The ALShow codecs included movie player lets your watch all your videos, movies, and DVDs without searching for video codecs or audio codecs. From AVI to XviD, playing movies is first-click easy with codecs for all popular video, audio, and movie formats. ALShow also recognizes codecs that you do not have and automatically helps instantly install the right codecs. ALShow loads movies fast and plays movies smoothly.

No more video playback stuttering. Audio, video, and screen captures let you save portions of movies to share with friends. You can also import them to your favorite audio or video editor. Video looping lets you repeat parts of a movie. Captions and subtitles are supported for monitor and TV output. The ESC key hides ALShow when you are supposed to do homework. Click the tray icon to resume playing your DVD movie or video.

Download ALShow 1.62 Beta in Softonic

Rainlendar is a lightweight and customizable calendar for your desktop.

When I first launched Rainlendar I was impressed by the widget-like appearance. Widget are small, handy gadgets that can pop up on your screen to show you all types of information, from weather forecasts, to stock charts or the time and date. They are usually small, attractive and very discreetly fit on your desktop. Rainlendar’s elements similarly have that cloud-like feel. The notes, events and calendar windows float around on your desktop and can be moved about your screen and disappear or reappear in a touch.

Rainlendar stands out from classic calendar programs thanks to a highly customizable interface and the possibility to quickly and effortlessly jot down notes and important events. Although it only comes with two different skins, the program offers a link to www.customize.org, where you should find the style which suits your tastes. But Rainlendar doesn’t stop there. You can set up hotkeys to manage Rainlendar at the push of a key and, thanks to various plug-ins present in the program, integrate Rainlendar directly to other utilities like Outlook and iCalendar. Rainlendar is always within reach as a tray icon on your desktop and bringing it up just takes a click of your mouse.

Unfortunately Rainlendar’s real originality is also its weakness. The program offers a wide range of skins but adding these to the program is far from straightforward. You have to drag your downloaded skin into the Skins folder for the Rainlendar program file and then browse to the new skin from the ‘Edit Skin’ option in Rainlendar’s drop down menu.

If you like to keep your calendar on your PC, but find the one offered by Windows too dull, Rainlendar is a good alternative. You’ll enjoy setting your own style and the way it discreetly fits onto your desktop.

Download Rainlendar 2.4 in Softonic

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

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

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

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

Download UseNeXT 4.81 in Softonic

Pitaschio is a free, easy application that makes it more convenient to use Microsoft Windows. This tool includes a large number of useful functions to tweak the way windows behave, disable certain keys and collect statistics about the usage of keyboard and mouse.

Take a look at what Pitaschio can do for you:

• Stick window to other windows when moving and resizing
• Restrict window position to inside of the screen
• Minimize window to system tray
• Use small icons in the desktop
• Disable Windows key, Insert key, Alt key etc.
• Lock mouse or keyboard while you are cleaning keyboard or mouse
• Take statistics about mouse and keyboard
• Calculate Moon's age

Download Pitaschio 2.24 in Softonic

Do you get tired of using desktop shortcuts or the Start Menu to access programs in Windows? If so, don't fret because Launchy can make your life a lot easier.

Launchy is a free windows utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager. Launchy indexes the programs in your Start Menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks in just a few keystrokes! Launchy is very fast and ultra discreet because it runs quietly in the background or system tray ready for use.

When you need Launchy, simply bring it the fore by holding the Alt key and tapping the space key. Then type in a few letters of the program you are searching for and hit enter once it has been found. To make Launchy disappear, just hit escape or alt+space. It's a bit annoying to have to hit two keys but a small price to pay for a quick launch method such as Launchy.

Launchy can help boost your productivity and cut down the amount of mouse clicking time you need to do every day - you won't be disappointed.

Download Launchy 2.1.2 in Softonic

Using the Windows Command Tool or Run Dialogue still remains a mystery to many people - it's virtually redundant unless you are a system administrator.

