Very easy to use, fully compliant with all versions of Microsoft Windows and adjusts itself to your computer specifications. Take your existing PC and internet connection to new levels to run games faster. Bring your gaming to the next level.

Download GameBoost 2.6.17.2013 in Softonic

ICQ used to be the most popular IM application... until Microsoft launched MSN Messenger and thousands of ICQ users switched to it. In the meantime ICQ continued to be upgraded until finally reaching version 7.

ICQ 7 has a quick, painless installation process that hardly takes a couple of minutes and enables you to import contacts from other online services such as Facebook, Gmail and Windows Live, among others. Once installed on your system, the program plays its characteristic siren and launches, displaying a colorful, customizable interface – with the omnipresent banner at the bottom, of course.

Text chats are still the main function in ICQ. You can spice them up with smileys and tzers (the equivalent to Live Messenger's winks), customize the text font and color, save the conversation to message history and play games with your friends. ICQ 7 also enables you to transfer files and send short text messages via phone.

Video chats have also been integrated in the latest version of ICQ. The program features an excellent video image quality, but the video chat is displayed on a separate window from the text chat and makes it a bit uncomfortable to use.

The most outstanding characteristic in this new ICQ is undoubtedly its integration with social networks. You'll find a tab devoted to notifications from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, which enable you to track your friend's activities at all times. Oddly enough, you'll have to set these services up from the ICQ website.

ICQ keeps working on new versions to measure up to its main competitors but fails to really offer any new functions.

Download ICQ 8.1.6322 in Softonic

If you have an Android phone, you've probably installed an app or two. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to run them on your Windows PC? BlueStacks App Player makes this possible for certain apps.

BlueStacks App Player is the alpha version of an emulator that lets you use use Android on PC. It works a bit like a widget. When clicked, BlueStacks App Player will display the ten apps that have already been pre-installed, which are mostly games.

BlueStacks App Player's interface is easy to navigate. You can install new applications by clicking the "Get More Apps" button. Currently, there are more than 25 apps you can install this way. Hopefully, the number will grow as BlueStacks App Player develops.

The BlueStacks App Player team is currently taking emails for volunteer signups for an upcoming beta release as well. You can add your name to the list on the program's official website.

BlueStacks App Player is onto a good start when it comes to running Android apps on your PC.

Download BlueStacks App Player 0.7.12 Beta 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

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

Features

avast! Free Antivirus is loaded with tons of features. From the home tab you can gain quick access to your system status, virus scan, software updater, stats, and the market. Features like the firewall and SafeZone require a premium subscription.

The software updater that's included with avast! Free Antivirus alerts users about outdated applications that are installed but only offers a link to the program page to download the latest update. Paying for a premium subscription will allow you to update your apps within the application. There's even an option to update automatically in the paid versions of avast!

avast! Free Antivirus offers more than just virus protection. The application also includes "cloud services," which gathers information from other avast! users to compare the reputation of similar files. These updates are constantly streamed to and from avast! so users don't have to worry about downloading updates.

New to avast! Free Antivirus is the Market where you can purchase additional features and services. The app itself is very good at reminding users how many features are missing so the Market makes it even more tempting to upgrade. Purchases can be made directly inside the application.

Usability

Using avast! Free Antivirus is very straightforward. Features and sections of the application are clearly marked with short explanations about what each feature does.

Like with many other antivirus applications, the amount of options and features is a little overwhelming. There are icons in the Security tab that are clearly marked with a green status light indicating everything is working as it should. This makes it easy to see what parts of the application require user action.

For the most part, avast! Free Antivirus is an application that you can configure and forget about. The program will display a popup if anything needs your action.

Quality

avast! Free Antivirus is well designed with tons of features. While it's not as simple as it could be, it works well and is completely free. It's nice that avast! Free Antivirus doesn't include an annoying tool bar, but it does install a web extension to monitor malicious links while you're browsing.

