Usability

Complications arise later on when trying to share files between computers: you'll have to do it through network sharing on Windows because it's not a feature Hamachi itself supports. In the end, I have to admit we were unable to share files over Hamachi during our tests – you know how stubborn Windows folder sharing configuration can get. Oh well, at least we could have a chat – a very safe one, of course.

Quality

Hamachi features a simple interface that enables you to create personal safe networks in just a couple of steps. At first sight, it all looks very easy to use. Plus your connection is conveniently protected by an AES-256 encryption algorithm.

Conclusion

Hamachi is a great solution to establish safe, private P2P connections between two computers; unfortunately it's not as easy to use as it seems at first sight.

Download Hamachi 2.1.0.362 in Softonic

Features

These days, it's an app that attempts to be all things to all people - play DVDs, organize music, catalog photos, convert video, interact with social networking sites, browse internet multimedia....there's no end to what RealPlayer offers to its users. Even so, it's not an out-and-out success...

Usability

For a start, installation of RealPlayer is annoying - it takes a while, requires lots of "nexts" and tries to install and enable several features that users don't really need. Finally, when it starts, you're offered a chance to upgrade to paid versions of RealPlayer before you have to register yourself with Real Networks. If all this messing around doesn't appeal, check out a slimline app like UMPlayer.

When you're up and running, RealPlayer features a wide interface where you will notice ads and videos recommended by Real Networks. This looks cluttered and messy, and it's hard to know what the app actually offers. In reality, RealPlayer is ideal for playing and sharing video with your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter and it works easily with BlackBerry, iPod, iPhone and other game systems. The new video converter allows you to copy online video to your iPod, Xbox, PS3 and other devices. Unfortunately, you can't rip DVDs with RealPlayer, although this is available as a feature if you upgrade to RealPlayer Plus.

Most recently, RealPlayer has been updated with far better mobile and social networking integration. You can now copy your favorite videos to an iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and dozens of other popular devices automatically. Downloading internet videos is faster, and for those of you with something to hide, RealPlayer offers a new Private folder. Social media has also been bumped up, with direct access to Facebook videos and usefully, a built-in feature to transfer videos to your mobile devices.

Quality

That said, RealPlayer isn't bad at all. It's comparable to Windows Media Player 12 as they both have some impressive ways of organizing your music. For me, the best feature is the CD burner which is something I've used from the early days of RealPlayer. The sheer quality of some of the media only available in Real formats makes RealPlayer an essential item in the toolkit of any fan of internet video and audio.

Conclusion

There's no shortage of media players theses days, and RealPlayer is by no means a bad option. It offers lots of features, good options and is a high-quality player that will do justice to your media. The only problem is that despite its modern features, it feels like a bit of a dinosaur. It's heavy and slow, looks chunky and takes an age to respond to clicks, and for many people - especially those who have experience of lighter options - it's just not the most comfortable player.

RealPlayer is a media player that, although powerful, has suffered from serious feature-creep over the years.

Download RealPlayer 16.0.2.232 in Softonic

Adobe Reader has been in existence for over a decade and has gone through various evolutions during this time. One result of this is that it has been increasingly loaded with plug-ins and extensions which mean that it's consistently criticized as being bloated and slow.

The truth about Adobe Reader's speed

It is true to a certain extent that the extra plug-ins and extensions can make Adobe run more slowly. Adobe Reader is still a PDF reader that has much to offer though. With the latest version of Adobe Reader, Adobe have addressed some of the speed issues and the memory footprint has been improved consistently throughout the development of Adobe Reader XI.

Interface and stand-out features

This version of Adobe Reader is not only slightly faster, but also displays a clearer, simpler interface that makes it easier to use. Adobe Reader XI still features the classic tools from previous versions (Zoom, Text selection, Snapshots and Read out loud), but now it also includes renewed features such as the ability to leave comments as sticky notes. A new feature you’ll find in Adobe Reader X is the Share tool, with which you can easily share the document by email or via the Adobe SendNow service.

Built-in security precautions

If you were worried about security issues in Adobe Reader, fear not: Adobe Reader XI is probably the safest version ever released, thanks to the new Protected Mode than loads images, code and 3D objects in a special area in memory, isolated from the system.

