Keeping your hard drive properly defragged is one of the easiest ways to speed up your system and ensure that everything runs smoothly and quickly.

You can launch the program either via shortcut, Start menu or the command line with "QREGDEFRAG.EXE -defrag". Other command line commands you can use are "-defrag" which operates defrag in "silent mode" and "-noprogresswindow" which hides the progress window during defragmentation. Finally, you can also use "-reboot" which automatically reboots the computer when defragmentation of the registry is complete. If you're using Vista, note that you'll also have to run the program in administrator mode. The big question, as with all defraggers, is does the program operate quickly and does it have a noticable effect? Whether it runs quickly depends on how badly un-defragged your hard drive is and of course, how big it is. Generally, the program runs at an impressive speed, especially under Vista but it doesn't seem to make any particularly impressive speed improvements. However, it does make programs open slightly quicker and presents a full report on defragged files.

A quick and speedy defragger that helps programs open faster and allows you to see at a glance, those files that are slowing your system down.

Download Quicksys RegDefrag 2.0 in Softonic

While Windows already features a task manager that enables you to kill any active process in the system, it's always good to have other alternatives like KillProcess. This simple, intuitive application also allows you to kill active processes but has certain advantages over the Windows standard tool.

Some of these advantages are the ability to kill processes right away (no waiting times), the possibility to kill several of them simultaneously by using the so called kill lists and a small info window that displays extended information about the selected process, although we must say this wasn't really that helpful at all.

One last tip: disable the program's sounds if you don't want to be startled by an annoying gun shot every time you kill a process.

Download KillProcess 2.43 in Softonic

The Gimp is the open source reference in image manipulation. This free application will allow you to retouch, author and edit your photos thanks to a wide set of tools.

Let’s quickly go through what you can do with the Gimp. The painting function has the essential clone, airbrush or pencil tools and a powerful gradient and blend tool. You can also create and save your own brushes and patterns for later use. The program lets you manipulate your photos, adding layers, doing Bezier and polygonal selections or setting text. Load and save animations in a frame-as-layer format and batch process all your photos for quick editing. The multi-windowed interface can be moved around to fit your needs and resized according to your desktop space.

What’s more, the Gimp can be expanded with over 100 different plug-ins and extensions available on the Gimp’s website. These apply in majority for layer effects such as render, distort or blur and make a great addition to the ones already present in the program.

While the Gimp is user friendly, the installation process can result a bit hairy. Because the application works under the GTK Runtime Environment, you will have to install this kit to successfully launch the program. The process is fairly lengthy and some error messages tend to pop up, however if you persist, you will be able to install the Gimp properly on your PC

Despite this fairly hazardous installation process, the Gimp is a program we recommend. Whether you’re out of dough or are looking for a free alternative to Photoshop, the Gimp is excellent image manipulation software with all the tools you’d expect. The friendly interface and expandability make this a program of choice.

Download The GIMP 2.6.1 in Softonic

As the hard drives and Flash memory cards of the world’s burgeoning photography community continue to fill up, there is increasing demand for low-cost methods of keeping their images in some kind of order. With some snap-happy enthusiasts taking hundreds of pictures a week, there’s a danger that the fun of photography will be replaced by the mundane task of finding the shots you once they’re on your PC. While programs such as Photoshop Album and PaintShop Album are pretty good at helping you sort images, StudioLine aims to take things one stage further – by not charging you for the privilege.

You might expect that by not demanding a fee for a photo organizing program, you’d have to settle for a largely scaled-down version of its costly equivalents. We were pleasantly surprised to see this wasn’t the case, and the application is brimming with features that not only make it easier to sort and search for photos, but which can instantly improve the appearance of your images.

The main premise of the program is to help you whip your photo collection into some sort of order, and it does this admirably. You start with an Image Archive, which is basically a database where you can load in all of your images. From here, you can create a hierarchical tree system of folders based through an Explorer-style interface, making it a painless process. Sorting through your images is aided by the capacity for adding information about a photo using the ‘Descriptors’ data, photos, allowing you to categorize by image topic, date, location or person. You can even enter a star rating for each image to help you later in the sorting process. Another nice inclusion is the ability to change the size of thumbnail previews using a slider when viewing all the images within a folder.

