Let's face it. Everyone's received a terrible haircut at some point in their lives. Virtual Hairstudio is a tool that helps you avoid such fashion fiascoes.

Marketed for hair salons, but usable by pretty much anyone, Virtual Hairstudio works a bit like a photo editing program, with preset hairstyles available to paste on a model, or even a picture of yourself. In this way, you can check out potential new looks before going under the knife -- or scissors, as it were!

Virtual Hairstudio provides hundreds of hairstyles to choose from. Each hairstyle also comes with additional information, such as a preview, identification number and description. Pick and choose the hairstyles you like, and even add the best ones to your favorites list so you can easily return to them again before your next trip to the hair stylist.

In addition, Virtual Hairstudio offers some other nice perks, like make-up advice, the ability to import your own hairstyles, and color adjustments.

The graphics could be a little better in Virtual Hairstudio. Learning how to use the program to its fullest will also pose a bit of a challenge for new users.

The demo version of Virtual Hairstudio limits users from uploading their own pictures, and only offers 20 different hairstyles to try out.

Virtual Hairstudio is a fun way to preview different hairstyles before visiting the salon.

Download Virtual Hairstudio 6 in Softonic

PhotoShine's biggest problem is its interface, which is hard to navigate, doesn't resize properly, and just looks a old-fashioned. Improvements here would make the app much, much better. If you can get past this, though, PhotoShine is packed with loads of features, frames and scenarios that will allow you to personalize your photos for almost any occasion you can imagine.

To use PhotoShine, just hit the green folder icon and you can open your photos. Once they're in, you can re-orient, resize and move them, as well as applying some color effects, like gray, old and sketch. Some of PhotoShine's effects are better than others, though, so check them all out before saving.

Where PhotoShine really stands out, however, is in its effects, frames and other features. There are bunches of them for you to play with, organized into strange-sounding categories called things like Baby, Simulation and Magazine. The great thing about PhotoShine, is that simply clicking on the effect is enough to insert your image very accurately - it detects people and faces very well, and even if it doesn't, you can change them by double-clicking again.

PhotoShine's effects are certainly not to everyone's taste, but if you're looking for some fun for your photos, it's worth checking out.

Download PhotoShine Mini 4.0 in Softonic

Funny Photo Maker allows you to make amusing additions to your photos - or from one of two sexy ladies provided as an example. Simply click the + button and you'll be able add a number of image formats from your PC. You then need to select one of Funny Photo Maker's effects. These are divided into three categories - Frames, Face fun and Artistic.

In themselves, Funny Photo Maker's effects are pretty good. The frames are funny, there are a good selection of famous and amusing scenarios under Face fun, and the artistic effects - although basic - will keep you entertained. The problem, however, is that they are almost impossible to apply well.

Funny Photo Maker allows you to edit your images slightly so you can focus on the important parts of the photo, but it rarely maintains the edit when you add the effects. The same goes for when you don't edit the photo - there's no intelligent face ID here - it just plops the effect over your photo, changing the resolution however it sees fit. Although you can get lucky with a good match, most of the images are stretched and warped, and look terrible - even the ones included by the developer as an example!

If you want to have fun with your images, try Photo Frames & Effects, Pixlr-o-matic or Polarfox - they're all much better options.

Funny Photo Maker looks good in theory, but in practice, it is really badly finished and does nothing for your photos. Look elsewhere.

Download Funny Photo Maker 2.4.0 in Softonic

This impressive photo editing tool enables you to fix and enhance your photos in a couple of clicks, and also add a few original special filters and effects that can turn a dull shot into a really creative piece of photography. Plus, ArcSoft PhotoStudio works with all major formats, including RAW files from high-quality digital cameras.

If you've seen Photoshop, you'll be familiar with ArcSoft PhotoStudio. It doesn't feature as many tools and options, that's true, but if you've ever used Adobe's big shot, you'll immediately feel comfortable with ArcSoft PhotoStudio's interface, utilities and even keyboard shortcuts.

ArcSoft PhotoStudio supports layers and macros, includes a wide variety of editing and drawing tools, and even features special retouching effects that can do things such as age your photo, make close ups of faces more beautiful, add frames and modify lighting.

ArcSoft PhotoStudio makes it easy to edit your photos, while also providing access to fun masks and effects. This makes it an all-round good bet.

Download ArcSoft PhotoStudio 6.0.0.172 in Softonic

Once installed, launch the program and you'll immediately see the image taken by your webcam. Snap automatically detects your webcam and offers you all its tools to begin playing around. We say "play" because this is what you're going to do with Snap - don't expect to create serious, professional photo collages like you would do with other graphic editors.

