Chat with friends and family via an instant messenger or other video-based client and it's the same old video chat that can make you look rather formal, boring and unexciting. There are times when you might want to spice up the chat and add a bit of fun to the video call. For instance, if your nephew is on the other side of the world, celebrating his 10th birthday, it would be ideal if you could set up a video call with a birthday theme, which will appear as if you're holding a party on his behalf, at home.

Cyberlink YouCam 1 is our free full commercial download in the latest edition of Computeractive, issue 267, which is on-sale right now. This tool enables you to add effects and themes to your outgoing video calls, through your instant messenger clients.

Computeractive 267 link.

Many people have programs or utilities they prefer to use, especially if they work with computers on daily basis. Some small utilities make certain tasks far easier if you are used to doing things within certain applications. The trouble is, there may be the odd occasion where you may have to use a different computer, and working from a machine without your favourite apps could hamper your work rate. Unless of course, you keep portable versions of your favourite applications on a portable drive so you can take them with you.

WinSnap Portable 2.1.3 is the portable version of a very useful screen capture tool. Although it’s small, it could prove indispensible for certain tasks. This tiny tool can now be taken with you, for use whenever you might need it.  

There are various applications available to help you create websites, but many of them still require you to have a basic knowledge of building web sites or pages. However, if you have no understanding of how websites are put together, but you want to create your own site, is there a solution? Luckily, some website builders enable you to create sites by dragging and dropping text and images into pre defined templates, providing numerous options for colour and layout so the finished article could look completely different to the initial template.

CoffeeCup Visual Site Designer 5.9.4 is an easy-to-use what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) website builder. Simple enough for even the most inexperienced user to use and understand. Although not the most complex, almost anyone can achieve professional looking results with this application.  

Although we are constantly warned of online threats, it’s almost inevitable that we encounter some form of malicious software. Whether it’s spam in our inbox, or a full on virus, even the most comprehensive antivirus packages will not provide protection against all threats. Luckily, the average computer user is aware of the potential threats posed by browsing the web. So is it really necessary for the average user purchase an expensive security package?

Avast! Home 4.8.1195 is a free yet capable antivirus package that’s well equipped to deal with general online threats. It has an access scanner, on demand scanner and it will also scan your inbox, everything you’d need to protect your PC.

Even with a fast broadband connection, downloads can sometimes seem painfully slow. However, with the right download manager, it’s possible to increase download speeds without changing your broadband connection. Multi-threaded download managers split files into several parts, or sometimes download from multiple sources simultaneously. Using such an application will also enable you to schedule, monitor and resume broken downloads, amongst other helpful features. 

HiDownload 7.17 is a multi-threaded download manager that enables you to download single or multiple files from web or FTP sites. Whilst you’re downloading, it attempts to maximise your connection speed whether you’re downloading single or multiple files and you can also use it to stream audio and video files.

Importing audio files and adding them to your audio library isn’t always straightforward, especially if you’re extracting from an analogue source. Rare or original recordings over a certain age would not have been recorded digitally, and some recordings may still only be available in analogue formats. If you do have original, live or rare recording, how do you add them to your library and make them more accessible?

REAPER 2.205 is a recording, editing and mixing tool for rendering audio. Use it to create original compositions, or use it to extract and edit audio files for exporting to your music collection. This makes listening to your old tracks much more user friendly, you can even put them on your portable MP3 player.      

Most of us are familiar with, or have used an online chat service such as Live Messenger. It seems we cannot get enough of communicating with our friends and family, especially if it’s free. Even the social networking community Facebook has now incorporated the facility to chat amongst online friends. The trouble is, communicating in this way can often be tedious, and it’s difficult to communicate with more multiple users simultaneously.

Messenger Plus! Live 4.60 is an add-on for Windows Live Messenger that ships with numerous features that enhance functionality. These features include multi-chat within a single window, message shortcuts and it also has a fully customisable interface.

When moving folders and files, it’s frustrating when you come across a ‘locked’ file which cannot be deleted or moved. You may be required to shutdown or restart your computer, the file then becomes free again, but restarting your machine time and again just to organise files can be extremely laborious. It would be handy if these files could remain free or unlocked at all times, after all, moving files shouldn’t be that difficult.

Unlocker 1.87 is a basic tool that enables you to move or delete system files whenever you need to. It does this by freeing up system resources which may be locking a file and in turn, keeps it free to move or delete as you wish, Just click your right mouse button whenever you require. 

People have very different ideas of what a good game is, but most of us recognise good graphics when we see them. It seems though that’s all alot of modern games have to offer, so how did computer games in the past become so successful and are still recognised today? Classic games such as Tetris were not reliant on graphics, but game play, and like many other games from the past it was the original idea and addictive game play that made it a huge success.

MAME 0.125 is an application designed to emulate classic computer games by using old data files. You can use web archives to source files, giving you a choice of thousands of games from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. If you’re an avid gamer, or using it to reminisce, its great fun.   

It is not uncommon for people to own or work from more than one computer, a desktop at home or in the office and a laptop for working on the move. It's very useful if you are able to work from multiple machines as it gives you greater flexibility, however its important to keep your files synchronised between computers, this enables you to keep your work up-to-date and save con fusion when opening and saving documents.

GoodSync7.2.2 is a helpful synchronisation tool, enabling you to share documents and files between multiple computers. This way it's possible to start work on the train using your laptop, sync with your work computer when you arrive and carry on working at your desktop.