As if the slick sorting facilities weren’t impressive enough, the program boasts a range of editing tools that rival many priced image editors. There’s a diverse variety of tools ranging from preprocessing, through photo correction, to special effects, all of which can be previewed and applied with ease. The fact that you can apply changes you’ve made to one photograph to hundreds of other images in one click is another major boon, and is ideal if you want to turn a batch of images into black and white, or apply an auto-colour correction to an entire album of photos, for instance.

The user interface is generally a joy to use, with lots of customizable options, and draggable palettes like those you see in professional editing suites. There are a couple of bothersome aspects of the interface which could do with changing though, such as the fact that an image loads in a new pop-up menu when its thumbnail is clicked on, rather than in the main window (as a tab perhaps). The tips boxes that spring up a little too frequently can also get a tad irritating, especially as there seems to be no way to permanently disable them.

Apart from these minor niggles, this is a fantastic program which, is arguably the cheapest way of effectively managing your image collection. The addition of features for creating slide shows, web galleries and emails only serves to raise its status as a serious contender to its big budget rivals.

Download StudioLine Photo Basic 3.50.54 in Softonic

Mz Vista Force is a suite of tools to help you improve the performance of Windows Vista to run faster. It includes options for optimizing the use of the CPU, disk access, startup and Internet connectivity, and allows the deleting of caches and other slow-down elements of Internet Explorer or Windows Media Player.

It also has direct access to Windows components, such as registration, DirectX diagnostics, diagnostics disks, system properties, and so on. The Mz Vista Force program manager and boot loader are very easy to use and the program allows a full backup of the registry. Non-English speaking users should be warned however that the program is not available in other languages and many of the tweaking options may be difficult to understand.

If you're already experiencing slow down problems with Vista, then this program should at least regain a small percentage of that speed back.

Download Mz Vista Force 2.1.1 in Softonic

Video is becoming an increasingly important element in multimedia creations, which means you need powerful tools to work with it in proper conditions.

CyberLink PowerDirector is probably your best option when choosing a decent video application. This program lets you create stunning video composition featuring videoclips, images, transition effects, clipart, text layers and of course, a personalized background soundtrack.

As complicated as it seems, the truth is that CyberLink PowerDirector is really easy to use. The main working area follows the standard interface design in video editors, which include a media library window to browse your multimedia library, a timeline to drag and drop elements for your creation and a preview window to check how everything looks when put all together.

CyberLink PowerDirector features all the necessary tools for the whole creative process, from assisting you in with the very first step (capturing video from several different sources) to adding the final touches to your creation (a totally customizable DVD-style menu).

When you’re done, you can save your video as a streaming file, write it back to the videotape or even upload it to Youtube straight away. The program also allows you to record the video on a CD or DVD.

CyberLink PowerDirector is the perfect combination of powerful features with an appealing, easy-to-use interface that will please power users and beginners alike.

Download PowerDirector 7.0.1829 Ultra in Softonic

Video is becoming an increasingly important element in multimedia creations, which means you need powerful tools to work with it in proper conditions.

CyberLink PowerDirector is probably your best option when choosing a video editor. This program lets you create stunning video compositions featuring videoclips, images, transition effects, clipart, text layers and, of course, a personalized background soundtrack.

As complicated as it seems, the truth is that CyberLink PowerDirector is really easy to use. The main working area follows the standard interface design in video editors, including a media library window to browse your multimedia collection, a timeline to drag and drop elements for your creation and a preview window to check how everything looks when put all together.

CyberLink PowerDirector features all the necessary tools for the whole creative process, from assisting you in with the very first step (capturing video from several different sources) to adding the final touches to your creation (a totally customizable DVD-style menu).

When you’re done, you can save your video as a streaming file, write it back to the videotape or even upload it to YouTube straight away. The program also allows you to record the video on a CD or DVD.

CyberLink PowerDirector is the perfect combination of powerful features with an appealing, easy-to-use interface that will please power users and beginners alike.

Download CyberLink PowerDirector 7.0.1915 Deluxe in Softonic

If you run a web business and collect information about your users through online forms then you'll know how annoying the problem of faked or invalid email addresses can be.

Atomic Mail Verifier is designed to provide a fast and reliable way of checking that all addresses in a database or email repository actually lead somewhere. This can save you a lot of hassle in when you come to send mail-outs, because it means that you don't keep getting bounced messages and you can be sure that all of your lcorrespondance actually reaches someone the other end.

