Fresh UI is a fresh solution for configuring and optimizing Windows. Loaded with hundreds of useful hidden settings in Windows XP/2000/NT/ 98/95/Me, this software covers the customizing and optimizing techniques that you'll be glad to know, such as:

• Customizing Windows User Interface (UI)
• Optimizing system settings
• Optimizing hardware settings
• Customizing Windows application settings
• Controlling user environment with policies

Fresh UI is organized by section for easy navigation and is complete with detailed descriptions for easy reference.

Download Fresh UI 8.14 in Softonic

Rainlendar is a lightweight and customizable calendar for your desktop.

When I first launched Rainlendar I was impressed by the widget-like appearance. Widget are small, handy gadgets that can pop up on your screen to show you all types of information, from weather forecasts, to stock charts or the time and date. They are usually small, attractive and very discreetly fit on your desktop. Rainlendar’s elements similarly have that cloud-like feel. The notes, events and calendar windows float around on your desktop and can be moved about your screen and disappear or reappear in a touch.

Rainlendar stands out from classic calendar programs thanks to a highly customizable interface and the possibility to quickly and effortlessly jot down notes and important events. Although it only comes with two different skins, the program offers a link to www.customize.org, where you should find the style which suits your tastes. But Rainlendar doesn’t stop there. You can set up hotkeys to manage Rainlendar at the push of a key and, thanks to various plug-ins present in the program, integrate Rainlendar directly to other utilities like Outlook and iCalendar. Rainlendar is always within reach as a tray icon on your desktop and bringing it up just takes a click of your mouse.

Unfortunately Rainlendar’s real originality is also its weakness. The program offers a wide range of skins but adding these to the program is far from straightforward. You have to drag your downloaded skin into the Skins folder for the Rainlendar program file and then browse to the new skin from the ‘Edit Skin’ option in Rainlendar’s drop down menu.

If you like to keep your calendar on your PC, but find the one offered by Windows too dull, Rainlendar is a good alternative. You’ll enjoy setting your own style and the way it discreetly fits onto your desktop.

Download Rainlendar 2.4 in Softonic

Now that we can access the internet from almost anywhere and any device the difficulty is getting access to your information all at once. It can be store all online or you can keep everything synced up on all your devices.

EverNote is a application/service, still only accessible by invitation, which lets you capture, store and sync anything on multiple devices. EverNote works on any OS, whether PC, Mac or phone and can capture anything you throw at it, from notes, to images, media or passwords. All your information is stored in the program and you can use tags and notes to categorize it.

If you have EverNote installed on your devices, all it takes is having an internet connection and pressing the 'Synchronize' button from the menu, to ensure that you have the same information stored on all devices.

Although it's still a closed Beta, EverNote is a very promising application to capture, store and sync any sort of information on all your devices.

Download EverNote 3.0.0.681 in Softonic

Deluge is a popular Linux BitTorrent client that has now been ported to Windows while keeping its ease of use and excellent transfer speed, the two main features that have contributed to its success.

First of all, bear in mind that this app was originally written for another operating system, which means that the Windows version, according to the author's own words, is not as stable as the original one. In fact I got the odd error message while testing it, but other than that, the program worked fine. Transfer speed was excellent, along with the array of tools the program puts at your disposal to handle torrent files. Also, the program was totally unobtrusive for the user and very light on resources.

Deluge features a clear, uncluttered interface where you can easily manage all your file transfers and see information about each one of them. Also, the program's configuration settings enable you to tweak its behavior in great detail: you'll be able to limit bandwidth usage, configure a proxy server and also enable special plug-ins to add extra functionality to the program.

In all, Deluge is a powerful, easy-to-use BitTorrent client that's worth a try and will hopefully improve its stability under Windows in future releases.

Download Deluge 1.0.0 RC 3 in Softonic

It was only a matter of time until Vista slowed down enough for it to need tweakers to keep it running at a decent speed again.