Snap is a fun tool, so it's intended to obtain funny photos that you can use to play a joke on a friend, create an original avatar for your favourite IM client or design a custom greeting card. The app includes a variety of filters and effects to apply to your photos, such as night vision, mirror effect, do I look fat?, clipart and animations. Using them is a cinch: just select a given filter, see what it looks like in the preview window and click on the snap button to capture the image if you like the result. Snapshots are automatically saved in a specified folder, but unfortunately you can't select their size or format.

Once you've taken your fun images, you can open them in whatever app you liike, and make further edits or simply email or print them. Bear in mind that you can't do this within the app - it only lets you share on Facebook.

All in all, Snap is an easy-to-use application that can provide hours of fun. Give it a try and you won't be disappointed.

Download Snap 3.0 in Softonic

Since the timeline was introduced, visitors to your page can see your information laid out chronologically, since you joined Facebook, or even since the day you were born! Beyond just providing your friends with information, though, it's also a great way to customize your profile.

Instead of the traditional photo, you'll have two, with one large image that occupies almost the entire width of the window, and a smaller image that's superimposed in the lower left corner. Between the two, there's plenty of room for creativity:

To create this Facebook Timeline Covers collection, Softonic went digging among the classics of cinema, both old and new, to bring you some awesome images that you'll be able to make your profile your own. Whether you're into the cool neo-tech of Tron, the all-time classic (and personal favorite) Jurassic Park, or the fun animation of Tintin, with a little bit of imagination, you're sure to be able to come up with something cool.

How to set Facebook Timeline Covers as your timeline picture

To set one of the Facebook Timeline Covers as your profile, unzip the contents of the file you download, open Facebook, and click on the little triangle that appears next to Change Cover when you mouse over the main image. The, like you can see in the screenshots, pick Upload Photo and choose one of the Movie Special Facebook Timeline Covers. Then pick an imaginative smaller image for the overlapping photo, and get creative!

If you like the idea of customizing your timeline, but you're looking for more images, try here.

Movie buff? The download these cool movie Facebook Timeline Covers now!

Download Facebook Timeline Covers Movie special in Softonic

It can show off pictures of your family with 3D animation. And it can even bring a smile to your face with deformed images animated in real time.

Use your PC as a cool PHOTOSTAND, and have fun time!

Download POP UP PHOTO Screensaver in Softonic

This main set includes over 600 Avatars in small and large formats. A GREAT WAY TO PERSONALIZE AND ORGANIZE YOUR HANDHELD. Personalize your PalmOS experience with professionally drawn avatars.

Avatars are small pictures of people and objects that can be used to represent all of the people in your contacts. Each professionally drawn avatar is absolutely unique and captures different facial expressions, hair styles, and looks.

COMPATIBLE WITH MANY POPULAR PALM OS APPLICATIONS. EASY TO USEThe avatars are easy to install and use. EVERY AVATAR IS UNIQUEEach avatar has a unique set of characteristics including skin tones, hair styles, expressions, and more.

Avatars are not only fun, they are also useful. They provide an easy visual representation of the most important people in your life. THIS AVATAR SET INCLUDES A WIDE VARIETY OF STYLES AND SUBJECTS.

OVER 600 AVATARS AND EVERY AVATAR IS UNIQUE. THE AVATARS COME IN 2 DIFFERENT SIZES: LARGE AND SMALL. THIS ALLOWS THEM TO BE COMPATIBLE WITH MANY PALM OS APPLICATIONS.

THESE SIZES ARE SHOWN BELOW AT ACTUAL SIZE. * images shown above are actual sizeCOMPATIBLE WITH SEVERAL PALM OS APPLICATIONSAvatars for OS5. Compatible with:* Iambic Agendus* Contacts 5 Photo Edition* Newer Palm OS Contacts ( Including the LifeDrive, the Tungsten T5 and the Treo 650 )DEVICE COMPATIBILITYCompatible with all Palm OS Devices running OS5 and the above listed ApplicationsTRY THE DEMODownload the demo for free and purchase any time at your convenience.

Download AVAT Avatars: Main Set for the Palm OS in Softonic

ArcSoft WebCam Companion is a multifunctional program for your webcam. It carries out various functions, some of them practical, such as photo editing, others fun, like funky frames and masques, and others serious, such as its monitoring mode.

The most basic feature of ArcSoft WebCam Companion is its capture mode, a function that allows you to take photo and video images with your webcam and save, email or print them. There is also an editing feature, but although it allows you to directly upload your videos to YouTube, its editing tools are nothing too amazing.

In terms of fun, ArcSoft WebCam Companion lets you morph yourself with a range of photos and apply fun frames to your image screen, although this feature was not working properly during our test. The masque function, as the morphing is called, is silly but entertaining, and if you get bored of the pre-selected images, you can always make your own template from any .JPEG image.