Though not the most elegant of applications I've tried, Atomic Mail Verifier is certainly highly functional. Just import the mail file to load all of the addresses into the main window. Now, you can verify the addresses by choosing one of the three verification models from the 'Verify' tab: by syntax, domain, or email address. The program will quickly ping the addresses to find out if they exist or not, and highlight them in red or green depending on the outcome.

There are a few connection settings you can play around with too, but I found them pretty unaccessible and you don't really get any explanations of what the all do. Likewise, some of the other aspects of the interface are a little clunky. for instance, I was unable to find a way of deleting multiple addresses from the main window simultaneously.

Despite its rather awkward GUI, Atomic Mail Verifier does offer a pretty reliable way to validate email addresses in a database.

Download Atomic Mail Verifier 5.20 in Softonic

Clean Space 9 is not a one function program, but rather it is a toolbox for the protection and removal of personal information, spyware, anonymous surfing service, file anti-recovery tool, computer lock and many others. Competitors of Clean Space 9 prefer to distribute these programs separately, TeoSoft includes them all in one, very powerful, easy to use package.

Clean Space 9 prevents unauthorized access to your computer history from anyone - friends, family and even coworkers. In other words, nobody will be able to view web sites you’ve visited, images or videos you've viewed, programs you've started, letters you've written, and much more which you would like to keep a lid on. By your command or at a scheduled time, Clean Space 9 starts deleting activity history in over two hundred sensitive areas such as Internet Browser history, Windows Explorer history, temporary internet files, cookie files, index.dat files, swap file, and many others. Once it accomplishes its work, Clean Space 9 leaves no chance to learn your computer session details.

Download Clean Space 14.07 in Softonic

Creating customized DVD movies is a piece of cake with Droppix DVD Maker. The program takes care of everything so that you only have to worry about enjoying your favorite videos from the couch.

You can use any video files stored in your local drive (the program supports the most popular formats) or import videos right away from famous video websites like Youtube, Daily Motion or Google Video with just a single click. Droppix DVD Maker also includes several ready-to-use menu templates you can use to create personalized DVD menus, though the method to change them is not very well implemented (a double click on the current menu image would be much more intuitive than having to open the program's settings menu).

Another drawback to Droppix DVD Maker is the fact that you can't preview the video before converting and recording it to the actual disc, while other similar tools usually include a built-in player. At least the conversion process is easy and quite fast too.

Droppix DVD Maker lets you create customized DVD movies in a very easy way, but lacks some handy features found in other similar tools.

Download Droppix DVD Maker 1.5.0 in Softonic

The task manager that comes bundled with Windows by default should be enough for most people but others, mainly power users, will definitely prefer something like Anvir Task Manager.

This highly detailed task management tool analyzes everything that's currently active on your system and displays it on a tabbed interface: running applications, active processes and services, programs that are scheduled to run upon Windows start, percentage of CPU and RAM in use, and more. No wonder the program's interface looks so confusing the first time you launch Anvir Task Manager... I wouldn't be surprised to see beginners being scared away.

Besides what you can see at first sight, there are a bunch of context menus and balloon tips in Anvir Task Manager that come up only when you hover the mouse over or click on certain elements. So my advice here is to try clicking everywhere and keep on finding new tools and functions.

Apart from the program's own tools, Anvir Task Manager also includes quick shortcuts to Windows' built-in system maintenance tools. I especially liked the two icons the programs puts on the system tray that enable you to control RAM usage and CPU load at a glance.

Anvir Task Manager is certainly much more than just a management tool for active processes: it's a complete app that lets you control everything that's going on while you're using the computer.

Download AnVir Task Manager 5.2.0 Free in Softonic

There was a time when video files all conformed to some basic requirements and could be played without protest using any media software. As technologies change and licensing becomes more restrictive and specific, simply playing a video file has now become a challenge and thanks to the plethora of obscure proprietary formats now available, finding a media player that works for the majority has become more hassle than it’s worth. Thankfully the open source community have come up with a solution in the form of VLC, otherwise know as VideoLAN Client.

