Features

Being part of the Windows Live Essentials suite, Windows Live Movie Maker has to be installed through the Essentials package installer. Also, bear in mind that this version only works in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Usability

Windows Live Movie Maker is dead easy to use. All you have to do is import the photos and videos you want to use, select the background music and add some titles and end credits if you want. The program displays extra buttons on the title bar that gives you access to configuration settings for video, music and text respectively. As regards effects, you also have plenty to choose from: transition effects, animations, zoom and pan, and also visual effects that will spice up your images.

Quality

When your video is finished, you can save it in different formats and sizes, depending on where you plan to use it on: computer, high-definition TV screen, mobile device, instant messaging client, etc. Windows Live Movie Maker also includes the option to upload it directly to YouTube, Facebook, SkyDrive and Flickr. The only drawback is that Windows Live Movie Maker saves videos to one single format: WMV.

Conclusion

With Windows Live Movie Maker you'll be able to create nice compositions with your favorite photos and videos, and share them with anyone.

Download Windows Live Movie Maker 2012 16.4.3505.912 in Softonic

Introduction

PhotoFiltre is a relatively small application and unlike Photoshop, will install and launch very quickly. The interface, loaded with all the features and options, can be confusing at first glance but you'll soon get used to it. The right side is composed of the shape and drawing tools and an optimizable color palette. The top bar has all the essential image editing and modification options. PhotoFiltre sadly doesn't let you customize the interface and choose your favorite tools.

Features

Among all the image modification tools, of particular usefulness is the quick contrast/hue and saturation buttons because you can check out the effects and immediately and easily correct the image if you're not satisfied with its quality. If you trust PhotoFiltre, you can also let it adjust these parameters automatically.

Like any self-respecting image editing application, PhotoFiltre includes the most widely used filters to transform your image, but if you need to make really significant changes, you'll find yourself limited. Furthermore, unlike Photoshop, PhotoFiltre doesn't include layers, making it more challenging to work on different elements of the image separately.

Like the excellent free image viewer Irfanview, PhotoFiltre covers the majority of image formats and can batch process and convert images rapidly. PhotoFiltre has five different zoom options yet they seem to be more or less similar. The magnifier is probably less precise than the drop down percentage pane, and the auto zoom adjusts the image’s size according to PhotoFiltre's window size.

The image explorer is located at the bottom of the screen, and if you set it according to your image file you'll be able to quickly preview all your pictures. However, if you work with multiple image files, it can quickly become confusing, as you’ll have to open up an explorer tree pane every time to look for your pictures.

PhotoFiltre contains all the essential tools and options to edit and optimize pictures.

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Full of features

Photoscape includes just about everything you need to view, optimize, edit, print and have fun with your photos. In fact, it's so complete that many would call it a free Photoshop alternative. Sure, it's not quite up to the level of Photoshop, but it's truly a great alternative to Adobe's big shot - and it makes photo editing a lot more fun!

Easy to use

From the program's main window you can choose what you want to do: view pictures, optimize those that didn't come out so well, print several photos on a single page collage-style or perhaps add any of the dozens of filters and special effects included in the program.

Smart interface

One of the first striking elements in Photoscape is its uncommon interface design. The application is very striking and in many ways it's easier on the eye than Photoshop.

Conclusion

There's really nothing negative to say about Photoscape. Just download it, test it, love it and keep it forever. It's free!

Download Photoscape 3.6.3 in Softonic

The Windows Live Photo Gallery interface itself is clean, clear and easy to use. It provides a great platform for your images and the picture quality in the slideshow function is excellent. Windows Live Photo Gallery also features great tagging and sorting functions and a few nice extras, such as the ability to order prints directly from online retailers, burn to CD and publish to a group.

Unfortunately, many of these extras require you to install a supplementary program or sign up for a Windows Live account. Add that to Windows Live Photo Gallery's simplistic editing tools, and suddenly the program isn't looking so rosy.

In fact, Windows Live Photo Gallery even appears to have lost a few features since the last version, as there is no sign of the screensaver function of the beta version and you can only make thumbnails that measure 100 x 75 - not exactly what I'd call progress, Windows!

Windows Live Photo Gallery is a good program for heavy Windows Live users who don't need much editing power.

Download Windows Live Photo Gallery 16.4.3503.0728 in Softonic

While the Windows Store has its own application recommendations and top lists, it doesn't really offer rich content to help you make your decision on which app to download. Softonic (for Windows 8) helps in this regard by providing full access to Softonic's written and photo content so you can make better choices about what to download.

