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

When you first encounter PPLive it seems like someone’s playing a sick joke on you. Upon first installing the application you’ll almost certainly be thinking this is the most annoying, pointless program you’ve ever seen and will be ruining the time you wasted downloading it. The reason for this being is that at first glance it just looks like a very poor media player and the entire interface is in Chinese.

These problems are made all the more frustrating by the riches promised by the program. The shareware app boasts to offer you the ability to watch free television from across the world on your PC, including live sport, live news, the latest episodes of top dramas and comedies, and a host of brand new movie blockbusters. The software integrates advanced peer-to-peer technology so it can provide the users with the smoothest TV programs with no interceptions, meaning every user becomes a broadcaster, saving the cost of traditional streaming media.

Not being fluent in the Eastern language and uninspired by the drab GUI we were all set to uninstall and even thought about removing the program from the Softonic site altogether to save you visitors from the worst ten minutes of your life. Then something happened – after stumbling across a site devoted to PPLive we realized that was a way around the frustration.

ESSENTIAL USER TIP: How to change the interface to English

By loading up the PPLive TV Engine and right-clicking on the fourth option from the bottom (the one that looks like a squiggle) you’re presented with the chance to change the interface into English. Hallelujah! Unfortunately, opening the Channel List menu gave us even more Chinese to try and decipher but luckily the Football4Less site contains the full list online, as does the PPLive site.

The list of streaming feeds is pretty comprehensive, and although many are in Chinese, it’s possible to dig around and find some great programs such as Desperate Housewives, English Premiership football games, American Idol, WWE wrestling, and a host of new films . Clicking on the link in the ‘Currently’ category on the listings page brings up the schedule of programs for that particular channel for the day, although many repeat the same show or movie all day. You can also search channels by category, such as sports, movies, news, cartoons, etc.

The task of finding western movies and shows is made all the more tricky by the Chinese-to-English translations of the programs, which can be a little baffling until you get used to it. To give you some clues to start with: Friends is known as ‘Six person of like’; Desperate Housewives becomes ‘Crazy Housewives’, and Brokeback Mountain is curiously known as ‘Breaks arm mountain.’

Clicking on a show will open your media player and begin playing the show or film from the start. You can choose to use the built-in media player (which is rather limited in features), or open in Windows Media Player or Real Player. The program uses P2P technology to share TV shows, so the more people are online the faster and more reliable the access will be, and we were pleasantly surprised by the speed in which most of the streams are buffered and the quality of the video. Unfortunately, like many P2P apps, the program turns out to be riddled with malware which installs itself in your temporary drive - so be warned!

Although it’s about as easy-to-use as a rubber saw, PPLive is certainly worth investing a bit of time and patience in if you want to watch TV for free online, and once you’ve figured it out it becomes a very addictive way to spend your time.

Download PPLive 1.9.21 in Softonic

As the world of P2P TV continues its expansion, new kid on the block is TV Ants. The increasing unreliability of its Chinese cousin PPLive means that increasing numbers of users are changing to this simple but highly effective alternative.

The installation is fortunately pretty simple as everything is in Japanese – it’s simply a case of clicking on “Ok” a few times and away you go. The channel list appears in a simple window and you can reveal more by clicking “Renew”. The channel list is a bizarre mix of Japanese, public and private channels. If you want to find out how American troops keep up their morale in Iraq, check out “TV Pentagon” (the US army’s official channel) or if you’re looking for something a bit more scenic, there’s “TV Canada Tourism”.

Streaming is steady once it gets going and image quality is as good as anything you’ll get on PPLive. There are literally hundreds of channels to choose from although most are obviously of little interest to English viewers. The program is actually a project of Zhejiang University hence the plethora of mainly Asian channels. Its popularity lies in the fact that like most P2P TV apps, the channels broadcast live European football much to the chagrin of the The Premiership, La Liga, Sky Sports,etc.