While avast! Free Antivirus excels as an antivirus application, it doesn't do much in the way of being a one-stop-shop for all your computer maintenance needs. Other apps like IObit's Advanced Systemcare with Antivirus offer more features that will make sure your computer is running its fastest.

Scans were performed quickly but not the best we've seen. This really depends on your hardware and how many files you have on your computer.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, it's easy to see what avast! Free Antivirus remains at the top of our download charts. The amount of features that free users have access to is amazing. While it's annoying that the app nags you to upgrade to a paid subscription, it's a small price to pay for a well designed antivirus solution that's completely free. Now if only avast! could include some computer maintence features.

What's new

Download avast! Free Antivirus 8.0.1489 in Softonic

That said, you’d be hard pressed to say that anything else about this program is simple - reviewing Blender was like one of those nightmares where you suddenly realize that you are in deep water, but don’t know how to swim.

Full of features

Amazing in its variety, flexibility and features, Blender is huge, and a single review just doesn't seem to do it justice. For the uninitiated, the interface is overwhelming. There are bunches of panels and bars, all full of explanations and icons, with tooltips for everything. It is also completely customizable, as you can add and remove sections as desired, as well as moving them around and resizing.

Beneath the options menus are Blender’s functions, ranging from rigging and modeling to animation and game creation. In fact, Blender 3D has so many features that listing them all here would take hours, so take a peek at the definitive guide here. Among the more surprising elements included in the program are a built-in text editor, audio playback/editing and a game engine.

Steep learning curve

Blender has no configuration options to speak of as all the program's features can be toggled from the main interface. It is really a program for experts, or for users who hope to become much more proficient. Although there are good Blender tutorials on the website, this 3D modeling program is not something to casually play around with. Beginners would probably be better off, in fact, having a look at something more accessible, such as Google SketchUp.

If 3D creation is your thing and you don't have a copy of Blender, you're almost certainly missing out.

Blender is a hugely impressive 3D modeling program that is likely to scare off the uninitiated.

Download Blender 2.66a (32 bits) in Softonic

Roboscan Internet Security Free's interface is simple and easy to understand. The most important alerts are given to you immediately. If anything requires an action, an exclamation mark will appear. There are three options for scanning your system: 'Quick,' 'Basic,' and 'Advanced' scan. You can schedule scans so your computer won't be slowed down during a scan.

Performance of Roboscan Internet Security Free is good. Scans were fairly quick and the real time protection detected lots of adware and tracking cookies. Roboscan uses the robust BitDefender scanning engine. The real time protection of Roboscan Internet Security Free is a bit aggressive when detecting adware but there is an 'Excluded Items' list.

Users can specify what folders are to be scanned during an 'Advanced' scan or Roboscan Internet Security Free can scan the entire computer. Roboscan Internet Security Free also includes a basic Firewall, which will be more than enough for the average user. There's also a file shredder within the app to make deleted files unrecoverable.

Roboscan Internet Security Free is ad-supported but the ads are non-obtrusive. Paid versions get PC optimization features and no ads. The enterprise version has the ability to implement changes to security policies over the network.

Roboscan Internet Security Free features a great antivirus scanning engine and real time protection in this free, impressive app.

Download Roboscan Internet Security Free (32bit) 2.5 in Softonic

- Repeatedly awarded software - Computer magazines and experts worldwide recommend our programs. - Useful software - “made in Germany” meet the highest quality demands. - 1-click technology - Thanks to intelligent automatism you get results with but a few clicks. - Easiest operation - No previous knowledge required for operating the software. - Free support - Registered users get free E-mail support. - High satisfaction - Customers in more than 81 cou

What are Drivers? Drivers are necessary for your PC in order to communicate with the hardware devices. With time, drivers get outdated, resulting in poor system performance.