This cross platform player doesn't strike as particularly good-looking when put side by side with Windows Media Player or Winamp, but you'll appreciate its far superior usability within moments. Its power can be demonstrated with any video files you happen to be downloading, which can be played in whatever form they exist, be it an actual video format or an unclassified temporary one. As you preview a video, it will skip the parts that have yet to be downloaded and let you see the rest – Media Player in comparison, can't preview files in this way.

Apart from playing incomplete videos, because lets face it not many people want to do that anyway, VLC has support for a huge range of video formats. If it doesn't recognize the file type it will try playing it anyway often successfully or if it's an encrypted file it will display the scrambled video in its raw form. The interface is stripped down to the bare bones, with the apparent objective of making it as unobtrusive as possible. With superb hotkey support, you can do practically everything you want without touching your mouse.

Put simply, VLC is a video player that doesn't stray in to other areas. There is only one alternative skin available, but all it will take is one look and you'll quickly be switching back to the default.

This free player should appeal to true cinephiles who want as little distraction as possible from their viewing experience. Being open source it's free to use and thanks to a small file size and a friendly installation process, we would recommend it to absolutely everyone as their "backup" or "catch-all" video player.

Download VLC Media Player 0.9.4 in Softonic

CyberLink YouCam is one of those applications that allows you to add wacky and bizarre effects to your webcam chats and conversations.

You can do just about anything from turning yourself into Abraham Lincoln to a talking dog to shock, surprise and even disgust your friends. It works in conjunction with Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Yahoo Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger. CyberLink YouCam doesn't just stick a dogs face in front of yours however. It uses facial-tracking 3D avatars that mimic the real movements of your face so it actually looks pretty good (except the dog, it has to be said).

There are two different modes to choose from - Live Chat Mode which allows you to pepper your chats with video effects; Video and Photo Capture Mode - this allows you to record yourself on video, capture a single photo, or photo burst. And finally, Automatic Capture which records videos by setting your recording time, or to starting with the detection of motion.

CyberLink YouCam is a fun tool that will spice up any webchat conversation, although some of the effects are clearly more realistic than others.

Download CyberLink YouCam 2.0 in Softonic

Gizmo Central is a package of tools intended to make computer tasks easier and more comfortable to do. The program works as a main basic app to which you can add several plug-ins in order to obtain new functionalities. These plug-ins are chosen during the installation process and can be changed at any time by running the installation again.

According to the author, Gizmo is addressed to all kinds of users, but I think it's more suitable for advanced ones. Among the featured plug-ins you'll find a launch toolbar, a synchronization server, a database tool or a disc image manager, which are generally very useful but certainly not the kind of apps that beginners are looking for.

On top of that, Gizmo is not intuitive at all as regards program configuration, nor does it have support for dragging and dropping elements, which would have been especially useful for the toolbar plug-in.

Gizmo Central is a convenient pack of tools designed to help you perform very diverse tasks.

Download Gizmo Central 2.6.2 in Softonic

Security is one of the main concerns among computer users. This is why it's important to count on reliable applications that can protect our system and data from potential dangers. Sometimes free security apps are regarded as being less safe but you might change your mind after testing AVG Antivirus.

AVG is one of the handiest antivirus systems I've seen so far (and believe me, I've tested a few). Being a smaller application, AVG may not feature such a wide range of tools or utilities as the other antivirus programs do. However, it makes up for it by offering a neat, effective protection which stays silently minimized in your system tray and only activates when needed.

This is precisely one of the best things about AVG. It works completely in the background, without the need of half the system resources and of course, without constantly bothering you with warning windows or update messages. You can just go on with your work and you won't even notice you have an antivirus application up and running. Being the free version of a complete program, AVG shows the odd nagging notification encouraging you to buy AVG Professional which may annoy the more sensitive users.

AVG features real time system protection, an email scanner (which doesn't prevent spam from coming into your mailbox though – spam filter is a Pro-only feature) and as new features in AVG 8, an anti-spyware tool and the so called LinkScanner technology to protect your web browsing. The whole package should be enough to ensure you're not infected with any virus. Also, it integrates seamlessly with Windows Explorer, thus allowing you to scan files from their context menus. AVG's virus database is automatically updated on a daily basis, so you're always protected even from the most recently discovered threats. The program supports scheduled scans as well.

AVG Antivirus remains a perfect security solution for the average computer user, providing quite a powerful weapon against viruses.