Adobe Reader XI is undoubtedly an important update in the history of this popular PDF reader – an essential tool to open, read and print PDF documents.

Download Adobe Reader XI 11.0.03 in Softonic

Traditionally the first choice when it comes to compressing and uncompressing files, WinZip is one of the most popular downloads of all time. Despite the fact that its competitors have caught up somewhat, it remains a simple way to archive programs and reduce file sizes.

Much of WinZip's success has been down to its simplicity. From the outset, the program prompts you to choose between Classic mode and Wizard mode. The wizard is great for beginners, although even the classic interface is easily negotiated, giving you instant access to a range of features such as compression ratios, password-protection and a Favorites list.

While archiving files in WinZip is quick and easy, you can't help but thinking that the program has lost some ground on its competitors. For instance, the compression rates aren’t as high as they are in WinRAR, and you can only save files in Zip format rather than RAR, ISO or JAR.

Nevertheless, WinZip performs its function well, helping you archive files quickly and effectively.

Download WinZip 17.5 build 10480 in Softonic

Features

Thanks to a straightforward, uncluttered interface BitTorrent appears as a user friendly torrent client that beginners will feel comfortable with. We particularly appreciated the integrated search box to look for files on the BitTorrent website. Once you’ve found the torrent you want, download it to your PC, open it up inside BitTorrent and let the client do the rest. The speed at which you download will depend on the number of seeds, that is people who have the complete file and are sharing it. The more seeds there are the quicker files will download.

You can set multiple torrent downloads and the downloading speed is fairly quick. It’s easy to configure the client and we suggest choosing the right port and setting upload and download rate limits to avoid hogging your bandwidth. It’s also good to set your downloads by priority to monitor more precisely how your torrents are doing.

Using BitTorrent

The file you want to download is cut up into small segments shared by users, creating what is called a swarm, and does not go through a central server, significantly reducing the bulk of file transfers. The BitTorrent client is actually the first P2P application to use this technology and became immensely popular when it was released. Torrents are considered by online users as a great way to download recently anything from movies to operating systems.

Competition

Compared to the exhaustive Azureus, BitTorrent is very simplistic. It doesn’t provide half as many statistics and doesn’t let you customize the interface. Integrating a search box is a great idea, but it limits searches to the BitTorrent website, not considered the most thorough source by torrent aficionados.

Conclusion

If you’re a newbie to the torrent world, BitTorrent is a good bet. It’s safe, stable and sharp. Associated with the huge database of legal torrents that is the BitTorrent website, it makes for a very rich P2P experience. Advanced users will probably frown upon its lack of options but others should give it a try.

Download BitTorrent 7.8.0.29676 in Softonic

Features of uTorrent

uTorrent includes everything you would expect from a complete, reliable torrent downloader: highly detailed stats, support for RSS feeds, automatic shutdown, download scheduler and more. There are a couple things that uTorrent is missing though: a full torrent search tool and a built-in player to preview your downloads.

uTorrent 3 lets you play media in streaming as you download, rate and comment torrent files, drag and drop files to share them, and disable the UDP tracker.

Ideal for all user levels

Since version 3 uTorrent has sported a totally redesigned interface: more usable, easier to use and a perfect match for uTorrent’s web interface.

Just like previous versions, uTorrent 3 is easy enough to use for everyone no matter what their level of computer expertise is, but it also includes dozens of configuration settings that will please the most tech-savvy users. Also, this new version includes several beginner-oriented guides to make sure everybody can make the most of it.

Light on system resources

After a quick installation process (although there are quite a few prompts to install browser add-ons etc) and a handy built-in speed test to make the initial setting much easier, uTorrent is ready. The program takes up minimal hard drive and PC resources, which enables you to have a good amount of torrents downloading and still be able to use your computer without any lag.

Conclusion

If you're searching for a reliable, fast and lightweight torrent client, look no further: uTorrent is what you need.

Download uTorrent (µTorrent) 3.3.0.29677 in Softonic

Greenshot provides a really convenient and effective way to capture screenshots in addition to editing them. It has four main hotkey combinations for the different ways of recording the image you wish to capture. These are: "Impr" to capture and share, "Shift + Impr" to select the region, "Alt + Print" for recording the active window and "Control + Impr" to capture the full screen.

