Being one of the most widely used IM applications, MSN Messenger has always had a large base of users keen on developing plugins with which they could personalize their favorite chat client. Amateur programmers released plugins to discover who had erased you from their contact list, to start more than one MSN session, to log conversations... until MSN Plus! was launched.

MSN Plus! soon became the most popular MSN plug-in, collecting together all the extra options users could ask for into one program. Even now Plus! is still an excellent pack of tools which heavy Messenger users consider as essential and which certainly improves your IM experience. During all these years it has been able to adapt to every new Messenger version, including the name change and the new interface design. In fact, Plus! is now seamlessly integrated into Live Messenger: it launches with the program and the only way you can tell it's there it by two tiny buttons on the main interface.

When Plus was launched, its main feature was the ability to record "chat logs", that is, create text files with all your conversations. However, as this has been already included in the IM app itself, Plus! has had to widen its range of extra functions. These tools can be divided into two groups: those dedicated to chatting improvement and those devoted to contact management. As for the first group, you'll enjoy tabbed chat windows, support for custom text format (bold, italics, font, color) and the so-called quick messages, personal keyboard shortcuts you can assign to sentences or expressions used on a regular basis. The second group of tools allows you to create custom status messages, have your favourite contacts right on the Windows desktop (as an icon) and gather all kinds of stats about contacts, like the last time they logged on or whether they have recently changed their nickname, which I personally find kind of excessive, but hey, to each his own.

Besides all this, Live Messenger Plus still offers its popular chat log tool, which is said to be more powerful and flexible than the default function featured in Windows Messenger Live. Actually, it looks much better thanks to the use of HTML, the ability to record emoticons and winks and the possibility to customize its appearance with CSS formatting.

The list of improvements Plus brings to Windows Live Messenger doesn't end here. You can, for example, hide the application in the system tray under an almost invisible icon (in case you're chatting at work, something we completely disapprove of) or password protect access to the program, amongst others. The good thing though is that you can create your own extra functions, that is, if you know how to code scripts. Plus already features a nice bunch of them, allowing you to display the name of the song you're listening to, send screenshots, use sticky notes and other nice extras.

All in all, Live Messenger Plus is probably the only plug-in you'll ever need, especially if you like customizing every single detail of your Messenger.

Download Messenger Plus! Live 4.60.326 in Softonic

While Google Earth remains the undisputed navigational heavyweight master of global mapping, Microsoft have weighed in with a reasonable effort.

This beta version of Virtual Earth combines local search with maps and aerial photography. Microsoft have included satellite imagery with maps in its local search results for quite some time but with Virtual Earth, the display is focused primarily around maps and aerial views. You can zoom in and out of maps or images, and drag the images around within the display at leisure and the basic search interface is similar to MSN's local search with "what" and "where" forms to specify what you're searching for. In addition, text results for searches are displayed in floating popup windows on the left side of the display. Aerial photographs are overlaid with labels, showing street names, landmarks, and other features, even including directional arrows for one-way streets plus permalinks saves a screenshot of everything open in Virtual Earth, including the map view location and search results.

It may not be in the same class as Google Earth but this is one of Microsoft's better efforts it has to be said.

Download Microsoft Virtual Earth Beta in Softonic

Bring the mystery of Indiana Jones’ new adventure, the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, to your MSN messenger. This theme is based on the new film release and only works on Windows Live Messenger 8.5 (it also requires Messenger Plus! Live 4.60).

Strangely enough, when I tried to install the Plus! Add-on - required to add themes on messenger - the application asked me if I wanted to install advertisements on the messenger. Although it is stated as not being compulsory, and let me choose if I wanted them or not, the add-on didn’t work until I had them installed.

Looking at the theme itself, the graphics and resolution are very good and the main frame, where you have all your contacts, is transformed into a kind of temple entrance with Maya or Aztec style ornaments and of course the frightening gold skull which hides secrets and mysterious Soviet plots. In terms of usability though there are some downsides. With this setting in fact it will be more difficult to understand which contacts are online, and which are not.

Whether you like the adventures of Indiana Jones or, why not, just like archaeology, try this theme for Messenger and feel like you’re part of the latest adventure.

