ICQ used to be the most popular IM application... until Microsoft launched MSN Messenger and thousands of ICQ users switched to it. In the meantime ICQ continued to be upgraded until finally reaching version 7.

ICQ 7 has a quick, painless installation process that hardly takes a couple of minutes and enables you to import contacts from other online services such as Facebook, Gmail and Windows Live, among others. Once installed on your system, the program plays its characteristic siren and launches, displaying a colorful, customizable interface – with the omnipresent banner at the bottom, of course.

Text chats are still the main function in ICQ. You can spice them up with smileys and tzers (the equivalent to Live Messenger's winks), customize the text font and color, save the conversation to message history and play games with your friends. ICQ 7 also enables you to transfer files and send short text messages via phone.

Video chats have also been integrated in the latest version of ICQ. The program features an excellent video image quality, but the video chat is displayed on a separate window from the text chat and makes it a bit uncomfortable to use.

The most outstanding characteristic in this new ICQ is undoubtedly its integration with social networks. You'll find a tab devoted to notifications from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, which enable you to track your friend's activities at all times. Oddly enough, you'll have to set these services up from the ICQ website.

ICQ keeps working on new versions to measure up to its main competitors but fails to really offer any new functions.

Download ICQ 8.1.6322 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 6.5.0.158 in Softonic

Features

Mozilla Firefox 18 is the latest version of the popular web browser and brings with it a few key and welcome new features. First among them is the company's claim to a speedier, safer browsing experience. Tests reveal that this newest version of Mozilla Firefox is certainly quick to load even the most graphics intense pages.

Firefox 18 also now features secure connections when performing Google searches to improve privacy and there's an updated site identity indicator in the URL bar. Windows users also now get silent updates while Mac users on Lion or above can use Firefox in full-screen mode.

Mozilla Firefox's new tab layout itself is a pretty noticeable new feature. Quite similar to Google's Chrome browser, instead of seeing a blank page whenever a new tab is opened Firefox users will now be treated to icons that offer quick access to everything from bookmarks to most recently accessed and most frequently visited sites.

These icons are fully customizable in Mozilla Firefox as well. You can click and drag them to any spot you like on your name tab's page. If you're not a fan, you can also go to the grid icon on the upper right side of your browser and erase them entirely.

Something completely new to Mozilla Firefox is Facebook integration. Firefox now supports Facebook's social API so you can have dedicated buttons for Facebook in your browser. Mozilla Firefox supports Facebook's Messenger within Firefox, giving users desktop notifications as well as a persistent friends list and activity feed on the right. Conversations will open up as overlays on top of whatever website you're on so you can multitask while you chat.

Usability

Mozilla Firefox really changed the way people browse the web when it originally burst onto the scene. Today Firefox remains an incredibly powerful and customizable browser, although competition from Google Chrome has given it a definite run for its money.

Conclusion

Mozilla Firefox 20's interface isn't much different from previous versions, but the features it has added certainly make for a nicer, more enjoyable browsing experience overall.

What's new

For full release notes, please visit https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/20.0/releasenotes/

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Xfire eliminates the hassles of running multiple programs like IRC, instant messengers, or in-game friends lists to keep track of when and where a gamer's friends are playing. It supports the best and the latest online PC games including server and non server-based first person shooters, real-time strategy, and role playing games.

Download Xfire version 2.38 Build 295 in Softonic

Skype Portable is the standalone version of the popular VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) program that allows you call and talk to other Skype users, video chat and more for free over the internet.

Just like its desktop counterpart, Skype Portable lets you have voice chats on your computer – like telephone, only for free – and also make real phone calls at much lower rates, using the so called SkypeOut service and paying with Skype credit. Besides voice chats, Skype Portable also includes the standard IM functionalities (written conversations, emoticons, user avatars and so on) and also lets you have group video conferences.

These video calls are precisely the main focus on Skype Portable's latest version. The program's interface has been completely redesigned with video conferences on mind. This means Skype Portable has 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 in Skype Portable is transformed when you make a call, getting rid of all the clutter, so you just see the video images, and controls.

The sound quality in Skype Portable 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.

The other major development in Skype Portable 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 Portable 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.

Skype Portable is just like the desktop version: complete interface overhaul that now focuses more on video chats; some handy improvements to the way you communicate online and no installation required!

