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

Driving games differ in a number of different ways, not just because they contain different kinds of vehicles (cars, bikes, Formula 1) but also in the type of challenge they present.

In the case of Pure the main objective is not only crossing the line in the first place, but also performing as many jumps, tricks and other acrobatics while you’re on air, flying at top speed over bumpy trails with your quad bike.

Before actually starting the race, Pure makes you go through a training session that also works as a kind-of tutorial. It's a good way to get used to the game's quite confusing controls, which inexplicably mix up keys from the standard WASD combination and the arrow keys.

After you learn how to preload, boost and do a basic trick, you're ready to go: it's time for a real race! This time the track is much more fun, because it enables you to compete against other drivers and also includes higher jumps in which you'll be able to show off everything you learned during the tutorial stage. The realistic, highly detailed graphics in Pure serve to make it even more enjoyable, and a lively rock-style soundtrack adds the final touch.

Pure requires a bit of dexterity, so if you don't get any trick during the first few minutes of gameplay don't panic. Also, note that you’re supposed to perform different tricks on each jump (repeating penalizes) and that if you’re successful with the basic ones, you’ll unlock more advanced tricks.

On the downside, I must admit Pure let us down for various reasons. The first one is the file's size, which is simply too heavy for such a short demo. They could have removed all those promotional videos and include at least another track. The controls are also a bit complex: just performing a basic trick involves four different keys, which are usually configured very far apart from each other on the keyboard. Finally, the game has some absurd restrictions. I don’t know what’s wrong with going a bit off the track or even trying to turn around and racing in the wrong direction, but you simply can't. Pure interrupts the game and puts you into track again. Seriously, a bit more freedom for the player wouldn’t hurt, even if that means I don’t win the race.

Pure is not just about racing: it's also about performing the craziest airborne tricks during the race. Too bad the demo is so short that you hardly have time to enjoy it.

Download Pure 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

Today's professionals need to have access to their e-mail any time, no matter where they are, and Syncing.net can be very useful in these cases.

With Syncing.net you can synchronize all your Outlook data (that is, folders, contacts, tasks and calendar) on your PC with other computers, in a totally safe network you can create by yourself in just a few easy steps.

Syncing.net is therefore a perfect alternative to Exchange for synchronizing Outlook between computers, and it's especially helpful if you usually work with a desktop and laptop computers.

Syncing.net works not only with Outlook, but also with regular files. Simply select the folders you want to share in your own private network and then choose who you want to share this information with. It's as easy as sending them a message from within the program, though the invitation email can't be customized and their recipients will have to install Syncing.net as well before being able to access your network.

If you need to have your files and Outlook data permanently synchronized between different computers then this app is for you.

Download Syncing.net 2.3 Professional Edition 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

Following the release of new versions of both Internet Explorer and Firefox, the infamous 'browser wars' are flaring up again. Despite both Firefox 1.5 and the Beta of IE7 making significant strides, it would be be foolish to think this was a two-horse race. While gaining a good reputation with geeks and power users, Opera has long been a bit-part player among the big boys of the browser world. However, if this preview release is anything to go by, the Norwegian-built browser could finally be ready to punch with the heavyweights.

Opera has been pioneering new ways of browsing the web for some time. It has had tabbed browsing since the days before tabbed browsing was cool and developed the innovative 'mouse gestures' control system, where you navigate through the web just by holding the mouse button and flicking your wrist. The developers even dabbled with a multi-pane interface for viewing several pages within one interface.

The good news is that Opera has lost none of its appetite for innovation, and version 9 is packed with new goodies that will have the programmers at Mozilla and Microsoft choking on their doughnuts. For starters the app runs much quicker than the previous release, making it arguably the quickest browser around (except perhaps for Safari) at rendering pages. Incredibly, despite this boost in performance, the program appears to use less memory than version 8.5, making it far less draining on system resources than Firefox and IE.

In terms of features Opera is the gift that keeps on giving. New to the program comes OSX Tiger-style 'widgets', allowing you to check news, convert currency, view the weather and so on through a series of draggable pop-ups which anchor themselves in front of the browser. Although there aren’t many widgets to choose from at present, this is sure to change once the tech-minded Opera fans start developing more.

Another great addition to Opera 9 is BitTorrent support, allowing you to download torrents directly within the browser – a feature that amazingly no one had thought of before. This system works very smoothly, which makes us wonder why RSS feed reading support in Opera is still so poor.

Among the other new treats within the program is a nifty new search feature which lets you add any search engine to the search bar in the main toolbar. This means you can instantly access searches within your favorite online destinations (Softonic, for instance).

Tabbed browsing remains, although some users may be annoyed to discover that Opera has added close tab buttons to the tabs themselves rather than as a separate button. Having said this, the new web page preview thumbnails that appear when you rollover a tab are a real masterstroke. Mouse gestures are still there too, along with the addition of Total Recall-style voice commands – another example of how cutting-edge this browser is.

