Explore and learn

Google Earth not only displays satellite images but it also includes terrains and 3D reconstruction of buildings. You can look for directions and businesses, just like in Google Maps and pinpoint areas or draw on maps straight in Google Earth.

Google Earth includes a very wide, and constantly increasing library of layers, which you can add to the map to enrich your experience. You'll find all sorts of information, from historical landscapes to national parks, regions where you can find endangered species or tourist spots. Google Earth will also showcase more news related information such as forest fires or tsunamis.

But Google Earth is not limited to terrain, and with every new version, it adds new sources of satellite imagery and information about other areas in the world. Say you're really into stars; then you should turn to the Sky mode and navigate among the constellations. Or, if you prefer exploring the seas, enable the Water surface option and learn all the secrets about oceans and marine creatures. Feeling more adventurous? Select the Moon or the Mars options and take a walk in space without leaving your easy chair. What's more, Google Earth also lets you travel in time by providing you with a new Historical Imagery function that allows you to see the evolution of certain locations during the past few years.

Navigation

Moving around in Google Earth is incredibly intuitive thanks to the multiple navigation tools. Some areas will show less information than others, and Google Earth is known to use up a substantial amount of bandwidth, but it remains a fascinating piece of software

Conclusion

Google Earth is as of yet an unequaled application. Browse around the world, zoom into streets, gaze at the stars or dive into the ocean. Millions of possibilities.

Download Google Earth 7.1.1.1580 Beta in Softonic

CCleaner is a very efficient and easy to use utility that cleans and optimizes your PC to ensure best performance and freedom from malware.

The beauty of free download CCleaner is the speed at which it carries out the various scans and fixes. Its main purpose is to clean any unnecessary files from your hard-drive and on opening the program you see the various aspects of Windows that you can search through and clear. CCleaner will also detect your installed applications that may hold on to files which are no longer any use, such as Google Earth histories or Flash Player configurations. The uninstaller is probably more useful, and more powerful, than Windows own uninstaller although use it with care! If you don't know what an entry relates to in the program list, leave it alone to be on the safe side otherwise you could end-up removing vital components.

When you install CCleaner, it will prompt you whether you want to install Google Chrome as well and whether you want to use CCleaner to preserve cookies that you use regularly to log-onto websites, security checks etc.
The interface in CCleaner is very easy to navigate and before taking any action, you will always be asked to confirm that you are sure about what you want to do. There is a useful Registry Checker that will quickly check its integrity, and let you fix bad entries after making a backup. CCleaner's uninstall and startup tools are very handy to have overall and simply add to the usability of this very rounded little maintenance assistant.

The most recent release of CCleaner now comes with a Drive Wiper. Drive Wiper can be accessed in the Tools section of CCleaner and allows you to choose whether to scrub only free space or an entire drive using three levels of strength - Department of Defense-level three-pass option, a National Security Administration-level seven-pass cleaning or a 35-pass Gutmann-level deep scrub.

There's also improved support for cleaning files left behind by Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 9. Web Apps that use HTML5 database storage are also now included in CCleaner's cleaning process. Finally, a few more System directories have been targeted for cleaning and CCleaner now supports 64 bit machines.

CCleaner makes keeping your PC clean easy for beginners and experts alike. It's small, fast, comprehensive, and free to download - get cleaning now!

Download CCleaner 4.01.4093 in Softonic

Google Earth Pro is the professional version of Google Earth. It's downloaded upon registration on its website and adds some extra features to the free version.
Do these additional functions make a difference? Let's dig a bit deeper.
Making use of a vast satellite imagery database –actually the same as the free version, Google Earth Pro displays locations from all over the world, enabling you to zoom in from the image of the whole planet to the streets of any capital city.
As a Pro version user, you're supposed to enjoy a faster performance, but we couldn't really notice any difference.
Another interesting feature included in Google Earth Pro is the ability to record videos with your movements around the world, which you can use to illustrate trips or even give directions.
You can choose different resolutions, but record only in WMV format.
Technical support assistance, Premium print and a GID data importer are other additional capabilities of this Pro version.
However, taking into account that both versions share the same image database, which in the end is Google Earth's biggest value, you may as well use the free version.

