Few can dispute the fact that Apple created a flawless product when it built the iPod. However, the company did omit to include one feature that still bothers me. The legally-aware developer made it so that you couldn't copy tunes from your iPod onto another computer. OK, so it means everything is above board, but it also means that if you get a new computer or your hard drive fails, you have to build up your MP3 collection all over again. Luckily, there are now several programs available that let you copy your iPod tunes to any machine, and CopyTrans is a good example of one of these.

The process of synchronising your music with CopyTrans is a simple one and you can choose to archive your collection or import it into a new iTunes library. All you need to do is connect your iPod, wait for the program to scan the device, choose your transfer settings then wait for CopyTrans to work its magic.

It does take quite a long time to copy across the music, but the operation works very well and I experienced no problems other than that it didn't reproduce all of the album art I had. The program boasts some nice features such as selective transfers, incremental back-ups, and repair to damaged iPod databases.

If you're scared of losing all your iPod data then install CopyTrans and erase your worries with ease.

Download CopyTrans 2.590 in Softonic

To keep your PC organized and running properly, you'll need to defragment your hard drive every now and then. Despite a rudimentary interface, UltraDefrag is a useful and speedy defragmentation tool. The top of the interface shows the different drives you can carry out actions on. The best to do is start by analyzing your drive. The length of the analysis will really depend on how much files you have on your drive and how messy it actually is. Once this is done you can choose to defragment or compact your drive.

Click the fragmented button and a browser window will open up with a list of all the files that have been fragmented. While the list seems to be pretty exhaustive it lacks any real explanation or easy browsing function. Another useful feature in UltraDefrag is being able to rescan your drives. You can do this to verify file size or check if there's any drive you might have missed.

If you go into settings you should be able to create filters. This function is pretty limited as you'll have to type in the name of files you want to include or exclude (but there's no explanation as to how you can enter multiple files) and you can set the program to ignore files greater than a certain size.

Despite some drawbacks, UltraDefrag is an effective defragmentation tool.

Download UltraDefrag 1.4.0 in Softonic

If you're a sports fan, then you may well get a lot from CyberLink MagicSports, which facilitates simultaneous sports viewing as well as the editing of sports packages.

CyberLink MagicSports is designed to put you in the directors chair, giving you greater control over recorded TV sports programs by allowing you to create your own action replays of key moments. However, it only works with CyberLink PowerCinema 4 or Windows Media Center so if you're not streaming your sports events through either of these mediums, then it's not much use to you. It also won't work with any content that's protected by DRM.

In reality, CyberLink MagicSports is basically a Tivo player for your PC. You can store certain parts of games on your hard drive and create your own highlights with a simple editor. It features a virtual remote control to control your viewing. However, it's unclear how many sports fans would really want to edit together their own highlights package - most people just want to sit back with a cold beer and enjoy the game.

If you're a die-hard sports fan and want to relive a special sporting moment in the way of your choosing, then CyberLink MagicSports is a powerful all round package.

Download CyberLink MagicSports 4 in Softonic

If you're on the move regularly or your hard drive is accessible by third parties, it's always vulnerable to attack.

One way to prevent possible compromises of your security is by encrypting data. TrueCrypt aims to do this by allowing you to encrypt data "on-the-fly". This means that data is automatically encrypted or decrypted immediately before they are loaded or saved without any input required from you. Nothing can be encrypted or decrypted without using the correct password or encryption keys. This encryption extends to entire file systems such as file names, folder names, file contents, free disk space etc. The good thing about this particular program is that it doesn't get in the way of you dragging and dropping files. Some encryption programmes that work on-the-fly prevent you from doing so easily or add a delay to the transfer but that's not the case with TrueCrypt. The other good thing is that TrueCrypt never saves any decrypted data to a disk – it only stores them temporarily in your RAM which is far more secure because when you restart Windows or turn off your computer, the volume will be dismounted and files stored in it will be inaccessible and still encrypted. The interface is a bit bland but at least it's simple enough to follow and not full of complicated encryption jargon.

A very solid encryption tool although the fact that it's open source means that it's vulnerable to modification which could compromise encryptions.

Download TrueCrypt 6.0a in Softonic

VoptXP is an effective utility to defragment your disk drives with no need to use the tool incorporated in your operating system. The defragmenting of a hard disk is a slow process and VoptXP does not perform miracles but it is certainly quicker than Windows own defrag tool.

It works by re-alligning the data that is totally safe and making a new copy of it before doing so in case of any interruption during the process that could ruin it. In addition, you can program it so that it acts once a week or moves archives bigger than a certain amount or to even exclude smaller files. A smarter way to defrag your drive.

Download VoptXP 9.05 in Softonic

Have you ever been in a situation where you've viewed a video on YouTube and you know that it must have been cached on your hard drive somewhere but you can't find it?

