If you're the kind of person who likes to have a colorful signature in your e-mail messages, this program is for you.

WiseStamp is a Firefox add-on that lets you add a fully customizable e-mail signature to all your outgoing messages. The good thing about it is that it's compatible with the most popular webmail services on the web: Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! and AOL Mail.

WiseStamp is very easy to use: after installing it in Firefox, you'll see a tiny icon in the browser's bottom right corner from where you can enable or disable the extension, as well as choose between the two only available signatures: business or personal.

You can totally customize each signature: choose fonts and colors, add links to Internet sites, display a small image, link to your profile on a dozen different social networks… the choice is yours.

WiseStamp offers also a preview window to make sure your signature looks nice before saving your work. Pity it doesn't save and sync signatures across computers, which means you'll have to manually create and configure your signature in every single computer you access webmail from.

With WiseStamp you'll be able to create and use completely customized HTML signatures in your webmail system.

Download WiseStamp 1.1 in Softonic

As mobile phones become ever smarter, more and more of us are using our devices as mini computers. But how easy do you find it to share data from your Windows machine with your mobile? Not very, I reckon.

Until now, only Windows Mobile users have really had any kind of standardized platform for transferring files and synchronizing contacts between a PC and a handheld device: using Microsoft ActiveSync. Not any more though, because Microsoft Phone Data Manger enables data sharing between Windows and a wide variety of different phones and PDAs.

Microsoft Phone Data Manger is specifically designed to transfer contacts, photos, music and video from your device to your PC, and to synchronize your phone's contacts with your Windows Live contacts. This is great for users of the service, as it ensures you have access to your phone book when you don't have it to hand, and means that your contacts are kept safe in the vent of you losing your mobile. Of course, this is only good if you use Windows Live, because Microsoft Phone Data Manager doesn't support GMail, Yahoo! or any other webmail provider.

The key to Microsoft Phone Data Manager lies in its simplicity. The application detects any device connected, provided it supports the SyncML standard - check the Microsoft website to see if your device does. You'll need to connect via Bluetooth or USB cable in order to perform syncs. Syncing in Phone Data Manager is a real breeze. You simply double-click on the device you wish to hook up to, then choose whether you want to sync your contacts or back up your files. Enter your Windows Live (or Hotmail) ID and the program will automatically share your contacts between your phone and the email service.

Microsoft Phone Data Manager is still in beta, so it isn't perfect. There are a few interface glitches, such as the screwy Live ID entry screen, and the fact that there aren't any advanced features like a proper file explorer.

On the whole, however, Microsoft Phone Data Manager provides a fast and reliable way of syncing contacts and backing up files.

Download Microsoft Phone Data Manager Beta in Softonic

The Google Desktop application allows users to search their desktop content quickly and easily. Praised for its ingenuity and criticised for its intrusiveness, Google Desktop brings the power of Google’s search engine technology to your PC.

After installing the application, you’ll have to give it some time to index the files on your PC, including emails, photos, chats, contacts and calendar events. Google Desktop will index the first 10,000 words in the first 100,000 documents on your PC. The application supports the majority of file types and you can decide which ones to index, or omit protected files, using the preferences menu.

In its latest version, which is compatible with Windows Vista, Google Desktop has been given a new transparent look, providing a pretty sleek feel to your PC. Your search results will appear in your browser (in the familiar Google web page format) and a small preview button allows you to view results without actually clicking on the corresponding link. Results are as precise as we’ve come to expect from Google searches, however we were slightly disappointed to learn that the application doesn’t offer logical 'OR' support or substring search. On another note, Google Desktop is not limited to your PC as you can cross index content from multiple machines and share some panel items with your friends.

Google Desktop is not only about search, though. Joining a marketplace already occupied by Apple’s Dashboard Widgets and Yahoo! Widgets, Google Desktop can be fitted with any number of little gadgets. These mini apps perform all kinds of functions, from fetching your mail to jotting down notes or checking up on your local weather. There are hundreds of gadgets to choose from to customize your desktop bar. Our personal favorites are: Google Translate, the Skype plug-in to check your credit and call your contacts, “Am I Blocked” to find out who’s blocked you on IM, Workspace to quickly move between tasks, System Stats to monitor your PC and Games, a selection of Flash games like Tetris and Moonlander.

