Fresh View is a free program designed to help you organize and view multimedia files (images, audio, and video). It gives you the ability to watch movies, listen to music, and view graphics in a slide show.

Image files in a folder can be displayed using a number of views, such as thumbnails view that lets you quickly see what your images are without having to open them. You can convert graphics from one type to another, print, and even create a HTML album. This easy-to-use software supports 86 different formats.

Download Fresh View 7.54 in Softonic

XYplorer is a simple to use file manager which replaces Windows Explorer with several enhanced functions and interface improvements.

Whatsmore, it's completely portable so you can put it on a USB stick and use it wherever you want and whenever you need it. The biggest advantage this program has over Windows Explorer is undoubtabley the Move and Copy dialogues. XYplorer allows you to configure hotkeys to carry out the most common copying and moving operations that you require meaning less mouse movements and faster management of your files and folders. XYplorer also removes the need for multiple folder windows along your taskbar because it employs the use of tabbed file management much in the same way as Firefox does with internet browsing. These tabs are fully customizable too - you can drag them around, rename them, hide them, lock them and much much more. This tabbed feature does give XYplorer a distinct browser style feel especially the featuring of an address bar which accepts not just folders, but also files, URLs, and search terms. This latter function can save hours of time searching through files by allowing you to search directly in XYplorer - without any need to use Windows search tool - simply by placing a "?" between the location and search pattern.

A truly impressive replacement for Windows Explorer - once you've used it you may never go back.

Download XYplorer 7.50.0000 in Softonic

DV Kitchen aims to be a complete video solution for preparing and uploading videos to the web. All in one workflow solutions just like these are becoming more and more common to make it easier for anyone to share videos online.

Although I did find the interface a little unfriendly, you can't resize it properly and the tabs at the top right are too small, the video production process is well streamlined. You start off by selecting a video and encoding it. DV Kitchen comes with over 77 formats to choose from, among which the most popular.

Upload to a server is very easy thanks to the folder browser. You can also create remote folders.

Because video production is complex, DV Kitchen have included three tools that make it easy for users: SampleLab, Budget BitRate Calculator and TimeFreezer. These are all great help for best preparing your video to your needs.

One thing that is missing out is presets for online web platforms such as You Tube or Brightcove.

DV Kitchen is a good all around solution for preparing and uploading videos to the web.

Download DV Kitchen 1.1.6 in Softonic

HTML-Optimizer speeds up your web site by optimizing both HTML and script code on your web pages. It helps you stay organized by creating a duplicate site folder for the optimized files. An added benefit is that it leaves your original files untouched.

The program features Smart Handling which means that only those pages that have changed are processed. Besides optimizing, the program can also check for dangling tags, missing attributes and broken links and convert special characters. You should use your original web folder for editing and use the duplicate web folder for uploading.

Download HTML-Optimizer Pro 5.4 in Softonic

HTML-Optimizer Pro speeds up your web site by optimizing both HTML and script code of your web pages. It helps you keep organized by creating a duplicate site folder for the optimized files. An added benefit is that it leaves your original files untouched.

The application checks your web pages for dangling tags, missing attributes and broken links. The program also features Smart Handling which means that only the pages that you changed are processed.

Download HTML-Optimizer 9.9 in Softonic

Tabs can be created that show the contents of folders. These mini-explorer windows provide true explorer context menu access for folders and files as well as full drag/drop support. Enter richly formatted or plain text notes into note tabs. Each note tab is associated with a text file of your choice anywhere on disk. It offers basic word processing functions but more readily available than your average word processor.

You can browse the web using internet tabs. These tabs offer the rudimentary function you expect from a web browser but with the convenience of being readily available in a screen tab. These are great for sites that you frequent throughout the day like weather, traffic, news, etc. The tab manager is your control panel for Stick. Create, delete, edit tabs on the fly. Tabs are very customizable with the ability to have their font, colors, slide behavior, transparency and more changed quickly and easily. Save groups of settings as templates and apply them to other tabs with the press of a button.

