USB memory sticks are undoubtedly very handy devices to carry and share files anywhere, but the way Windows handles them is still slow and annoying.

Desk Drive can help you manage USB removable devices in a much more comfortable way by automatically creating a desktop shortcut every time you connect a USB device to your computer. This is the way USB memory sticks are usually handled with in Mac OS and Linux, so if you're used to those operating systems and miss that functionality in Windows, you'll love Desk Drive.

The program is really easy to use: simply launch it and it'll rest in silence on the system tray, waiting for the moment you plug a USB device, in which it'll create a desktop shortcut to access the USB content.

Desk Drive makes USB device management easier on Windows, but my advice is to disable the autoplay window, as it interrupts the whole process and makes the program not that useful anymore.

As long as you also disable the autoplay dialog window, Desk Drive makes USB memory device management really comfortable on Windows – just like Mac OS and Linux.

Download Desk Drive 1.6.4 in Softonic

If you've been experiencing unexpected slow downs or crashes on your computer then it could simply be a case of giving it a good clean.

Mz Ultimate Cleaner searches and destroys temporary or useless files that programs and internet surfing may have left behind on your system. You can choose which particular elements to target (such as cookies, internet history and temporary files) or otherwise Mz Ultimate Cleaner will clean everything at once. However, it's useful to be able to select which files to remove because you may want to keep cookies for example to save you typing in passwords or remember some personal data for certain sites.

Scanning is extremely quick and afterward, you're asked whether you really want to delete all the files Mz Ultimate Cleaner. Alternatively, you can choose to send the items to the Trash, in which case some of them will be recoverable in case you deleted something essential.

Mz Ultimate Cleaner is fast, efficient and cleans up just about any trace left behind by any program although it won't get rid of any malware or spyware that's been left behind.

Download Mz Ultimate Cleaner 2.0 in Softonic

Keeping your hard drive properly defragged is one of the easiest ways to speed up your system and ensure that everything runs smoothly and quickly.

You can launch the program either via shortcut, Start menu or the command line with "QREGDEFRAG.EXE -defrag". Other command line commands you can use are "-defrag" which operates defrag in "silent mode" and "-noprogresswindow" which hides the progress window during defragmentation. Finally, you can also use "-reboot" which automatically reboots the computer when defragmentation of the registry is complete. If you're using Vista, note that you'll also have to run the program in administrator mode. The big question, as with all defraggers, is does the program operate quickly and does it have a noticable effect? Whether it runs quickly depends on how badly un-defragged your hard drive is and of course, how big it is. Generally, the program runs at an impressive speed, especially under Vista but it doesn't seem to make any particularly impressive speed improvements. However, it does make programs open slightly quicker and presents a full report on defragged files.

A quick and speedy defragger that helps programs open faster and allows you to see at a glance, those files that are slowing your system down.

Download Quicksys RegDefrag 2.0 in Softonic

As the hard drives and Flash memory cards of the world’s burgeoning photography community continue to fill up, there is increasing demand for low-cost methods of keeping their images in some kind of order. With some snap-happy enthusiasts taking hundreds of pictures a week, there’s a danger that the fun of photography will be replaced by the mundane task of finding the shots you once they’re on your PC. While programs such as Photoshop Album and PaintShop Album are pretty good at helping you sort images, StudioLine aims to take things one stage further – by not charging you for the privilege.

You might expect that by not demanding a fee for a photo organizing program, you’d have to settle for a largely scaled-down version of its costly equivalents. We were pleasantly surprised to see this wasn’t the case, and the application is brimming with features that not only make it easier to sort and search for photos, but which can instantly improve the appearance of your images.

The main premise of the program is to help you whip your photo collection into some sort of order, and it does this admirably. You start with an Image Archive, which is basically a database where you can load in all of your images. From here, you can create a hierarchical tree system of folders based through an Explorer-style interface, making it a painless process. Sorting through your images is aided by the capacity for adding information about a photo using the ‘Descriptors’ data, photos, allowing you to categorize by image topic, date, location or person. You can even enter a star rating for each image to help you later in the sorting process. Another nice inclusion is the ability to change the size of thumbnail previews using a slider when viewing all the images within a folder.