Download AVG Anti-Virus System Free Edition 8.0.173 in Softonic

Changing the look of XP is something of a cottage industry and GelXP Desktop is another addition which gives Microsoft's most loved operating system a relaxed new look.

In reality GelXP doesn't make any huge differences to the use and feel of XP but rather smooths some of its rougher edges. There are two style variations to choose from - one in blue and two in black and as many XP themes tend to do, it minimizes the taskbar size so it's not so big and chunky as in the default XP.

Installation is very simple - just copy the contents of the ZIP file to the folder C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes and select GelXP as your default theme. It would have been nice to have seen something a bit more radical from this theme - the look it gives you is very slick although no more so than the Royale Theme for XP. It would have scored more highly if the developers had added something that genuinely improved the way you use XP rather than the look.

If you do get bored easily of your XP desktop, then GelXP can at least bring a fresh feel to your desktop.

Download GelXP 2.2 in Softonic

Revo Uninstaller is not just a replacement for the standard Add/Remove applet of the Windows operating system. It also includes other tools that will help you to clean your Windows based computer system.

With its unique "Hunter mode" it offers you some simple, easy to use but effective and powerful approaches to manage (uninstall, stop, delete, disable from autostarting) and to get information about your installed and/or running applications.

Many additional tools are included in Revo Uninstaller including: Auto Start Manager, Windows tools manager, Junk Files Cleaner, Browsers history cleaner, Office history cleaner, Windows history cleaner, Unrecoverable delete tool and Evidence remover.

Download Revo Uninstaller 1.75 in Softonic

Uninstall Tool is a great, powerful and reliable alternative to standard Windows Add/Remove program. It's fast, secure and convenient way to remove unneeded applications and to improve your computer efficiency.

The developers claim its 3 tmes faster than Windows Add/Remove program. It has 3 different application categories: Software, System, Hidden, can help you emove programs that automatically run at system startup and much, much more.

Download Uninstall Tool 2.6.3 in Softonic

Tab Mix Plus completely enhances Firefox's tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager with crash recovery that can save and restore combinations of opened tabs and windows.

Features:

• Undo close tab
• Duplicate tabs
• Open selected links in tabs
• Drag and drop reordering of tabs
• Display unread tabs in red

Download Tab Mix Plus Extension 0.3.7 in Softonic

For a while now, computer users have been waking up to the real threats that exist while browsing the web. Every day, more turn their back on the established vulnerabilities of Internet Explorer and opt for the hottest open source project on the net, Mozilla’s Firefox. But there are plenty of alternatives that offer great features, and one of those is Avant Browser.

Based on Internet Explorer, Avant will import all your favorites automatically and also keep your settings intact. As such it makes a good alternative to the popular Firefox browser, which shuns all things IE, and may seem slightly too foreign from the conventions that many users have built up while using Microsoft’s browser. Although Avant Browser is based on the Internet Explorer engine, it doesn’t fall victim to the same security vulnerabilities (although no-one is claiming that it’s invulnerable), and while it’s at it, adds some great tools designed to enhance your browsing experience.

The Flash blocker is an effective way to keep memory usage of the browser to a minimum or to simply cut out those over-elaborate ads that invade and take over many web sites. To appeal to a wider audience, there are quick links that let you quickly translate pages to a wide selection of languages, or you can customize the look of the browser using the many skins that are included by default. Of course, no modern browser could claim to be complete without tabbed browsing and Avant really delivers the goods with a system that allows you to even reload tabs after you’ve closed them.

In fact, this browser has some of the best extras that we’ve seen to date, in particular the system whereby tabs can be resized like normal program windows letting you display multiple site windows side-by-side, within one browser window. There‘s also a useful toolbar item that displays tags describing the page that you’re on. Click on a tag and you open a list of site that result from a search using that tag or keyword; brilliant! And the piece de résistance is an automatic session saver that lets you open up all the sites you were browsing when you last closed the program.

Avant Browser is relatively unknown as a mainstream browser and as such is not restricted from experimenting and taking the best ideas from the big hitters, as well as adding its own nuggets to the mix. What you get is a very impressive selection of tools in a browser that will even run your Microsoft update without objections. Definitely worth consideration if you are thinking of changing browser.

Download Avant Browser 11.7.15 in Softonic