Lego has to be one of the greatest toys ever invented but the problem I always had is that pieces always used to get lost down the back of the sofa or swallowed by the dog.

There's no risk of that happening with Lego Digital Designer, a game that lets your imagination run wild in a 3D world of Lego pieces. The 3D working area allows you to place pieces by dragging and dropping them onto the building board and allowing you to pan, zoom and move in any direction you choose. Some of the movements can be a bit sluggish and jerky but generally it works pretty well.

The pieces you want to use are selected from a floating menu which are well organized by category and size. The difference between real life and Lego Digital Designer however is that there is literally no limit to how many block you can use or the designs you can come up with. And if you want to show off, you can upload your design to an online gallery like a big kid - or even more amazing, order your design as the real thing.

If you loved Lego and have a boundless imagination, then Lego Digital Designer will keep you or at least your kids occupied for hours.

Download LEGO Digital Designer 2.3 in Softonic

Following the release of new versions of both Internet Explorer and Firefox, the infamous 'browser wars' are flaring up again. Despite both Firefox 1.5 and the Beta of IE7 making significant strides, it would be be foolish to think this was a two-horse race. While gaining a good reputation with geeks and power users, Opera has long been a bit-part player among the big boys of the browser world. However, if this preview release is anything to go by, the Norwegian-built browser could finally be ready to punch with the heavyweights.

Opera has been pioneering new ways of browsing the web for some time. It has had tabbed browsing since the days before tabbed browsing was cool and developed the innovative 'mouse gestures' control system, where you navigate through the web just by holding the mouse button and flicking your wrist. The developers even dabbled with a multi-pane interface for viewing several pages within one interface.

The good news is that Opera has lost none of its appetite for innovation, and version 9 is packed with new goodies that will have the programmers at Mozilla and Microsoft choking on their doughnuts. For starters the app runs much quicker than the previous release, making it arguably the quickest browser around (except perhaps for Safari) at rendering pages. Incredibly, despite this boost in performance, the program appears to use less memory than version 8.5, making it far less draining on system resources than Firefox and IE.

In terms of features Opera is the gift that keeps on giving. New to the program comes OSX Tiger-style 'widgets', allowing you to check news, convert currency, view the weather and so on through a series of draggable pop-ups which anchor themselves in front of the browser. Although there aren’t many widgets to choose from at present, this is sure to change once the tech-minded Opera fans start developing more.

Another great addition to Opera 9 is BitTorrent support, allowing you to download torrents directly within the browser – a feature that amazingly no one had thought of before. This system works very smoothly, which makes us wonder why RSS feed reading support in Opera is still so poor.

Among the other new treats within the program is a nifty new search feature which lets you add any search engine to the search bar in the main toolbar. This means you can instantly access searches within your favorite online destinations (Softonic, for instance).

Tabbed browsing remains, although some users may be annoyed to discover that Opera has added close tab buttons to the tabs themselves rather than as a separate button. Having said this, the new web page preview thumbnails that appear when you rollover a tab are a real masterstroke. Mouse gestures are still there too, along with the addition of Total Recall-style voice commands – another example of how cutting-edge this browser is.

Opera's developers have been keen to ramp up security features too, and although they aren't highly original, the new content blocking and pop-up blocking functions serve their purpose effectively. What's more, it's refreshing to see a browser that embraces the latest web standards so freely, with the latest release boasting support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 tags.

The browser is remarkably stable and is far better behaved than Internet Explorer 7. Combined with its speed, innovative features and standards support, Opera is undoubtedly web software's best-kept secret, and the final release may prove to be even better than Firefox. Don't say anything though, or everyone will want it.

Download Opera 9.6 in Softonic

Is your game collection so big that you can't quite remember all of your titles? You probably need to keep it organized. The Mac platform offers plenty of catalogers that will let you keep your games in some sort of order. Game Hunter is such a program.

Fitted with an iTunes-like interface, Game Hunter lets you enter your own game information, including an image of the pack. If you're missing information just press 'Autocomplete' and Game Hunter will look through the different Amazon sites for it. It didn't work all the time when we tried it.

Game Hunter lets you create smart lists of games and integrates both iCal and Address Book, so you can keep control of what titles you borrowed and lent to friends. I wasn't convinced by Quick Look integration, which failed every time I tried it.

Game Hunter's interface is fairly rudimentary, but thanks to the search box at the top, you'll always be a few seconds away from any title.