Download PCSuite Driver Scanner Pro 1.1 in Softonic

Just about every major threat to your PC's system is covered by the program. This includes viruses and malware, worms, Trojans, adware, Spyware, and phishing. Avira AntiVir features real-time, on-access
scanning so you can be sure you are protected 24 hours a day. There are also manual options for full system scans and it automatically keeps its virus database updated with the latest potential threats.

Avira AntiVir's interface is pretty run of the mill although similar in style to another antivirus program, Avast. An easily accessible POP3-based MailScanner is also available for Avira AntiVir users. It scans emails before they are stored on your machine. The simple interface highlights what's missing - parental controls, game mode, firewall and antispam filters.

Avira AntiVir is extremely easy to navigate and read and doesn't leave you wondering whether it's in scan mode, updated, or ready to go. Everything is laid out plainly and simply, something beginner users will undoubtedly appreciate. Avira AntiVir also has some humorously named status windows, such as Luke Filewalker, which give this tool a bit more personality than most other antivirus programs.

Avira AntiVir is one very solid anti-virus suite that runs so well you'll hardly notice it. It's easy to use for beginners, but does lack some tools we like to see in security suites.

Download Avira Antivirus Premium 2013 13.0.0.278 in Softonic

Roboscan Internet Security Free's interface is simple and easy to understand. The most important alerts are given to you immediately. If anything requires an action, an exclamation mark will appear. There are three options for scanning your system: 'Quick,' 'Basic,' and 'Advanced' scan. You can schedule scans so your computer won't be slowed down during a scan.

Performance of Roboscan Internet Security Free is good. Scans were fairly quick and the real time protection detected lots of adware and tracking cookies. Roboscan uses the robust BitDefender scanning engine. The real time protection of Roboscan Internet Security Free is a bit aggressive when detecting adware but there is an 'Excluded Items' list.

Users can specify what folders are to be scanned during an 'Advanced' scan or Roboscan Internet Security Free can scan the entire computer. Roboscan Internet Security Free also includes a basic Firewall, which will be more than enough for the average user. There's also a file shredder within the app to make deleted files unrecoverable.

Roboscan Internet Security Free is ad-supported but the ads are non-obtrusive. Paid versions get PC optimization features and no ads. The enterprise version has the ability to implement changes to security policies over the network.

Roboscan Internet Security Free features a great antivirus scanning engine and real time protection in this free, impressive app.

Download Roboscan Internet Security Free (64bit) 2.5 in Softonic

What's new in Office 2013?

Microsoft Office 2013 is by no means a revolutionary update to the venerable office suite but this is the first version of Microsoft Office that has good cloud integration and a touch-friendly interface.

SkyDrive will be the backbone of Microsoft Office 2013. Settings, documents, templates, and even custom user dictionaries will all be synced to the cloud so that you have a consistent Office experience on whatever device, wherever you are.

There are also new social features shown in Microsoft Office 2013 including automatic picture importing from services like Facebook and Flickr. Easier sharing also brings along easier collaboration. Users can now hold a multi-person video conference while editing a single document.

What you get inside Office 2013

PowerPoint 2013

PowerPoint will also feature full stylus support to make giving presentations easier. Users can annotate their slides instantly. There's also a great new feature where the presenter can have notes on his or her screen but only have the main slide open on the audience's screen.

Outlook 2013

One of the more impressive features that was built into Outlook 2013 is its ability to intelligently suggest events and appointments. Outlook will detect when someone wants to create an appointment by looking for locations, time, and specific keywords. This makes adding events to your calendar much easier.

Last but not least, Microsoft also announced powerful developer tools to create plugins for Outlook. They demoed a fully interactive Bing map within a body of an email, without having to jump into a browser.

Word 2013

OneNote 2013

Excel 2013

Installation issues

Installation of Microsoft Office 2013 can be a bit of a pain on Windows 7. The Office 2013 preview downloads as an image file, which will need to be burned to a disc or you'll need a drive virtualization tool like Daemon Tools to create and mount the image. Windows 8 users will not have to worry about this as the operating system includes a disc virtualization tool.