The RSS News Feed Plugin is a simple RSS client that allows users to connect to one or more RSS feeds in a single tab. The plugin supports auto-refresh, auto-pruning and textual previews of items. It will also notify you via popup when new items are downloaded. Only supports RSS 0.91 and RSS 2.0.

Download Stick 2.8.0.82 in Softonic

For all those in agreement with the French government that proprietary formats are damaging to the legitimate spread of digital music, then Tunebite will be right up your street. Proprietary music is essentially locked, so it can only be played using a particular brand of player. This software can be used to make any music playable on whatever portable devices you have or to burn your own music CD. It works by creating a playlist in the file’s native player, (Media Player for WMA, iTunes for M4B, M4P) playing the list and recording each track as an unprotected file. It could be seen as the modern equivalent of recording radio onto cassette, although Tunebite will automatically separate the different tracks.

The installation of this program is a bit tongue-in-cheek with a notice to say that you may see a warning during the process, swiftly followed by a pop-up warning letting you know that a particular driver hasn’t been registered with Microsoft. Following the advice of the previous notice and ignoring the warning dialog lets you finish the process. You are then taken to the configuration wizard where you complete six steps to choose what file format you want to record in.

The interface is so intuitive that when you first open the program you should have no doubt as to how to get recording. The three main elements of the interface are clearly marked as the “songs to record” window, the “recorded songs” window and an unmistakable “GO!” button in the centre. To get started you can either drag and drop your music files or use the “add file” or “add folder” buttons within the program. From there, it’s a simple matter of clicking the “GO!” button and letting Tunebite go to work.

Because the files are protected, they must be played through their own player, for example iTunes, and recorded in real-time. During our test, we happened to have another audio player in use as the recording began and as a result, the unprotected file was an incomprehensible mix of two tracks. This also means that if Tunebite is making a recording, you shouldn’t use your computer for other tasks such as browsing the net since every click sound that plays when you hit a link or even the Start Menu button will be recorded as well. With recording taking place in real-time you should plan for times when you won’t be using the computer, especially if you have a large music collection.

Tunebite is a solution to a problem that many music lovers face as control over their digital content becomes tighter and more restrictive. Protected tracks that have been paid for can easily be copied to any MP3 player or burned to CD for use in regular stereos. Admittedly, the method for recording is not ideal for everybody, but used properly, the results will be of the highest standard possible today.

Download Tunebite 5.1.120 in Softonic

BestSync Folder Synchronizer allows you to synchronize, mirror, backup, encrypt and/or compress data between folders, removable media, network drives or FTP servers, along with a wide range of possible options and functionalities.

You'll be able to synchronize files between two folders in single direction or bi-direction, synchronize with FTP servers (useful for updating web pages) and encrypt and compress data, which will come in very handy when copying private information to a USB device.

Tasks can be scheduled in different ways, triggered by means of several events (inserting your USB device, mounting a network drive) or even run as Windows services.

BestSync Folder Synchronizer also integrates seamlessly with Windows Explorer by adding a new command to context menus, from which you can easily encrypt, compress, decrypt and decompress files.

Download BestSync Folder Synchronizer 2008 3.6.18 in Softonic

The Start menu is supposed to give you quick access to programs and files, but it often ends up being a real mess. This is the time when you need some alternative like Executor.

Despite its scary name, Executor is a nice, useful application that enables you to open files and launch your favorite applications and websites just by typing the keywords you have previously assigned to them. What's more, as the program auto-completes each entry, the first few letters are usually enough. The program also includes some built-in keywords for the most common tasks, such as performing a Google search or opening the Control Panel.

Executor features an extensive configuration menu that enables you to customize every single detail. It also has support for skins, but the included skins are generally very dark and hard to read. Luckily enough, you can create your own personal color combination and save it as skin.

Download Executor 0.98b in Softonic

With such an ever growing range of multimedia devices, no wonder format converters are becoming so popular these days!