Super Run XP (which despite the name also runs on Vista) aims to bring this tool to the masses by making the command tool more accessible and usable via a much friendly user interface. Super Run XP is a bit easier to access than the command tool as it sits in the taskbar and can be called up with the single click of a mouse. You can instantly access the applications on your computer via Super Run XP with the "Open With" icon which gives you a secondary menu of the applications and programs installed on your machine.

With Super Run XP, you can also view and monitor processes on your computer and close down or block those that may be causing problems in the same way as you can with Windows Task Manager. Of course, you can also launch your internet browser using Super Run XP as well as documents and photos. In fact, you can do pretty much anything you'd normally do via your Start menu with Super Run XP but in a slightly quicker way.

Super Run XP doesn't make a huge deal of difference to the speed you can access programs on your computer but it's a handy alternative to a messy Start menu.

Download Super Run XP 2.5 in Softonic

The BCWipe utility is a shell extender for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP, intended to secure delete your files. It supports correspondent U.S. Department of Defense recommendations (DoD 5200.28-STD). The BCWipe utility provides several ways to shred file's contents from the disk:

• Delete with wiping. Using 'Delete with wiping' command you can delete and wipe your files and folders using pop-up context menus in Windows Shell (Explorer program).

• Wipe free disk space. If you have previously deleted sensitive files using a standard operating system command, you may wipe free space on the disk where these files were stored - all previously deleted files' contents will be erased.

• Swap file wiping. BCWipe utility automatically wipes Windows Swap file contents when you run 'Wipe free disk space' command.

• Recycle Bin wiping. You can wipe contents of Windows Recycle Bin by pointing on the Bin icon by mouse and running the 'Wipe Recycle Bin' command from context pop-up menu

• Windows ME specific: allows to wipe contents of special folders, created by Windows ME 'System Restore' function.

Download BCWipe 3.11.6 in Softonic

Need3Space is a comprehensive set of tools which helps you control and manage your disk space, while also gathering free space, for any drive. With Need3Space you can find duplicate files, temporary files, unneeded or junk files, old files, large files, and even empty files and folders. A vast number of options helps you customize your search.

Need3Space supports all drive types: hard disks, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Network drives, USB storage devices, and memory disks. With the Analyze tool you can find out which folders and files are the largest on your drive with only a glance and a few clicks. One option with the Analyze tool is to group all files on selected hard drives or folders by file type, which allows you to see how much space is used by each file type (MP3, AVI, EXE, ZIP, etc.)

Need3Space has an optimized search engine, so it uses very little of your system's resources while searching for files. Also, at any time, you can send the application to background mode, or change its priority on the fly from the taskbar icon context menu.

The integrated Uninstaller will list for you the applications installed on your computer, calculate the estimated size (if possible) for those applications, and show you the total amount of space used by those installed applications.

Download Need3Space 1.5.1.20 in Softonic

Video DownloadHelper installs in the Firefox toolbar to enable you to download in just a few clicks.

When it animates, clicking on the video icon downloads it directly. This simple extension downloads anything from YouTube videos, to MySpace, Google Video, DailyMotion, Porkolt, iFilm and more. You can select the folder you want to download videos where you will find them in FLV format. To make things even easier to keep track of, the files are added to the list of Firefox downloads like any other file. So you can see in a glance exactly what you've downloaded and how many videos you have in your collection. The only problem you might find is that sometimes, the downloads don't start immediately. It can take time depending on the streaming on the video site server but also, it seems that the program itself has to process the file before it starts downloading. The latest version has introduced some major innovations in the interface which make it much faster to use. One example is that FLV videos that you view are now remembered by the program so you can view your viewing history at any time and request the download of several videos in one batch or go directly to their original page. You have to enable this function via the system preferences and select 'enabled' in the 'History' tab. The developers have also reduced the number o duplicate entries that used to plague the previous version and there are fewer memory leaks so it's lighter on your RAM.

A useful FLV video downloading tool for Firefox users and the latest improvements have fixed many of the speed problems which hampered it before.