Compatibility concerns

Microsoft Office 2013 creates a nice ecosystem for those already using their office suite but it may not be enough to woo users from other services or applications that are free. Microsoft also announced that Microsoft Office 2013 will only be compatible with Windows 7 and Windows 8. XP and Vista users will be left out in the cold.

Conclusion

While Microsoft Office 2013 received some nice updates, there was nothing revolutionary that was announced. Microsoft played the catch-up game with Microsoft Office 2013, giving its office suite many features its competitors like Google Drive and Apple Mail have had for a while.

Overall, Microsoft Office 2013 offers some huge improvements over its previous versions with great cloud and touch features but this may not be enough for it to say as the king of office suites.

Download Microsoft Office 2013 Professional Plus 15.0.4454.1002 in Softonic

QQ Messenger may not sound familiar, but it's the most popular IM client in China.

When you think about IM clients, the first names that come to your head are Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and the likes. But have you ever heard of QQ Messenger?

With more than one billion registered accounts, QQ Messenger is now more than just a simple IM client: it's a whole social phenomenon that millions of people use on a daily basis, and an essential part of their lives.

The truth is that QQ Messenger is not that different from other IM clients you may have used. There are the typical contacts list – which you can organize by groups - support for voice and video chats, smileys, nudges, ability to send photos and share files (with support for pause/resume!), and other utilities we're used to finding in IM clients. There's one important difference however: in QQ Messenger you hardly find any ads!

Besides the traditional IM tools, QQ Messenger also includes some not-so-common features. You'll be able to capture an area of your screen or record a short video clip on the spot, and share both of them instantly with your contacts. Another area where QQ Messenger stands out is personalization. You can customize almost anything, from choosing a skin for the interface to selecting the font for your messages. The program also includes a wide selection of avatars and personal pictures to choose from, but if you don't like any of them, simply upload one from your hard drive. The only thing that didn't work for us was downloading more themes from the Web.

QQ Messenger is mainly a tool for chat, but it can also be used to help your friends or customers thanks to its integrated Remote assistance tool: a basic remote control app that grants you access to your friend's desktop and enables you to help them with any computer issue.

In general terms, QQ Messenger surprised us for various reasons: first, it features a nicely designed interface with cute buttons and icons, which is hard to find in IM clients; second, it has interesting extra features that make it a complete communication tool; and third, it's amazing how such a popular program with more than a billion users is still known by so few people over here!

On the downside, I have to admit that QQ Messenger was a bit unreliable when trying to add contacts - which, by the way, are identified with numbers, like good old ICQ. Not a very user-friendly method, I'd say. Other than that, QQ Messenger is a great IM cilent that is definitely worth trying out.

QQ Messenger, the most widely used IM client in China, has now an international version that may help it become even more popular!

Download QQ Messenger International 1.6 in Softonic

One of the few Super Nintendo games that has really stood the test of time is Mario Kart, and the concept of guiding an armed cartoon character around a series of tracks never seems to lose its appeal.
SuperTuxKart provides you with a blast from the past with a game that borrows more than a little of its ideas from the Nintendo classic.
Despite being a bit of a rip-off of Mario Kart (or because of it, depending on which way you look at it), this game is great fun to play.
The courses are diverse, challenging and easy on the eye, and the characters are interesting too. There are lots of amusing power-ups to pick up and chuck at your opponents along the way, and the computer-controlled drivers are certainly not afraid to use them, so you need to be on your toes if you want to get anywhere in SuperTuxKart.

There are three different game modes to test you, namely: Time Trial, Quick Race and Grand Prix. Unfortunately, there's no equivilent of Mario Kart's Battle Mode, which is still my favourite part of the game.
Also, as the game is still in development, there are a few glitches such as the fact that some of the levels take a long time to load.
However, anyone who enjoyed playing Mario Kart will find this an amusing diversion.

Download SuperTuxKart 0.8 in Softonic