Download Google Earth Pro 7.1 in Softonic

Overview

Opera 12 keeps the general design and functionality of the highly-praised Opera 11, but adds convenient improved features like themes, web cam access and hardware acceleration. As for the the interface, Opera 12 features a slightly cleaner GUI with a focus on webpages instead of buttons and menus. Overall, Opera 12 isn't a huge change compared to the last version, but it has been improved with some nice new features.

Innovations and speed

The big innovation in the last version of Opera was extensions and while the choice of browser enhancements is still fairly limited, when you install or uninstall add-ons, you don't have to restart your browser. They are also sandboxed, so if one crashes, your browser won't. Opera 12 runs just as quickly as Google Chrome (the developer claims it's even faster) and the rendering engine has been tweaked slightly to offer an even faster browsing experience.

Visual Tabs and Tab Stacking is useful if you often have too many open, and there are now visual mouse gestures. These are well implemented, and accessed by holding the right mouse button which brings up a translucent guide to mouse gestures. This is a great introduction for people who've never used gestures, and hopefully allows for greater use in the future.

There's still an integrated mail client, which continues Opera's move towards doing everything you need in one application. The newest features or improvements of note are themes and web cam access. The most notable improvement has been to Speed Dial which instead of simply giving easy access to your favorite sites, now allows you to embed your Speed Dial with dynamic information - in other words, web apps within Opera. Meanwhile Password Syncing allows you to sync passwords across machines and devices - just sign-up for an account and Opera does the rest. There have also been some HTML5 improvements for developers such as Session History, Navigation and the W3C File API.

Conclusions

Opera 12 is a definite improvement on Opera 11 although the changes aren't revolutionary. However, if you're looking for a new browser, this is probably the most innovative currently on the market and is well worth installing.

Download Opera 12.15 in Softonic

Features

With Skype you can not only have voice chats on your computer – just like telephone, only for free – but also make real phone calls at much lower rates, using the SkypeOut service and paying with Skype credit. Besides voice chats, Skype also includes standard IM functionalities (written conversations, emoticons, user avatars and so on) and also lets you have group video conferences and share screens.

Usability

These video calls are precisely the main focus on Skype's latest version. The program's interface has been completely redesigned with video conferences on mind. This means it's been made wider so that video fits in perfectly with your written chat, your contact list and a toolbar to manage conversation.

The new interface is transformed when you make a call, getting rid of all the clutter, so you just see the video images, and controls. Group video is still being tested in this version, and it's pretty cool.

The other major development is Facebook integration. This is a pretty big thing, as not only does it give you your news feed in the app - anyone can do that - but adds call and sms buttons to any of your friends who share their contact numbers.

If you’ve paid for Skype minutes, you can call your Facebook friends, and if they’re also signed in to Skype you can call them for free. One of the best new features is the automatic call recovery - drop a call and it’s put in pause. Restarting it is now really easy.

Quality

The sound quality during our testing was perfect: loud and clear. Video sometimes appeared a bit pixelated, but nothing we couldn't really deal with. There was also one nice detail, and that's the ability to see your own video image built-in on your contact's video, and the option to take a snapshot of your own image.

Conclusion

Skype 6 features a complete interface overhaul that now focuses more on video chats, and also adds some handy improvements to the way you communicate online.

What's new

Log in with your Microsoft account
Select and pin your favorite contacts
Facebook and Skype contacts combined into one Contacts list
Easier to understand premium subscription notices
Possibility to control Skype video rendering technology for backward compatibility for people who have trouble with video calls

Download Skype 6.3.60.105 in Softonic

There are few things that Google don't do well and this even extends to making 3D art accessible to the most inexperienced artist in the form of Google SketchUp.

Google SketchUp bucks the trend of expensive 3D modeling software such as 3DSMax and Cinema4D and presents a free, easy to use alternative with which you can even post your creations onto Google Earth for the world to see. The latest version has been integrated with Google Maps too so that geo-tagging your creations is easier than ever.

There's a refreshing lack of technical jargon in Google SketchUp and unfamiliar terms to beginners such as the 'Extrude' tool have been renamed to the more obvious 'Push/Pull' for example. There are plenty of helpful hints and guides throughout too helping you get to grips with 'snapping' when you draw rectangles, circles and other shapes. Google Sketchup intelligently predicts where you want endpoints to meet and snaps them shut for you, saving lots of time messing around.