When running, we found Google Desktop to use up around 30 MBs, but that can quickly increase if you add more gadgets to it. The application is also constantly re-indexing your files to incorporate your modifications and new elements. However you should rarely feel your PC slowing due to indexing.

When you’re dealing with Google, however, you know the main criticism will be about security. Because Google Desktop indexes all your documents, you’re basically opening up your PC and all your personal files to the Moutain View company. What some users fear is that Google could one day take advantage of that access or that a bug in the application would allow malicious users to infiltrate your PC and steal information.

While the intrusiveness of Google Desktop will give some users pause for thought on installing the app, Google Desktop is highly effective and simple to use. The gadgets you can add to its sidebar may not all be essential, but many of them are quite fun and original and let’s face it, the sidebar looks good. Give it a go if you think your PC is a mess and you need quick access to anything.

Download Google Desktop 5.8.809.8522 in Softonic

Are you a real Softonic fan? If so, this toolbar has been especially developed for you.

The Softonic Toolbar brings the latest reviews, updates, blog posts and software apps published on Softonic right to your web browser. You'll be able to read all the new content published on the site with a single click and you'll always be up to date with the latest program versions and software news.

What's more, this toolbar also features a series of online services, such as local weather forecast, an embedded search engine, an email notifier, a translation service powered by Babylon and a radio player with support for streaming radio stations, although you may need to download a separate plug-in to make it work properly. I found the email notifier particularly useful, as it supports multiple Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and POP3 accounts.

The Softonic Toolbar also includes a configuration menu where you can customize it by choosing the elements you want to be displayed.

A web browser toolbar that brings you all the best from the web: a variety of online services and all the latest news on Softonic and OnSoftware.

Download Softonic Toolbar in Softonic

Checking multiple e-mail accounts can be a pain - it's not easy to keep tabs on all the incoming mail that you're bombarded with everyday.

CheckMail is a powerful POP3 email checking program which notifies you when you have received new email. CheckMail allows you to check all your email accounts for new messages and preview or delete them before downloading them to your computer. This immediately makes CheckMail a great solution for those that are worried about downloading a virus onto their PC via e-mail.

You can delete unwanted and large emails directly from the CheckMail server without downloading them and you can compose and send new emails directly with CheckMail, or reply to or forward existing ones. If you've got different POP3 accounts - that is to say Windows Live Mail, Gmail, yahoo Mail etc, CheckMail supports multiple custom notifications and even filtering and much more. It has it's own virus filter which seems pretty solid although as mentioned, it can preview mail before you download it anyway so you'll have a good idea weather it's malicious or not from the start.

An excellent auto e-mail checking utility although don't be surprised if CheckMail lags behind your real e-mail client in telling you when you've got new messages.

Download CheckMail 5.0.4 in Softonic

Some months ago I learnt about Greasemonkey, a Firefox extension that enables you to customize the appearance and behaviour of certain web pages by means of some Javascript snippets. But that coding bit somehow kept me away from testing it. You know, I'm a lazy user and I want software apps to do all the work by themselves.

Now I've found this great extension that features the best Greasemonkey scripts for Gmail. You don't even need to have Greasemonkey itself installed. Better Gmail is the only thing you need to add new functionalities to your Gmail inbox, customize its appearance and improve your productivity.

Among other things, you'll be able to see previews of message content, identify attachments with a file type icon, save searches, add skins to Gmail's interface and even integrate Google Reader under the Gmail page.

Unfortunately I had problems with some of the scripts (label coloring wouldn't work for me) but in general terms this makes a great extension for Gmail fans.

If you think Gmail is great, install this Firefox extension and make it even better with new functionalities and an improved look.

Download Better Gmail 2.0.6 in Softonic

PostSmile makes it easy to add fun and excitement to your email messages and web-forum postings. You can drag and drop images and animations, smileys and emoticons, text or HTML snippets, quotes and signatures into your email, message board or web-forum postings.

The program offers a wide variety of original artist-created smileys that are sure to leave no one indifferent. All smiley faces are divided into clear categories - Happy, Love, Sad, Communication, Other, Signatures, Famous Quotes, Love Quotes, Proverbs, Jokes and Compliments. But, you don't have to stop there! Our artists have created for you the world best Online Smileys Collection!

PostSmile works with the most popular email programs, including Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Thunderbird, IncrediMail, AOL Mail and many others that support HTML-based email. And also it works with Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail and other Internet Web-based email systems.