Thoosje Vista Tweaker is a free "professional" tweaking tool that's there to fill that gap and allows you to optimize various default settings in Vista. With around 60 different tweaks, it's certainly not short of tweaking options although how many of these really make a difference is debatable. However, you can go tweak crazy because the program performs a brief backup of your current settings in case the tweaks affect your system adversely.

The interface is extremely attractive and easy to use. A menu down the left side gives you options on which part of your system you want to optimize such as Internet Explorer, System UI or General Performance. However, if you don't want to go through all of these separately, you can just perform all tweaks in one go. There's nothing more to it than that - just perform your initial backup, let it run and see if it's made any difference.

Note that some of the tweaks aren't really "tweaks" at all in the strict sense - they are more like shortcuts to things such as Vista system settings that normally, you may not have used or find difficult to access

A well designed tweaker with many optimization options and should make at least some difference to the performance of Vista.

Download Thoosje Vista Tweaker 2.0 in Softonic

Creating the look of Vista on XP has become something of a cottage industry, mainly because most people know that Vista IS XP just with a few fancy skins on.

VistaXP v2 VS is an excellent Vista skin for XP which gives you all the benefits of the Vista look, without paying hundreds of dollars for the upgrade. The package is inspired by the original Windows Vista look (Codename Longhorn) and the package contains two Visual Styles - Black and Silver. The Start menu (which incidentally I hate in Vista) is very realistic and manages to compact all your programs into a shorter Star menu bar than you usually get with XP. There are only 3 different fonts to choose from which surely could have been increased although fonts are not the most important thing when it comes to the look and feel of your operating system. However, it does feature the original Segoe UI font although the wallpaper is limited to the now rather dated Vista Beta 1 wallpaper. It's a shame the developer chose not to include any widgets in this pack as that would really have made it much more realistic but combined with another Vista skin pack, this could make a really impressive Vista look.

A very good Vista skin for XP although it lacks realism in some aspects but for free, you can't complain.

Download VistaXP v2 VS in Softonic

There are a few utilities out there which can make your life so much easier, you wouldn't contemplate living without them. As someone who works on the web, I'm taking screenshots all the time and SnagIt is the only tool I'd use for this vital element of my job.

In its latest incarnation, SnagIt has added a lot of new features and a jazzed-up interface. While the old familiar 'big red button' remains, much of the UI (particularly in the Editor window) has been completely overhauled. Gone is the XP blue of previous versions, replaced with a Vista-friendly charcoal look which works pretty well.

The program's key features (taking and editing screenshots) remain pretty much unchanged. You still have a huge amount of power of just what type of screenshot you can take, with timers, cursor settings and profiles all still playing a major role. I was pleased to see that my profiles from the last version of SnagIt were kept as it would have been a real nuisance to have to re-program them.

The biggest improvements to this new version are certainly connected to the Editor window. For example: whereas previously, you had to take a capture, work on it, save it and then take your next one; now you can take as many screenshots as you like, using whichever profiles, and work on them all as you wish. This is a huge time-saver and a very welcome addition to the program.

Another feature that has been added is of less obvious use. SnagIt now supports meta-tagging and labeling of captured images. The idea behind this feature is that you start to use SnagIt to categorize your images as well as capture them. I can understand the thinking behind this addition but I'm not sure if it's really much more than feature-creep. I can't see myself changing my workflow to fit with SnagIt, nor do I want to lose the capability of moving image files around at will (if you use Windows Explorer to move tagged images, the tags and labels are lost).

SnagIt 9 represents a big step forward for a great utility. While some of the new functionality may not appeal, the most significant changes are major improvements to what was already a very good piece of software. Strongly recommended.

Download SnagIt 9.0.0.351 in Softonic

Far from being just office workhorses, computers are also thought of as complete entertainment systems that you can use to chat with friends, play videogames or watch movies. Regarding this last option, there's a wide range of DVD players out there, but we'll focus our attention on one of them: Power DVD.

The program's installation process is very quick. It includes Google Toolbar as an add-on but you can decline its installation if you're not interested. Once launched, you gain access to its main interface which, to be honest, is not especially nice: a close-up of a girl wearing weird sunglasses is not the kind of thing you expect to see on the screen when opening a DVD player. It would look much better with some abstract design or just the program logo instead. Anyway, configuration settings allow you to customize this interface with skins but there are no skins included. At least you can change the color scheme by clicking on the display.