As if the slick sorting facilities weren’t impressive enough, the program boasts a range of editing tools that rival many priced image editors. There’s a diverse variety of tools ranging from preprocessing, through photo correction, to special effects, all of which can be previewed and applied with ease. The fact that you can apply changes you’ve made to one photograph to hundreds of other images in one click is another major boon, and is ideal if you want to turn a batch of images into black and white, or apply an auto-colour correction to an entire album of photos, for instance.

The user interface is generally a joy to use, with lots of customizable options, and draggable palettes like those you see in professional editing suites. There are a couple of bothersome aspects of the interface which could do with changing though, such as the fact that an image loads in a new pop-up menu when its thumbnail is clicked on, rather than in the main window (as a tab perhaps). The tips boxes that spring up a little too frequently can also get a tad irritating, especially as there seems to be no way to permanently disable them.

Apart from these minor niggles, this is a fantastic program which, is arguably the cheapest way of effectively managing your image collection. The addition of features for creating slide shows, web galleries and emails only serves to raise its status as a serious contender to its big budget rivals.

Download StudioLine Photo Basic 3.50.54 in Softonic

Getting a video out has always been one of the best ways to while away an evening at home. However, these days few people choose to trudge down to the video store, preferring to download a movie, or plunder the near-infinite archives on popular video sharing sites such as YouTube and Google Video. Until recently it's been impossible to obtain movies from these sites without having to stream them online. However, Vdownloader is one of a number of programs changing that, allowing you to download these videos to your computer in AVI or MPEG format.

Essentially what this means is that you don't need to wait an age for popular videos to start streaming and can keep your favourites on your hard drive to watch at any time. This application does the job as simply as you could wish for. The executable makes a very small footprint and although the interface is very barren, it makes it easy to grab videos from YouTube, Google Video, Grinvi or DailyMotion very quickly. Basically all you need to do is copy and paste the link to the video into the box provided and hit ‘download'. Alternatively, you can browse the sites themselves by selecting the portal of your choice from the drop-down menu.

In one sense, the sparseness of the interface is an advantage, as it keeps things as clean and simple as possible. In another respect we were left wanting for extra features and options to help us peruse and download the videos we want. Practically the only setting you can tweak is the via the format dialog, allowing you to specify the format of the saved video (AVI or MPEG), the size of the video and the audio bitrate. We feel that the addition of a built-in video search tool or some video compression utilities would have lifted the program from being a good program to a great one.

Add to the fact that you can't download embedded movies like the ones you find on the front page of Google Video and you can't help feel frustrated that VDownloader doesn't do quite as much as it perhaps could. Having said this, the app is still in the early stages of development and the fact that it is so lightweight makes it prefect for those who want to grab video content with the minimum of fuss.

Download VDownloader 0.74 in Softonic

Driving games differ in a number of different ways, not just because they contain different kinds of vehicles (cars, bikes, Formula 1) but also in the type of challenge they present.

In the case of Pure the main objective is not only crossing the line in the first place, but also performing as many jumps, tricks and other acrobatics while you’re on air, flying at top speed over bumpy trails with your quad bike.

Before actually starting the race, Pure makes you go through a training session that also works as a kind-of tutorial. It's a good way to get used to the game's quite confusing controls, which inexplicably mix up keys from the standard WASD combination and the arrow keys.

After you learn how to preload, boost and do a basic trick, you're ready to go: it's time for a real race! This time the track is much more fun, because it enables you to compete against other drivers and also includes higher jumps in which you'll be able to show off everything you learned during the tutorial stage. The realistic, highly detailed graphics in Pure serve to make it even more enjoyable, and a lively rock-style soundtrack adds the final touch.

Pure requires a bit of dexterity, so if you don't get any trick during the first few minutes of gameplay don't panic. Also, note that you’re supposed to perform different tricks on each jump (repeating penalizes) and that if you’re successful with the basic ones, you’ll unlock more advanced tricks.