The program is easy to use, has an attractive and compact interface with images, animations, emoticons, "signatures" and text snippets organized into categories. You may change the appearance of the Smileycons program interface by using the different "skins" provided with the package.

Download PostSmile 6.8.1 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

I use Gmail so much now that in many ways, I prefer it to even using Outlook. However, integration with Windows is nowhere near as good as Microsoft Outlook for obvious reasons.

gAttach! bridges that gap somewhat by allowing you to attach files directly to Gmail or Google Apps Mail directly from Windows. In other words, just right click on a file, select "Send To" and "Mail recipient" and the plugin will automatically open your Gmail client with the file already attached. It not only attaches files directly from Windows Explorer - it also opens up a whole new world of attachment possibilities from Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

There's not much more too it than that - it integrates perfectly into Windows Explorer. However, you may experience some glitches. If you are sending a file attachment whose filename is in a different alphabet to the one you use normally (e.g. your computer uses English but you're sending a Spanish attachment), it may not recognize or attach the file. It's also limited by Gmail's 20MB file attachment restriction. If you're logged into your Gmail, it won't prompt you for your details but if you are not, then it does ask you for your username and password which you may or not feel comfortable submitting.

For any Gmail fan, this is an excellent utility that makes attaching and sending files so much easier than opening your web client all the time.

Download gAttach! 1.2008.7.7 in Softonic

Mail PassView allows you to view detailed information on each of the email accounts you have configured on your system. Mainly, it's used for the recovery of passwords although undoubtedly, some people will use it to crack passwords. The information it reveals includes details such as account name, name and e-mail server type of application you use, user name and password. You can save all this information in a text file or copy it to the Clipboard.

The program supports the most popular email clients such as Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook 2000 and 2002, IncrediMail, Eudora and Group Mail Free. It also reveals passwords and info for IncrediMail, Eudora, Netscape 6.x/7.x, Mozilla Thunderbird, Group Mail Free, Yahoo! Mail & Hotmail/MSN Live Mail (If the password is saved in the applications.). It can even work for Gmail if the password is saved by the Gmail Notifier application, Google Desktop, or by Google Talk.

If you've lost your passwords or just want to snoop, it's worth a try but very hit and miss in it's effectiveness.

Download Mail PassView 1.44 in Softonic

GChess, before you get confused, is not Google's answer to chess or in anyway connected with Gmail!

It's a simple to use but configurable chess game that aims to offer those hardcore chess players, a much more challenging experience. You can choose the difficulty level in 2 ways - by limiting how many moves ahead the computer can analyze or by limiting the time you have to make a move. For those who are learning to play chess, or do not fall into the same class as Gary Kasparov, limiting the moves ahead is a great way to improve your skills level by level. The developers estimate that chess masters play a staggering 8 moves ahead and world champions around 12! The GUI is simple to use and navigate. Wen you open the game it’s your move so just click on the piece you want to move and click on the square you want to move it to. The game will light the squares as place the piece. You automatically start as the white pieces but if you want the PC to start as white, just click on the "play" options when you originally start a new game. Here, you can also change the difficulty settings to at least give you a decent chance.

A great way to learn to play chess with lots of difficulty settings and a very easy to use graphical interface.

Download GChess 2.0.0.31 in Softonic

Gmail is for me, clearly the best e-mail client I've ever used and anything that extends it's functionality is fine by me.

That's why I was more than impressed by GFileStorage which uses your Gmail account to transfer and store files on Google servers. As long as you've got a Gmail account, you can use it. Here is the other great thing - the program offers very strong encryption options so that you can be sure that your data is safe from prying eyes. Whatsmore, there's no limit on file size. You can upload any file size as long as your Gmail account has space. At the moment, Gmail offers about 7GB of storage space which is more than enough for most people's e-mail needs although if you want to store videos and music, you may be a little disappointed. The big question however is, how fast is it? Well, you'll probably find that it depends on many things including your own connection. GFileStorage uploads and downloads as fast as Gmail's SMTP (Upload) and IMAP (Download) servers permit. The developers claim that GFileStorage has minimal overhead with downloads, but uploads will sometimes incur an extra 2 seconds to update. The result sometimes is some painfully slow uploads but if you're not in a hurry then it's a brilliant utility.

Any Gmail user with space and time on their hands should give GFileStoarage a whirl.