Power DVD is generally very easy to use. All the buttons on the player panel have tooltips to give you hints about their usage. Also, most of their functions can be performed with the mouse or the keyboard (using the hotkey displayed in the tooltip). When playing a movie in full screen mode, the panel hides automatically and shows only if you move the mouse. Still, you can access all the program's functions through a comprehensive context menu by right-clicking anywhere on the image.

As for the playing functions, the movie flows very smoothly even when you move the window around or play it in full screen mode. Sound can be configured in different ways, depending on your hardware means (from headphones to an 8-speaker surround system) in order to obtain the best possible sound quality. During our tests, we also found some interesting tools: one offers the possibility to change playing speed and therefore obtain slow or fast motion images; another one lets you take snapshots of your favourite scenes in the movie, according to the settings in Configuration – Player – Advanced - Snapshot; and finally a tool called "Say it again" with which you can repeat certain dialogues over and over again. This may be useful for foreign language students or movie fans who like to learn certain script lines by heart.

Power DVD is then a perfect solution for your all DVD playing needs. It may seem quite simple at first sight but after all, you don't need much more apart from "play" and "pause" to happily watch a movie on your PC. And in case you want to know more about the program and their developers, have a look at our interview with Dr. Jau Huang, Cyberlink's founder.

Download PowerDVD 8.0.1730 in Softonic

Blender offers a complete range of tools to thoroughly develop 3D animations and design. Its revolutionary, non-overlapping and non-blocking UI delivers unsurpassed workflow. The powerful built-in database system allows instances, scene management, and dynamic linking multiple project files. Anti-aliased fonts feature international translation support.

The modeling aspects of the program are various. A range of 3D object types including polygon meshes, NURBS surfaces, bezier and B-spline curves, metaballs, vector fonts (TrueType, PostScript, OpenType) are available. 'Smooth proxy' style catmull-clark subdivision surfaces with optimal iso-lines display and sharpness editing and mesh modeling based on vertex, edge and/or face selection give you many possibilities. Editing functions such as extrude, bevel, cut, spin, screw, warp, subdivide, noise, smooth complete the modelling aspects.

Animation and rendering include armature (skeleton) deformation with forward/inverse kinematics, auto skinning and interactive 3D paint for vertex weighting. Oversampling, motion blur, post-production effects, fields, non-square pixels are just a few other of the choices you have.

Realtime 3D/game creation, a graphical editor defines interactive behavior without programming. Collision detection and dynamics simulation are included. The program features Python scripting API for sophisticated control and AI, fully defined advanced game logic. It supports all OpenGLTM lighting modes, including transparencies, animated and reflection-mapped textures.

You can save all scene data in a single .blend file. .blend format supports compression, digital signatures, encryption, forwards/backwards compatibility and can be used as a library to link to from other .blend files. The program reads and writes TGA, JPG, PNG, Iris, SGI Movie, IFF, AVI and Quicktime GIF, TIFF, PSD, MOV (Windows and Mac OS X). Native import and export for DXF, Inventor and VRML files, with python scripts are available for many other 3D formats. You can also create stand-alone executables containing interactive 3D content or play back with the 3D web browser plugin.

Download Blender 2.46 in Softonic

Pictomio is a photo viewer that enables you to search your hard drive for photos and create presentations with them.

The main outstanding feature is that Pictomio turns all your photos into 3D images giving your collection a really cool and unique look. It's great for impressing friends or just breathing life into old images. Previously, from the visualizer in Pictomio you, could only see the photos, their EXIF information and histograms. Up until early 2008 you could only score them and rotate them but now the program has reached Beta stage and it has to be said, it's an impressive package. The program is now a much more serious photo manager contender with completed features such as 3D models for albums and categories, improved models for drives, album/category sidebar to quickly drop your images, automatic upgrade checker and a filter drop down menu amongst many others. This is only a tiny selection of the program's new functionality as other completed features include the saving of user settings (positions and sizes of UI elements, view mode, filter settings, etc.), direct renaming of thumbnails and a new option to show and hide hidden files. Of course, the program is still in beta stage which means that it may be vulnerable to some bugs and errors although none were noted. Of course, Pictomio still also allows you to categorize photos by topics, sort and view your photos by date, rating, or category and view every pixel of your photos using smooth liquid zooming. You can of course still also view your photos in a slideshow presentation.