SketchUp doesn't lack in functionality though despite its ease of use and includes all the usual collection of drawing and filling tools you'd expect, neatly accessible in the toolbar across the top of the screen. Instructor hints pop out on the right of the screen when it thinks you need them. Other options can be accessed via the menu system, or you can choose to place extra palettes on the workspace to save wading through menus. Of particular note is the 'Materials' palette, which contains over 100 different preset swatches, such as vegetation, metal and glass. The Shadow Settings palette is also worth keeping to hand, as it allows you to apply realistic shadows via simple sliders.

The real fun however is when you export your Google SketchUp drawings into Google Earth. You can send images of your 3D designs via email or upload them for free storage at Google's 3D Web Warehouse. Alternatively, you can geo-tag them in one-step using Google Maps which has now been integrated into Google Sketchup. You receive a snapshot when you add a geo-location to your model which now includes 3D terrain data plus color aerial imagery.

There are some problems with Google SketchUp however. Most annoying is when trying to create domed surfaces because of the cumbersome nature of the Extrude tool, although pushing and pulling straight lines is considerably easier. Being free, it also obviously lacks some of the advanced features of many of its heavyweight rivals.

Google SketchUp provides a refreshingly simple approach to 3D graphic design and modeling and is ideal for non experts in CAD technology.

Download Google SketchUp 8.0.16846 in Softonic

Overview

You won't find showers or sunny spells among the forecasts made by Earth Alerts - it's strictly a tsunami, earthquake and wildfire kind of kind of program.

How it works

Once you download Earth Alerts, start your examination of nature's less clement behavior by entering the locations that interest you, bearing in mind that although Earth Alerts supports global events, it is tailored to the US. Once you have chosen your location and enabled auto-update, you can monitor all of the major events.

Features

Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, cyclones, wildfires and landslides are all covered by Earth Alerts, with information taken from a variety of organizations that specialize in natural hazards, weather and geography. You can focus on each area separately, looking at maps, radar images, Google Earth results and even news stories relating to whatever is currently happening.

Earth Alerts provides plenty of settings options, from tweaking the frequency of updates to requesting email and SMS notification of any changes. You can add multiple locations and specify the specific locales and minimum severity of the events you want notification of.

Earth Alerts is a very interesting program and will be particularly attractive to people living or interested in the US. On the negative side, Earth Alerts' maps and graphs are not interactive and the old-fashioned interface casts a negative shadow on the program’s technological claims.

Earth Alerts is perfect for the disaster-obsessed, but lacks the polish needed to make it a truly great program.

Download Earth Alerts 2012.1.84 in Softonic

Delete Tracking-Cookies: Tracking-Cookies were invented to observe your surfing behavior. Cookies are small data spies that are stored on your computer while surfing. Cookies enable websites to track much information like how long you remain on a certain web page or what for links you click. Delete Google-Traces: Find and delete Flash cookies (also known as Super-Cookies), form data, surfing traces and data garbage of Google applications. Protect your Computer automatically: No need to delete surfing traces manually. The Google Radar is a small application that will permanently look out for Google traces and data garbage on your Computer. The Google Radar starts up with Windows and will keep your system clean automatically.

Google Desktop, Google Toolbar, Chrome, Picasa and Earth: Almost every Google application sends information back home. GoogleClean prevents Google applications from sending unnecessary personal information.

Many Google Applications collect Information about their users and send data back home. It is almost impossible to deactivate some of these spy features manually. With GoogleClean you can switch off those data transfers easily.

Download Google Clean 4 in Softonic

Chances are that not very many people have heard of Stellarium although it is very similar to one of the most popular pieces of software available today – Google Earth. While Google’s software allows you to focus on the earth from a starting point in outer space, Stellarium reverses your perspective and places you at any point on the earth’s surface, staring up and out into deep space.

An interesting feature in Stellarium is that as time passes, the virtual star system will evolve, with the sun setting and the various constellations becoming more prominent in the dark night sky. You have a selection of visual effects that you can switch on or off such as the atmosphere, or trace lines for the star systems. Impressive stuff for a few minutes, but once you’ve got the general gist of what Stellarium entails, you’ll quickly tire of zooming out to distant stars and watching as they slowly move across the screen.