Download GFileStorage Beta in Softonic

If you accidentally lose a password and have no way to retrieve it you're doomed, unless you have an application like SniffPass. This little spy sits between your computer and the Internet, grabbing anything similar to a password that goes through your network connection.

Unfortunately it doesn't work all the time, as it only captures the data sent via the FTP, POP3, IMAP and HTTP (basic authentication) protocols, so for example we couldn't capture our Gmail password. Anyway, it may be very useful if you need to recover the password for your FTP server, POP3 email account or similar.

SniffPass can generate nice HTML reports with the captured passwords, as well as save them in a plain text file.

Download SniffPass 1.06 in Softonic

Gmail is my favourite e-mail client and anything that makes my life easier when using it is always welcome.

Gmail Manager Extension is an excellent application which allows you to check your e-mail directly from Firefox's toolbar. You can manage multiple accounts and receive new notifications directly to your desktop instead of having to check Gmail all the time. The program displays account details including unread messages, saved drafts, spam messages, labels with new mail, space used, and new mail snippets. You can specify at what intervals you want to check for Gmail and can customise exactly where you want to place the notifier either in your toolbar and statusbar. I already use a toolbar which can check my Gmail although I stopped using it a while back because it sometimes used to freeze-up Firefox periodically. However, this extension poses no such problems and prevents the awkward need to change into a new tab to see if you have new mail all the time. On the downside, it would have been nice to have been able to choose a few default notification sounds or alerts to alert you to new e-mail when you are away from your computer but it's hardly a major drawback.

If you're a Gmail user, you'll love this simple extension which makes keeping track of your favourite e-mail client a breeze.

Download Gmail Manager Extension 0.5.5 in Softonic

My Gmail address book must be one of my most trusty contact lists that I have. I constantly refer to it because it's easy to use and intuitive.

However, it's also a pain to have to log into Gmail everytime I want to access a contact. iContact works by using Gmail/Google Apps contacts list as the central database for your contacts. You can still see and edit your contacts in Gmail but iContact allows you to have instant access to your contacts whenever you need them without logging into your Google/Gmail account - great for if you are travelling or don't have access to an internet connection. The program can also integrate with Microsoft Outlook to import your contacts directly from there and add them into Gmail. It also features integration with Skype and Google Maps and allows you to send contacts to your Satnav or TomTom device which is useful for contacting people on the move. iContact also doesn't care which machine or PC you are working on - you can access your contacts on all computers without the need to synchronize them.

This is not exactly a Web 2.0 app but it's about as close as you can come without actually being one and a much more convenient way to organise your contacts.

Download iContact in Softonic

ReadAIR is an AIR-based RSS feed reader that you can use instead of Google Reader to review the latest posts in your favorite blogs.

This app works in a very simple way: enter your Gmail address and password, and it'll automatically fetch all your feeds, as well as your shared and starred items. The interface looks like iTunes a lot, which makes the program seem kind of familiar and easy to use.

ReadAIR works generally fine. I especially liked the way feeds are displayed on the program's interface, keeping the original post's layout at all times and using a very visually appealing text font.

However, the program also has some major flaws: to begin with, I couldn't add any new feeds (the "Add" button simply showed a blank window). Also, the only way to move through feeds is by using the mouse, meaning there's no support for keyboard shortcuts.

ReadAIR provides you with another way to access your Google Reader feeds, though it still needs to improve to become a real alternative.

Download ReadAir 0.1 in Softonic

Believe it or not there was a time when using email was something of a novelty, rather than the routine means of communication it's become today. If you're yearning for those halcyon days when emailing was new and exciting then maybe it's time you found a way to spice up your text life. Incredimail is an email client that allows you to inject a bit of fun into your mail.

The application, which has been around in various forms for some years now, allows you to insert audio and visual elements such as background images, animated pictures or humorous (or at least supposedly humorous) noises. It's clear from the outset that the program is aimed at the less technical user from the set-up wizard that makes it incredibly easy to register your accounts and import your existing mail from either Outlook or your webmail account.

Once you've got the app up and running, you'll find a truly impressive range of backgrounds, fonts, emoticons and all manner of other bells and whistles that you can browse through and add to your messages effortlessly. There's also a wealth of downloadable extras you can find on the web should you want to add even more variety to your outgoing mail.