If so, then you need VideoCacheView which can find cached FLV files from video sites such as YouTube and DailyMotion. VideoCacheView automatically scans your Internet Explorer or Firefox cache and finds all video files that are currently stored in it. It makes it easy to copy the cached video files into another folder so you can play or watch them whenever you want.

If your movie player can play FLV files it will play the video directly from your browser's cache. Alternatively, you can simply copy and paste the files into another folder so that they're easier to locate without VideoCacheView in the future. However, it's still hard to find the clips that you want because in your cache they've all got similar generic names.

VideoCacheView is a great way to find all those FLV files that you thought were lost forever on your hard drive.

Download VideoCacheView 1.21 in Softonic

When I saw this defragmentation tool I thought "Well... I don't really need this, Windows already has one". But then I saw Defraggler has been developed by the same people as Recuva and the almighty CCleaner, so I decided to give it a try. After all, I use external apps for many tasks that Windows can do by itself, so why not using a third-party defragmenter?

Defraggler is easy to install and goes straight to the point. Its most outstanding feature is the possibility to defragment individual folders and files simply by putting a tick next to them. In fact, the option to defragment the whole hard drive is much more hidden (either right click on the drive or use the top menu bar).

However, there are things I didn't like about this program. First, I found it a bit slow. Also, it would have been nice to have it minimized to the system tray or similar. Finally, I'd appreciate it if the program included some means to automate tasks: you can't schedule defrags, nor set the program to turn off the PC when it's done.

Download Defraggler 1.03.093 in Softonic

Wise Disk Cleaner is a utility that helps to locate and eliminate those temporary archives that, with time, can litter your hard drive to critical point. The app can clear a wide range of different types of files including temporary Internet files, Windows updates, temporary user files, system files, and redundant archives.

One of the best things about Wise Disk Cleaner is that it allows you to add your own folders with temporary files not in use or those that you simply want to eliminate when executing the program. The program is very simple to use, and it's just a case of running a quick scan of your files then marking those that you wish to eliminate.

Download Wise Disk Cleaner 3.7.3 in Softonic

Imagine you could enjoy your favorite movies anytime, anywhere.

Well, dream no more, because now you can, thanks to MAGIX Movies2go. This application can convert any video to the most popular formats supported by devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, handheld consoles and some other mobile devices.

The program not only converts video files to a wide range of formats, but also lets you add a series of video effects before exporting the resulting movie to the selected device. It works not only with video files stored on your hard drive, but also with movies on CD and DVD.

MAGIX Movies2go features a very elegant, yet not particularly usable interface. I mean, it's got a sleek eye-catching design, but the menus are not very well implemented. Another drawback I found was that you can't preview video effects on the actual image; instead, you only see a demonstration of how the video effect works on an example image.

MAGIX Movies2go is a powerful video converter that has been especially designed to convert your favorite movie for your handheld.

Download MAGIX Movies2go III 3.0.0.12 in Softonic

GetDataBack will recover your data if the hard drive's partition table, boot record, FAT/MTF or root directory are lost or damaged, data lost due to a virus attack, the drive was formatted, fdisk has been run, a power failure has caused a system crash, files were lost due to a software failure, files were accidentally deleted.

GetDataBack can even recover your data when the drive is no longer recognized by Windows. It can likewise be used even if all directory information - not just the root directory- is missing.

The software enables the regular user to conduct his own data recovery by guiding him through five easy to understand steps, thus gives the advanced user the possibility to interfere with the recovery and improve the results, by examining the scan log, the file system details, file and directory information, by selecting the sector range to be scanned, by choosing excessive search for file systems or search for lost files, by calling Runtime's DiskExplorer.

Download GetDataBack for FAT 3.63 in Softonic

GetDataBack will recover your data if the hard drive's partition table, boot record, FAT/MTF or root directory are lost or damaged, data is lost due to a virus attack, the drive was formatted, fdisk has been run, a power failure has caused a system crash, files were lost due to a software failure, files were accidentally deleted.

Advanced algorithms will make sure that all directories and sub directories are put together as they were, and that long file names are reconstructed correctly. GetDataBack is read-only, meaning the program will never attempt to write to the drive you are about to recover.

Download GetDataBack for NTFS 3.63 in Softonic

CCleaner is a small utility that will take care of a few of the important maintenance tasks that every computer user should carry out as regularly as possible to keep their systems in top shape. Fast, reliable and easy to use - CCleaner it's one of the best cleaning systems out there.

For me, the beauty of 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 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 uninstall and startup tools are handy to have and simply add to the usability of this very rounded little maintenance assistant.

The most recent release of CCleaner now works on Vista with Admin permissions where available and features various bug fixes and improvements to the translated versions.