Download Video DownloadHelper 3.2 in Softonic

The simplest way to breathe new life into your desktop is to give it a decent wallpaper but even a static paper can get boring after a while.

Adolix Wallpaper Changer is a free tool which helps configure your desktop wallpaper easily to change automatically. You can use any image as long as it's in JPG, GIF, PNG or BMP format. Adolix Wallpaper Changer comes with a simple and intuitive control panel to customize your desktop wallpaper allowing you to change the size, position, transition style and other little tweaks.

The Adolix Wallpaper Changer control panel itself is user friendly and there's not much to it. One particularly useful feature in Adolix Wallpaper Changer is a "playlist" editor which allows you to create playlists for your wallpapers in much the same way as you would for a music application. This is great depending on your mood or who is using the computer allowing you to set up different profiles for each. The time period of changes in Adolix Wallpaper Changer is entirely up to you and you can add a few snazzy background images for your photos. In Adolix Wallpaper Changer, everything can also be controlled from a system tray icon rather than having to go through your control panel.

A free and easy way to freshen up your desktop, Animate Adolix Wallpaper Changer will make the best of your photo collection.

Download Adolix Wallpaper Changer 2.2 in Softonic

So you’ve taken the leap and installed the versatile internet browser, Firefox, but are you ready to trade in your Outlook Express for Mozilla’s open source mail application? Thunderbird is Mozilla’s award winning and free solution to manage your mail more efficiently.

Thunderbird woos users thanks to its flurry of options and the benefits of an open source application. Automatic updates ensure that you have the latest version of Thunderbird, preventing any security threats and offering you new features as soon as they’re available.

The biggest worry for users is switching from one mail application to another and losing precious information. With Thunderbird the switch is painless because you can quickly import your mail and contacts from your Outlook and set up your POP3 or IMAP account is a snap. To stay well organized we suggest taking advantage of Thunderbird’s filters. While this option is nothing new to the experienced Outlook user, you’ll have to admit that Thunderbird makes filters much more accessible, thanks to a simple selection of combinations and actions. Create distinct folders for your personal and professional mail and your newsletters and associate them with filters to avoid the hassle of constantly sorting your mail. Another feature we could single out is the integrated spell checker, a blessing if you send many emails and can’t be bothered to constantly verify your writing.

Although it isn’t visible right away, Thunderbird also features an RSS reader. Handy if you need to follow the news or specialist websites, this tool fits seamlessly into Thunderbird and you could almost forget that it is a mail application. Paste in the RSS feed from your favorite news source and the main messages window will reveal a list of all the latest feeds. The message pane is used as an integrated browser window to display the selected article.

Email is the number one source of viruses, that’s why Thunderbird offers various levels of message encryption, a spam filter and support for valid certificates. We found the spam filter particularly effective. Set it to “learn” mode, and it teaches itself to separate the valid email from the rest of the junk. You have to be mindful of this option though, because Thunderbird can become too restrictive and may decide on its own that one of your friends is suddenly persona non grata. Reviewing your junk folder every now and then should avoid you accidentally losing friends. Thunderbird also automatically turns off Javascript and by default does not load remote images, a good way to defuse the risk of viruses from dodgy emails.

Another known feature of the Mozilla line of products is customization. Just as with Firefox, Thunderbird can integrate a slew of extensions and add-ons to rev up your inbox. You can also add or remove icons from the actions pane, selecting the ones you use most frequently.

The one place where Thunderbird fails, and professionals will confirm this, is the failure to integrate Microsoft Exchange support. An essential tool in any work environment, the collaborative messaging software is sorely missed in Thunderbird and seriously limits its usefulness in offices. Furthermore, we can question why Mozilla included an RSS reader yet failed to incorporate a calendar, standard in most mail applications nowadays.

While the lack of proper business minded features will limit Thunderbird’s point in the workplace, the simplicity, customizability and security make it a number one choice for home users. If you’re worried about your safety on the Internet or are just looking for a more efficient way of handling your mail, Thunderbird is probably the best solution out there.