Opera's developers have been keen to ramp up security features too, and although they aren't highly original, the new content blocking and pop-up blocking functions serve their purpose effectively. What's more, it's refreshing to see a browser that embraces the latest web standards so freely, with the latest release boasting support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 tags.

The browser is remarkably stable and is far better behaved than Internet Explorer 7. Combined with its speed, innovative features and standards support, Opera is undoubtedly web software's best-kept secret, and the final release may prove to be even better than Firefox. Don't say anything though, or everyone will want it.

Download Opera 9.60 in Softonic

You could pretty much consider FileZilla an open source success story. It's popular, works well and fast, and regularly updated.

If you're looking for a solid FTP client what more could you ask more? In fact, FileZilla is not just limited to FTP, but also handles FTPS and SFTP for secure transfers of multiple files on multiple servers. The interface gives you a quick outlook of all your transfers, sites and disks and makes it easy to drag and transfer. I also quite like the QuickConnect feature to access your favorite server in seconds.

FileZilla is known to be fairly fast, and can also resume downloads and handle very big transfers, I'm talking here higher than 4 GB. You can set both local and remote filters for things like images, explorer files or CVS and SVN directories or even create your own. FileZilla also includes a tool to compare directories in terms of file size or modification time.

The application can guide you when setting up your network and lets you set speed limits in case you don't want to overload your bandwidth.

One thing really missing from FileZilla though is a scheduler to automatically set transfer times.

Despite lacking a scheduler, FileZilla is an excellent open source FTP client. It's stable, fast and very efficient. Highly recommended.

Download FileZilla 3.1.3.1 in Softonic

One of most common reasons for your PC slowing down is processes that are hogging your system and taking all your CPU.

Process Lasso aims to solve this problem by reducing the priority of those processes that are not important and returned to a responsive level. It also works with multiple processes that are causing a problem so it can deal with more than one program at once. If you think that the program is prioritising the wrong processes, then you can define default processes that you want to be controlled or kept an eye on. Process Lasso also displays graphs and other graphical represeantations to show you which processes are requiring the most CPU usage. You can blacklist those processes that are showing rather high graph readings or that are clearly taking up more CPU usage than they deserve. Although the program requires no experience, it does offer advanced settings and twesking options to make sure that it only blocks those processes that are specified or targeted by yourself. Fortunately, the program itself is very low on resources so it will not add to your CPU hogging problems.

A very useful process monitor than will ensure your CPU only dedicates itself to those programs that really need it.

Download Process Lasso 3.14 in Softonic

If you need to share files more often than not, and you're tired of large email attachments and uncomfortable USB devices, this program is for you.

GBridge lets you easily share files by extending Google's IM service Gtalk to a virtual private network where you can share data, backup files online, sync content between different computers and even chat with your Gtalk contacts on a safe, encrypted environment.

The program is really easy to use and doesn't require any configuration to start working. Simply select the folders you want to share from your hard drive, choose those people from your contact list who will have access to that content and send them a notification. Notice that they'll also need to have GBridge installed to see and download any shared content. Security and network freaks though have a settings menu where they can tweak connection settings, limit bandwidth usage and fiddle with other options.

GBridge works fine and it's a very decent solution to share file without getting involved in complicated configurations or expensive software.

With GBridge, sharing files with your friends and creating online backup copies is easy as pie!

Download GBridge 1.0.0.1130 in Softonic

CyberLink DVD Suite includes ten basic tools designed to help you make the most out of your multimedia library. Tasks like burning music compilations onto CD and DVD, creating data backup copies, or designing photo slideshows to share with friends and family are just some of the tasks that you'll be able to carry out with CyberLink DVD Suite.

The suite includes an application launcher, known as PowerStarter. This launcher works as some kind of control panel from where you can easily access all the tools included in the suite. They're categorized in tabs according to the task or action you can do with them ("watch movie", "make an audio CD", "copy a data DVD") instead of displaying the actual tool's name. PowerStarter also includes a special Favorites tab where you can add shortcuts to your most frequently used actions.

This app launcher obviously makes things much easier for the average user, but power users may find it confusing, as they're probably used to choosing the application they want to open – not the task they want to do.

What does CyberLink DVD Suite include? As a starter, you'll find a powerful recording tool (Power2Go) with which you can burn audio and data CD and DVD, perfect to enjoy your favorite music anywhere and make backup copies.

Another outstanding app is PowerProducer, which lets you create VCD, SVCD and video and photo compilations. If you want to create a fully customized slideshow with soundtrack, transition effects and all the bells and whistles, then your best choice is Medi@Show. PowerDVD Copy and PowerBackup also deserve a mention, allowing you to copy non-protected DVD movies and create security copies of your sensitive data respectively.

CyberLink DVD Suite is undoubtedly a very complete package with high-quality tools, which is very suitable for the average user. I'm not that sure about more advanced users though: I'm convinced that the more you learn about how to use computers and software, the less you need to download a huge-sized suite with a dozen tools from which you'll probably only use three or four - especially in the case of CyberLink DVD Suite, where you can't choose which specific tools you want to install.

