Maintaining Windows in decent working order can be a full time job and it's a pain to have to download multiple programs to keep everything in check.

Pristy Utils 2009 is a collection of tools to maintain your PC. It features everything from a power scheme manager to a web management utility and Vista tweaker

The first Pristy Utils 2009 utility, System PowerDown serves to schedule shutdowns, restarts, suspensions and blocking sessions in the PC after a specified time. Web assistant is the second application which works as a quick shortcut for different Web related uses such as sending mails, files over the internet etc. The third tool is called PC detector. It displays all the information from your computer hardware in eight different sections: - CPU, screen, sound, memory, network, disk storage devices, and so on.

Finally, Pristy Utils 2009 has three applications for maintenance tasks - a cleaner to free RAM Memory, File Wipeout for secure deletion of files, and a desktop clock which is basically a widget for the desktop. More recently, Pristy Utils 2009 has been bolstered with a Vista booster that defrags your boot sequence. However, what this program is crying out for is a defragmentation tool - it's all very well cleaning up your hard drive but it doesn't speed them up which is where a defrag tool would come in really useful.

Pristy Utils 2009 is a great all round lightweight maintenance and web management tool although it lacks a few essentials.

Download Pristy Utils 2009 1.0.8 in Softonic

IcoFX is an award winning freeware icon editor. It is an all-in-one solution for icon creation, extraction and editing. It is designed to work with Windows XP and Windows Vista icons supporting transparency.

With a wealth of tools and more than 40 effects at your fingertips, there’s virtually no limit to the icons you can create. You can convert your favorite images into icons, or icons into images. With IcoFX you can extract icons from other files, including Windows Vista files. You can easily work with multiple files using the batch processing capability of IcoFX.

This is what IcoFX has to offer:

• Support for transparency (alpha channel)
• Batch processing for import, export and extract
• More than 40 effects + custom filter
• Resolutions up to 256x256
• Data types: 2, 16, 256, True Color, True Color + Alpha
• Extract icons from 32 bit exe and dll
• Import and export images
• Transparent, Brighten/Darken, Blur/Sharpen tools

Download IcoFX 1.63 in Softonic

VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. This means that you can generate and run virtual machines using an operating system which is completely different from the one installed on your computer.

Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows and Linux 32-bit hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), and OpenBSD.

The virtual machines created with VirtualBox offer support for USB devices by means of a virtual USB controller, can be remotely run and controlled and can also share files and folders with the host system.

VirtualBox is being actively developed with frequent releases and has an ever growing list of features, supported guest operating systems and platforms it runs on. VirtualBox is a community effort backed by a dedicated company: everyone is encouraged to contribute while InnoTek ensures the product always meets professional quality criteria.

Download VirtualBox 2.0.0 in Softonic

If you'd like to travel the World but don't have the time, or indeed the money, to do so, then perhaps the National Geographic: World Journey Screensaver can help.

National Geographic: World Journey Screensaver brings the World to your desktop, displaying a number of high quality images of scenes from around the globe. Among the gorgeous vistas on show are the Taj Mahal, the Sydney Opera House and the Sahara desert.

The National Geographic: World Journey Screensaver manages to cover a really diverse range of places through its photos. Unfortunately though the photos are all branded with the National Geographic logo.

Nevertheless, National Geographic: World Journey Screensaver is an essential addition to your sceensaver collection if you're a travel fan.

Download National Geographic: World Journey Screensaver in Softonic

CCleaner is a small utility that will take care of a few of the important maintenance tasks that every computer user should carry out as regularly as possible to keep their systems in top shape. Fast, reliable and easy to use - CCleaner it's one of the best cleaning systems out there.

For me, the beauty of CCleaner is the speed at which it carries out the various scans and fixes. Its main purpose is to clean any unnecessary files from your hard-drive and on opening the program you see the various aspects of Windows that you can search through and clear. CCleaner will also detect your installed applications that may hold on to files which are no longer any use, such as Google Earth histories or Flash Player configurations.

The interface in CCleaner is very easy to navigate and before taking any action, you will always be asked to confirm that you are sure about what you want to do. There is a useful registry checker that will quickly check its integrity, and let you fix bad entries after making a backup. CCleaner uninstall and startup tools are handy to have and simply add to the usability of this very rounded little maintenance assistant.

The most recent release of CCleaner now works on Vista with Admin permissions where available and features various bug fixes and improvements to the translated versions.

CCleaner makes keeping your PC clean easy for beginners and experts alike. It's small, fast, comprehensive, and free to download it - get cleaning now!