Presumably, the program is called Greenshot because the selected area turns green once selected. In addition, you hear a camera shutter noise when an image has been taken. Once you've taken a shot, you can add arrows, signs, boxes, etc. It can also be preset to automatically save captures in a certain format i.e. JPEG, BMP, GIF and PNG. In addition, you can configure the program to save directly to the clipboard or send captures to the printer.

This is a nice little capture program that does it's job well although the green effects are not really necessary.

Download Greenshot 1.1.4.2622 in Softonic

It's not just a GIF maker. It's a converter of video to GIF animation. It supports many video formats, YouTube video, and even allow to record animations from webcam. So you don't need to be a professional web designer, or animator in order to create stunning GIF animations.

This software is designed for a large audience. Anyone can use this software to make cool GIF animations, and share it with the World.

Download Any GIF Animator 2.7 in Softonic

Ubuntu epitomizes everything that open source software is all about - free, quality software that works well and looks good. The latest version of Ubuntu "Maverick Meerkat" is packed with new features aimed at bringing Ubuntu to a wider market by making it easier than ever to use.

This download is for the Windows installer version of Ubuntu which installs Ubuntu on your system just like any other application you might install in Windows. It's the easiest and safest way of installing Ubuntu for the first time because you can easily remove it if you find you don't like it. If you do like it, you can download the desktop version which you'll then have to transfer to a CD or USB stick to install correctly.

Ubuntu allows you to do everything that Windows allows you to do with bonus that everything from the word processor to the e-mail client is free and it's fast. Ubuntu comes with Mozilla Firefox preinstalled although you can choose Google Premium from the fantastic Ubuntu Software Centre. One of the big stars of Ubuntu is Open Office which provides you with everything that Microsoft Office has. The IM client is Empathy IM and the mail client is Evolution Mail although you can install Skype and Thunderbird if you prefer. Other apps included in Ubuntu include Me Menu which gives you access to Facebook, Twitter and Identi.ca plus The GIMP, Flickr and Shotwell for image editing.

The major innovation in 10.10 however is the integration of a music store. Ubuntu's music player includes an integrated store, so you can buy and download new tracks. In addition, Ubuntu One's file-syncing means you can stream your music uninterrupted to your Android device or iPhone. This file syncing capability extends to other files and folders too. For video fans, you can still watch clips in YouTube, iPlayer, and MSN Player as well as play your own videos with Movie Player or you can use Pitivi to edit your videos. For game fans, there's lots of games to choose from in the Ubuntu Software Center including puzzles, adventures, strategy games and more - all for free.

One of the major benefits of Ubuntu however is simply its awesome speed. If you're used the the sluggishness of Windows, you're in for a treat. However, the major downside of Ubuntu is that it can be hard to get components in your PC to work with it. There is no driver center as such, meaning finding drivers to run your WiFi card, mouse-pad etc can be very hard. However, most newer laptops and PCs should have no problems being supported from the start.

Ubuntu is a fantastic example of how open source software can compete with the big guns. If you can get it working smoothly on your PC, you may never look back.

Download Ubuntu 13.04 in Softonic

Nokia Ovi Suite is very simple to install, thanks to a helpful, step-by-step wizard that guides you through the process of hooking your phone up. The main menu consists of a series of bright, bold icons offering a gateway to some cool features. The functions you'll probably use most are the backup and restore and file transfer tools, which run quickly and without fuss.

But the additional features of Nokia Ovi Suite are what really make it stand out. For instance, you can synchronize your phone and PC calendars, install apps onto your phone, access mail, maps, images, contacts and more. Everything can be done either via Bluetooth or USB cable.

Providing your device is compatible with the software, Nokia Ovi Suite is an essential tool for managing your phone.

Download Nokia Ovi Suite 3.8 in Softonic

SliceMaker Platinum V3.5 doesn't come with predefined set of templates, the created webpage is what you want your graphic web design look like and what you want your graphic web design to do.