Softonic (for Windows 8)'s interface is simple. On the home page, you'll find the top programs featured on Softonic. Swipe to the left and you'll reveal software categories, as well as top lists for you to explore. Top Software titles are presented as tiles with visible star ratings. Tap on one to read and view all the content available.

The strength of Softonic (for Windows 8) comes from the content generated by our editors. Read our full reviews and view screenshots with ease. Unfortunately, Softonic (for Windows 8) doesn't have the ability to show video in this early version.

There are also some interface inconsistencies in Softonic for Windows 8. While comments can be viewed, they can't be created and are often cut off. While it's nice that Softonic (for Windows 8) includes top lists, it would be even better to include software lists created by editors like in the Softonic for Windows application. Due to Microsoft's policies, apps cannot offer direct downloads. Instead, you have to click through to access the Softonic website in a browser and download apps from there.

Overall, Softonic (for Windows 8) is a app to explore software but its feature set needs work.

Download Softonic (for Windows 8) 1.3.0.9 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

Mezzmo is easy to set up and use. Mezzmo automatically finds and organizes all your music, movies and photos on your computer. Import music, movies, photos and playlists from your iPhone, iPod, Audio CDs, iTunes, Windows Media Player and WinAmp.

Mezzmo transcodes music, movies and photos on-the-fly so they play perfectly on your DLNA-enabled device. Multi-threaded technology and support for the latest Dual Core, Quad Core or higher PC systems gives you fast transcoding and super-fast streaming.

Media format support includes all popular video file formats, music file formats and image file formats. You can even connect and stream to multiple devices at the same time!

Install Mezzmo onto your PC today and start streaming music, movies and photos to all your DLNA-enabled devices in your home!

Download Mezzmo 2.6.1.0 in Softonic

As well as a multi clipboard, you get a year planner, a graphics editor and a picture browser thrown in. Clips which are Web addresses work as bookmarks. Clips which are phone numbers will dial via your modem. Clips which are files on your PC work as shortcuts to them. It will remove email indentation chevrons from text. It will word wrap fixed line length text (Including the repair of hyphenated words) It even pastes text into old DOS programs! The list of uses for this software just goes on and on.

Clips are presented in spread sheet format. You can see up to 500 cells (clips) at a time. Each cell displays the clip title and moving the mouse over a title displays the contents (Text or graphic)

Spartan is not aimed at any particular user. Anyone who spends more than a few minutes a day at his PC will benefit from Spartan's time saving fearures.

Download Spartan Multi Clipboard 8.00 in Softonic

Design elementsIDpack ID card software integrates powerful editing tools to crop, resize and transform images. Harmonize your design with the latest "Image Editor" feature allowing you to adjust the brightness & contrast levels, color levels, and other advanced filters.

Tune your pictures to perfection with the "Picture Filter" feature to adjust the brightness & contrast levels and RGB color levels for clear and crisp ID card photos.

Integrate conditional objects, color coding, and data triggered objects, and other endless possibilities. DatabaseIDpack Business will fetch data from your Microsoft Access or ODBC databases through a user-friendly data management interface.

Integrate IDpack with your company database for fast and reliable results. Printing and OutputIDPack prints on plastic ID cards, Paper badges, DYMO labels and other labels.

Batch print single or double-sided ID cards, employee ID cards, event passes, student ID cards, membership cards, loyalty cards and more. Desktop printing is easy as 1-2-3, with more than 1000 built in Avery label formats, plus 40 DYMO LabelWriter formats.

SecurityIDpack Business has the most comprehensive security features from basic password protection to advanced user rights management. The administrator can easily manage user privileges from the design to printing processes.

IDpack gives you the power to encode ID cards and ID badges with barcodes (24 symbologies) and ID photos. IDpack Business is about handing you the power to design, secure and produce ID cards and ID badges at a mouse click.

Download IDpack Business 9 in Softonic

This tool lets you create an image from scratch or edit one of your images in an intuitive interface. The program is easy enough to use like any other Paint-like application, but also has some powerful features that you normally don't find in other free graphic editors.

Among the features included in RealWorld Paint you'll find support for layers and masks – just like Photoshop - and a bunch of special effects and filters, image blending, support for gradients and shadows and more, besides the basic drawing and retouching tools. RealWorld Paint may not offer the same array of options you find in professional graphic suites, but it's still a surprising selection of tools for a free editor.

RealWorld Paint has also support for scanners and lets you import images from the clipboard or take a snapshot of your desktop to start working on it.

RealWorld Paint is a free image editor with support for layers, masks and various effects that lets you can create your own drawings and also edit photos.

Download RealWorld Paint 2011.1 in Softonic

If you need something more powerful than Microsoft Paint but not as complex as Photoshop, Paint.NET is what you're looking for.