Download Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.16 in Softonic

So you’ve made the leap and installed the versatile internet browser, Firefox, but are you ready to trade in your Outlook Express for Mozilla’s open source mail application? Thunderbird is Mozilla’s award winning and free solution to manage your mail more efficiently.

Thunderbird woos users thanks to its flurry of options and the benefits of an open source application. Automatic updates ensure that you have the latest version of Thunderbird, preventing any security threats and offering you new features as soon as they’re available.

The biggest worry for users is switching from one mail application to another and losing precious information. With Thunderbird the switch is painless because you can quickly import your mail and contacts from your Outlook and set up your POP3 or IMAP account is a snap. To stay well organized we suggest that you take advantage of Thunderbird’s filters. While this option is nothing new to the experienced Outlook user, you’ll come to see that Thunderbird makes filters much more accessible, thanks to a simple selection of combinations and actions. Create distinct folders for your personal and professional mail and your newsletters and associate them with filters to avoid the hassle of constantly sorting your mail. Another feature we could single out is the integrated spell checker, a blessing if you send many emails and can’t be bothered to constantly verify your writing.

Although it isn’t visible right away, Thunderbird also features an RSS reader. Handy if you need to follow the news or specialist websites, this tool fits seamlessly into Thunderbird and you could almost forget that it is a mail application. Paste in the RSS feed from your favorite news source and the main messages window will reveal a list of all the latest feeds. The message pane is used as an integrated browser window to display the selected article.

Email is the number one source of viruses, that’s why Thunderbird offers various levels of message encryption, a spam filter and support for valid certificates. We found the spam filter particularly effective. Set it to “learn” mode, and it teaches itself to separate the valid email from the rest of the junk. You have to be mindful of this option though, because Thunderbird can become too restrictive and may decide on its own that one of your friends is suddenly persona non grata. Reviewing your junk folder every now and then should avoid you accidentally losing friends. Thunderbird also automatically turns off Javascript and by default does not load remote images, a good way to defuse the risk of viruses from dodgy emails.

Another known feature of the Mozilla line of products is customization. Just as with Firefox, Thunderbird can integrate a slew of extensions and add-ons to rev up your inbox. You can also add or remove icons from the actions pane, selecting the ones you use most frequently.

The one place where Thunderbird fails, and professionals will confirm this, is the failure to integrate Microsoft Exchange support. An essential tool in any work environment, the collaborative messaging software is sorely missed in Thunderbird and seriously limits its usefulness in offices. Furthermore, we can question why Mozilla included an RSS reader yet failed to incorporate a calendar, standard in most mail applications nowadays.

While the lack of proper business minded features will limit Thunderbird’s point in the workplace, the simplicity, customizability and security make it a number one choice for home users. If you’re worried about your safety on the Internet or are just looking for a more efficient way of handling your mail, Thunderbird is probably the best solution out there.

Download Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5.0.10 in Softonic

If you think your Gmail account can be used for a lot more than just storing email messages, you're right.

Simply install the GSpace extension and you'll be able to use it as a free online storage service for all your important documents and files. While it's not intended to be used as a sharing tool for large files, the GSpace extension provides you with a handy tool to transfer files between different computers and locations or to keep backup copies online.

Using the extension is a cinch. Simply click on its icon on the bottom right corner of the browser's interface, configure your Gmail account (you can use as many as you want) and you're ready to go. However, you won't be able to do any work with files in this little window. In order to do so, you'll need to open the Gspace manager in the Tools > Gspace menu and handle your file transfers from there. Transfer speed is not spectacular but it's quite acceptable. Besides, you can always leave the program working in the background.

GSpace enables you to easily turn your Gmail account into an online file storage space. Despite not being very fast, it's still a very handy way to keep files always at hand.

Download Gspace 0.5.95 in Softonic

DownloaderXL downloads free historical stock, index and mutual fund data from Yahoo! Finance. Historical data is available from exchanges in the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, India and more.