1. Slice Graphic Web Design and then make CSS and DIV automatically 2. Support Importing Graphic Web Design in PNG, PSD, JPG and GIF formats. 3. Support exporting HTML, HTM, ASP, ASP Include File, PHP, PHP Include File, ASPX, ASCX, JSP, JSP Include File 4. The exported file/document can be compatible with virtually all web browsers 5. Easily Apply JavaScript techniques to your webpage 6. Apply cool web effects to your webpage within several simple clicks. 7. Support CSS Sprites

SliceMaker Platinum is designed to be an all-in-one website/webpage making tool easy enough for both beginners and professional web developers, but with powerful features that they can grow into.

Download SliceMaker Platinum 3.5 in Softonic

While comparisons with other similar services – such as Last.fm – are inevitable, Spotify has certain characteristics that make it stand out from the rest. You can search the entire Spotify music database in several ways (by artist, album, genre, decade, label brand…), create as many playlists as you want and share them with other users, and learn more about your favorite bands thanks to extensive, highly detailed biographies. Spotify also helps you discover new music through the “Related artists” and Radio service.

There are three types of Spotify accounts: Open, Unlimited and Premium. Free is limited to 10 hours of free ad-supported a month (approximately 200 songs) and lets you play each song up to five times. Unlimited has no ads and no playback restrictions. Finally, Premium includes high-quality MP3 (also with no ads or restrictions) and also includes an offline mode for playlists.

The one big criticism of Spotify was the lack of social features. Luckily the developers took note of this complaint and include a bunch of new social elements in Spotify’s next version – together with the Library, a centralized area from which you can manage your music collection – including Spotify’s lists and your own MP3 files, which you can now import into Spotify from your hard drive, your Windows Media Player Library or your iTunes library.

The brand new features included in the latest version of Spotify now let you manage and sync the music in your iPod, iPhone or Android. Also, the Spotify mobile app has been made available for anyone, and not just Premium users. Last, but not least, Spotify has launched its MP3 download service, thanks to which you can buy and download individual songs and also your custom playlists. The price depends on the number of songs you want to download – the longer the playlist, the less you pay for each track. You can pay with credit card or Paypal, though the latter is not accepted if you only purchase one song.

Just like a good wine, Spotify gets better with age. If you don’t mind the limitations in the Free version (or you’re willing to pay for the Unlimited/Premium one) it’s probably time to ditch your old desktop music player.

Spotify lets you browse, play, share and buy music, including not only your lifelong favorite bands, but also brand new styles and artists.

Download Spotify 0.9.0.133 in Softonic

How It Works? ePaperflip Software (ES) will convert PDFs and other printed materials into online and offline customized flipping digital editions. Customizations include the ability to personally brand the content with a logo, embed unlimited video and audio, translate into various languages, and sell products from within the edition. Our user friendly publishing software converts your print ready files into a dynamic, user friendly, page flipping digital publication, which allows for online and off-line versions. ES solution provides statistical tools to keep you informed on audience behavior.

Your audience will be able to view your digital edition directly from your Twitter, Facebook, or Google and share your digital edition with friends and colleagues. Your digital edition can be created in HTML5 or flash. This enables users on the iPhone, iPad, Android and other mobile devices to enjoy a rich viewing experience. ePaperflip digital magazine software solutions allow many brands worldwide to create digital editions in minutes, including digital catalogs, brochures, magazines and more.

With ePaperFlip Software you can easily create interactive online digital catalogs, magazines, and brochures out of your PDF's. ePaperFlip digital magazine software gives life to your publication with fully customizable editions.

Download ePaperFlip Software 3.3 in Softonic

Feature 1: rip almost all of DVDs Feature 2: support bacth ripping that means you can rip all of titles at once, save your lot of time. Feature 3: Read full DVD from DVD like subtitle, codec, resolution, etc.

If you like DVD movie, if you afraid your DVD be damaged, if you want to watch you DVD anywhere, if you would like to share your DVD to firend... Aoao DVD Converter is right choice for you.

Download Aoao DVD Converter 4.5 in Softonic

Although it didn’t have anything like the fancy wireless wands or web browsing capabilities of the Wii, there was always something quite enchanting about Nintendo’s N64. Ultimately it was never going to beat the PlayStation in terms of its market share, but the 64 still brings back fond memories of endless nights blasting the hell out of each other on Goldeneye, or missing dozens of lectures to concentrate on Super Mario 64. The chances are that as soon as the GameCube came along, your N64 went out with the rubbish – a decision you’ve probably lived to regret if you’re anything like us. Thankfully, Project64 helps you to transport yourself back to those halcyon days by allowing you to emulate all your old favourite N64 games on your PC.