Game Hunter is a simple game cataloger which keeps all your titles organized.

Download Game Hunter 0.7.6 in Softonic

MacPipes X is a classic arcade puzzle in which you have to build a pipeline of required length connecting pipe parts within a time limit. Despite its appeal and gameplay, it is not a clone of Pipe Dream from LucasArts Games. It is in fact a rendition of a small Amiga game from the late 80s, called Pipeline.

Download MacPipes X 1.2.8 in Softonic

They said it would come but I never believed them - live TV on the Internet, that is. Zattoo brings genuine TV to the Mac via peer-to-peer technology, indicating the appropriate selection of television channels based on the country you live in, something that no Internet TV app has done successfully to date. After registering for a Zattoo account online and installing the client, you'll get an overview of the available TV stations in your locality.

For viewing things like live sport, Zattoo is a dream come true. You simply click on your desired channel and the transmission begins within a few seconds. Providing you have a quick Net connection, the streaming of the broadcast will work very smoothly, with only a few seconds delay from the live television show itself.

Zattoo finally brings genuine live TV to the Mac, after a very long wait, and because the program provides channels local to you, you don't have to endure commentary in gobbledegook. Although the image quality leaves a lot to be desired, with a fast Internet connection, Zattoo gives you genuine live television in a way no other application can do at the moment.

Download Zattoo 3.3.0 Beta in Softonic

Scorecard is a comprehensive golf statistics application for Mac OS X which allows you to understand every aspect of your game. Improve your game by focusing on your weak points to lower your scores! By tracking golf's essential statistics, Scorecard gives you the areas of your game that need improvement and a history of your game play.

Features:

• Easy Course and Round Entry - Quickly update your stats after each round you play
• Handicap Calculations - Track your handicap and anti-handicap to monitor your overall game play.
• Essential Statistics
• Track your play by round type and weather conditions
• Unlimited Courses and Rounds (Registered Version)

Download Scorecard 1.4.1 in Softonic

CornerChaos is a new and unique puzzle game! It's very easy to learn and great fun to play! The object of the game is to roll balls into the centre of a sloped board. Lay four like balls together to clear some space! With no time penalties you can play the game at your own pace. The controls are very easy to master; this is a most relaxing game for all ages!

Download CornerChaos 1.2.8 in Softonic

Solitaire is the ultimate solitary game but the default version on Windows is pretty uninspiring - thank goodness that Wiz Solitaire gives it a bit more class then.

Wiz Solitaire is a collection of various classic card games with the option to create and use beautiful decks with your favorite pictures - effectively, you can create your own deck of cards. Wiz Solitaire supports different deck formats allowing you to choose between thousands of available card sets but you can easily create your own decks with the included Wiz Solitaire Deck Editor.

The Wiz Solitaire collection includes a selection of classic games including Klondike, FreeCell and Spider. In fact, there are more than 25 types of solitaire to choose from in Wiz Solitaire including detailed statistics on each game for real enthusiasts. There's also a good teaching element to this game - if you're stuck or unsure what to do next, Wiz Solitaire suggests moves for you.

For anyone that enjoys solitaire and wants to customize exactly how they play the game, Wiz Solitaire is a fantastic package beautifully presented.

Download Wiz Solitaire 1.32 in Softonic

It's probably going to be a good few years before the first manned mission to Mars so until then, you'll have to make do with Mars Explorer Widget.

Mars Explorer Widget is a free 3D game which works inside your browser and sees you explore the volcanoes, plateaus and lava flows of Mars with a few stunts thrown in for good measure. You can even play Mars Explorer Widget against friends (or even the 18 year old developer himself) over the internet although playing them at what is not quite clear.

Mars Explorer Widget doesn't really offer any "challenge" as such, although it is fun imagining what Mars might be like to race around. It's probably most suitable for kids or those learning about planets and what to get a general idea of Mars' landscape. As a game though, it really doesn't hold any interest at all. It simply extends itself to a few races and chasing other players around the planet.

Mars Explorer Widget is a fun and educational trip round Mars, although to call it a game is stretching it a bit much.

Download Mars Explorer Widget 1.7a in Softonic

Similar to the other Pedia titles created by the same developer, Gamepedia allows you to store and organize all your items, in this case your video games. Perfect if you own different game systems and your game collection is getting a bit out of hand. You'll be able to enter titles by searching for them directly on six different Amazon sites or scanning the UPC on the game with your Mac iSight camera. Once again here, you'll have to make sure the UPC is clean and your room is well lighted for the iSight camera to work well.