Download Skype Portable 6.3.0.105 in Softonic

Windows usually comes with a dearth of apps out of the box but Windows Essentials 2012 solves this problem. It's a big download but that's because it comes with Live Messenger, Photo Gallery, SkyDrive, Live Mail, Live Writer, and Movie Maker. Let's take a deeper look at each program.

Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Messenger hasn't seen much changed. There's tabbed browsing, Facebook/Linkedin integration, and the ability to log chats. The interface is almost exactly the same as Windows Live Messenger 2011. We would have liked to have seen some more changes to make Windows Live Messenger 2012 relevant in this crowded space. See our full review of Windows Live Messenger 2012 here.

Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery and Movie Maker are the highlights of Windows Essentials 2012 as they received the biggest overhaul. Both programs are now designed for Windows 8 in mind and feature the Microsoft ribbon interface.

You can now tag people in photos in bulk. There's still great social network integration for quick, seamless sharing. There is also a new 'auto collage' feature which blends photos you choose into one fluid picture.

SkyDrive

SkyDrive is perhaps the least exciting but necessary app included in Windows Essentials 2012. Similar to Dropbox's approach, SkyDrive creates a folder that syncs to the cloud and between machines. Make a change to a document on one machine and every other machine you have linked to your SkyDrive will update that document to the latest version. Integration is seamless and you'll soon forget about it, which is good.

Windows Live Mail

While competitors Apple has their default Mail application, Windows doesn't come with a mail client out of the box. Windows Essentials 2012 solves this by bundling Windows Live Mail. It is a solid mail client that offers a good way to manage your mail on the desktop.

There's an offline mode but Live Mail offers little benefit to those who want to manage their mail exclusively in a browser. The Outlook.com redesign helps to make the web site feel like an app so Live mail might not benefit users who prefer the web interface.

Windows Live Writer

Windows Live Writer is the oddball of Windows Essentials 2012. It is basically a writing app that integrates with your Blogger, Wordpress, SharePoint, and other blogging services. You can write, attach photos, and edit the theme of your blog from the application but its features are limited enough that users may as well use the website to make changes. It's a basic WYSIWYG editor that lacks features that would be useful for intermediate and expert bloggers.

Windows Movie Maker

Last but not least, we have Windows Movie Maker, which is the stand out application of Windows Essentials 2012. This basic video editing tool remains great while offering a few new features.

Movie Maker now takes advantage of hardware acceleration, which will speed up video exporting and encoding. There is also a new video stabilization feature, which will be a boon to those with cameras that don't offer this feature. Videos now output to h.264 by default.

The interface of Movie Maker has stayed the same for the most part but integrating audio is easier as you can now look up music from services like AudioMicro, Free Music Archive, and Vimeo Music Store. The video timeline also features a wav form so you can easily see where audio is placed within the video.

Final Words

Windows Essentials 2012 is a great suite of applications that will satisfy most Windows users. While some of its included apps struggle for relevance, many included apps are actually very useful. Best of all, its free and you can select which programs you want to install so you aren't forced to install the entire Windows Essentials 2012 suite.

Download Windows Essentials 2012 16.4.3503.0728 in Softonic

Yahoo! Messenger has long been one of the world's most popular IM clients, mainly because Yahoo! itself is such a large presence in the realms of web-mail, communities and so on. It now sits comfortably in second place to Windows Live Messenger in terms of user-base.

Among the new features in Yahoo! Messenger, the emphasis is very much on looks rather than functions. For example, the brand new IMVironment feature (which completely customizes your chat windows) looks pretty impressive at first until you realize that nearly all of them are simply complex advertisements or marketing campaigns from firms like Gatorade and Kleenex. Improvements to the way contacts' images are displayed, as well as new photo-sharing via the excellent Flickr are welcome additions but even they can't dispel the bad smell emanating from IMVironment.

New emoticons have been added to this latest version of Yahoo! Messenger, as have new skins for the main window. To me, these represent fairly minor aesthetic changes rather than important new functionalities, and as such aren't enough of a reason to upgrade. More handy features like improved handling of PC to PC calls, MP3 voicemail, and better integration with Yahoo! sites have also been included but again, none except for the Flickr tool seems really useful. Really, this Beta feels as if it's about matching Live Messenger for features and not much more.

Yahoo! Messenger probably isn't aimed at users like me who prize usability and simplicity above bright colors and lots of advertising. If you like the sound of branding every chat window you use with Kleenex or Axe deodorant then Yahoo! Messenger is for you. If you'd rather use a simple, elegant and uncluttered chat interface, switch to Google Talk and you'll never look back.