The application is designed to play ROM files, which are essentially 'images' of the data inside an N64 cartridge. Graphically, the games are pretty good, although not quite as sharp as we remember, with a few too many jagged lines and blocky sprites for our liking. This is understandable, given that the games were originally intended to be played on a TV, which has a completely different way of perfecting pixels. Nevertheless, the overall visual experience is quite authentic, and is complemented by crisp audio reproduction.

In terms of its performance, Project64 is able to handle most ROMs without any problems and we didn’t experience any compatibility issues. Be warned though, that you’ll need a decent amount of RAM and a fairly good graphics card if you want to avoid any jerkiness when playing some of the more sophisticated games, such as Super Smash Bros. There are lots of options within the emulator for tweaking the visuals, including changing the screen resolution, running in full-screen mode or applying anti-aliasing. However, the audio functions are limited to a bog-standard volume control.

Thankfully, the fun of playing N64 games with your pals isn’t lost in this emulator and Project64 supports up to four players. As you can imagine, it’s pretty tricky fitting four people around one keyboard, so you’re best off using USB controllers if there’s more than two of you. Another nice touch is the inclusion of a cheat mode, which provides you with the opportunity to power-up your games or access special options, much as the old Action Replay cartridges used to. Each game has its own set of cheats, which is great for prolonging the life of a game or getting through particularly tough levels.

Project64 is the closest thing you’ll get to the N64 without actually buying the console itself and it performs better than other Nintendo emulators, as well as generic solutions such as MAME. It may not be a pixel-perfect recreation of the device, but it’s certainly entertaining enough to keep you off work for a few days.

Download Project64 2.1 in Softonic

Mute your instrument's part in the score, and provide that part yourself as Notation Musician accompanies you. Set up practice loops to perfect your playing. Add lyrics and display in a large format sing-along part, as you and your friends read the words and melody easily from the screen. Produce your own customized sheet music from the many music files available on the internet. Share the music you like with your musical group or friends. Add or edit lyrics to make the song your own. Easily produce piano music by splitting a musical track correctly into right-hand and left-hand parts. Prepare a piano reduction of a score with a single command. If you play guitar, autoharp, or piano, rearrange the score into a "fake book" with chord names.

If you play a woodwind or brass instrument, transpose your sheet music into the correct key for your instrument. Learn music notation by using Musician to display the notes for music that you already know and like. Before you know it, you will be following along and learning the notes on the screen. Notation Musician is the one program that every musician should have on his or her computer.

Notation Musician is an invaluable tool for any musician who reads musical notation or wishes he could.

Download Notation Musician 2.6.3 in Softonic

Similar to Limewire

In fact, FrostWire has more than just a few similarities to Limewire, although unlike the latter, it does not carry advertising and there are no annoying pop-ups. Just as Limewire was, FrostWire is straightforward and easy to use. A simple search bar, divided by category, makes it a breeze to browse for a file, whether it is a video, image, audio, or program. FrostWire also has a What’s New button to check out what popular files users have recently exchanged.

One particularly handy feature of FrostWire is a special direct connect option. If you know the IP address of one of your friends, type it in the box and FrostWire will browse to that user’s files. This is a quick way of sharing files with someone you know although it would be even better if you could enter the username of a user rather than the IP address.

Built in media player

In terms of speed, much will depend on the speed of your own connection. It definitely helps though if you've correctly opened your router's ports and whether you’re downloading a popular file or not. To avoid the risk of downloading copyrighted or adult material, FrostWire also allows you to apply content filters. Another handy feature of FrostWire is a built-in media player. Video and audio can be tested using Frostwire’s media player, which gives you an immediate preview of your file.

Not for profit

It should be noted that FrostWire is basically a stripped-down version of Limewire, but is a not-for-profit project. The developer claims it will never support Digital Rights Management (DRM) or any type of advertising. However, the demise of Limewire due to legal issues mean that FrostWire may well be targeted in the future for closure.