On the downside, I must admit Pure let us down for various reasons. The first one is the file's size, which is simply too heavy for such a short demo. They could have removed all those promotional videos and include at least another track. The controls are also a bit complex: just performing a basic trick involves four different keys, which are usually configured very far apart from each other on the keyboard. Finally, the game has some absurd restrictions. I don’t know what’s wrong with going a bit off the track or even trying to turn around and racing in the wrong direction, but you simply can't. Pure interrupts the game and puts you into track again. Seriously, a bit more freedom for the player wouldn’t hurt, even if that means I don’t win the race.

Pure is not just about racing: it's also about performing the craziest airborne tricks during the race. Too bad the demo is so short that you hardly have time to enjoy it.

Download Pure in Softonic

Racer is a free cross-platform car simulation project (for non-commercial use), using professional car physics papers to achieve a realistic feeling. Cars, tracks and such can be created relatively easy (compared to other, more closed, driving simulations). The 3D and other file formats are, or should be, documented.

Editors and support programs are also available to get a very customizable and expandable simulator. OpenGL is used for rendering.

Download Racer 0.6.4c Beta in Softonic

Creating customized DVD movies is a piece of cake with Droppix DVD Maker. The program takes care of everything so that you only have to worry about enjoying your favorite videos from the couch.

You can use any video files stored in your local drive (the program supports the most popular formats) or import videos right away from famous video websites like Youtube, Daily Motion or Google Video with just a single click. Droppix DVD Maker also includes several ready-to-use menu templates you can use to create personalized DVD menus, though the method to change them is not very well implemented (a double click on the current menu image would be much more intuitive than having to open the program's settings menu).

Another drawback to Droppix DVD Maker is the fact that you can't preview the video before converting and recording it to the actual disc, while other similar tools usually include a built-in player. At least the conversion process is easy and quite fast too.

Droppix DVD Maker lets you create customized DVD movies in a very easy way, but lacks some handy features found in other similar tools.

Download Droppix DVD Maker 1.5.0 in Softonic

If you need to share files more often than not, and you're tired of large email attachments and uncomfortable USB devices, this program is for you.

GBridge lets you easily share files by extending Google's IM service Gtalk to a virtual private network where you can share data, backup files online, sync content between different computers and even chat with your Gtalk contacts on a safe, encrypted environment.

The program is really easy to use and doesn't require any configuration to start working. Simply select the folders you want to share from your hard drive, choose those people from your contact list who will have access to that content and send them a notification. Notice that they'll also need to have GBridge installed to see and download any shared content. Security and network freaks though have a settings menu where they can tweak connection settings, limit bandwidth usage and fiddle with other options.

GBridge works fine and it's a very decent solution to share file without getting involved in complicated configurations or expensive software.

With GBridge, sharing files with your friends and creating online backup copies is easy as pie!

Download GBridge 1.0.0.1130 in Softonic

There’s a plethora of music players to choose from, among which iTunes and Winamp usually have the upper hand. However, if you are curious enough, you might find that lesser known alternatives like MediaMonkey offer a reasonable amount of features and tools to organize and equally enjoy your music library.

MediaMonkey automatically scans your PC for all types of music formats. If you have playlists from other programs, it’s good to know that the application also adds m3u files, sparing you the pain of having to recreate them. The file explorer view on the left lets you easily navigate your music collection by categories like artist, genre or rating. You can convert tracks into any format you wish, depending on what size or quality of sound you’re looking for. MediaMonkey also lets you analyze and adjust the volume of tracks to increase your listening experience.

MediaMonkey has made its reputation on its advanced tagging management feature. Every time a track is added, the program will verify its tags. You can automatically fill in missing details with info from Amazon or Filename. The program can clean up your tags, move information into the correct categories and synchronize tags for selected tracks. You can also rename and move multiple files thanks to the auto-organize function. MediaMonkey also supports Winamp plugins and visualizations plus skins can be applied to spice up the interface.

If you want to make your own mix CDs, you’ll be happy to know that MediaMonkey rips and burns CDs and DVDs. Create a virtual CD of your favorite tracks and let MediaMonkey do its job. Budding DJs will enjoy the auto-DJ mode, which mixes tracks for you and the Party Mode, which blocks your configuration but lets anybody play their favorite tune. MediaMonkey’s versatility doesn’t stop there. The music manager also lets you synchronize with your portable music devices like your iPod or iRiver.