Other channels include music, movies, news and fashion, mostly from Asian sources. Most of this can be found on Shanghai TV, Gungdong TV and Goal TV. Schedules can be found on various P2P forums around the net such as Free Football and you’ll certainly need them to get the most out of TV Ants.

Download TvAnts 1.0.0.59.0834 in Softonic

BearShare has been a favorite among many P2P fans for some time now, and we were intruigedintrigued to find out how the developer has attempted to diversify and launch a client designed specifically for downloading movies . Like many, we were initially puzzled by the need for such an app, when the original program allows you to download movies anyway.

Putting these prejudices aside, if you're someone who is just looking to download movies, TV shows and clips then BearFlix could be seen as an ideal choice. The clear, tabbed interface incorporates many of the elements of its father application, which is one of the easiest P2P clients to navigate around, making this a great program for those who are new to the world of file sharing.

As you'd expect, there are several changes to the GUI that lend themselves to video downloading videos, including a nifty filtering function that allows you to hone your search to a specific movie file type, though thisn’t exactly a revolutionary feature. There's also a traffic progress monitor at the top of the main window indicating the amount of bandwidth currently being commandeered by the app. However, possibly the biggest change is in the inclusion of a built-in video player, allowing you to preview videos and play them once they've been downloaded. Given that this is such an integral part ofis what supposedly what makes BearFlix different stand out from other P2P, we were somewhat underwhelmed by this feature. P layback is often a little slow and juddery, and the range of player controls is very basic. Considering it's supposed to be dedicated to video, some multimedia conversion or compression tools wouldn't have gone amiss either.

That said, there are still many positives to be taken from BearFlix. The advanced parental controls feature puts you in control of what content your kids can get hold of, searching is very quick, and best of all the network returns a substantial number of matching results when compared to the likes of Limewire and Ares. Whether a video-only P2P client catches will catch on remains to be seen , but if you're looking for rare TV shows or older movies, BearFlix is a fast, simple and reliable solution. If it's newer releases you're after though, you're probably better off with a Bittorrent client, as availablityavailability and download times are superior. Remember though, kids, stick to the copyright-free material if you want to stay on the right side of the law.

Download BearFlix Basic 1.2.1.2 in Softonic

Joost, Democracy, VeohTV, Zattoo... The list of Internet TV apps being published lately doesn't end. Babelgum is one of them, another online TV client that claims to be the perfect application to "watch whatever you want whenever you want".

However, the truth is quite different. Babelgum is still in beta, and you can tell especially by the lack of content. There are several channels devoted to music, documentaries and news, and you can also watch your own videos, but I had a hard time trying to find something really interesting to watch. This may also be due to the fact that Babelgum is trying to set itself as a promotional platform for video content producers and doesn't just rip content off commercial TV channels.

In all I think it's a very promising app with lots of potential. It features a slick black interface and it's very easy to use. Let's give them some more developing time and see what happens.

Download Babelgum Beta in Softonic

PeerTV is another Internet TV tool which enables you to watch worldwide channels for free. Yes, there's a bunch of these going on air these days, but you know, gotta test 'em all!

What we like best about PeerTV is the wide range of channels offered by the program and also the fact that you can add manually more if you want. This list can be conveniently filtered by language or genre. Plus you can add channels to a Favorites folder.

On the downside, PeerTV takes some time to load channels and it doesn't even show a progress bar or anything similar, so you don't really know if the program is actually loading the channel. Image is usually good quality, but small sized. Well, at least you get a sneak peek at other countries' TV productions.

Download PeerTV 0.4.1b in Softonic

Kastor!TV is free and is fully functional based on P2P technology to bring you hundreds of TV channels.

You just need to have TV watching hardware installed on your computer such as a TV card. K!TV is now compatible with most TV-PC hardware.

K!TV uses Electronic Program Guide (EPG) technology to make your life simpler. Thanks to the integrated nxtvepg software, at any time you can view information about TV shows, read summaries of films you are viewing etc.

Every time you switch channel, K!TV gives you the name and time of the actual show you are viewing. Try it today!

Download Kastor! TV 2.3.0.1 in Softonic