Conclusion

FrostWire for Mac is a hugely popular alternative for anyone who misses Limewire.

Download FrostWire 5.5.6 in Softonic

As soon as your friends and relatives find out that you know a bit about computers, it's all over. They'll be asking you for help with the most varied tech issues on a constant basis, as if you were a permanent, free customer support service.

Luckily you can count on TeamViewer 6 to lend you a hand. TeamViewer lets you gain access to the desktops of your friends, relatives or even customers in a snap. What's more, it doesn't require any technical skills on the remote side, making it incredibly easy to use.

A bit like Online Desktop Presenter, all you have to do is run TeamViewer and ask the other person to run it as well. Each time you run TeamViewer you'll be given a unique session number and password which you can use to enter the other person's PC. This means TeamViewer can be used for both entering a remote computer and letting another person enter yours in case you need remote assistance as well.

Beside viewing the remote desktop just as if you were sitting in front of it, you can also make use of the program's features: embedded chat client, file transfer tool, the possibility of recording the session, and more.

This version of TeamViewer is a stripped-down version of the paid application and therefore lacks some extra modules and functionality. Nevertheless it's still a great helper when you need to fix small problems in remote systems or show someone else how to do a certain task on the computer.

TeamViewer is an excellent desktop sharing tool that lets you manage remote systems in a safe way and without requiring a lot of technical knowledge.

Download TeamViewer 8.0.18051 in Softonic

Overview

A full-featured photo suite, Ashampoo Photo Commander doesn't just let you browse your photo collection, it also lets you view a full-screen slideshow, optimize images that need slight retouching, and use your favorite shots to create slideshows, albums, collages, cards, calendars and more. Ashampoo Photo Commander also includes a handful of filters and special effects to create original or artistic versions of your photos, such as sepia, pencil drawing, or oil painting.

Features

The interface in Ashampoo Photo Commander is divided into several tabs, each one of them serving a different purpose. You can browse images, apply a quick fix, edit, do something creative with selected photos and organize your collection in a more effective way with the Ashampoo Photo Commander batch processing tools.

Generally speaking, Ashampoo Photo Commander includes an impressive array of photo-oriented tools that let you make the most of your photo collection. In its ninth reincarnation, the program seems to have fixed its instability issues and runs a whole lot faster than version 8.

Ahampoo Photo Commander is a comprehensive photo suite that lets you manage, view, optimize and get creative with your pictures.

Download Ashampoo Photo Commander 11.0.1 in Softonic

BitTorrent Sync Features

BitTorrent Sync uses a synchronization method based on P2P that is innovative and simple. First, simply choose the folder to share. Then generate a secret key (a long alpha-numeric code). Write it down and forward it to the people you want to synchronize your files with. It's as simple as that.

There are 3 types of secret keys to be used according to your needs: keys with read and write access keys with read-only access and disposable keys to be used within 24 hours (read-only or read/write).
Syncing occurs through a direct P2P connection, which ensures a very high transfer rate. Data security is ensured by an algorithm instead of 256-bit encryption.

Simple interface

The interface of BitTorrent Sync is organized in tabs:

Devices shows the computers with which you are synchronized
Shared Folders shows the folders you have shared plus transfers in real time synchronizations, download and upload in progress
History shows you a history of all transfers
Preferences allows you to set BitTorrent Sync according to your needs. You can choose to be notified at the end of a download, whether to set a bandwidth limit for uploading and downloading files and you can choose to run the app automatically when your computer starts.

Using the program is easy, but there are hundreds of other more advanced features too long to list here but you can see more in our video:

Very fast P2P file transfers

BitTorrent Sync does not rely on an external server and offers no public file sharing capabilities. These are the main differences between BitTorrent Sync and online storage services such as Dropbox or SkyDrive.

In addition, the use of P2P ensures that you can store and share potentially unlimited amounts of data and during our tests we were impressed by the performance and speed of synchronization of the app.

Our opinion

BitTorrent Sync is an app with great potential. The use of P2P ensures optimum speed for synchronization and data protection is extremely high with a 256-bit algorithm.

Download BitTorrent Sync Alpha in Softonic

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