A bloated, brightly colored IM client packed with advertising and not much more.

Download Yahoo! Messenger 9 in Softonic

To bring Yahoo! Messenger up to date, Facebook chat has been integrated into the latest version, along with social games like Mafia Wars. You can now use video chat in full-screen mode, and the 'Always On' feature means you'll stay connected whether on mobile, at home or at work.

You can of course update your Facebook status from Yahoo! Messenger, and also on Yahoo! What hasn't changed from the previous version is the amount of bloat in the app. Some people may appreciate the shared videos, social games (as shown in the video here), radio stations, emoticons, search bar and so on. However, all this stuff adds a lot of weight to the Yahoo! Messenger, and it feels unsophisticated today. The video call quality in Yahoo! Messenger is pretty good, however, and in fact if it stuck to being a chat app, we would recommend it more highly!

The amplification of social aspects in Yahoo! Messenger isn't a revolution. If you love all the bells and whistles, you'll love this app, but many people will find it annoying and intrusive.

Download Yahoo! Messenger 11.5.0.228 in Softonic

In game tools

Functions and resources

Additional widgets available for Overwolf are screen capture, Steam chat, Overwolf Chat, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Windows Live Messenger, and Twitter.

Conclusions

Good looking, functional and free, Overwolf is well worth checking out.

Download Overwolf Beta 0.28.170.36556 in Softonic

If you've ever wished you could just package all your favorite web browsing features into one program, you're in luck. That's exactly what AOL 9.6 does. As a company, America Online has been churning out similar types of programs for well over a decade now, and they still appear to be going strong. With this new version of one of their most popular programs, users get an updated look, as well as a more integrated web browsing experience.

Probably one of the nicest features is the ability to search for specific topics online from the comfort of your desktop. AOL 9.6 comes with a gadget, where you can type in your search queries. Of course, in order to actually see the results, you have to have a browser available to bring up AOL's search engine. That's where this program starts to shine. AOL 9.6 offers you a browser feature, along with its competent search engine to find just what you're looking for.

Included as well is the popular messaging program, AOL Instant Messenger. Also known as AIM, this is arguably one of the longest running and most popular instant messaging programs on the internet to this day. The latest version of AIM comes installed on the program and is nicely integrated into the browser conveniently off to one side. It won't usually get in the way of your internet surfing expeditions, but it's there in case you want to chat with friends just the same.

Unfortunately, there's nothing overly innovative about AOL 9.6. Everything here has been seen before, and some might argue that newer browsers with social media integration do it even better. With Facebook chat built into browsers like RockMelt and Flock, it sometimes seems as though programs like AIM are largely becoming unnecessary. In addition, AOL 9.6 has a tendency of crashing or freezing up if you're running even a few additional programs at the same time.

AOL 9.6 certainly isn't breaking any new ground, but for loyal America Online users it's a nice upgrade.

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Download PMSN Paraiso 2.9.00 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.

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One of the new features and improvements included in the newest version of Windows Media Player Plus is a more powerful search tool that lets you find videos or songs just by starting to type their title anywhere on the screen – and not just the search field. There is also an improved Tag Editor Plus for your media files. The tag editor supports album art and batch editing, and features global hotkeys, Party Shuffle, to name a few.

Windows Media Player Plus also improves small details in the player’s interface, leaving more space for the media you’re currently playing. Other customization options include the ability to display the current playing song on the program’s title bar, as well as the ability to change the format of the message you show in Windows Live Messenger.

Unfortunately, Windows Media Player Plus is only compatible with the latest versions of Microsoft’s player, that is, Windows Media Player 11 and 12.

Windows Media Player Plus is an excellent plug-in for Windows Media Player, with interesting improvements and new features.

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Simply choose the IM protocol that you'd like to connect to from a selection that includes SIP, Google Talk, XMPP/Jabber, MSN or Windows Live Messenger, AIM, Bonjour, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger and Facebook chat. In the main window, you'll find all your personal contacts.

In the Jitsi chat window, you can exchange IM messages or initiate video or audio chats, including group chats. There are a limited number of emoticons and Jitsi keeps a history of your chats. Although the interface isn't particularly intuitive, the fact that you can initiate audio and video chats gives it a serious advantage over many slicker IM clients.

Note that this download link takes you to the nightly build page because Jitsi is being updated so regularly, that you can choose the latest version more easily.

