This full featured DVD player enables you to enjoy your favorite DVD movies and video files right on your computer, with all the extra functionality you would expect from a high-quality player. PowerDVD features a sleek interface you can customize with skins and includes direct access to MoovieLive, an online movie database that helps you categorize all the titles in your collection and access movie reviews online.

PowerDVD is generally very easy to use. Most of the program's functions can be performed with the mouse or their corresponding keyboard hotkey, and there's also a comprehensive context menu that gives you access to even more options by just right-clicking anywhere on the image.

Regarding playback, the movie flows very smoothly even when you move PowerDVD's window around or play it in fullscreen mode. Image quality has been improved thanks to the special TrueTheater filters which provide pixel-perfect images and make the most out of your HD visual equipment. This new version ALSO includes the innovative TrueTheater 3D, a special filter that can transform your DVDs into 3D movies like the ones in cinemas everywhere. The 3D effect obviously only works if you have a 3D-capable display.

Sound in PowerDVD can be configured in different ways, depending on your hardware (from headphones to a full stereo surround system) in order to obtain the best possible sound quality. TrueTheater Noise Reduction also makes sure you get the clearest sound possible.

During our tests we found some outstanding features in PowerDVD: you can change playing speed, take snapshots of your favorite scenes in the movie and have a particular scene or sentence repeated over and over again with the "Say it again" and the "AB Repeat" tools. This may be useful for foreign language students who watch movies to improve their listening skills. Other interesting features in PowerDVD are the possibility to share video files on YouTube and support for video bookmarks.

PowerDVD is then a perfect solution for your all DVD playing needs: a powerful video player with interesting features, yet easy enough for everyone to use.

Download PowerDVD 10 in Softonic

Some will argue that WinRAR isn’t as quick as WinZip at compressing files. However, for the small lag in time difference, you end up with a significantly smaller archived file at the end of the process with WinRAR. What’s more, the application allows you to save files into both ZIP and RAR formats, with a multitude of options for speeding up compression times, or reducing file sizes at the expense of a few more seconds.

Although many newcomers might be put off by the sheer range of features and settings within WinRAR, the interface doesn’t take long to get accustomed to, and if you’re still really stuck there’s a simple wizard-based system that walks you through the process of extracting or compressing. All this adds up to make WinRAR a dependable utility that performs better than any other tool in its class.

Boasting more compression options, higher compression rates and smaller file sizes than WinZip, WinRAR is now the undisputed market leader in file compression.

Download WinRAR 3.93 in Softonic

CrazyTalk Media Studio promises to give you all the tools you need to import images and photographs before quickly applying mouth, head and eye movement to create realistic looking avatars and fun animations. At first we were a little dubious about the value of such a product, but were soon pleasantly surprised by the power of the utility.

Granted, our initial efforts were limited to taking pictures of friends and giggling inanely as they repeated audio clips from famous movies or songs. These first experiments were a little clunky to say the least and looked far from realistic when we relied on the automatic lip-syncing functionality. However, once you delve deeper into the settings, you start to realize that you can actually produce some impressive animations.

With enough tinkering you can customize everything from the teeth in the character’s mouth to their facial movements and their range of movement. Best of all is the built-in timeline, which gives you complete control of the animation and sound, much as you would do in Flash, or a video-editing suite. Complete with alpha channel support, the program is ideal for producing talking presenters to welcome visitors to your web site or presentations. The simple-to-use export facilities allow you to save to a range of formats whether as a media file, email attachment or a personalized greeting.

There are a few flaws with the program that are a little frustrating, but they fail to prevent CrazyTalk Media Studio from being a great program. Minor niggles are the lack of MP3 audio import support, and the relatively low number of preset templates and characters. The app does have a fairly steep learning curve but it’s good fun to use and is surprisingly powerful.

Download CrazyTalk 6.0 in Softonic

Mame32 is the Win32 user interface version of MAME (M.ultiple A.rcade M.achine E.mulator), a program that emulates classic games. What it does is let you relive the experience of antique consoles or computers so as to play and emjoy the games that may otherwise fall from our collective memory.