If you feel like completing your library with a couple of fresh albums you can browse sites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble or AllPosters and purchase tracks. However, unlike Songbird, where you can type in a URL, browse and save your favorite music blogs and sites, MediaMonkey only allows you to browse their selection of online stores.

We were disappointed with the web radio selection, which only features Shoutcast and Icecast, and were surprised to see no sign of podcasts anywhere in the application. However version 3.0 is planning on incorporating this to the application.

Despite these drawbacks, we recommend MediaMonkey to anybody looking for a solid alternative to iTunes or Winamp. This original music manager is more than capable of organizing a very large music library and offers advanced tagging management rarely seen in other music applications. While the browser and web radio are fairly limited, MediaMonkey allows you to rip your custom CDs and connects to most portable music devices. If you really take a liking to MediaMonkey, cough up a few bucks and upgrade to the Gold version, which will open up all of the program’s functionalities like finding missing tracks or creating auto (smart) playlists.

Download MediaMonkey 3.0.5.1187 in Softonic

Gizmo Central is a package of tools intended to make computer tasks easier and more comfortable to do. The program works as a main basic app to which you can add several plug-ins in order to obtain new functionalities. These plug-ins are chosen during the installation process and can be changed at any time by running the installation again.

According to the author, Gizmo is addressed to all kinds of users, but I think it's more suitable for advanced ones. Among the featured plug-ins you'll find a launch toolbar, a synchronization server, a database tool or a disc image manager, which are generally very useful but certainly not the kind of apps that beginners are looking for.

On top of that, Gizmo is not intuitive at all as regards program configuration, nor does it have support for dragging and dropping elements, which would have been especially useful for the toolbar plug-in.

Gizmo Central is a convenient pack of tools designed to help you perform very diverse tasks.

Download Gizmo Central 2.6.2 in Softonic

Few can dispute the fact that Apple created a flawless product when it built the iPod. However, the company did omit to include one feature that still bothers me. The legally-aware developer made it so that you couldn't copy tunes from your iPod onto another computer. OK, so it means everything is above board, but it also means that if you get a new computer or your hard drive fails, you have to build up your MP3 collection all over again. Luckily, there are now several programs available that let you copy your iPod tunes to any machine, and CopyTrans is a good example of one of these.

The process of synchronising your music with CopyTrans is a simple one and you can choose to archive your collection or import it into a new iTunes library. All you need to do is connect your iPod, wait for the program to scan the device, choose your transfer settings then wait for CopyTrans to work its magic.

It does take quite a long time to copy across the music, but the operation works very well and I experienced no problems other than that it didn't reproduce all of the album art I had. The program boasts some nice features such as selective transfers, incremental back-ups, and repair to damaged iPod databases.

If you're scared of losing all your iPod data then install CopyTrans and erase your worries with ease.

Download CopyTrans 2.590 in Softonic

To keep your PC organized and running properly, you'll need to defragment your hard drive every now and then. Despite a rudimentary interface, UltraDefrag is a useful and speedy defragmentation tool. The top of the interface shows the different drives you can carry out actions on. The best to do is start by analyzing your drive. The length of the analysis will really depend on how much files you have on your drive and how messy it actually is. Once this is done you can choose to defragment or compact your drive.

Click the fragmented button and a browser window will open up with a list of all the files that have been fragmented. While the list seems to be pretty exhaustive it lacks any real explanation or easy browsing function. Another useful feature in UltraDefrag is being able to rescan your drives. You can do this to verify file size or check if there's any drive you might have missed.

If you go into settings you should be able to create filters. This function is pretty limited as you'll have to type in the name of files you want to include or exclude (but there's no explanation as to how you can enter multiple files) and you can set the program to ignore files greater than a certain size.

Despite some drawbacks, UltraDefrag is an effective defragmentation tool.

Download UltraDefrag 1.4.0 in Softonic

Limewire, one of the world’s most popular peer-to-peer filesharing applications, has received a lawsuit from the RIAA, who are demanding $115 million in damages, claiming the application promotes the infringement of copyright. Similar applications like Grokster and Kazaa have been forced to go legal and there is speculation as to just how long LimeWire will resist until they have to buckle and pay up. The existence of the popular P2P application is not under threat, but if you haven’t given it a try yet, here’s just what makes it a standout program.