While Google Earth brings you detailed photos of our planet’s surface, Stellarium can only achieve a much lower resolution representation of the solar system’s planets, without mentioning the fact that stars are limited to simple white dots zipping through the sky. With over 120,000 stars accurately plotted out in this virtual planetarium, it’s obvious that a lot of work has gone in to its creation. However, Stellarium's excruciating level of detail is likely only to appeal to the real die-hard star gazers.

The idea behind Stellarium is a good one in theory, but when it comes down to it most people will see it as little more than a smart, interactive screensaver. That said, if you have an affinity for astronomy, would like to learn the constellations, or simply enjoy watching beautiful sunsets, then Stellarium is for you.

Download Stellarium 0.11.2 in Softonic

ActiveX integration Advanced CTB Advanced Data Extraction Aerial View Bitmap Clipping Customization (AutoLISP, DIESEL, SDS, COM Automation) DIESEL language support DWF Import & Export DWG Explorer (AViCAD) Eattedit ECW and Jpeg 2000 raster format eTransmit Express Tool Extended Hatches Find and Replace Google Earth™ Integration Gradient Hatch support Hidden lines in Dview Highlighted selection area Iconografics Interactive Purge JPG and PDF print Layer Manager Layers interface ... and more

AViCAD comes bundled with productivity tools that you won't be able to find in AutoCAD LT©® such as 3D Modelling and rendering as well as Express tools. It also contains features that you won't find in market leading packages such as AutoCAD©®. In addition to the process flow engineering tools, AViCAD also includes an Architectural utility which creates walls, windows and doors, plus the CAD software also integrates with Google Earth

This software is best suited for engineering and architectural firms that want the full potential of a market leading CAD package at just 1/8 of its price.

Download AViCAD 2011 in Softonic

Picasa may be the leading photo management app on PC but JetPhoto Studio is a nice alternative if you're looking for something different.

JetPhoto Studio doesn't really compare with the big boys but it does offer a greater degree of control and processing power over your images in certain areas. JetPhoto Studio will import pictures from your camera as soon as you connect it. Alternatively, you can browse to albums on your PC or allow JetPhotoStudio to perform a full scan of your system.

The main interface is well presented and allows you to browse photos by date. There is a set of basic editing tools which allows you to crop images and add a few effects such as sepia, black and white, image contrast, and auto enhancing. You can also batch resize your photos and protect them with a watermark. JetPhoto Studio also enables you to rate your own photos via a star system, as well as tag them. However, tags are not transferable from one album to another and you have to create a new one every new album you create.

One of the better aspects of JetPhoto Studio is the ability to create screensavers, wallpapers, slide-shows and Flash movies from your collections. Unfortunately, however, there ¡s very little control over the types of animations and speed of the transitions. Finally, it's worth adding that you send JetPhoto Studio images via SMS or infrared, to your friends’ mobiles, although this only works within the US. The developer has also recently added geo-tagging for GPS recognition in Google Earth. The best way to share your photos in online though and JetPhoto Studio makes this relatively easy via Flickr or the JetPhoto server.

Jet Photo Studio is a comprehensive photo management tool that's a bit bloated in areas but offers some interesting features.

Download JetPhoto Studio 4.11 in Softonic

It's hard to review something like Smart Installer Pack, because it's not really a software app in itself, but rather a collection of software apps.

Smart Installer Pack contains 24 popular software utilities, among which you can probably find the first five or ten you download on your computer after reinstalling your operating system. This is precisely the aim behind Smart Installer Pack: saving you the pain of having to search, download and install all those programs.

Smart Installer Pack includes Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo Widgets, Skype, Google Earth, Winamp, Firefox, BitTorrent, Gmail Notifier, Rocket Dock, a pack of codecs, Adobe Flash Player, Apple Quicktime, the Java Runtime, Adobe Reader, WinRAR, Open Office, Daemon Tools, Thunderbird, Gimp, Picasa, Avira Antivirus, Google Chrome, CCleaner and KMPlayer.

Of course, you don't have to install them all. Simply browse through the program's tabs and click on the icon of the program you're interested in. Installation will start right away.

Smart Installer Pack is certainly a handy tool that can save you lots of time. On the downside, you're obliged to download a huge file – no matter how many of those tools you'll use – and the programs included in the pack may not be updated to the latest version.