Download Mame32 0.133 in Softonic

If you've downloaded previous beta and RC releases, you won't notice that much difference. However Opera 10 does show nice improvements when compared to previous versions. Perhaps the most outstanding one is the Opera Turbo feature, a state-of-the-art compression and rendering engine that is said to load pages up to 8 times faster.

Besides its impressive speed, Opera 10 includes other interesting enhancements. One of them is Speed Dial, a customizable page that shows up every time you open a new tab and displays your most frequently visited websites. Another one is the so-called widgets, small programs that run on your desktop and let you play games, check the weather or follow your friends' activities on several social networks. Opera 10 features a handy panel on the left side of the interface from where you can manage your widgets, and notes, bookmarks and history as well.

Other minor improvements include an inline built-in spell checker with support for 51 languages and an auto-update tool with which you can keep your browser up to date in an easier way. The tab bar has been improved as well, and now displays thumbnails to help you keep track of all opened tabs – just hover your mouse on any tab or double click the three-dot small bar under the tabs to check it. Also, Opera 10 is fully compatible with Web standards, according to the Acid test in which this version scores an impressive 100%.

The new Opera 10 is incredibly fast in rendering web pages and offers a complete package of great tools that turn it into an excellent alternative to other more widespread web browsers.

Download Opera 10.50 in Softonic

Finally in its 1.0 release, VLC Media Player is simply the most stable, flexible and lightweight audio and video players around today. While other media players will play unusual formats after downloading a codec, or simply refuse to play things, VLC will not complain. In addition to this, you can also use it to preview files you are downloading, because it will play parts of files. It takes no time to start up either, so opening it up to preview something is no trouble at all.

VLC Media Player has great hotkey support, if you take the time to learn the shortcuts, so can be controlled without touching your mouse. The interface is functional, but by no means attractive. If you're watching DVDs or video files through it, this is not an issue. For music, it plays more or less any file and features an equalizer and playlist creation. It isn't as intuitive as iTunes as a media manager, but it's a much more flexible player in terms of file formats.

For video, VLC Media Player is the best application you will find. It's minimal interface is great for viewing, it's got excellent tools for effects, and doing things like adding subtitles is easy.

Download VLC Media Player 1.0.5 in Softonic

Eufony is a super basic music player. You can't make playlists, or manually alter the order of music on a folder. You can only play music from one folder at a time. It features a play, pause and stop button, plus a display showing you basic information about the track playing. That's it!

The interface is really old fashioned - functional but ugly. Until people feel nostalgic for the looks of Windows 3.1, no-one will appreciate what' on offer with Eufonia. Nevertheless, what little it does is not too bad.

It will play audio from any of over 40 music and video formats, which means pretty much anything you could throw at it will be audible! The left panel shows your PC folder tree, so it's easily navigable. Unfortunately, there are no options to speak of, so you can't set Eufony to start with your music folders open.

Eufony is really really basic, like stepping back to the dawn of MP3 players. However, it's very flexible with formats, and despite requiring installation, very lightweight.

Download Eufony Free Audio Player 1.67 in Softonic

If you want to play video or music files and not worry about format, VLC Media Player is the best application for the job. And now with its portable version, you can take this powerful media player with you anywhere.

Like its big desktop brother, Portable VLC Media Player is simply the most stable, flexible and lightweight audio and video player around today. While other media players will play unusual formats after downloading a codec, or simply refuse to play things, VLC will not complain. In addition to this, you can also use it to preview files you are downloading, because it will play parts of files. It takes no time to start up either, so opening it up to preview something is no trouble at all.

Portable VLC Media Player has great hotkey support - if you take the time to learn the shortcuts - so can be controlled without touching your mouse. The interface is functional, but by no means attractive. If you're watching DVDs or video files through it, this is not an issue.

Regarding music, it plays more or less any file and features an equalizer and playlist creation. It isn't as intuitive as iTunes as a media manager, but it's a much more flexible player in terms of file formats.

For video, VLC Media Player is the best application you will find. Its minimal interface is great for viewing, it's got excellent tools for effects, and doing things like adding subtitles is easy.

