Most of us have an extensive digital audio collection and one of the wisest moves would be to synchronise this audio with a digital media player and then take that on the road. However, we're not always able to get from the office to home, before we head out on the road or need to stay over night somewhere, but we still want to be able to access our favourite audio tracks.

TVersity 1.0 RC5 is a media streaming device that you can install on your computer (or media centre) and then use this to provide and stream your audio tracks over the Internet. It also enables you to stream your media, video and audio, to other devices within your home, such as your Playstation 3, XBOX 360 or mobile device.

TVersity link.

Back in the 80s, when users were starting to learn about computers, we had to use to have to edit the config.sys to configure our startup applications and much more. However, it was always far easier to get a friend to show you how to do this, rather than try and read a book and learn for yourself. The same principle applies now, but as most of us spend more time engaged in 'leisure pursuits' with our PC, it's very rare to be able to source knowledge locally. The best idea is to find and someone over the Internet.

CrossLoop 2.4.1 is technology that you can use to enable a remote user to access your desktop and show you how to perform a particular task. It also enables someone with knowledge to offer their skills (perhaps for a fee) to other users.

CrossLoop link.

Maybe someone can correct us here, but it seems the recent rush to develop a decent free email client seems to have diminished somewhat? The Mozilla-based Thunderbird is only receiving small and minor bug or security fixes, whilst Thunderbird 3 is way off a final release. Eudora development was cancelled and has been incorporated in to Mozilla development. Of course, there are others, and you could just use Windows Live Mail or the web-based Google Mail, which would enable you to access your email from any browser, from any location.

The Bat! 4.0.38 Professional is an email client that's been around for ages. It's a powerful application that's also available as a free Home edition. Sadly the Home edition is rather limited as it doesn't even ship with an inline spell checker, which is essential for writing email. However, the Bat! ships with a whole host of features, including many pre-designed templates which will make your email look rather professional.

The Bat! Professional link.

The dream must be to setup your own digital audio media centre where you could move from room to room and hear the same track being played, through any audio device, wherever you are located in you house. It's possible, it's easy and cheap to create. Apple iTunes already allows you to distribute audio to various locations, whether this is your computer speaker or a remote Airport Express audio unit. Connect one of these Airport Express devices to an audio device and you can get iTunes to send audio to any or all of these units, at the same time, wirelessly. However, what happens when you don't want to use iTunes?

Airfoil for Windows 2.6.2 is a commercial tool that uses the same standard that Apple uses within iTunes to distribute any audio to your Airport Express device. You can hijack Windows Media Player, your web browser or most other applications. This means you can listen to Internet radio on your hifi, wirelessly.

Airfoil for Windows 2.6.2 link.

It's more common to own or use a desktop, laptop and perhaps factor in your work PC. These computers may be a combination of machines running Windows or Mac OS X. Either way, you'll want to make sure the same data is synchronised between each machine. If you regularly note your ideas, thoughts and other tasks, then you may find that you want the same information both at work and home.

Evernote 3 is one of the best synchronisation tools available. It enables you to add a note, which can consist of text, images, web clips and other information, then make sure that this information is always up-to-date on any machine where you've both installed Evernote and authorise the app to login to your account. If you are using a temporary host PC, you can still access your notes by logging in through a web browser.

The only downside of Evernote is that you can't share your notes or ideas with other users. For example, if you are working on ideas for a forthcoming project, it should be possible to share those thoughts and notes with other people who are part of this project. There's free and premium version available.

Evernote link.

Only a few years ago, WinZip was the primary choice for archive management and, to be fair, is the primary reason why the .zip format became so popular across every operating system. Even Mac OS X has moved to .zip, even though it used the .sit format for years. Now Windows and OS X enable you to quickly open and create basic .zip archives from your files. However, what happens if you want to open an alternative archive format or want to compress your files beyond what the .zip format can offer?

PeaZip 2.4.1 is one of the better free archive managers that enables you to work with the standard .zip format, as well as .7z, tar and many others. It's available for both the Windows and Linux platform and there's a portable version, so you can take your archive manager on the road and use it to open archives on a temporary host PC.

PeaZip 2.4.1 and PeaZip Portable link.

Now you can pick up another 20" LCD monitor for a couple of hundred pounds, more of us are turning to use a dual-monitor setup to help our productivity. Two monitors enable you to open and use one key application, full-screen, on both displays. As a web designer, you could have Dreamweaver open on one screen and Fireworks on the other. Problem is that we also want to configure each desktop so they are easily distinguishable. With Windows, you can only have one wallpaper per desktop, irrespective if you have more than one monitor.

DisplayFusion 2.2.1 is the free version of the wallpaper manager which will enable you to stretch a wallpaper across two desktops or one per desktop. The Pro version will allow you to stream images from Flickr as well as randomly change each wallpaper.

DisplayFusion link.

Only yesterday we were letting you know that you can the full commercial version of EASEUS Partition Manager 2.1 Professional with the latest PCW magazine. The Professional version offers additional functionality over the free Home edition. In particular Vista 64-bit support (although, we don't understand why developers insists on thinking that home users won't be using Vista 64-bit) and the facility to create a bootable recovery CD. However, if you only want basic partition management, such as the creation, deletion or ability to resize a partition, then the Home edition is for you.