Download CCleaner 2.11.636 in Softonic

The Start menu is supposed to give you quick access to programs and files, but it often ends up being a real mess. This is the time when you need some alternative like Executor.

Despite its scary name, Executor is a nice, useful application that enables you to open files and launch your favorite applications and websites just by typing the keywords you have previously assigned to them. What's more, as the program auto-completes each entry, the first few letters are usually enough. The program also includes some built-in keywords for the most common tasks, such as performing a Google search or opening the Control Panel.

Executor features an extensive configuration menu that enables you to customize every single detail. It also has support for skins, but the included skins are generally very dark and hard to read. Luckily enough, you can create your own personal color combination and save it as skin.

Download Executor 0.98b in Softonic

If you're a Windows Vista user you'll no doubt be enjoying all those cool sidebar gadgets. But if you don't you can always make do with tools like Thoosje Vista Sidebar.

With Thoosje Vista Sidebar you can have a completely customizable gadgets sidebar on your desktop even if you have Windows XP. Simply run it and start adding any gadget you want by clicking on the little cross button on the top. The gadgets are quite varied and cover different needs: from the PC resources meter to the photo slideshow, from the RSS mini-reader to the weather gadget. Bear in mind that when you select gadgets for Thoosje Vista Sidebar they appear on your desktop – not on the sidebar itself – and you have to manually drag and drop them on Thoosje Vista Sidebar.

Once ready and customized with all your chosen gadgets, Thoosje Vista Sidebar looks really beautiful on your desktop. Plus, it includes some background skins to make it fit perfectly with the image you have as wallpaper. The downside to this graphical beauty is that it may slow down your system. Also, Thoosje Vista Sidebar seems to be a bit slow when opening menu windows. But the main drawback is undoubtedly the fact that you can't download new gadgets – you must stick to the ones the author provides you with in the program's configuration.

Thoosje Vista Sidebar looks beautiful on your desktop, but it may slow down your system. Also, not being able to download new gadgets is really frustrating.

Download Thoosje Vista Sidebar 2.5 in Softonic

With screen sizes, even on laptops, rapidly expanding and external monitors now well above 20 inches, sometimes it can be useful to be able to measure distances on your screen.

StormRuler is a simple utility that enables you to measure objects and distances across your screen. All that's required is that you place StormRuler next to the object you want to measure and anchor StormRuler at the point you want to start measuring from.

If it doesn't have much real practical use for most users, StormRuler does at least look quite cool with semi-transparent skin. However, unfortunately it doesn't seem to work in Vista yet and is only available for Windows 9X/2K and XP. It's rather annoying as well that you can only measure in pixels - there's no way to change the unit of measurement to imperial or metric units.

StormRuler is useful for designers or anyone else that needs to measure the pixels of a certain image or file and has no other way of doing so.

Download StormRuler 1.0 in Softonic

Although the name is misleading, VistaTask has nothing to do with Windows Vista. The developer says the name "Vista" was incorporated over 10 years ago, and is not related to or affiliated with Microsoft Windows Vista. VistaTask basically provides advanced automation for Microsoft Windows controlling every aspect of your computer, such as the mouse, keyboard, and web surfing without the need to write any programming code.

VistaTask could be useful in a number of scenarios such as software quality assurance testing, IT administration jobs, repetitive data entry, program installations, or recurring internet tasks. It offers simple Windows automation, while still providing enterprise-level features such as data-driven models, low-level Win32 API access, and image masking.

As far as automation of tasks go, this is one of the easiest programs I've used taking just a few clicks to make the most complicated automations.

Download VistaTask 7.310 in Softonic

Nero is a mammoth multimedia solution that does just about everything from CD and DVD burning to audio and video editing. This latest version is a bit of a disappointment as it doesn't really bring anything drastically new from version 7. The main improvements are an updated design and reinforced security. Let’s look around at the features available in Nero 8.

This latest version is Windows Vista certified and if you have Microsoft’s latest OS installed you’ll be able to enjoy the Nero sidebar gadget and sleek, clear Vista interface, such as the “Glass” window for StartSmart. Nero Home, the multimedia manager with a DVD menu-like interface, has been slightly improved. Apart from handling all your photos, videos and songs it can also play radio stations and, if you have a TV card set up, play and record TV stations. Furthermore, Nero can stream content to your brand new Xbox 360.

The StartSmart interface is your gateway to all the Nero tools. You can select the individual applications from the left sided menu or choose the file you want to work with (data, audio, photo and video or backup) from the main menu. It’s best to choose the disc type, CD or DVD from the drop-down menu at the top to get the most relevant possibilities. Even though StartSmart gives quick access to all the Nero applications, we found the whole interface too small and cluttered. The window can’t be resized and you need to scroll through to find the tools you need. RSS feeds added to version 8 feel a bit clumsy. They don't show items in a proper feed list and only seem to link back to the Nero help and support pages.