Download Portable VLC Media Player 1.0.5 in Softonic

One of them is JetAudio, which even in its basic, most simple version offers a bunch of nice tools to enjoy your collection of music and videos. Despite not being as popular as other programs, JetAudio is a solid, feature-rich media player that works with many popular video and audio formats and includes interesting extra functionality.

JetAudio features a nicely designed interface with support for skins and visualization options – though not as many as Winamp, I have to say. You can also run JetAudio as an extra bar that sits on the Windows taskbar, and control its main functions from there without interrupting your work.

The main purpose of JetAudio is obviously playing audio and video files. The program includes a series of elements with which you can improve playback and make it more enjoyable, such as sound effects, cross-fading between songs and support for lyrics.

But that's not all. JetAudio also features a bunch of extra tools that enable you to rip audio CDs, record sound, convert music files from one format to another, listen to online radio stations and burn your favorite MP3 to CD.

JetAudio is a complete, handy media player for anyone that would like to do more than just play their audio and video files.

Download JetAudio Basic 8.0.4 in Softonic

Are you a real Softonic fan? If so, this toolbar has been especially developed for you.

The Softonic Toolbar brings the latest reviews, updates, blog posts and software apps published on Softonic right to your web browser. You'll be able to read all the new content published on the site with a single click and you'll always be up to date with the latest program versions and software news.

What's more, this toolbar also features a series of online services, such as local weather forecast, an embedded search engine, an email notifier, a translation service powered by Babylon and a radio player with support for streaming radio stations, although you may need to download a separate plug-in to make it work properly. I found the email notifier particularly useful, as it supports multiple Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and POP3 accounts.

The Softonic Toolbar also includes a configuration menu where you can customize it by choosing the elements you want to be displayed.

A web browser toolbar that brings you all the best from the web: a variety of online services and all the latest news on Softonic and OnSoftware.

Download Softonic Toolbar in Softonic

A few years ago these managers were a basic need for all download junkies. Internet connections were not as fast and reliable as they are now, so you needed a tool that could not only improve your speed but also allow you to pause, restart and resume downloads.

FlashGet does all of that, and even more. It takes care of all your downloads and automates the process from beginning to end. It lets you download multiple files simultaneously and organize them into categories - movies, music, software and even customizable categories. Plus, now it also works with Torrent and eMule files.

FlashGet can be set to monitor both the clipboard and your web browser in search of downloadable content. Bear in mind though that if you use Firefox you'll have to download a separate plug-in. The great thing about this monitoring feature is that you can specify the file types FlashGet should be looking for. And those who prefer not to use the download monitor can use the floating window instead – a transparent icon where you can start your downloads by dragging and dropping links onto it.

During our tests FlashGet reached excellent download speed rates. Although having a broadband connection – like the one we use in Softonic – surely helps, I'm sure FlashGet will improve the download speed of any domestic DSL network connection.

FlashGet is a feature-rich manager for download addicts that automates the whole downloading process and makes it faster and easier.

Download FlashGet 3.3.0.1092 in Softonic

These days we've seen plenty of tools to save YouTube videos to your hard drive but what if you only want to save the soundtrack?

You can do so very easily with Free Youtube to MP3 Converter which as the name suggests, takes YouTube videos and saves them to your hard drive in MP3 format. After the Ask.com toolbar installation (uncheck all three boxes if you don't want the toolbar), it's plain sailing. You can copy and paste links into the interface and queue them up for extraction.

The extraction process is not the fastest I've ever seen in an app like this but it's not slow by any means. You can select from 4 presets up to 256Kbs which is a very high quality of conversion and ideal for those that need to use the clip for high quality editing. You can also add tags to your extractions to make them easier to find when you search for them on your desktop.

Free YouTube to MP3 Converter is a useful application for those who need high quality MP3 extractions from YouTube clips.

Download Free YouTube to MP3 Converter 3.2.6.76 in Softonic

The program features a large malware database that can be updated manually or according to a user-defined schedule. Unlike other security tools, Antiy Ghostbusters has a pleasant interface design and is quite easy to handle, even for non-technical users.