This is a very easy to use but powerful program and deserves to do well in the 3D imaging market.

Download Pictomio 1.0.10 in Softonic

While Apple is slowly rolling out their highly coveted iPhone across Europe, many developers have started to create software apps to be used specifically with today's most fashionable mobile phone.

MediaCoder iPhone iPod Touch Edition is one of those tools, a video converter that enables you to adapt your favorite movies, shows and video clips to the video formats used both in the iPhone and the iPod Touch. This app is in fact a simplified version of the original MediaCoder that has been adapted to these two new video platforms.

The program features a highly detailed interface that displays all the necessary information for each conversion, including an iPhone-like preview window. In fact, it's so complete that it may feel a bit overwhelming for first-time users.

The confusion still goes on – and even grows – when opening the program's exhaustive configuration menu. But once the initial shock is gone, MediaCoder iPhone iPod Touch turns out to be an excellent conversion tool that works really fast and obtains excellent results.

MediaCoder iPhone iPod Touch is pretty much everything you need to convert and transfer videos to your iPhone or iPod Touch. Just take your time to learn how to use it.

Download MediaCoder iPhone iPod Touch Edition 0.6.1.4077 in Softonic

The Firefox browser has got a very complete configuration menu with which you can adapt the browser's appearance and behavior to your liking.

But if this settings menu is still too simple for you, try the Configuration Mania extension for Firefox and you'll gain access to a few dozen hidden settings that are not available on the standard Firefox configuration window.

The tweaking options in Configuration Mania are classified into several categories (namely Browser, Security, HTTP network, UI and Defrag) and can be expanded in a convenient tree-like structure from where to access subcategories.

The extension is fairly easy to use, but its design could have been improved a bit: the top toolbar features a white space that clearly misses icons, and browsing subcategories often involves a lot of scrolling.

Configuration Mania is the perfect Firefox extension for those users who like to be in control of every single detail of their favorite browser.

Download Configuration Mania 1.09 in Softonic

Automate business processes & IT tasks easily. It can be used in the following ways:

• Intelligent automation software for business & IT tasks
• Unique SMART Automation technology for fast automation of complex tasks
• Record keyboard & mouse or UI Wizard to create automation scripts in minutes
• Serves as an automation platform for disparate scripts

Download Automation Anywhere 4.5.1 in Softonic

Forget paying for a program to rip your DVDs to your computer because thanks to the wonders of open source, HandBrake is here to convert disks to MPEG for free. Considering it doesn't cost a dime, the application delivers exceptional results. Converting any type of DVD through a simple-to-understand UI, the program whizzes through the process of producing an MPEG-4 file to save on your machine.

You'll need to have the right codec installed for the type of file you wish to convert (DivX, Xvid, OGM, 3ivx, etc.) but HandBrake lets you perform two-pass conversions and to codify a double soundtrack. Another great feature is the bitrate calculator, which alters the quality of the video according to the final file size you wish to achieve. You can even trim the black bands around a movie to maximise the size of the file. Although I experienced a couple of crashes with this version of HandBrake, it's nevertheless a great open source solution for ripping your DVDs.

Download HandBrake 0.9.2 in Softonic

Digiband is a Guitar Hero clone for the PC which enables you to emulate the greatest drum and guitar players of all times just with your keyboard.

First of all, bear in mind that Digiband is not as easy as it seems. It takes lots of time and practice to obtain good results, especially if you're using a keyboard. Fortunately the game supports both the Xbox360 and PS2 guitar-shaped controller, so if you have one, plug it to your PC because it will make things much easier.