In terms of its basic mail features Incredimail is very similar to Outlook Express, though the junk filtering system is a little difficult to set up, which isn't really in keeping with the rest of the program. Another interesting touch is the addition of a 'mail servant,' which notifies you of new mail even before you've opened the client. The default is in the form of an animated butler, although this can be changed if, or should we say when, you become annoyed with him.

There's no doubt that the program provides an interesting way of making your emails appear more interesting. The trouble is, one person's idea of fun is another's vision of tackiness hell, and festooning your messages with all these gimmicks means mail takes longer to download, which is doubly annoying for dial-up users. Although we personally wouldn't want to subject our friends to animated kisses, jumping clowns or burp sounds, Incredimail certainly provides a novel way of making your emails stand out from the rest.

Download IncrediMail Xe 5.70 build 3524 in Softonic

Checking webmail can be a real pain especially when you've got several accounts, the servers are always hanging and you have to flick between tabs.

Therefore, it's nice to know there's an easy way - let a Firefox extension do it for you. The great thing about this particular extension too is that it works right across the board with all the major web clients and more. The application sits in the Firefox status bar in the bottom right and when you have mail, an envelope will appear. Clicking on this status bar icon allows you to access the extension preferences or simply go straight to your waiting mail. In the extension preferences you can add and delete accounts including such services as daum.net, naver.com, empas.com and nate.com. You can also choose whether to activate audio or visual warnings. The worry I always have with these extensions however is when it comes to entering your username and password. Of course, the likelihood is that it will be kept safe but there is no guarantee it's not being sent to a third party. On the plus side, if your webmail is not supported, there's a good chance a user is developing a script for it so it really is very flexible and powerful.

A great webmail checker than works across several platforms and saves you valuable time checking your accounts.

Download WebMail Notifier 1.0.10 in Softonic

Let's face it: most of us have more online accounts than we can control. Email addresses, instant messaging clients, social networking sites… do you really have time to catch up with all of them?

If you don't, then you need Digsby, a revolutionary all-in-one IM client with which you can handle all your online contacts under the same interface, even if they belong to different networks. OK, this is probably not that revolutionary, but the real surprise comes when you realize you can also add your email accounts, no matter if they're online or POP3 based, and also your personal profiles in Facebook and MySpace. The result is that Digsby enables you to control pretty much every aspect of your online social life in a very easy way.

After installing the program, you can start adding as many accounts as you want in order to handle them from Digsby. This includes AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, ICQ, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, Facebook, MySpace and more. Despite the amount of supported services, they're presented in a very clear, uncluttered interface and organized in tabs. You'll be able to chat with your buddies via IM and also check and organize your email without even having to open your browser. Everything worked fine except for Facebook, which kept on showing a "Connecting…" message though the widget was up and working on my Facebook profile. My ICQ account didn't seem to respond either, but I guess it's got something to do with the fact that Digsby is still in beta stage.

Digsby saves chat history, supports file transfer and features an extended settings menu from which you can tweak the program's appearance and performance. The only drawback I found, besides the Facebook connectivity issue, was the lack of speed when starting the program and logging in. But then again, it's well worth it.

With Digsby you'll be able to manage all your online accounts for email, IM and social networks under a single interface, making it much easier and faster for you to stay in touch with your friends.

Download Digsby Beta Build 13706 in Softonic

If you've got multiple e-mail accounts then keeping track of what you are receiving can be an absolute nightmare involving multiple browsers and lots of confusion.

A far better solution is something like POP Peeper which is an easy to use email notifier that runs in Windows task bar and alerts you when you have new email on POP3, IMAP, Windows LiveMail, Yahoo, GMail, Mail.com, MyWay, Excite, Lycos.com, RediffMail, Juno and NetZero accounts. The fact that it supports so many webmail accounts makes this a really attractive app although in reality, you may find that it doesn't detect mail until considerably after it has arrived in your account, if at all - especially with Windows Live Mail. However, it does allow you to send e-mail directly from POP Peeper and use the address book to email your frequently used contacts. Messages can be viewed in both HTML and plain text although newsletters and other mail with heavy graphics won't display properly in plain text. One major bonus is that POP Peeper is so small that it can be can be run from a portable device and password protected which means that it's fairly secure and is a decent solution for anyone on the move a lot.

Although it doesn't give you full control over your e-mail accounts, and may not even work properly with all webmail accoutns, this is worth trying if you have multiple e-mail accounts.

Download POP Peeper 3.2 in Softonic