This nicely designed image editor features the simple interface everyone loves to have in applications, but at the same time offers a surprisingly wide array of tools and options you would only expect to find in large graphic suites.

Paint.NET lets you work on several images simultaneously, has support for layers, keeps an action history that lets you undo any changes, and includes a variety of drawing tools (brushes, geometrical shapes). You'll also find several special filters and effects that can turn your image into an oil painting or a pencil drawing in just one click.

That said, don't expect Paint.NET to be some kind of free Photoshop alternative. If you use the Adobe app to work on your images, you'll surely miss many tools in Paint.NET. For everyone else though, this is a perfect tool for daily simple image editing.

Paint.NET sits somewhere between a basic editor and a complex graphic suite, featuring a nicely designed interface and a bunch of handy tools for quick photo optimization and retouching.

Download Paint.NET 3.5.10 in Softonic

JPEG IFilter extends the services capabilities to index the JPEG files (extensions JPG, JPEG, JPE, JFIF) and to perform content search for them.

JPEG IFilter is a software component that provides benefits together with other Windows applications. With AimAtFile Fast File Search the IFilter helps you quickly find photos in your home collection.

With Microsoft Indexing Service under Internet Information Server or with SharePoint Portal the IFilter lets you provide your site or portal visitors with a powerful search for image files.

There are several standards that determine methods of storing text information in the image files: EXIF, IPTC/NAA, XMP. The IFilter is EXIF standard compliant.

Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) is a Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA) standard. It is supported by the most of digital cameras manufactures and it is supported by Windows XP.

The JPEG files summary properties that you can edit in Windows Explorer are stored in the EXIF format.

Download JPEG IFilter Workstation in Softonic

JPEG IFilter extends the services capabilities to index the JPEG files (extensions JPG, JPEG, JPE, JFIF) and to perform content search for them.

JPEG IFilter is a software component that provides benefits together with other Windows applications. With AimAtFile Fast File Search the IFilter helps you quickly find photos in your home collection.

With Microsoft Indexing Service under Internet Information Server or with SharePoint Portal the IFilter lets you provide your site or portal visitors with a powerful search for image files.

There are several standards that determine methods of storing text information in the image files: EXIF, IPTC/NAA, XMP. The IFilter is EXIF standard compliant.

Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) is a Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA) standard. It is supported by the most of digital cameras manufactures and it is supported by Windows XP.

The JPEG files summary properties that you can edit in Windows Explorer are stored in the EXIF format.

Download JPEG IFilter Server in Softonic

Panorama images may seem difficult to create but, believe it or not, it's more a question of choosing the right stitching software rather than being artistically gifted.

Microsoft Image Composite Editor is a photo editor that lets you create panoramas in a snap. All you have to do is open the files that make up the panoramic view and let the program take care of the rest.

For those who prefer tweaking with settings, there are a couple of configuration options in Microsoft Image Composite Editor to fiddle with, namely Stitching Method and Cropping Area. When it comes to exporting the final result, Microsoft Image Composite Editor lets you choose among several different formats.

In general terms I'd say Microsoft Image Composite Editor is a fantastic tool to take your first steps in the creation of panoramas. Power users will probably find too limited and restrictive, and will surely miss having some more manual options, not to mention the possibility to view images separately.

Microsoft Image Composite Editor lets you create panorama images in a couple of clicks, with generally excellent results.

Download Microsoft Image Composite Editor 1.4.4 in Softonic

There are a lot of desktop painting programs out there available to download. Some even come as standard when you buy a new Windows PC.

PowerPaint's developers post that PowerPaint is "the best tool to replace Windows Paint." By all accounts, it certainly boasts more features than its stripped down counterpart. Even in the "Image" drop-down menu alone, you can turn your drawing or photograph gray, halftone, invert the blacks and whites within the picture, adjust the brightness and contrast and much more. PowerPaint also comes with a bunch of pre-made basic shapes, lines, arrows, stars and banners. These are just simple examples of clipart, but it's certainly convenient to have them already installed.

In addition, PowerPaint has different types of texture brushes to add special effects to your images. You can fill in the background with a specific color and even insert an additional photograph into the image you're already working with.

It's no substitute for the more powerful programs like Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop, but PowerPaint is a pretty handy and free image editing alternative.

Download PowerPaint 2.50 in Softonic

Maybe this generous selection of editing tools is responsible for PaintShop Photo Pro's lengthy installation process.

It has so many different windows, palettes and toolbars that it feels a bit overwhelming. Our advice here is to spend as much time as necessary customizing it to your needs and, of course, trying out all the program’s buttons and menus.

We especially liked the Express Lab, a special tool to quickly fix common image glitches.