Digiband includes one song which is perfect to start practicing, but you soon end up tired of it. In that case, you can download new songs from many sites around the Web, including the one recommended by Digiband's developer (Gdamania) for which you'll have to register.

The game is a bit difficult to configure because it doesn't support mouse controlling. Apparently, you can only take the drum if you play solo, making guitars available only if there is more than one player. As for gameplay itself, it works in the same way as Guitar Hero, with notes coming down the screen which you have to press in the right moment in order to score points and eventually become the greatest rock star of all times!

Digiband is a great guitar and drum simulator that can take some time to master.

Download DigiBand 1.0.1 in Softonic

The Vista sidebar was one of the most popular new features included in Microsoft's operating system, and it still remains as a very attractive way to display information bits in the shape of customizable gadgets. Now, with Windows Sidebar Styler, you can customize it even more and take advantage of all its possibilities.

This neat tool includes several skins (called "styles") to change the sidebar's appearance, as long as the ability to freely resize it. It will also allow you to run more gadgets because it supports WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation).

Windows Sidebar Styler is easy to install, but I had some problems while testing it. The styles didn't seem to work, the program displayed a "installation successful" message but nothing changed. After reading the develeoper's blog, I found out that you may have to change permissions in the folder AppData\Windows Sidebar Styler directory and make it writable, or just restart your sidebar completely.

Customize your Vista sidebar with styles and more powerful gadgets.

Download Windows Sidebar Styler 2.0.6 in Softonic

Tweak UI enables you to change some particular settings of Windows user interface, some of which you probably didn't even know they could be changed at all.

The program uses a tree-like structure to display the elements you can customize that makes it a bit messy when all of them are opened. Each element includes a detailed explanation so that you're sure about what you're doing before changing anything, mainly because there's no "Undo" option.

In any case, most tweaks are applied to visual settings and small graphic details, so they won't make your computer crash if anything goes wrong.

With Tweak UI you can easily customize certain hidden Windows features.

Download Tweak UI 2.10.0.0 in Softonic

Batch Video Converter is a powerful batch Video converter supporting nearly all video format, including AVI, MPEG, RM/RMVB, ASF/WMV, DivX. With it, you can easily convert AVI to MPEG/VCD/SVCD/DVD/WMV, RM/RMVB to AVI/MPEG/VCD/ SVCD/DVD, ASF/WMV to AVI/MPEG/VCD/SVCD/DVD, AVI/MPEG/ASF/WMV to AVI, AVI/MPEG/ASF/WMV to ASF/WMV.

The application supports AVI(DivX, XviD, MPEG4...), MPEG1, MPEG2, VCD(.DAT), RM/RMVB, ASF/WMV formats and all media formats to DivX (MPEG4) and AVI,PAL-to-NTSC conversion and vice versa are also included.

You can change the codec/System type between them including PAL<=> NTSC, Divx <==> cinpeak,as well as support for streaming media (WMV/ASF). Skinable UI with 13 built-In skins.The very user-firenldy and easy-to-use interface lets you easily preview video files and batch convert.

Download Batch Video Converter 4.0 in Softonic

iTunes is a great music organizer, but it keeps you tied to it as there's no way to export the playlists created in iTunes to other applications or formats. Well, that was until today, because now iTunes Export enables you to export iTunes playlists to M3U, the standard playlist format, and therefore use them almost on any audio player.

This small tool, which requires no installation, is extremely easy to use. Simply run it and follow the instructions along the three steps of the whole process. It's so simple and efficient that we really missed the possibility to also export single songs. Plus, it would have been nice to be able to review the content of playlists before exporting them.

Download iTunes Export 1.3.1 in Softonic

Cistone Media Burner is a powerful CD/DVD burning engine. It has an elegant UI skin and is easy to use.

The setup file is small and installation takes a matter of seconds. The player features full drag and drop support, an embeded windows explorer and the option to create ISO/UDF image files.

You can also burn data files to CD/DVD plus burn MP3 and WMA to CD/DVD. Alternatively, you can also burn DVD-Video files to DVD movie.

Download Cistone Media Burner 3.1 in Softonic