Any Audio/Video Converter is one of those converters: a simple, easy-to-use application that support pretty much any format you can find nowadays and lets you convert both audio and video files in just a few steps.

The program works with a list where you add the files you want to convert, no matter what format they are. Then you configure the conversion options for each one of them separately and finally click on the "Convert" button to let the program do the rest. I think this method is quite handy and saves you loads of work and time; pity the trial version only accepts one file on this list!

Any Audio/Video Converter includes a built-in player in its interface, but it's only good to watch the video while it's being converted and not preview it before actually starting the process.

With Any Audio/Video Converter you can convert basically any audio and video file you can think of, in a quite easy process that involves very little effort.

Download Any Audio/Video Converter 5.3 in Softonic

No matter how organized you keep stuff in your computer, the only way to know how space is distributed on your hard drive is using a tool like fOsi X.

With fOsi X you can analyze your hard drive (or any other drive you select) and automatically get a complete graphical report that displays the space each one of your folders takes up. The visual analysis in fOsi X is much easier to read and understand, and gives a clearer view on how hard drive space is being used on your computer.

fOsi X lets you choose between bar charts or pie charts and also features the possibility to add a symbol legend and rotate the chart in real time. If you want to the save the report, the only way to do it is either by copying to the Clipboard or saving it as an image file.

With fOsi X you can obtain an instantaneous graphical chart that shows how hard drive space is distributed on your computer.

Download fOsi X Lite 1.3.1 in Softonic

InSync is a high-performance, one-way, two-way, or backup data synchronization application. SNTP Service and YATS32 Time Synchronization applications for desktop or corporate LANs. Safeguard your identity using 4UOnly password vault and generator.

InSync is a folder synchronizer that hits the high notes when it comes to rapidly making identical copies of folder structures and the files within. Perform backups or propagate data from one machine to another with ease. Use InSync to define and run multiple synchronization jobs specifying one or more source folders, synchronized to one or more target folders.

Achieve higher data transfer rates and maintain data integrity with performance focused design. InSync copies only data that is different between source and target folders and takes advantage of multi thread processing to support concurrent execution of tasks.

Download InSync 8.1.41 in Softonic

This utility, which has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor (A starting list of auto-run locations was obtained from David Solomon's "Windows Internals" seminar), shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them.

These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP.

Autoruns' Hide Signed Microsoft Entries option helps you to zoom in on third-party auto-starting images that have been added to your system and it has support for looking at the auto-starting images configured for other accounts configured on a system. Also included in the download package is a command-line equivalent that can output in CSV format, Autorunsc.

Download AutoRuns 9.33 in Softonic

When analyzing a software application one must praise its virtues, but also look for possible flaws that developers can improve in future versions. However, in the case of Glary Utilities it's really difficult to find anything that we don't like.

This excellent toolkit includes a handful of system utilities that enable you to tweak, repair, optimize and improve your system's performance. Tools are conveniently categorized so that you can quickly find what you're looking for: disk cleaner, uninstall manager, memory optimizer, file shredder, duplicates finder, tracks eraser... just about any tool you need. They're all generally very intuitive and in case they make important changes to the system (like the Registry repairing tool) the program creates a backup copy first.

Not all the tools included in Glary Utilities include configuration settings, something we missed in some of them such as the Disk cleaner. Also, we would like to have a Firefox Assistant, the same way the program includes an Internet Explorer Assistant.

Download Glary Utilities 2.6.1 in Softonic

Certain audio players and portable devices only work with very specific formats such as AAC, M4a and other MPEG-4 based formats. Luckily you can now convert them with Free M4a to MP3 Converter.

Free M4a to MP3 Converter is an audio converter that has been especially developed to convert AAC, M4a, MP4, M4b (audiobooks) and other similar formats to the more standard formats MP3 and WAV. The first one is perfect to enjoy those files in your regular audio player, while the latter is more suitable for further converting with an advanced audio editor.