The games pages look great with the game covers, and you can browse them in a Cover Flow style interface. Gamepedia also allows you to create smart collections to manage games any way you want, say by theme, character or alphabetical order. You can also create your own wishlist from Amazon and keep tabs on who's borrowed what from your collection. Statistics are also fun to check out, to get an idea what your games library is composed of. The only downside to Gamepedia is that it's pretty much the same as the other pedia titles, except with games. It would have been great for the developer to create only one application instead of four.

Download Gamepedia 4.3.1 in Softonic

I'm a sucker for any game that features 3D graphics (it goes back to the days of Stunt Car Racer on the Amiga) and especially those that are free.

Marble Arena ticks both boxes and while it's not exactly the most spectacular or exciting game around (certainly not a patch on Stunt Car Racer) Marble Arena is a lot of fun. Basically, Marble Arena requires you to roll your marble around a 3D obstacle course going up and down slippery slopes, mastering air vents, jump-zones and even vortexes.

The more obstacles you successfully navigate in Marble Arena, the further you get and the more points you score. You can face a variety of surfaces such as sand, water, glass, ice and tarmac and if you get through them all, you're rewarded with upgrade points which you can use to improve your marble or change your skin.

It can be a bit boring on your own after a while although you do quite attached to the ball's plight. However, I imagine the real fun starts when you add more balls and more players who can roll against each other at the same time.

Marble Arena will either make you roll over and go to sleep after a few levels or lose your marbles trying to navigate it's many challenges.

Download Marble Arena 1.4 in Softonic

For anyone that has Mac OS X Tiger and is using Boot Camp, Winclone comes in really handy. The application makes it much more simple to clone multiple partitions. In this latest version, you can finally clone Microsoft Vista or you can stick to Windows XP. One of the nice features of the program is being able to clone on a separate drive or on the one where you have your Mac OS X partition. You can effectively manage multiple partitions of different operating systems on different drives, making it ideal for programmers and games and program testers.

What's more, Winclone will allow you to create a Boot Camp partition from the application itself and create image documents that can be stored on any media. Winclone is fairly speedy and is a great tool to have in a professional environment. All in all, it's a bit odd that Apple haven't included such a feature in Boot Camp.

Winclone is an excellent utility to clone multiple Boot Camp partitions quickly.

Download Winclone 2.0.9 in Softonic

Mac users aren't generally worried by malware. If you want to be on the safe side though, you can install an antivirus and regularly scan your Mac.

ClamXav is a free virus checker which can perform full system scans or analyze specific folders. Although the interface feels a little outdated, especially when using Leopard, it's easy to use and lets you select the areas you want to check on your Mac.

You can schedule automatic system scans to be performed regularly, by setting the day of the week and hour at which you want ClamXav to start its analysis. I suggest setting it in the middle of the night or some time when you know you won't be using your Mac.

ClamXav is very thorough and will generally find malware, if you're unlucky enough to have some on your Mac. The virus database is regularly updated as long as you're Mac is connected to the Internet.

We did find ClamXav a bit slow when doing full system scans though, and it can easily take a few hours before finishing. The best is therefore to identify areas of your Mac to scan and do theses individually. You can use the Sentry function to monitor changes in folders, however some users have found this function to be unstable.

Despite being a bit slow, ClamXav is a thorough virus checker for Mac with a regularly updated database. It's also completely free.

Download ClamXav 1.1.1 e933 in Softonic

Worried how long your kids are spending on the internet? Well Watcher can help you by setting-up clear boundaries between your children and their computer.

Watcher allows you to introduce time-limits on internet activity including surfing, messaging and even playing games. Simply input start and end times from Monday to Friday and at weekends and Watcher will do the rest. You can also fix time-limits if, for instance, you don't want your kids to be using the computer before school. Disk limits of your choice also ensure only a defined amount of space is ever available.

Best of all is the Dashboard widget which sets up a credit system for children to negotiate how they want to spend their total hours of computer access across the week. Instant statistics then give you immediate access to the past day's, week's or month's activity.

Watcher is a well-designed program that offers parents real peace of mind. The only problem is that your children might not be too happy.