EASEUS Partition Manager 3 Home is the latest version and is free for personal use. In addition to basic partitioning tools, the latest v3 now enables you to quickly copy a partition and an entire drive, if necessary.

EASEUS Partition Manager 3 Home link.

Whatever system you own, whether it's a PC or a Mac, there are various components that you should be able to upgrade, including the memory and the primary hard drive. Buying a larger and faster hard drive can make a big difference. Your computer should boot more swiftly, as an example. Problem is that the drive will be partitioned as one large continuous block and the first thing you will want to do is re-configure so you can use a partition for your work, another for your media files and so on.

Within the January 2009 edition of PCW magazine, on-sale right now, you can get the full version of EASEUS Partition Manager 2.1 Professional worth £22. This tool will handle all your partitioning requirements from creating, resizing or deleting existing partitions.

PCW January 2009 link.

Few people are aware but when you install Windows on your PC it will install as a vanilla configuration that is designed to work most effectively on your computer, without it affecting your other software. Essentially, it's designed to be as safe, secure and trouble-free as possible. For that reason, there are many ways you can tweak and optimise your PC and installed software. Quite frankly, there are few tools better than TuneUp Utilities 2009 which is a tool we recently stumbled across and use regularly. We've upgraded from the 2007 edition through to the current 2009.

TuneUp Utilities 2009 will examine and tweak every aspect of your PCs performance. You can examine and check for problematic startup applications, check individual applications and see how you can get more from each app. There are tools for defragmenting your drive, optimising your Registry, fixing issues and much more.

TuneUp Utilities 2009 link.

We all know that if we use our system for any length of time it becomes cluttered with temporary files, files that are stored when you download to your computer and entries within your Registry that leave your system more bloated than necessary. There are many commercial tuning and tweaking tools and some of these are superb. Two good examples are TuneUp Utilities 2009 and System Mechanic 8, which is due to get 64-bit support soon. However, one advantage of using freeware is that updates are always free and they are released very regularly.

CCleaner 2.14 is the latest version of the popular free system cleansing and optimisation tool. The latest version supports Google Chrome as well as Windows 7, so if you're testing these two products, you can use CCleaner to remove temporary or unncessary files.

CCleaner 2.14 link.

As hard drives have got larger, many of us now have large audio collections on our PCs. It's possible to store your entire CD collection on a modern hard drive, but not all music is extracted from audio CDs, you may have MP3s and other audio files sourced from online music stores or download sites, even old records that you have recorded. Once you have all these files on your computer it gets more and more difficult to keep them organised, especially when they have misspelt titles, missing artwork and other discrepancies.  

TuneUp 1.1.2 is a plug-in for iTunes designed to help you maintain an organised audio library. This useful utility sits to the right of the standard iTunes interface and can be used to find missing artwork and identify incorrect track names via the Gracenote database, all of which can be done in batches.  

TuneUp 1.1.2 link.

Testing software on your computer can be problematic. Install new software, then remove, and you'll find that the uninstaller isn't always a effective as the original installer. It can leave behind entries in your Registry, files that attempt to start when you boot your computer and temporary files that you may need to remove manually. One solution is to use a virtual operating system, such as another version of Windows on top of your existing OS. You can use that for testing new software. You can also use it for testing a brand new operating system or an alternative, such as as Linux distro.

VMware Player 2.5.1 is a free tool that will enable you to open and use a virtual operating system that has been created by another user. If you know someone who has VMware Workstation, give them a Windows serial code and they can create you a virtual OS. Either that or download one from the VMware website.

VMware Player link.

We tend not to seek our drive or system repair software until our computer experiences a fault. If it's a scenario where we can't even boot in to our PC, you need a rescue CD so you can repair your faulty drive (by 'faulty drive', it's most likely a software-related issue). We suggest you take a more proactive approach to drive management and, rather than collect together a number of tools to partition, defragment, partition, copy or backup your drive, why not buy a suite instead?

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2009 Suite is one of the best hard drive management tools that will let you get the most from your PC. You can use this tool to backup your drive (and restore), copy a partition, defragment your drive and recovery if necessary. The new 2009 edition ships with a few new features - for Vista users you can quickly migrate your Vista-based drive to a new machine or other partition.

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2009 Suite link.

For a secure and smooth running PC it's important to keep software up-to-date, this will prevent potential problems and will enable you to benefit from the latest features and any improvements made to the software. Manually checking each application for updates can be time consuming, but by using an update tool this task can be performed quickly and easily. Standalone update tools are often more effective than the ones that ship with applications as they provide information on all installed software, rather than a single application.

Secunia PSI 1.0.0.1 is a handy tool that searches for installed software, alerting you of any applications that are out-of-date or that need upgrading. This is incredibly useful for identifying any potential vulnerability and could help you to maintain a more efficient PC.

Secunia PSI 1.0.0.1 link.