Antiy Ghostbusters monitors files, webpages and network connections, the status of which can be checked in the Protection area. In the Scan area, you can select different items – including locations like My PC or My Documents, as well as special areas such as memory, services and Windows Registry – and have them analyzed.

On the downside, there are some tools in Antiy Ghostbusters that seem a bit confusing to use, and for which the online Help section can't provide a proper explanation.

Antiy Ghostbusters is a nicely designed, easy-to-use security tool that protects your system in real time from a wide variety of online threats.

Download Antiy Ghostbusters 6.5.1.4 in Softonic

First impressions count, and I have to admit that Quick Media Converter didn't make a good one. Despite favorable reviews of previous versions, first contact with the program reveals a cluttered interface and terrible translation. Can Quick Media Converter redeem itself?

Admittedly, when I took a longer look at the interface, it began to make a bit more sense. There are two modes; Easy and Expert. You drag and drop your files to add them to Quick Media Converter's list, or add them with the buttons on the left. You then choose your target format from the icons at the top of the program, tweak the settings (if necessary), pick a save directory and off you go.

Quick Media Converter has plenty of good points - conversions were fast, there's a preview window, and more experienced users will appreciate the editing options in the Expert options. Unfortunately, none of these positives were enough to distract from the fact that Quick Media Converter crashed frequently and you have to specify the save directory separately every time you convert.

In all, when Quick Media Converter converted a video, it did so well. It has a great selection of formats and the converted videos were good quality. That said, that's simply not enough to excuse its weak points, and it's hard to use it without thinking of the hundreds of other converters out there that do the same job, but better.

Quick Media Converter - not enough good points to overlook the bad ones.

Download Quick Media Converter 4.0.0.8 in Softonic

If you've decided to stay inside this New Year's Eve there are plenty of ways to experience the thrill of the party without having to brave hoards of drunks and pay extortionate prices for entry into bars.

Simply install deviantART's New Year Wallpaper onto your PC and you'll have a ready-made view of a typical end of year scene. This eye-catching background depicts a tranquil country lane beneath a sky full of dazzling fireworks.

As I said, it's a very striking high resolution image, although it is a little surreal. It's difficult to work out if it's morning, afternoon, dusk or night time; and the contrast between the peaceful fields and rolling hills and the brash fireworks adds to the curiosity of the image.

If you're at your computer on the 31st January, New Year Wallpaper is well worth downloading - if only for a day.

Download New Year Wallpaper in Softonic

When version 5 was released, Nullsoft redeemed themselves in the public's eyes after producing a much improved player to replace Winamp 3. They didn't need much encouragement as they justified skipping version number 4 by saying that it was such a huge improvement that it deserved to be called 5!

Luckily they are justified in their opinion, as Winamp offers everything you might want in a media player. Using the skins, you can set it to look like the original or the current default which looks great and puts you in control of all your media quickly and easily. I particularly like the minimized player that consists of a small bar that you can place on the edge of your screen. Of course, if neither of these agree with your taste you can download and try any of the thousands others available on the Winamp website.

The player supports a wide range of file formats, and because the program is small and simple, it works quickly on almost all computers. Have a look through the available plug-ins and you will also find that you can hook up your iPod and manage its music library.

Download Winamp 5.57 Full in Softonic

Sometimes when you try to play music or a movie in your computer, you may find that either the image or the sound are not being properly played. These issues are probably a question of codecs, and you can solve them all with K-Lite Codec Pack.

This comprehensive kit includes all the codecs you need to have on your system if you want to play all audio and video formats without any problems. The full package includes quite a bunch of codecs, but the good thing is that you can choose which ones to install and which ones to leave out during the installation process.

Besides codecs, the K-Lite Codec Pack also includes several utilities that can come in very handy when dealing with audio and video files. Among others, you'll find tools to tweak and fix codecs, work with subtitles and obtain detailed information about any selected media file.

The only drawback I could point out about K-Lite Codec Pack is that it all may seem confusing for the novice user who doesn't really know what a codec is, and therefore can't really choose which ones to install. My advice here is to simply install all of them: it's the only way to make sure you'll be able to play pretty much any audio or video file on your PC.