Before it became a full multimedia suite though, Nero was renowned for its burning tools, essentially due to its flagship program, Nero Burning ROM. With it, you can adjust the disc type, set restrictions and control the writing speed. SecurDisc technology has also been added in the latest version to encrypt your CDs or DVDs. If you don’t want to get bogged down in the details, use Nero Express instead to burn your project and design your own disc cover quickly.

Another of the classic Nero apps that has been improved is Nero Showtime. This DVD player boasts support for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, and will save you from upgrading when these formats become the norm. Just use Nero InfoTool beforehand to check if your system can handle these new formats. The program has also seen the introduction of AVCHD playback and authoring technology used in camcorder videos. Support for Windows Media Format DRM is also part of the deal and you can encode videos to play on your iPod, mobile or PlayStation Portable (PSP) thanks to Nero Recode.

Nero’s strength lies in the wealth of multimedia tools it offers to users. You can do just about everything from managing your media to burning CDs and DVDs or editing and watching high quality videos. The latest release has added a number of significant improvements to handle all the latest technological advances like Windows Vista, iPods or the Xbox 360.

Ironically, Nero´s power also contributes to its downfall. Nero packs so many applications into one package that it’s very easy for the common user to get lost in the menus. The size of the suite(600 MBs) and its draining of PC resources also means that you’ll need a high-spec PC to run it smoothly.

It's a bit surprising that Nero decided to jump to version 8 as there's nothing really that new in this latest outing. Once more, Nero will cater to those users looking for a full multimedia suite and not worried about eating up their PC's resources.

Download Nero 8.3.6.0 in Softonic

Using the Windows Command Tool or Run Dialogue still remains a mystery to many people - it's virtually redundant unless you are a system administrator.

Super Run XP (which despite the name also runs on Vista) aims to bring this tool to the masses by making the command tool more accessible and usable via a much friendly user interface. Super Run XP is a bit easier to access than the command tool as it sits in the taskbar and can be called up with the single click of a mouse. You can instantly access the applications on your computer via Super Run XP with the "Open With" icon which gives you a secondary menu of the applications and programs installed on your machine.

With Super Run XP, you can also view and monitor processes on your computer and close down or block those that may be causing problems in the same way as you can with Windows Task Manager. Of course, you can also launch your internet browser using Super Run XP as well as documents and photos. In fact, you can do pretty much anything you'd normally do via your Start menu with Super Run XP but in a slightly quicker way.

Super Run XP doesn't make a huge deal of difference to the speed you can access programs on your computer but it's a handy alternative to a messy Start menu.

Download Super Run XP 2.5 in Softonic

Floola is a freeware application to efficiently manage your iPod or your Motorola mobile phone (any model supporting iTunes).

It can be run directly from your iPod and needs no installation under Linux, Mac OS X and Windows (Windows Vista is supported).

Floola supports all most common used features including podcasts. Take a look at the feature list to see what you are missing!

Download Floola 3.3 in Softonic

Vista Manager is a powerful software tool to tweak, optimize, maintain and tune up your Windows Vista, it bundles more than 20 different utilities in one. It will help your system to be stable, fast, secure and personal.

Information

Get detailed system and all hardware information on your system; show all detailed information of running processes and threads on your machine; Vista Manager offers 1-clicking and cleans your system automatically.

Optimizer

Tweak your system to improve windows startup and shutdown speed; tweak your hardware to increase system speed and performance.

Cleaner

Find out which files or folders engross your disk space and shown with chart; Find and clean junk files to increase Hard Disk space; Duplicate Files Finder can scan your computer for files with the same size, name and modification time; Registry Cleaner can easily checks your registry and repair incorrectly linked registry entries, automatically remove invalid entries; Registry Defrag rebuilds and re-indexs your registry to reduce application response time and registry access time.

Customization

Control what is started on Windows startup; edit context menus of mouse Right-Clicking; customize system desktop, menus, toolbar and notifications settings; automatically change your desktop wallpaper on background.

Security

You can improve desktop, menus, Windows logon securities, and enable numerous hidden performance options of system, disable system updates and error reports; hide and restrict to access drives, specify which applications are not allowed to be executed on your computer; encrypt/decrypt and shred files, change the location of system folders; Privacy Protector can maintain your personal privacy by eliminating the tracks that you leave behind; create lots of randomization password once.