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

Download CCleaner 2.12.660 in Softonic

FreeRip is a freeware Windows application that lets you save audio CD tracks to Wav, MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis or FLAC audio files. FreeRIP is also an audio file converter and it can convert audio files from one of the named formats to another.

Converting your audio CD collection to digital audio files to move to your portable digital audio player (including iPod), mobile phone, car audio system, or whatever, is a matter of minutes with FreeRIP. Just start FreeRIP, put audio CD in and click on Rip button.

FreeRIP is a CD ripper, this means that it can record digital audio tracks directly from audio CD to files onto your hard drive (this process is known as "ripping"). You can save tracks as CD quality WAV files or encode them to a lossy (MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA) or lossless (FLAC) audio format.

FreeRIP supports extended tagging and ID3 v2 standard, so that you can add information to audio tracks like artist name, song title, lyrics and so on, and FreeRIP will store them in the audio file itself. It also provide access to FreeRIP CD Database, an Open Source, collaborative CD information repository. It also provides backward compatibility with well known freedb CD database.

FreeRIP lets you convert audio files from a format to another: its integrated audio converter helps you to convert as many files you want between the most famous audio formats.

It also includes a contextual search button to help you finding information, images, videos and lyrics about the selected track or artist. Find a song lyrics in few seconds: select the track, select "Search Lyrics ..." menu option and browse search results to find what you need.

Download FreeRIP MP3 3.091 in Softonic

There’s a plethora of music players to choose from, among which iTunes and Winamp usually have the upper hand. However, if you are curious enough, you might find that lesser known alternatives like MediaMonkey offer a reasonable amount of features and tools to organize and equally enjoy your music library.

MediaMonkey automatically scans your PC for all types of music formats. If you have playlists from other programs, it’s good to know that the application also adds m3u files, sparing you the pain of having to recreate them. The file explorer view on the left lets you easily navigate your music collection by categories like artist, genre or rating. You can convert tracks into any format you wish, depending on what size or quality of sound you’re looking for. MediaMonkey also lets you analyze and adjust the volume of tracks to increase your listening experience.

MediaMonkey has made its reputation on its advanced tagging management feature. Every time a track is added, the program will verify its tags. You can automatically fill in missing details with info from Amazon or Filename. The program can clean up your tags, move information into the correct categories and synchronize tags for selected tracks. You can also rename and move multiple files thanks to the auto-organize function. MediaMonkey also supports Winamp plugins and visualizations plus skins can be applied to spice up the interface.

If you want to make your own mix CDs, you’ll be happy to know that MediaMonkey rips and burns CDs and DVDs. Create a virtual CD of your favorite tracks and let MediaMonkey do its job. Budding DJs will enjoy the auto-DJ mode, which mixes tracks for you and the Party Mode, which blocks your configuration but lets anybody play their favorite tune. MediaMonkey’s versatility doesn’t stop there. The music manager also lets you synchronize with your portable music devices like your iPod or iRiver.

If you feel like completing your library with a couple of fresh albums you can browse sites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble or AllPosters and purchase tracks. However, unlike Songbird, where you can type in a URL, browse and save your favorite music blogs and sites, MediaMonkey only allows you to browse their selection of online stores.

We were disappointed with the web radio selection, which only features Shoutcast and Icecast, and were surprised to see no sign of podcasts anywhere in the application. However version 3.0 is planning on incorporating this to the application.

Despite these drawbacks, we recommend MediaMonkey to anybody looking for a solid alternative to iTunes or Winamp. This original music manager is more than capable of organizing a very large music library and offers advanced tagging management rarely seen in other music applications. While the browser and web radio are fairly limited, MediaMonkey allows you to rip your custom CDs and connects to most portable music devices. If you really take a liking to MediaMonkey, cough up a few bucks and upgrade to the Gold version, which will open up all of the program’s functionalities like finding missing tracks or creating auto (smart) playlists.

Download MediaMonkey 3.0.4.1185 in Softonic

It's hard to imagine eMule being made any easier but easyMule does a pretty good job of it for those that find the world's number one P2P client a bit too complicated.

easyMule offers a sleek interface that looks almost identical to eMule but has obviously been stripped down. Conveniently, you can play files while you are downloading (as long as there's enough to read), which reduces the risk of downloading fake or corrupted files. In addition, easyMule features a safety disk buffer which protects your hard drive from malicious files before they manage to damage your system.

easyMule uses exactly the same P2P principle as eMule to connect to networks although not exactly the same servers. This brings one of the major weaknesses of easyMule to light - it doesn't really offer as many hits as eMule. However, it does offer a decent hit rate and download speeds are comparable.

easyMule is definitely easier than eMule to use although I can only imagine that young kids would really benefit from this as eMule is not a complicated program.

Download easyMule 1.04 in Softonic

If you think that creating a video with your photos is too complicated for you, think again while you take a look at Windows Movie Maker.