Download Indiana Jones 4 Messenger Skin 1.0.0 in Softonic

Live Messenger, previously known as MSN Messenger, was renamed as part of Microsoft's move towards the Live online community. So far, the most popular IM app in the world had already gone through a bunch of updates, but this new name also meant important changes that would somehow start a new period in Messenger's history.

Live Messenger includes some outstanding characteristics that are well worth a mention. Firstly, its all-new interface features a completely different design from traditional Windows applications, which you can also customize by choosing your own color scheme. In order to maintain this neatness, the menu bar has been hidden under a single top right corner button but this makes it a bit uncomfortable to browse through options. Luckily, the most common actions (send email, call a contact, access MSN Spaces and view shared folders) have been implemented as nice little buttons right under your username, so they're easy to access. Another thing we liked is that you can hide side tabs in the main interface window (right click on any of them and check the "Hide tabs" checkbox). However, there's apparently no way to hide the bottom ad.

Live Messenger offers plenty of emoticons and winks to cheer up your conversations with. You can expand both collections by easily adding new sets which you'll find by the hundred on the Internet. Customization possibilities include changing the chat window background or even adding a personal message to your nickname, but not creating custom status messages. At least this new version features the longed-for offline messaging tool, enabling you to leave a message to any of your contacts even if they're not online.

The two most important features in this new Messenger are the ability of sharing folders and making free PC-to-phone calls. As for the first one, it proves as a very handy way to share pictures, while the second feature allows you to save some pennies on your phone bill. However, this service is currently only available in certain countries (United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Finland, Belgium, Spain and Italy) and requires a subscription to the Verizon Web Calling system.

In any case, you can always make use of the PC-to-PC call feature, which provides excellent sound quality. In fact, we must say this feature has been pretty well implemented in Live Messenger. Its ease of use makes it a great alternative to written conversations: just click on the phone icon and your friend will instantly receive an invitation to answer the phone call on the chat window itself. A simple wizard will guide you through audio configuration and a couple of sliders enable you control the volume of your speakers (or headphones) and mic. You can still use the chat window while you talk, for instance to send a web link or a handwritten message.

Summing up, the main issue with Live Messenger is that it has taken it too much time to offer tools that were already found in other IM apps, such as the VoIP calls mentioned above. However, its attractive design plus the huge number of people who are already MSN Messenger users (and who will eventually upgrade their client) will probably help this Live version reach the top.

Download Windows Live Messenger 9.0.1407.1107 Beta in Softonic

Windows Live Mail Desktop is a simple, powerful tool that lets you get e-mail from multiple accounts in one place and integrates your mail with Windows Live™ Spaces, Windows Live Contacts, Windows Live Messenger, and more.

It gives speedy access to multiple e-mail accounts in one place (even AOL, Gmail, and many others) and allows you to compose and manage e-mail while offline: simply connect to the internet and your messages are sent and new messages downloaded.

Other key features include a reading pane with drag-and-drop features, so you can quickly read and manage your mail plus synchronization with Windows Live Mail and MSN Hotmail accounts.

It also features increased security options to keep your mail safer from hackers.

Download Windows Live Mail Desktop 12.0.1606 Beta in Softonic

Junk email is a major problem and there's hardly a mailbox anywhere that doesn't get some at one stage or another. According to the developers of MailWasher Pro, unwanted email or spam now forms around 90% of received email. MailWasher Pro lets you safely preview and delete bad email before it gets to your computer meaning if it doesn't contain anything harmful, it won't affect your computer.

MailWasher is very easy to use. The developers claim that they took the view that if you can't understand how to use a piece of software in under 5 minutes then it's probably always going to be hard to use. MailWasher Pro analyzes each email as it arrives and warns you if it is suspected junk mail or a virus. There's no real need for you to know this and it would have been better if they'd just blocked everything harmful full stop but at least you know.

The look and feel is like that of Outlook Express and it can be used with the former plus Outlook, Eudora, Netscape, Incredimail and several other major mail clients. This is a powerful program although unless you suffer from serious spam problems, it's not really worth the effort.

Download MailWasher Pro 6.1 in Softonic

Vbuzzer Messenger is a messenger client and VoIP app in one package. It is compatible with the networks of MSN, Yahoo, ICQ and AIM, in addition to having its own network.