K-Lite Codec Pack is a full featured collection of codecs that enables you to play just about any audio and video format on your PC without any problems.

Download K-Lite Codec Pack Full 5.5.1 in Softonic

Even if you’re extremely careful about downloading only music which is compatible with your player, there comes a moment when you need to convert audio files from one format to another. And if you have never used this kind of software before, you may feel a little bit lost at the beginning: which program should I use? Will it have support for this or that?

Free MP3 WMA Converter is probably one of the best answers one could give to these questions. In spite of being quite plain both in aspect and functionalities, this little app does its job and does it well. So don’t let yourself be fooled by its simplicity and spare us five minutes to take a deeper look.

The process of installing Free MP3 WMA Converter follows the standard steps and includes the possibility of also installing Pando, a free tool to share large files through e-mail. But you can simply skip that point if you’re not interested in it.

Once installed on your system, the program allows you to choose the interface language, a nice feature for non-English speakers. However, it wouldn’t be really necessary, as Free MP3 WMA Converter is incredibly simple to use: first, select the files you want to convert; then, choose the target format; finally, click on the “Convert” button. Easy as pie! Plus, the conversion itself is surprisingly fast. The program even displays a neat progress bar so that you can control the whole process in detail.

If there is a drawback to Free MP3 WMA Converter, it’s the range of supported formats. Only six of them (AAC, APE, MP3, Ogg, WAV and WMA) but at least they’re the most used and popular ones. Besides, the program features separate conversion options for each one of them, so you can always achieve the quality of sound you wanted. Another thing this program lacks is having a wider choice of options, such as volume normalization, a built-in tag editor or other similar extra functions that can be found in most conversion tools.

In short, if you’re looking for an audio file converter and don’t know where to begin, just give Free MP3 WMA Converter a chance. It may suit your needs, as long as they’re simple enough.

Download Free Mp3 Wma Converter 1.9 in Softonic

With Skype you can not only have voice chats on your computer – just like telephone, only for free – but also make real phone calls at much lower rates, using the so called SkypeOut service and paying with Skype credit. Besides voice chats, Skype also includes the standard IM functionalities (written conversations, emoticons, user avatars and so on) and also lets you have video conferences.

These video calls are precisely the main focus on Skype's latest version. The program's interface has been completely redesigned with video conferences on mind. This means it's been made wider so that video fits in perfectly with your written chat, your contact list and a toolbar to manage conversation. Honestly, I'm not sure this is a big improvement; my guess is that most people still use Skype only for voice calls and will find the new interface too obtrusive.

The sound quality during our testing was perfect: loud and clear. Video appeared a bit pixelated, but nothing we couldn't really deal with. There was also one nice detail, and that's the ability to see your own video image built-in on your contact's video, and the possibility to take a snapshot of your own image.

Other improvements in this beta are, among others, a call quality feedback indicator, the ability to turn alerts off, the possibility to group contacts and a new feature called Video in mood, which lets you embed online videos from Metacafe and Dailymotion in your status message.

Skype 4 features a complete interface overhaul that now focuses more on video chats, and also adds some handy improvements to the way you communicate online.

Download Skype 4.2 Beta in Softonic

If you're an avid watcher of YouTube, you've probably at least thought of trying to download content to view offline. MassTube is a freeware program that will download videos and convert them to the format of your choice.

The interface is pretty simple. Click the 'Add' button to paste YouTube addresses, and if you are currently visiting a YouTube page, it will automatically be pasted in. When you've added all the videos you want, hit download. MassTube also converts all downloaded files from FLV into the format you want. There aren't options to choose the quality of the conversion, but results seem to mirror the quality of the original YouTube video.

As a simple YouTube download manager, MassTube is fine. Speed is obviously limited to your bandwidth and to YouTube itself, the Play button doesn't work, and nor does the search. However, the downloading and conversion of files is problem free.

There are lots of options for downloading content from YouTube, and MassTube is a good free choice. However, it's very basic, and would benefit from the play and search buttons being more functional.

Download MassTube 4.5.5.021209 in Softonic