This easy tool lets you create completely customizable multimedia presentations that include not only your dearest shots and favorite video clips, but also some nice video and transition effects that will add a professional touch to your creation. This is in fact a new version of Windows Movie Maker that has been especially developed for Windows Vista.

Windows Movie Maker is really simple to use: import all the media you'd like to use (images, video files and even video captured in real time) and drag it on the timeline. Then add as many effects as you like, and check how everything looks in the preview window. There's even a special tool that enables you to add titles and credits to your movie in a very easy way.

Once your work is finished, Windows Movie Maker lets you export the video with two main options, depending on where you want to use it: saving it to your hard drive or recording it to a tape on your DV camera. I'm surprised to find only these two options, especially when the XP version of Windows Movie Maker features a lot more.

Also, bear in mind that this tool is intended for people with little or no experience in video presentations at all, which means that more advanced users may find it a bit too limited.

With Windows Movie Maker you can easily create your own video presentations with your favorite photos, video clips and some nice transition effects.

Download Windows Movie Maker Vista 2.6 in Softonic

The default Windows search tool has always been accused of being slow, inaccurate and useless. This is why it could be a good idea to replace it with another local search engine.

Everything could be that replacement you're looking for. This simple, fast tool indexes absolutely all the contents on your hard drive (hence its name) and puts them into an ever-growing database that you can search with keywords, like you use any regular search engine.

The program is incredibly fast in all aspects: installation, indexing of contents and display of results. Also, it doesn't hog system resources like other similar apps do. Another difference between Everything and other local search tools is that Everything lets you set up an HTTP server that makes all indexed content available online.

On the one hand this is a handy feature because you can access your files remotely from other computers or share files with your friends: on the other hand it does raise some concerns about privacy, especially since there's no way to filter which kind of content is indexed and which is not, neither is there a system for controlling who has access to the HTTP server.

Everything is a simple, really fast local search tool that makes a great replacement for Windows default search box, though sadly you don't have any control over what the program indexes.

Download Everything 1.1.4.299 in Softonic

If you think that creating a video with your photos is too complicated for you, think again and take a look at Windows Movie Maker.

This easy-to-use tool lets you create completely customizable multimedia presentations that include not only your dearest shots and favorite video clips, but also some nice video and transition effects that will add a professional touch to your creation.

Windows Movie Maker is really simple to use: import all the media you'd like to use (images, video files and even video captured in real time) and drag it on the timeline. Then add as many effects as you like, and check how everything looks in the preview window. There's even a special tool that enables you to add titles and credits to your movie in a very easy way.

Once your work is finished, Windows Movie Maker lets you export the video to several different formats in various sizes, depending on where you want to use it: publish it on a website, recording it to a CD or simply saving it to your hard drive are some of the options included.

That said, bear in mind that Windows Movie Maker is intended for people with little or no experience in video presentations at all, which means that more advanced users may find it a bit too limited.

With Windows Movie Maker you can easily create your own video presentations with your favorite photos, video clips and some nice transition effects.

Download Windows Movie Maker 2.0 in Softonic

Some people like to be in control of everything, including computer data and resources. If you fall on this group I'm sure you're going to love TinyResMeter.

TinyResMeter is a little app (as you can infer from its name) that tracks many different computer resources and other data in real time, and displays the gathered information on its interface. You can easily fit this window anywhere on your desktop without disturbing your current work, thanks to its reduced size and transparency.

Despite its apparent simplicity, TinyResMeter does include tons of fields you can add to its interface to keep an eye on them: CPU speed, RAM usage, uptime, user name, active processes and threads, hard drives, removable drives, network connections… are only a few parameters you can control with TinyResMeter. What's more, each one of them displays even more information if you right-click on them, though I must say I was lost among so many techie data.

The one thing that this program needs to improve is the way you select fields to be displayed. A context menu, especially when there are so many options, renders simply unusable.

With TinyResMeter you can easily control many different resources and parameters on your computer in real time.

Download TinyResMeter 0.97 in Softonic

If you need to share files more often than not, and you're tired of large email attachments and uncomfortable USB devices, this program is for you.

GBridge lets you easily share files by extending Google's IM service Gtalk to a virtual private network where you can share data, backup files online, sync content between different computers and even chat with your Gtalk contacts on a safe, encrypted environment.

The program is really easy to use and doesn't require any configuration to start working. Simply select the folders you want to share from your hard drive, choose those people from your contact list who will have access to that content and send them a notification. Notice that they'll also need to have GBridge installed to see and download any shared content. Security and network freaks though have a settings menu where they can tweak connection settings, limit bandwidth usage and fiddle with other options.

GBridge works fine and it's a very decent solution to share file without getting involved in complicated configurations or expensive software.

With GBridge, sharing files with your friends and creating online backup copies is easy as pie!

Download GBridge 1.0.0.1124 in Softonic