Network

Optimize your Internet connection speed, manage all shares items; tweak your Internet Explorer easily.

Download Vista Manager 1.5.4 in Softonic

WinBubble helps you customize and tweak your Windows Vista easily. It features customization, security and and optimization options for an all-in one solution.

The first thing that strikes you is the sheer number of features this program has. It's absolutely ram packed with options that will keep you tweaking and fiddling with Windows Vista until the cows come home. The program features a "My Tweaker Tool" which allows you to create your own tweaker customized exactly how you want it. You can add, edit and delete DVD and CD drive names and labels, and the program now features full support for tweaking and optimizing Firefox.

It also supports Internet Explorer with the additional bonus that you can delete specific IE URLs. The program has been further enhanced by allowing it to update automatically instead of having to visit the developer homepage. Don't be fooled by the small file size - this program has plenty of features, many of which seem unique and original to WinBubble.

The name WinBubble doesn't really fit the program but there's no taking away from the fact that this is an excellent tweaker and optimizer for Vista fans.

Download WinBubble 1.74 in Softonic

There are many reasons why you wouldn't want your operating system connect to Microsoft's server, be it for practical reasons or pure idealism. Based on the source-code of the award-winning Xpy, Vispa allows you to easily tweak your Windows Vista for better privacy and security, even system performance. Do a few clicks rather than finding the write registry keys or program settings.

The only recommendation I can give is not applying settings without vague knowledge of what you're doing. Not every setting is desired in every environment. Vispa is no tool for beginners, just a more convenient way of tweaking your operating system.

Download Vispa 0.2.7 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

There are plenty of tools out there for creating disk images of your hard drive but there are a few that work specifically with USB drives.

USB Image Tool is a smart little application that's capable of generating images of your USB devices so you can always restore the disk image anytime you need. With USB drives now capable of holding up to 1 Terabyte of data, it's very wise to create images in case of hard disk failure.

The program automatically detects USB devices connected to your computer and scans them before asking you whether you'd like to create an image backup or restore a previously backed-up image. USB Image Tool can create images of USB memory sticks and MP3 players, that are mounted as USB drives. Note that the tool requires the .NET Framework 2.0 installed in either XP or Vista and the usbit32.dll included in the archive must be placed in the same directory as the EXE file.

If you've got a lot of data stored on USB drives, USB Image Tool is an easy to use and space efficient way to protect your information.

Download USB Image Tool 1.27 in Softonic

With Vista becoming ever more widespread, users are demanding more control over how it is installed. vLite allows you to remove unwanted components in order to make Vista run faster and to your liking. Note that this is not a hacking tool - all files and registry entries are protected as they would be if you installed the unedited version only with the changes you select.

The program works by configuring the installation directly before the installation itself, meaning you'll have to remake the ISO and reinstall it. This method is much cleaner, not to mention easier and more logical than doing it after installation on every reinstall. You can select which components to remove but note that unchecking a component will not remove it. The developers say this has been done because not all components are supported by the program and disabling the check boxes removes any confusion. Be very careful when removing components however because they cannot be reinstalled afterwards. The program warns you to be careful with major components by displaying a "Caution!" warning label when you hover over it.

This is a great tool for Vista users but use it with care because if you remove something you didn't mean to, you'll end up doing the whole Vista installation over again.

Download vLite 1.2 Beta in Softonic

Computer maintenance tasks are usually boring and tiring, but you really need to spend some time on them if you want your system to run as smoothly as the first day.

Luckily there are programs like Advanced Vista Optimizer 2008, a comprehensive system optimizing application that's been specially developed for Windows Vista, and which makes computer maintenance much easier. Advanced Vista Optimizer contains all the tools you need to analyze, clean, repair and optimize your computer, all of them distributed among several categories in a very attractive interface.

These categories include optimization, security, customization and cleaning tools among others, and let you perform many different tasks in just a few steps. Advanced Vista Optimizer also analyzes your system and displays a complete report about it. Other interesting features are a mass file renamer, a junk file remover, a folder hiding tool, a file splitter and a duplicate file finder, to name a few.

Of course, some of these tools are more complicated than others – memory usage optimization, for example - and novice users may not find them that easy at first sight. Others though are quite straightforward and self-explaining. In any case, the program includes a thorough Help section that will help you with any problem you may have.

The only thing I didn't like about Advanced Vista Optimizer 2008 is the fact that it performs a system scan right away the first time you run it, without even asking for permission.

Advanced Vista Optimizer 2008 is a full featured maintenance tool that includes anything you need to clean your PC and improve its performance.

Download Advanced Vista Optimizer 2008 1.0 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