to Windows components, such as registration, DirectX diagnostics, diagnostics disks, system properties, and so on. The Mz Vista Force program manager and boot loader are very easy to use and the program allows a full backup of the registry. Non-English speaking users should be warned however that the program is not available in other languages and many of the tweaking options may be difficult to understand.

If you're already experiencing slow down problems with Vista, then this program should at least regain a small percentage of that speed back.

Download Mz Vista Force 1.6 in Softonic

SubMagic is an application to convert, edit, sync or create movie subtitles. It supports several formats, has a lot of features and functions, is easy to operate and best of all, its free. SubMagic is written in C++ using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and doesn't need a .NET framework or any other external libraries. DirectX 9.0c is needed for video playback.

Download SubMagic 0.70 in Softonic