As well as basic functions such as chat, checking your mail and send and receiving files, it lets you make phone calls worldwide and send and receive faxes at rates comparable to Skype. In addition, there's an easy to use RS reader and the overall feel and design is quite nice. The PC-to-Phone rates are low and the audio quality is usually very good. I also liked the fact that you can setup call forwarding to any landline or mobile phone, free voicemail to e-mail service and record your own personal voicemail greetings. The PC-to-phone service is known as BuzzOut while the phone-to-PC service is named BuzzMe and enables subscribers to receive unlimited calls on Vbuzzer. You get a free area 416 BuzzMe number that can be reached from any phone and they usually have introductory offers with a range of free calls on offer.

I wouldn't change to this from Skype but if they could lower the rates a bit, I'd definitely consider it.

Download Vbuzzer Messenger 2.5.054 in Softonic

Windows Live OneCare helps protect your computer, and its automated optimization features keep your PC running at its speediest. OneCare even regularly backs up your important files. You get all this in one convenient package:

• Protection Plus, with its antivirus and antispyware scanners and managed, two-way firewall, helps protect your computer from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, hackers, phishing, and other threats. It runs continuously in the background, but you can scan individual files and folders for viruses on demand simply by right-clicking them. You can even scan attachments you receive via Windows Live Messenger or MSN Messenger.

• Performance Plus regularly defragments your hard disk, removes any unnecessary files that can clog your PC, and helps make sure important security updates from Microsoft are installed efficiently and on time.

• Backup and Restore regularly copies your important files and settings to CD, DVD, or external hard disk.

• Instant Support provides online help anytime you need it, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Download Windows Live OneCare 2.0.2500.12 in Softonic

Caraq offers you a fun way to create a personalized avatar that you can use in your favorite IM application or in your blog. The program leads you through several steps in the process of designing the avatar, choosing face expression, skin color, clothes and even the action that will be performed by the character. Once you're done, the avatar will be saved on your PC as a BMP file and also published to the program's website, from where you'll be able to embed it to your blog.

Caraq is very easy to use and features a wide range of items to use on your avatar, although not all of them are free. The program has a currency system (Caraq coins) which you can use to purchase special items. These coins can be acquired in the program's website and there's also ways to obtain some of them for free: for example, if your avatar is viewed more than 100 times.

The official program's webpage acts as a community site for all Caraq users, where you can browse other people's avatars and share yours. Although you can upload your avatar with a guest account (as long as it uses only free items) you'll need to create an user account if you want to use other services.

Download CaraQ 1.1.1 in Softonic

GetMail is a mail forwarding program that started life because of the lack of POP3 availability for Hotmail. If you have tried looking for a POP3 address for Hotmail you'll know that one is only available to paying customers.

From these humble beginnings it has evolved into a flexible Hotmail/MSN/Pop mail directing forwarding program. Plus by using GetMail with other third party tools you can forward on AOL and many other account types making it the ideal tool to use for not only mass migrating your e-mail to Gmail but also continuing to forward on mail received in your old accounts.

Download GetMail 3.3 in Softonic

When playing online games, chatting via IM or calling through VoIP, wouldn't it be nice to be able to change your voice for a while? This is what you can do with Blaze Audio Voice Cloak. Use it with Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN, Google Talk, AIM or ICQ for increased online security and instant laughs.

Voice Cloak Plus gives you a five band equalizer, robot voice effects, flange, echo, pitchshift, and chorus. You can even create and record your own sound effects library! Also change the way Voice Cloak Plus looks with cool skins to match your every mood.

Then record the fun! Voice Cloak Plus will save your enhanced audio in Wave, WMA, Ogg, even MP3. Listen to it later on your iPod!

Download Blaze Audio Voice Cloak 1.1.0.40 in Softonic

MSN Winks Plus allows you to preview, automatically download and install additional Winks for MSN Messenger. It has hundreds of MSN Messenger winks. you can select a favorite wink to install into your MSN Messenger account. We will add more winks in the future. You can check the new Winks and install it when we add them. The registered user can download more Winks and other MSN Content Packs such as Moods, Backgrounds and Emoticons and install them by only double click them.

Download MSN Winks Plus 5.0 in Softonic

Every now and then a piece of technology comes along that bumps up the evolution of the Internet an extra notch. Hotmail did it for email, Google for searching and Skype for phone calls over the net. Quintura is a clever and well-executed application that may well grow to reach this ‘killer app’ status. The aim of the program is to make searching the web an easier and more intuitive process.