Download Watcher 5.0 in Softonic

GameMaker is an easy to use card based development system which allows you to create simple adventure games with graphics, buttons, and text. There is no programming required, but it does have a small programming language which can be used to make better games. Just draw the pictures, type some text, click a few buttons, choose some options... and PRESTO, an adventure game is completed! You can then compile your game into a real stand-alone application that can be uploaded to online services.

Download GameMaker 3.9.91 in Softonic

Super Frog is a classic arcade game where you have to guide a frog across a busy highway to safety. This Christmas alternative to the popular game adds a bit of twist to it, with not only cars and trucks, but also candy canes and stockings coming into your way. After crossing the road successfully you'll have to make your way on a path and grab the present on the other side.

Christmas Super Frog is a fun timewaster but doesn't offer much more. First of all the graphics are really weak and the music itself gets annoying after a while. Even though the game is fairly easy to get used to, all you need is your arrow keys, it lacks any guidance for new users. We also thought the game got too difficult too early, as level 2 is already very challenging, with much more faster cars than the first level.

Christmas Super Frog is a basic time waster, fun for the holidays but nothing more.

Download Christmas Super Frog 1.9.1 in Softonic

The nightmare before Christmas? Almost. In Christmas Crisis you need to help out Santa delivering presents by guiding his sleigh and dropping presents over houses, whilst avoiding jets and airplanes. The game is certainly a good idea for the holidays and an original adaptation of the Space Invaders style, yet Christmas Crisis is on the whole rather disappointing.

First of all, and this may sound cheesy, but I quite like when there's a little introduction to the game, or at least some sort of setting. Christmas Crisis drops you right in without any explanation as to why you need to replace Santa. There's only a small window to explain the controls.

Movements in Christmas Crisis are simple. Use your arrow keys to navigate your sleigh and the space bar to shoot the presents onto houses. On the whole though, they feel a bit clunky, and there's a little delay every time you move the sleigh. Christmas Crisis is a bit difficult and I couldn't manage to hit all the houses in the first level. Getting used to it doesn't take much though, but the increase of planes flying around as you pass levels does make it challenging.

Even though the game lacks an introduction, and controls are clunky, Christmas Crisis is an OK time waster for the holidays.

Download Christmas Crisis 1.2.3 in Softonic

Librarian Pro is a very flexible application to organize all your books, movies, games or whatever you wish to keep a list of. Although the program still feels quite unstable (importing or exporting didn't work properly for me), we'll let that go for now as the program is still a pre-release. What makes Librarian Pro interesting is how easy it is to view your list and create new smart collections.

You can customize the layout of lists you export and send them to the web or to your iPod. Librarian can also import elements from mulitple sources, like borrowers from your Address Book or item information from a number of sites. You can view your Amazon cart from the application and even retrieve things like album covers.

Librarian Pro is a great program to keep updated lists of your favorite items and always be aware of who's borrowed what from you.

Download Librarian Pro 1.3.3 in Softonic

Master Key is the most versatile typing tutor on any platform because we've worked with customers at home and in schools over 6 years. Kept completely modern, Master Key uses the standard interface repsective to Mac or Windows so it never looks like a port or afterthought on one platform.

Learn to type on a new keyboard such as QWERTY or Dvorak or improve your typing skills using our drills or any plain text files. Tracking mastery progress and playing the ParaTyper game keeps any user interested in progressing their typing skills well past 40 words per minute.

Download Master Key 5.3.1 in Softonic

Lemmings is one of those classic video games that everyone has played at least once. If you haven't (shame on you) then here is a quick recap of what it's about. Your goal is to guide a group of lemmings through highly dangerous levels without getting any of them killed. Unfortunately, lemmings tend to be a little dumb and unaware of dangers surrounding them. However, you can give each of them a specific task so that the whole group manages it through levels.

The graphics in Lemmings are the same as 10 years ago, however you will probably overlook them if you are a true Lemmings fan. The gameplay is very easy to get accustomed to, and you can easily handle Lemmings with your keyboard.

One of the things Lemmings is truly infamous for is its difficulty level. As you progress through the game, and particularly near the end, you will be confronted with very very difficult obstacles. Either this will have put you off or you will rejoice at the complexity. In the end, Lemmings is really a puzzle game, which requires patience, planning and a whole lot of luck.

Get those Lemmings past the obstacles, whatever it takes!

Download Lemmings 1.4.2a in Softonic