In terms of file sharing, LimeWire is the cream of the crop, offering the essential peer-to- peer tools in what is probably the friendliest interface of applications in its class. Beginners will appreciate the search bar, which allows you to select the type of file you’re looking for, video, image, audio, program or file. LimeWire has a “what’s new” button to check out what popular files users have recently exchanged. We also enjoyed the direct connect option. If you know the IP address of one of your friends, type it in the box and LimeWire will browse that user’s files. This is a quick way of sharing files with someone else and can come in handy when working on a project and exchanging documents. The only little snag we have with direct connect is that it doesn’t let you enter the username, much simpler than looking for your friend’s IP address.

Downloading with LimeWire is very intuitive. After you’ve searched and found the file you are looking for, double-click on it to start the downloading process. The speed of your download depends firstly on the quality of your connection (broadband is a minimum), if you’ve correctly opened your router’s ports and whether you’re downloading a popular file or not. We would like to point out the effort that Limewire takes to make itself accessible to beginners. Not only does a tip pop up every time you launch the application, the help option also leads you to LimeWire’s support centre, FAQs and a forum to get in contact with other users.

The lawsuit carried out by the RIAA is all the more surprising because of the measures LimeWire takes to keep you in the realms of legality. If you decide to download LimeWire from its website, you will first have to agree you will not use it for copyright infringement. When you’re configuring the application, you can set content filters, to avoid downloading files that copyright owners do not want you to share. To avoid embarrassing situations, make sure you tick the “block adult content” box, which will filter out any pornographic files from your searches.

The best way of checking the quality of the audio or video you’re downloading is via LimeWire’s mini player. It’s fairly basic and to par with the players you find in similar filesharing applications, but we appreciated the way it was integrated in the application.

If there’s one thing that we’re still expecting from the LimeWire team, it’s that it finally decides to jump on the BitTorrent bandwagon. Torrents are the way forward when it comes to peer to peer file sharing because of the speed, the security and freshness of downloads. Large files like movies or complete seasons of TV series are much easier to download via BitTorrent. We were also annoyed by the “buy the PRO version” window that popped up every time we started LimeWire.

For its wealth of possibilities and huge base of users, (more than 4 million simultaneously on the Gnutella network) we encourage you to give LimeWire a test drive. Because of the controversial nature of the application, you should always make sure that you aren’t using LimeWire for illegal activities like copyright infringement. However don’t be scared off by the legality issue. LimeWire, like most P2P applications is one of the most exciting possibilities that the internet gives us. It would be a shame not to give it a try. You should also check out Frostwire, the not-for-profit project of the LimeWire development team.

Download LimeWire Basic 4.18.8 in Softonic

If you're on the move regularly or your hard drive is accessible by third parties, it's always vulnerable to attack.

One way to prevent possible compromises of your security is by encrypting data. TrueCrypt aims to do this by allowing you to encrypt data "on-the-fly". This means that data is automatically encrypted or decrypted immediately before they are loaded or saved without any input required from you. Nothing can be encrypted or decrypted without using the correct password or encryption keys. This encryption extends to entire file systems such as file names, folder names, file contents, free disk space etc. The good thing about this particular program is that it doesn't get in the way of you dragging and dropping files. Some encryption programmes that work on-the-fly prevent you from doing so easily or add a delay to the transfer but that's not the case with TrueCrypt. The other good thing is that TrueCrypt never saves any decrypted data to a disk – it only stores them temporarily in your RAM which is far more secure because when you restart Windows or turn off your computer, the volume will be dismounted and files stored in it will be inaccessible and still encrypted. The interface is a bit bland but at least it's simple enough to follow and not full of complicated encryption jargon.

A very solid encryption tool although the fact that it's open source means that it's vulnerable to modification which could compromise encryptions.

Download TrueCrypt 6.0a in Softonic

If you're a sports fan, then you may well get a lot from CyberLink MagicSports, which facilitates simultaneous sports viewing as well as the editing of sports packages.