The monitoring function is one that sets ArcSoft WebCam Companion apart from it competitors. Setting up the feature is easy, and our tests in the Softonic office showed that it works. ArcSoft WebCam Companion keeps an extensive log of all activity detected and can chose notify you by email or FTP if it detects anything to be worried about. A single monitoring session can last for 18 hours, detecting motion, faces or both.

Although you can customize both individual modes and the program as a whole, I came away from ArcSoft WebCam Companion feeling that it didn't have quite as much flexibility and choice as that offered by its competitors. On the plus side, practical, fun and serious is a combination not offered by many and is something that has to stand in its favor.

ArcSoft WebCam Companion offers a good choice of functions, but still left me feeling flat.

Download ArcSoft WebCam Companion 3.0.0.117 in Softonic

The distortion can come in the form of stretching the image to varying degrees, enlarging only portion of the image or using a fish eye effect.

The quality of the image used will determine the resulting disfigurement. The higher the pixel concentration, the more refined the changes will be.

The included suite of tools also allows the radius and parameter of the photo to be altered. The Face-OP Software Program is compatible with many formats and platforms.

It is also is operational with all Windows versions from Windows 95 and newer. Once your creation is complete, you can either save the image or export to your web page or even print it off and pass it around.

Download Face-OP 2.0 in Softonic

The Google Desktop application allows users to search their desktop content quickly and easily. Praised for its ingenuity and criticised for its intrusiveness, Google Desktop brings the power of Google’s search engine technology to your PC.

After installing the application, you’ll have to give it some time to index the files on your PC, including emails, photos, chats, contacts and calendar events. Google Desktop will index the first 10,000 words in the first 100,000 documents on your PC. The application supports the majority of file types and you can decide which ones to index, or omit protected files, using the preferences menu.

In its latest version, which is compatible with Windows Vista, Google Desktop has been given a new transparent look, providing a pretty sleek feel to your PC. Your search results will appear in your browser (in the familiar Google web page format) and a small preview button allows you to view results without actually clicking on the corresponding link. Results are as precise as we’ve come to expect from Google searches, however we were slightly disappointed to learn that the application doesn’t offer logical 'OR' support or substring search. On another note, Google Desktop is not limited to your PC as you can cross index content from multiple machines and share some panel items with your friends.

Google Desktop is not only about search, though. Joining a marketplace already occupied by Apple’s Dashboard Widgets and Yahoo! Widgets, Google Desktop can be fitted with any number of little gadgets. These mini apps perform all kinds of functions, from fetching your mail to jotting down notes or checking up on your local weather. There are hundreds of gadgets to choose from to customize your desktop bar. Our personal favorites are: Google Translate, the Skype plug-in to check your credit and call your contacts, “Am I Blocked” to find out who’s blocked you on IM, Workspace to quickly move between tasks, System Stats to monitor your PC and Games, a selection of Flash games like Tetris and Moonlander.

When running, we found Google Desktop to use up around 30 MBs, but that can quickly increase if you add more gadgets to it. The application is also constantly re-indexing your files to incorporate your modifications and new elements. However you should rarely feel your PC slowing due to indexing.

When you’re dealing with Google, however, you know the main criticism will be about security. Because Google Desktop indexes all your documents, you’re basically opening up your PC and all your personal files to the Moutain View company. What some users fear is that Google could one day take advantage of that access or that a bug in the application would allow malicious users to infiltrate your PC and steal information.

While the intrusiveness of Google Desktop will give some users pause for thought on installing the app, Google Desktop is highly effective and simple to use. The gadgets you can add to its sidebar may not all be essential, but many of them are quite fun and original and let’s face it, the sidebar looks good. Give it a go if you think your PC is a mess and you need quick access to anything.

Download Google Desktop 5.9.911.3589 in Softonic

Photology is an innovative photo manager that goes beyond any other similar application you've seen so far. Although its browsing capabilities are not as user-friendly as those of, let's say, Picasa, this great piece of software features very promising tools that may change the way you deal with your photos forever.

After scanning the PC and creating your personal photo database, you'll be presented with a dark, elegant interface that displays picture thumbnails (which unfortunately can't be resized) and allows you to browse your collection, although only by using an annoying horizontal scroll.

However, the big surprise comes when you test Photology's search filters. Some of them are quite standard, like searching by tags or by the date the photo was taken. But some other use advanced techniques that enable you to locate pictures according to their location (outside or inside), the time of the day (morning, afternoon, evening or night), their main colors or even their content: faces, plants, sky, beach, sunset and other classic photo topics.

The filters are not infallible but they usually offer good results and enable you to find pictures in any way, without having to know the file name or where or when it was taken.

Photology also includes special features to share photos with your friends, such as a direct link to your Flickr account or a tool that creates a ZIP file wit your pictures and uploads it to a file hosting service (S3), all with a single click.

Photology features revolutionary tools that enable you to manage, search and share your pictures in a very quick and easy way.