DownloaderXL provides advanced charting capabilities, generating candlestick, bar, and line charts from downloaded data quickly and easily - just click the Chart icon and select your desired chart type.

The software can download data for a list of tickers, but is not optimized for this task. If you are interested in downloading data for tens or hundreds of tickers, we would recommend BulkQuotesXL, which is optimized for simultaneous downloads.

Download DownloaderXL 6.1.17 in Softonic

In these days where most things have been commercialised to the hilt, it’s always refreshing to come across a free piece of software that performs as well as its pricey rivals. Irfanview has long been a shining example of such a program, and I’ve been using the app for some time for perusing and managing my ever-growing photo collection.

Amazingly, since Bosnian developer Irfan Skiljan released the image viewer back in 1996, he’s generously kept it free of charge in spite of its massive popularity. Perhaps even more incredibly, the app still stands at just over 1Mb, bucking the trend of programs that swell immensely as the feature updates go by. In fact, it’s Irfanview’s slimline qualities that are its greatest asset, helping to make it the fastest image viewer in the West. Images load almost instantaneously when you click on them and you get rapid-fire results when cycling through a directory of photos using the Back and Forward buttons. It’s only when you’re flicking through vast amounts of images using the thumbnail viewer that things get a bit slow, which could easily be remedied do with an improved caching function.

Another of Irfanview’s crowd-pleasing talents is its ability to handle an enormous range of different file formats, including g, somewhat rarely, icon (.ico) files. Unlike many of its rival tools, Irfanview doesn’t try to impose itself as the default viewer for all image types, giving you the option to specify the formats you wish to associate with it for yourself.

The program’s functionality can be expanded by installing plug-ins that allow Irfanview to open other file types, such as movies and audio – again a unique feature among photo viewers. You also get a smattering of basic editing features such as crop, rotate, flip and resize, along with some bread-and-butter effects like blur and sharpen, plus a smart crop function.

Upon first try, many users might be put off by the somewhat basic interface and the fact that it loads new images externally, rather than within the GUI itself. Nevertheless this is a small sacrifice to pay for a program that proves to be probably the quickest way to view images on your PC.

Download IrfanView 4.20 in Softonic

Tudumo is an excellent tool to organize all sorts of tasks, from business meetings in your company to final papers for your university courses. It's similar to other task agendas, in the sense that it displays the task list on the main interface and uses icons to distinguish them. However, it has some unique features that make it a great app to optimize time management and improve productivity.

Among these special features, you'll find the possibility to organize tasks by tags instead of typical categories such as "Personal", "Work" or "Urgent". With tags, you can create as many categories as you want and then search through your pending tasks much more easily.

Notes (referred as "Actions" in Tudumo) can have a brief description, plus starting and ending dates. The program also enables you to divide the list with headings to make it clearer. It's a bit tricky to learn, but fortunately there are some sample notes that work as a tutorial on how to create and edit notes. Tudumo can also print your task list on paper and supports some basic customization.

Apparently the program will be free while it's in beta, so you'd better hurry up to grab your copy now!

Organize all your tasks with Tudumo and make the most of your time

Download Tudumo 1.0.0.275 in Softonic

If you're a hardcore computer user you probably work with quite a few apps opened at the same time, making the most of your system resources.

Unfortunately these resources are not unlimited and there comes a point when the system memory simply can't stretch anymore. This is when you need a program like MKN MemoryMonitor, which not only controls the way your system manages memory, but also lets you optimize it by freeing up a fixed percentage.

The program keeps track of both physical memory and paged memory, displaying a colorful animated graph that shows memory usage in real time, as well as some more specific details about each type of memory. This information is not only available in the program's interface, but also in a handy pop-up window that opens when you hover your mouse over the program's icon in the system tray.

Tracking memory management is not the only task for MKN MemoryMonitor though. You can also free up memory whenever you need it with just a mouse click. You can customize the percentage of memory to be freed, but unfortunately this process must be done manually.