Jitsi might not be quite as slick as other IM clients but is a serious alternative to classics like Miranda.

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Windows Live Messenger 2011 is finally here. Far from being just a chat program, the all-new Microsoft instant messaging client is now a complete communications center with support for social networks.

As with previous versions, Windows Live Messenger 2011 is part of the Windows Live Essentials suite, which also includes other apps such as Mail, Writer, Sync, Companion, Family Safety, Photo Gallery and Movie Maker, as well as the Bing Bar. Luckily the installation process lets you choose exactly which apps you want on your system.

Windows Live Messenger features a revamped interface. Right after launching it, and thanks to new integration with other services such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, the so-called Social Highlights lets you check your friends’ latest news and status messages at a glance. If you still prefer the old style, worry not: Windows Live Messenger lets you switch to the traditional contact list by using the Contacts mode. Bear in mind though that if you use a different email account for your social networks, you’ll have to connect the services on the Windows Live website.

Besides the social element, everything else is pretty much the same on Windows Live Messenger 2011, only with a slightly fresher appearance. You can still do video and voice calls, play online games with your friends, share files, and of course customize the program’s appearance with skins and color themes. Emoticons have been revamped, and – finally! – you can have multiple conversations tabbed in one single window.

The main drawback to the all-new Windows Live Messenger 2011 is that it only works on Windows Vista and Windows 7. So if you still use Windows XP you’ll have to stick to the old version – or upgrade your system!

Windows Live Messenger 2011 is the long-awaited new version of Microsoft’s IM client, now integrated with social networks and other services.

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This program protects your computer from threats before they have a chance to infect your system and cause damage. Both novice and long-time computer users will find the program suitable for their needs.

McAfee VirusScan 2005 can also detect programs like keyloggers and Web dialers. It also guards against pop-up ads. This program scans attachments sent through such instant messaging software programs as AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and Windows Messenger.

Whenever you get a new virus, the program automatically updates with the latest virus definition, in the background while you are working. McAfee VirusScan 2005 automatically scans both inbound and outbound email as well.

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This program protects against viruses, spyware, worms, trojans, and adware. The Shield Deluxe 2010 keeps instant messenger software safe, blocks keylogging programs, disables links to malware or phishing sites, and shuts down Internet Explorer vulnerabilities.

This program scans all traffic from the web, email, and instant messaging software. This program uses few system resources, and doesn't interrupt you while you are playing a game.

It also can operate in laptop mode to prolong battery life. The program comes with family network protection -- you can manage your home network's security from a single location.

The Shield Deluxe 2010 updates hourly with the latest virus definitions. This program is compatible with the following Windows operating systems: Windows 2000, NT, XP, and Vista.

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Paltalk includes access to hundreds of chat rooms on a huge variety of topics, and has also support for audio and video chat. The number of chat rooms and video conferences you can join, however, depends on the plan you subscribe to, from the free Basic one with very limited features to the VIP plan for $29.95 a month.

The interface in Paltalk is very similar to that of other IM clients. You have a personal area on top of the window with your avatar and nickname, and then a list of contacts. The bottom part displays the list of available chat rooms. Paltalk can also be used as a standard client for other popular IM networks such as Messenger, Google Talk, AOL Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ and the Facebook chat – as long as you install the necessary plug-ins.

An original feature in Paltalk is the creation of an online chat profile that you can share with your family and friends so that they can IM you at any time from their web browser, without having to install anything.

In general terms Paltalk feels a bit overwhelming because there are ads all over the place and more often than not, you enter a room only to hear music or ranting from a user. The messages exchanged in Paltalk's chat rooms are often so jumbled up that it's hard to be able to follow a genuine conversation.

Paltalk is a desktop IM client with support for audio and video chats, and with lots of chat rooms to meet people from all around the world.

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Collanos Workplace is a simple productivity tool to improve the workflow on projects.

You can create multiple tabbed workplaces, which is a good way of separating your different projects yet having access to them anytime. Changes made to projects by anyone are immediately visible in the interface, as is the availability of team members.

Collanos Workplace can be used offline and will automatically syn new information as soon as you get back online. Another way to communicate is by using the Team Instant Messenger environment, represented by the discussions pane at the bottom.

However that also means you'll have to put up with all the tools, even if there are some you don't enjoy working with.

However it did feel a little slow at times. Apart from the startup login, I was also a bit surprised not too find more security settings to protect your projects.