With Smart Installer Pack you can save a lot of time when downloading and installing your favorite software after an OS re-installation.

Download Smart Installer Pack 1.5 in Softonic

There is so much software in the world today that it can be really hard to decide what you need and what you don't. Similar to LiberKey Ultimate, Google Pack comes with a load of interesting and useful apps essential for most PC users. Google Pack includes Google Chrome, Google Apps, Google Earth, Google Toolbar for IE, Norton Security Scan, Spyware Doctor, Google Desktop, Picasa, Google Photos Screensaver, Adobe Reader and Firefox with Google Toolbar.

Installation is a breeze and uses an attractive interface to manage it and subsequent updates. The Google Updater window - the tool left once you have installed all the programs in the pack - allows you to configure various update options, summarize past updates and view recent activity.

There is no doubt that many of the programs included in Google Pack are essential basics that will help a lot of people, especially new users who might not already have applications for preventing spyware or reading PDFs, for example. Google Pack also lets you select what to download before installing, as well as individually uninstalling programs if you later decide you don't want them.

On the downside, Google Pack takes a while to install and does not allow you to configure the installations, which means you get desktop icons and toolbars whether you want them or not. In Google's defense, you can modify this once the programs in question have been installed.

Google Pack is an easy-to-use program pack that's perfect for beginners.

Download Google Pack 2.4.1970.7372 in Softonic

GPS for Google Earth is compatible with all major GPS receivers and doesn't need an internet connection to work - only the file containing the GPS coordinates. The developers claim that GPS for Google Earth isn't restricted to one particular country and updates coordinates in realtime when you're connected to the net.

However, its worth bearing in mind that since this program was released, you can now obtain GPS coordinates by viewing Google Earth locations in Google Maps and exporting them that way. GPS for Google Earth is a much more convenient and handy solution though.

If you want to convert Google Earth coordinates to GPS quickly, then GPS for Google Earth is a simple solution.

Download GPS for Google Earth 3 in Softonic

Google SketchUp Pro bucks the trend of expensive 3D modeling software such as 3DSMax and Cinema4D and presents a free, easy to use alternative with which you can even post your creations onto Google Earth for the world to see. The latest version has been integrated with Google Maps too so that geo-tagging your creations is easier than ever.

This professional version of Google Sketchup is aimed at professionals who need CAD software that's high on power and features, and low on learning curves. It features some useful advantages over the basic version including ability to Export to CAD, add text and graphics to layouts and more advanced features.

There's a refreshing lack of technical jargon in Google SketchUp Pro and unfamiliar terms to beginners such as the 'Extrude' tool have been renamed to the more obvious 'Push/Pull' for example. There are plenty of helpful hints and guides throughout too helping you get to grips with 'snapping' when you draw rectangles, circles and other shapes. Google Sketchup Pro intelligently predicts where you want endpoints to meet and snaps them shut for you, saving lots of time messing around.

Google SketchUp Pro doesn't lack in functionality though despite its ease of use and includes all the usual collection of drawing and filling tools you'd expect, neatly accessible in the toolbar across the top of the screen. Instructor hints pop out on the right of the screen when it thinks you need them. Other options can be accessed via the menu system, or you can choose to place extra palettes on the workspace to save wading through menus. Of particular note is the 'Materials' palette, which contains over 100 different preset swatches, such as vegetation, metal and glass. The Shadow Settings palette is also worth keeping to hand, as it allows you to apply realistic shadows via simple sliders.

The real fun however is when you export your Google SketchUp Pro drawings into Google Earth. You can send images of your 3D designs via email or upload them for free storage at Google's 3D Web Warehouse. Alternatively, you can geo-tag them in one-step using Google Maps which has now been integrated into Google Sketchup Pro. You receive a snapshot when you add a geo-location to your model which now includes 3D terrain data plus color aerial imagery.

There are some problems with Google SketchUp Pro however. Most annoying is when trying to create domed surfaces because of the cumbersome nature of the Extrude tool, although pushing and pulling straight lines is considerably easier. However, the ability to export to CAD format means that anything you find tricky or difficult in Google Sketchup Pro, you can finish off in another application.

Google SketchUp Pro provides a refreshingly simple approach to 3D graphic design while providing the power and CAD format export features that professionals need.

Download Google SketchUp Pro 8.0.16846 in Softonic