MKN MemoryMonitor controls your system's memory management and also lets you free memory up when necessary, tough you must do it manually.

Download MKN MemoryMonitor 2.0 in Softonic

We never get tired of Windows manager tools here in the Softonic offices, and after trying out this latest offering from Yamicsoft, we are still looking for a tool that strikes a good balance between usability and functionality. WinXP Manager may offer a fine range of options and tweaking utilities, but the delivery is haphazard with several sources of concern for the average user.

Let’s start from the beginning. The first time you open the program you are prompted to create a system restore point, just in case something should go horribly wrong. If you have system restore disabled on your computer, WinXP Manager will go ahead and load up anyway. What you are presented with is a detailed overview of your system specs. Through the tabbed navigation, you can switch the view to check out details about your operating system, computer, hardware, and processes. There isn't, however, any central tab that would display all the information in one place so that you could easily print out a complete run down on what you have in your box. Neither, for that matter, is there a print button for quickly converting anything to hard copy.

On further investigation, you find yourself digging through tabs of tabs to find what you need, or alternatively, opening pop-up windows that appear when you click buttons that lie alongside those that don’t produce pop-ups. Supposedly consistency wasn't high on the priority list. WinXP Manager runs inside a fixed width window, something that wouldn't usually merit any criticism but in this case the window is very small relative to the entire screen size and results in some scrolling.

Putting design and usability aside, there are a lot of positive things to say about WinXP Manager. As we mentioned, it does provide comprehensive information about all aspects of your hardware and software. There is a handy optimization wizard that guides inexperienced users through the process, and for every tick box you see, there is a corresponding detailed tooltip that will give you a clue whether or not you are on the verge of destroying your PC. There are an amazing amount of utilities for tweaking XP to the last, although we are concerned that the registry cleaner may be over aggressive.

Boiling it down, WinXP Manager is a fantastic utility for anyone that has a good general understanding of the many various elements making up their PC. If you have a tweak in mind and don’t want to bury yourself in the actual system files, then this program will serve you well. On the other hand, if you are after a quick all round maintenance fix and you don't quite get the registry or services, then you should look for a less hard-core solution.

Download WinXP Manager 5.2.6 in Softonic

Game Jackal has been designed to enhance your gaming experience in a number of subtle and not so subtle ways.

The most useful application of it for most gamers will be to avoid having to insert a CD-ROM when you are playing a game. You can create profiles on your desktop for separate games with "One-click" profile creation option. This involves right clicking on any game icon and selecting "Convert to Game Jackal Profile". The wizard them takes you through a process that means that the next time you start your game, you won't have to do so much clicking and exchanging of CD-ROM discs. This obviously saves time and wear and tear on your disks. You can use Game Jackal to launch all your games if you want using this option which is a nice way to tie them all together and see what you've got installed on your system. For parents however, the most useful aspect of Game Jackal is that you can prevent adult games from reaching young eyes. "Guardian Control" allows you to place limits on who can and can't use certain games and with games such as Grand Theft Auto 4 featuring some of the most explicit language and gaming yet, this is no bad thing.

For serious gamers or concerned parents, there's something for everyone in Game Jackal that will enhance your gaming experience or at least, set your mind at ease.

Download Game Jackal Pro 3.0.1.6 in Softonic

WinMX Turbo Booster is a powerful plug-in for the WinMX P2P application. The hottest technology is applied to boost up downloads speed and increase the amount of download sources. The program's interface is designed to be attractive and easy to use. WinMX Turbo Booster is free and there are no ads, no adware, no spyware, and no trojans included in the program.

Features of the app:

• Interface is easy to use and good-looking
• Automatically resumes paused downloads
• Finished and wrong files are cleaned automatically
• Finds more sources at user-specified intervals
• Interface is easy operable by a system tray icon
• Clean and free, without any adware or spyware
• Configuration from last run is saved and auto loads on start-up

Download WinMX Turbo Booster 4.8.3 in Softonic