Free M4a to MP3 Converter has a straightforward interface and is very easy to use: browse the folder structure to add files - or simply drag and drop them on the program's window – and select the target format. Free M4a to MP3 Converter also features some configuration settings, though they're rather simple.

My main complaint about Free M4a to MP3 Converter would be the fact that the program displays ads on its interface, only that they're presented as buttons on its toolbar so that the user is fooled into clicking on them.

With Free M4a to MP3 Converter you can convert any MPEG-4 based audio files into the more standard formats MP3 and WAV to play them anywhere.

Download Free M4a to MP3 Converter 6.0 in Softonic

Photo Collage is a full featured, easy-to-use application with which you can create beautiful photo compositions in no time. No technical skills required!

The program contains just about anything you need you create the collage – that is, everything except images themselves. The featured material includes background images, frames, clipart, borders and masks, all of them is such a large and colorful variety that you'll find it hard to choose just one. Besides, the program is extraordinarily easy to use: simply drag and drop the different elements of your collage on the interface, resize and rearrange them any way you want with your mouse and you're pretty much done. It's like scrapbooking, but without scissors and glue.

The only drawback I found to this great app is the fact that some frames don’t blend with the background properly, meaning they show a white border around the frame instead of being transparent. Also, I'd like to be able to save my work in other formats (HTML, EXE) rather than just as an image file, but at least I have a few graphic formats to choose from.

Photo Collage enables you to create amazing collages with your digital pictures, but only save them as image files.

Download iFoxSoft Photo Collage 2.06 in Softonic

Beyond Compare is a powerful time-saving utility for comparing files and folders on your Windows system. Use it to manage source code, keep folders in sync, compare program output, and validate copies of your data.

Beyond Compare can create a snapshot of a live directory structure, and compare it against the live copy at a later date. The utility helps you analyze differences in detail and carefully reconcile them. It commands a wide range of file and text operations, as well as script commands for automating tasks.

Download Beyond Compare 3.0.2 in Softonic

You probably don't realize how much drive space you're wasting with duplicate files until you scan it for the first time with a program like NoClone.

This tool has been especially designed to find any duplicate files on your hard drive, with a quite high percentage of success. You can choose between scanning the whole disk or just one certain folder, and of course, select the template used by the program to decide which files are duplicate and which not.

I think these templates are the main strength of NoClone: there are quite a few to choose from, including duplicate email messages and duplicate MP3 files. Also, you can create your own template by deciding the elements and features NoClone should compare in each file to decide whether they're duplicates or not, which is very useful is none of the templates included suits your needs.

Once NoClone finishes scanning the system, it displays a list with all the duplicate files found and enables you to delete them straight away, saving precious hard drive space. There's even a contest on the developer's website to see who saves the most space thanks to NoClone. The program also exports the list to several formats (XML, CSV or XLS; no HTML or TXT, surprisingly).

NoClone is a quick and easy way to find duplicate files on your hard drive, delete them and bring all those megabytes back.

Download NoClone 2007 4.1.35 in Softonic

Wise Disk Cleaner is a utility that helps to locate and eliminate those temporary archives that, with time, can litter your hard drive to critical point. The app can clear a wide range of different types of files including temporary Internet files, Windows updates, temporary user files, system files, and redundant archives.

One of the best things about Wise Disk Cleaner is that it allows you to add your own folders with temporary files not in use or those that you simply want to eliminate when executing the program. The program is very simple to use, and it's just a case of running a quick scan of your files then marking those that you wish to eliminate.

Download Wise Disk Cleaner 3.6.4 in Softonic

PowerFolder is a program to synchronize folders over the internet or on a local net. It uses peer-to-peer technology to exchange the files. This means you do not need a hosting server. Every client holds a local copy of the folder. It can be used to exchange every type of data for example music, photos, own documents or videos. PowerFolder automatically detects changes and synchronizes.

Download PowerFolder 3.1.1 in Softonic