CyberLink MagicSports is designed to put you in the directors chair, giving you greater control over recorded TV sports programs by allowing you to create your own action replays of key moments. However, it only works with CyberLink PowerCinema 4 or Windows Media Center so if you're not streaming your sports events through either of these mediums, then it's not much use to you. It also won't work with any content that's protected by DRM.

In reality, CyberLink MagicSports is basically a Tivo player for your PC. You can store certain parts of games on your hard drive and create your own highlights with a simple editor. It features a virtual remote control to control your viewing. However, it's unclear how many sports fans would really want to edit together their own highlights package - most people just want to sit back with a cold beer and enjoy the game.

If you're a die-hard sports fan and want to relive a special sporting moment in the way of your choosing, then CyberLink MagicSports is a powerful all round package.

Download CyberLink MagicSports 4 in Softonic

VoptXP is an effective utility to defragment your disk drives with no need to use the tool incorporated in your operating system. The defragmenting of a hard disk is a slow process and VoptXP does not perform miracles but it is certainly quicker than Windows own defrag tool.

It works by re-alligning the data that is totally safe and making a new copy of it before doing so in case of any interruption during the process that could ruin it. In addition, you can program it so that it acts once a week or moves archives bigger than a certain amount or to even exclude smaller files. A smarter way to defrag your drive.

Download VoptXP 9.05 in Softonic

Registry errors are one of the main reasons for the slow operation of your PC or frequent crashes. Baku can ensure that if your registry does have malicious entries, they can be removed safely. Baku also deletes empty folders, 'History' folder contents, 'Recent documents' folder contents, 'Temp' folder contents and temporary internet files. It can also search Windows log files, shortcuts to missing files and folders and user specified file types. The registry scan itself aims to remove unused and obsolete keys, including ActiveX, Application Paths, Fonts, Help files, Icon files and pesky uninstallers.

Like all such programs, it backs up your registry in case of any wrongful changes although I found that this wasn't exactly easy to restore. Probably the most useful function is the registry compacting facility which does seem to make a notable difference to the running speed of your PC. The developers claim the program uniquely works by recreating each registry hive "from scratch", thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously modified or deleted keys. Note that this function does NOT change the contents of the registry in any way, nor does it physically defrag the registry files on the drive. Be warned though that it takes a little longer than programs such as CCleaner and you'll have to wait more than few minutes for the registry backup to be made.

Download Baku 3.6.3.3194 in Softonic

Have you ever been in a situation where you've viewed a video on YouTube and you know that it must have been cached on your hard drive somewhere but you can't find it?

If so, then you need VideoCacheView which can find cached FLV files from video sites such as YouTube and DailyMotion. VideoCacheView automatically scans your Internet Explorer or Firefox cache and finds all video files that are currently stored in it. It makes it easy to copy the cached video files into another folder so you can play or watch them whenever you want.

If your movie player can play FLV files it will play the video directly from your browser's cache. Alternatively, you can simply copy and paste the files into another folder so that they're easier to locate without VideoCacheView in the future. However, it's still hard to find the clips that you want because in your cache they've all got similar generic names.

VideoCacheView is a great way to find all those FLV files that you thought were lost forever on your hard drive.

Download VideoCacheView 1.21 in Softonic

Do you have a favorite DVD movie that you would like to watch on the move on your mobile phone? Are you having trouble in finding the right app you convert it?

Plato DVD to 3GP Converter is what you're looking for. This simple video converter has been especially developed to convert DVD movies right into the standard video used for most mobile devices, 3GP.

The program is very easy to use. Simply load the DVD movie you want to convert from the DVD drive on your computer and tweak the conversion options according to your needs or the characteristics of the target mobile device: video size, bitrate, frame rate, aspect ratio and a lot more. The program can also be set to automatically shut down the computer when the conversion is finished. Apart from that, there are no other configuration settings.

I especially liked the simplicity of use of Plato DVD to 3GP Converter. On the downside, the interface is a bit too dull. Also, it would be great to have predefined profiles for certain devices, such as the iPod, the iPhone or the PSP.

If you want to convert your favorite DVD movies to 3GP and carry them on your mobile device wherever you go, this is the tool you need.

Download Plato DVD to 3GP Converter 8.87 in Softonic