Download Photology 2.0.117 in Softonic

If you've ever used Photo Booth on the Mac, then you'll know the kind of weird and wonderful effects that can be achieved.

Photo Mishmash Screensaver gives you exactly the same kind of effects but in a screensaver - so now you can watch your warped face swirl around your screen when your computer wants a rest. Photo Mishmash allows you to use your JPEG & PNG photos, web graphics or clipart, and then proceeds to squeeze, stretch and swirl them until they are no longer recognizable.

What you see can be both funny and horrifying as your face becomes distorted out of all proportion like some Star Wars character gone wrong. Photo Mishmash continually feeds images into itself so that no two screensavers are ever the same. You'll have a lot of fun just sitting back and watching it go to work on your face. Photo Mishmash Screensaver is only suitable for high resolution monitors though because it only displays images in Hi/True Color mode (16/24 bit color) and not in 256 color mode.

Photo Mishmash Screensaver is great fun and will provide hours of entertainment as well as of course, protect your screen.

Download Photo Mishmash Screensaver 2.2.4.3 in Softonic

ZeallSoft FunPhotor is funny and easy to use photo blending software, a fun-filled Windows application that lets you blend your family portraits with well known artwork to create comical images.

With a few short steps, you can add your face to the carved granite US Presidents on Mount Rushmore, put your portrait on a $100 bill, or create all sorts of gag gifts for your friends. Choose from more than 100 high quality templates that include the Mona Lisa, a bodybuilder, or the US President speaking from his official podium. You can also build your own custom templates.

Download ZeallSoft FunPhotor 10.16 in Softonic

Morphing is the process of creating a smooth animated transition from one picture to another. FaceMorpher turns face morphing into real fun. The program guesses the basic spots automatically.

You can tune up the spots if you wish. In most cases the automatically guessed spots produce animation that is perfectly acceptable for amateur videos or web graphics.

Download FaceMorpher Multi 2.5 in Softonic

EyeRoller enables you to create hilarious animations with any photo. The resulting image will follow your mouse with its eyes!

The program has two working modes, Automatic and Manual, which makes it suitable for both novice and advanced users. The first one guides you through the whole process in a step-by-step wizard, whereas the latter lets you do all the work by yourself. It may be more difficult, that's true, but it's also more precise.

Whatever working mode you choose, the idea is to select the eye area in your image (it works at its best with face close-ups) and overlay a fake eye that will follow your mouse while moving it around the screen. The final effect is really funny, but be aware that the animations created with EyeRoller can only be opened with this same program.

If you want to create a fun effect with your pictures in just a couple of minutes, you should definitely give EyeRoller a go.

Download EyeRoller 1.1.4 in Softonic

Cartoons and animation are popular the world over and it’s becoming ever easier to create your own moving characters thanks to the wealth of software available. Most of these packages such as 3Ds Max or Maya have a very steep learning curve and subsequently require months or even years of training in order to master. However, It’sMe proves to be the kind of program you can install and start creating cool characters within just a few minutes.

The basic premise of the software is to allow you to produce animated characters by editing preset 3D wireforms through a simple interface. Once you’ve defined the overall shape and features of your character you can begin to flesh it out by dressing it up in clothing, applying skin tones, and even adding your own, or a friend’s face to the creation. After this process is complete, you can move the character around and create an animation.

Although the graphics and range of motion are a little primitive compared with the more high-end applications, it’s great for playing around with and having some fun. Once you’re done, there is a healthy range of different formats you can export the animation to, meaning you can easily save it for use on the web or to simply send as an email attachment. It would have been nice to see some more preset characters and moves within the program, but if you’re looking to make your first foray into the world of computer animation, the application may fit the bill.

Download Reallusion It'sMe 2.06 in Softonic

Face Control is a free plug-in for Adobe Photoshop that allows to change the facial expression of the people appearing in your digital photos.

At least that's what the author's description says, although I must say that the reality is quite different.

But the lack of advanced options (there's only one single slider) makes the result quite disappointing. I'd rather define this plug-in as a pseudo-morphing tool to have fun with your friend's pictures, than as an app to change facial expressions.

Download Face Control 1.20 in Softonic

ZeallSoft Magic Mirror is funny and easy to use photo distorting software. You can distorting your friend or family face and producing surreal effects. Whether yours is a group of friend or children, whether you opt for a face warp or warp picture, Magic Mirror will generate a laugh a minute.

Magic Mirror is packed with all the features you will ever need to turn an ordinary image into something extraordinary. You'll be able to disfigure and distort any ordinary image beyond recognition.

We dare you to try Magic Mirror on a photograph of yourself before you use it to radically change the identity of family members and friends. It's fun and really easy to operate.

Download ZeallSoft Magic Mirror 3.0 in Softonic