CyberLink DVD Suite is a fully featured multimedia suite with a very varied set of tools to burn discs, create backup copies, design slideshows and more.

Download CyberLink DVD Suite 6 Essential 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

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

OpenOffice 3.0 is already here, at least in beta version. The most popular alternative to the almighty Microsoft suite has released its first public beta to allow users to provide feedback and help fine-tune the final product. So here's our two cents.

First, though the OpenOffice site displays a warning about possible instability issues in this beta, fear them not. The complete suite was perfectly stable during our tests, with all its applications running as smoothly as expected. This new OpenOffice is compatible with all file formats from Microsoft Office, including the latest docx, xlsx, pptx and so on from Office 2008.

All OpenOffice tools, along with your more recent documents, are easily accessible from a launcher ("Start Centre") with freshly designed icons, which is one of the main new features in this version. The launcher includes a handy template manager as well, though it's quite empty at the moment.

The suite's applications met our expectations in every aspect: they're easy to use (especially if you're used to working with Microsoft's suite) and feature all the necessary tools to create complete documents, spreadsheets, presentations and databases. I particularly liked the wizard-style interface in Impress (the "Power-Point" app) which enables you to create presentations in no time.

OpenOffice 3.0 left a very good taste in our mouths. In spite of being labeled as Beta, the whole suite works perfectly fine and enables you to enjoy all of its new features right now.

Download OpenOffice.org 3.0 RC 4 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

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

EureScribe is a transcription software system that attempts to make transcription of any audio and video files fast and easy.

It does this by basically breaking down media files into small chunks that you can memorize easily. Everything you need to use to EureScribe is accessible through keyboard shortcuts so there's no skipping to and from the mouse all the time while transcribing, which saves a lot of time. The final transcript can be saved in Word (RTF) format or as a subtitles video file if you're creating subtitles.

EureScribe is extremely flexible in what it can handle, dealing with most major media formats such as WAV, .MP3, .WMA, .AVI, MPEG and DVD video. It comes in two editions - Personal and Workgroup. The former is designed just for individual projects and the latter for teams working on subtitling a project or film.

If you're serious about adding subtitles or transcribing a script, then EureScribe makes the job more digestible.

Download EureScribe 1.0 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

CyberLink DVD Suite includes ten basic tools designed to help you make the most out of your multimedia library. Tasks like burning music compilations onto CD and DVD, creating data backup copies, or designing photo slideshows to share with friends and family are just some of the tasks that you'll be able to carry out with CyberLink DVD Suite.

The suite includes an application launcher, known as PowerStarter. This launcher works as some kind of control panel from where you can easily access all the tools included in the suite. They're categorized in tabs according to the task or action you can do with them ("watch movie", "make an audio CD", "copy a data DVD") instead of displaying the actual tool's name. PowerStarter also includes a special Favorites tab where you can add shortcuts to your most frequently used actions.

This app launcher obviously makes things much easier for the average user, but power users may find it confusing, as they're probably used to choosing the application they want to open – not the task they want to do.

What does CyberLink DVD Suite include? As a starter, you'll find a powerful recording tool (Power2Go) with which you can burn audio and data CD and DVD, perfect to enjoy your favorite music anywhere and make backup copies.

Another outstanding app is PowerProducer, which lets you create VCD, SVCD and video and photo compilations. If you want to create a fully customized slideshow with soundtrack, transition effects and all the bells and whistles, then your best choice is Medi@Show. PowerDVD Copy and PowerBackup also deserve a mention, allowing you to copy non-protected DVD movies and create security copies of your sensitive data respectively. The Pro version of the suite also includes PowerDirector, a handy video editor to tweak, cut, crop, copy and paste your video files.

CyberLink DVD Suite is undoubtedly a very complete package with high-quality tools, which is very suitable for the average user. I'm not that sure about more advanced users though: I'm convinced that the more you learn about how to use computers and software, the less you need to download a huge-sized suite with a dozen tools from which you'll probably only use three or four - especially in the case of CyberLink DVD Suite, where you can't choose which specific tools you want to install.

CyberLink DVD Suite is a fully featured multimedia suite with a very varied set of tools to burn discs, create backup copies, design slideshows and more.

Download CyberLink DVD Suite 6 Pro in Softonic

UltraEdit-32 is a text and hexadecimal editor. It includes column-mode editing, CR fix-up, insert and overstrike modes, drag-and-drop support, bookmarks, font selection for view and print, complete macro support, pop-up menus, numbered lines, tab settings, automatic backup, a spelling checker, and conversion from DOS to Unix file types.

UltraEdit-32 also supports HTML Tidy, contains a sort option in the function list, supports group projects, and more. Files greater than 4GB are supported. Back/Forward functions take you to the previous place you edited, scrolled from, or jumped to. It works across multiple files. Some new features in version 11.0 include an enhanced configurable menus/toolbar support, CSS Style Builder, enhanced color selector, HTML toolbar, and syntax highlighting for multiple languages in a single file.

Download UltraEdit-32 14.20 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