Quintura works by allowing you to type a search term then displaying a series of words related to that phrase that ‘float’ around the original term, then subsequently displaying further related terms whenever you roll over one of them – rather like a computerized stream of consciousness. All the while, the application is querying the search engine of your choice and displaying relevant search results in a panel on the right of the interface. This makes for a wonderfully original and logical way of browsing the web, especially if you’re interested in exploring all avenues of one particular topic, or aren’t completely sure what it is that you’re looking for. Once you’ve found a link to a site that you like the look of, you simply click the link and the page will open in a new browser window.

The process of searching the web in this way is a little unusual at first, rather like driving an automatic car when you’ve been used to a gear-stick. It feels very strange not to be able to enter additional keywords or perform boolean operations, plus the absence of an obvious ‘Back’ button is also a little unsettling. The melée of words that are flying all over the screen only serve to add to the confusion. But guess what? It actually works. Within a few minutes of surfing the web in this way you start to develop a feeling of liberation, and you can sit back and enjoy the view without having to worry about the traditional restrictive tools of search. It feels as if new areas of the web are opening up to you, as you continue to slide down the stream of consciousness. Backtracking seems cumbersome at first, but the fact that the search terms you’ve clicked on are highlighted in red means you can simply ‘unclick’ them to head back the trail of information.

Although the program isn’t flourishing with features (it’s still only limited to searching Google, Google News, Yahoo!, and MSN), the few options that are present are very useful. For instance, if you’re not ready to be bombarded with a wave of different tangents from your original search term, you can alter the scope of the search using a simple scroll bar. The accuracy of the results can also be tweaked in the same way. If you’ve been pursuing a particularly interesting area of research, you can save your Quintura search with the click of a button, to come back to another time. One minor gripe we had with the interface was the absence of a Search window. Thus, whenever you want to make a new query you need to close down the search you’re doing and start a new one, with a ‘save current search’ prompt appearing every time. Perhaps this is just another of those search conventions you have to leave at the door when you use the program.

Ultimately, Quintura is a fascinating and original application, which delivers a geat research tool and moreover, gives rise to a completely new and immersive way of surfing the web. Just like the feeling I got the first time I used Google or downloaded Skype, I sense that using the Internet will not quite be the same again after installing this innovative program.

Download Quintura Search 1.5 in Softonic

Universal Messenger Plus is a completely free multi-protocol instant messenger designed with the goal to bridge the difference of various Instant Messengers and provide a single convenient interface that will allow users to easily communicate over different protocols. With Universal Messenger Plus all messengers work for you and there is no difference anymore!

Universal Messenger Plus supports the following common protocols:

• Oscar (ICQ protocol)
• MSN
• AOL
• IRC
• Yahoo Messenger
• Jabber

Download Universal Messenger Plus 1.02 in Softonic

SEO Studio helps website owners and SEO consultants achieve higher search engine ranking. Build lasting link popularity with Links Plus+ a reciprocal link partner search, analysis and management tool. Discover how your competitors achieve high search engine rankings by automatically finding their inbound link partners on all of the major search engines: Google, MSN, Yahoo, and many others.

With a click of a button, analyze your competitor's text links for your choice of keywords, and also discover their Alexa and Google Page Rank. Manage all your link partners in one easy-to-use workspace, conduct email campaigns, and automatically build your link pages. SEO Studio automatically submits you website and tracks manual submissions in all of the major Search Engines, saving you time and money unlike other online Search Engine submission services.

The Interactive Live-Keyword Analyzer helps you attain the ideal keyword density, prominence, and keyword count to achieve high search engine ranking without getting penalized for over optimizing your web pages. You can discover hidden high ranking keywords for your website by extracting keywords from your competitor's websites. The ranking tool produces detailed Search Engine positioning reports on over 260 major and international engines, saving you from lots of time spent every month in tracking where your website ranks against your competitors'.

With Top 10 Spy, take keyword analysis to a new level, by measuring your web pages against competing web sites, with the flexibility of analyzing on all the major Search Engines. Personalize all SEO Studio submission, ranking and keyword analysis reports with your own company information and logo, and E-mail or export customized reports to your clients.

Download SEO Studio 2.0.4 in Softonic