We forget that, although the Internet is primarily in English, if you write a business document to another user, they may not understand your words or intention. This can cause issues when we're trying to finalise a business deal, by email, across continents. It's too expensive to employ the use of a professional translator and, when you simply want to reply to an email, you haven't got time to wait for someone to translate your work.

SpeakLike is a system where you can send an email to another user, in your local language, and it will be translated and forwarded to the recipient. The reply can be within the local language, yet you receive a translated email back in to English. It's not quite on-the-fly, as you need to wait for the translation, but SpeakLike claim that this will be achieved in under an hour.

SpeakLike link.

With the rise of fast broadband, software developers are starting to realise that they can produce online-only applications that enable you to produce content without downloading software to your computer. This has to be one of the safest ways of using your PC. If the majority of your software was hosted online, you wouldn't have any reasons to defrag your Registry or worry about optimising your PC.

Webnode is an online tool that you can use to produce your own personal or company homepage. It's a well-designed interface which is similar in appearance to the ribbon toolbar found in Office 2007. There's a free version, so you can put a basic and lightweight homepage online that doesn't use more than 1GB of traffic a month and forces you to use a Webnode footer at the bottom of every page. If you want to use it professionally, you can upgrade to the Premium version, with more bandwidth and secure areas on your site.

Webnode link.

Only a few years ago you had to upgrade your PC every year to keep up with the latest version of Windows and the most popular games. These days you can use a system from a few years ago and it will be fine for most scenarios, apart from the very latest games. These games require the latest graphics card. However, before you go out and buy the game you want to run on your system, it might be a good idea to evaluate how your components stack up against the system requirements.

Can You Run It? is an online scanning tool where you can select the game you are intending to purchase and then run an analysis on your computer. The report will show where your system may be lacking and, where a potential problem is located, you can try and remedy the situation - this may be additional memory or an upgraded graphics card.

Can You Run It? link.

Anyone who uses email is aware of spam and junk mail, but for those of us who use it on a daily basis it can be a never ending battle. The number of spam messages we receive is on the rise and spammers are using increasingly clever ways of disguising malicious mail. The trouble is, when you access your email you can end up spending more time sorting your mail than reading it. Why not try one of the many freeware spam filters available?

Spamaware 5.1 is a freeware plug-in for MS Outlook and MS Outlook Express that will automatically filter potentially malicious email messages. You can adjust filter settings as needed, then simply let the filter do the work for you. This is definitely worth a try if you're struggling to cope with the constant barrage of spam. 

Spamaware 5.1 link.

Learning a new language is a major challenge, particularly for us Brits. For example, Italian may prove relatively easy for a Spaniard, but we find it a challenge that often leaves us rather embarrassed and struggling to make progress. The best solution is to immerse yourself in the culture and you'll quickly pick up the language. The other solution is to learn online - not using the traditional methods, as they can prove stale, but in an entertaining way.

Babbel is such a system. You simply choose the language you want to use and the site will give you a personalised learning experience. However, the key point of Babbel is that you share your learning skills with other users. Strange thing is that this seems like a good way to pass certain tests and exams as you can get instant answers to language queries from other others. Fun, indeed.

Babbel link.

Back in the 90s there was this cool method of chatting with other users, irrespective of their location. It was called IRC. Indeed, the technology has not disappeared, but the amount of press coverage it receives is minimal. However, the idea lives on. IRC enabled developers from multiple locations to enter a (closed) chat room and have a real-time discussion about a subject. As IRC enabled you to send a file directly to another user (or group of users) it made chatting and working with code, ideal.

Campfire is a business chat or developer-based chat system that enables multiple users from different locations to login and chat. You can share files, make them available to other users for download later and use the system as a depositry for code and other info. With Campfire, a person can simply upload an image to the chat, for real-time preview, enabling the other users within the discussion to see a pictorial example of an issue.

Campfire link.

No matter how equipped you think your computer is to deal with Internet based threats, you're almost certain to encounter malicious software of some kind. This could be spam email or a fully fledged viral infection, and even if you think your machine is completely protected, there are always new threats to look out for. Is it really necessary for the average computer user to purchase expensive security packages?

Avast Home 4.8.12.96 is a free antivirus package that offers protection from a host of general online threats. Some useful features include a behaviour blocker for analysing and preventing any unusual behaviour, and an email scanner that checks incoming and outgoing email messages for infection.

Avast Home 4.8.12.96 link.

Facebook is the primary social networking choice for those wanting to keep in touch with other friends. It enables users to give people a day-by-day record of their life, including who they've seen and where they've been. Of course, fascinating for many. It also enables users to send a instant message to other members, so people are ditching regular IM clients such as Windows Live Messenger, AOL Messenger and others. Problem is, what happens when one of your friends decides they want to use Bebo instead?

Yahoo oneConnect is a solution that attempts to bring together various social networking sites within one user-interface. Snag is, it doesn't seem to allow cross-network communication. You can't log in to your Yahoo Messenger account and chat with a Facebook member, for example. You can see notifications, but you need to chat through the standard Yahoo network or by, erm, SMS. Still, you can at least access multiple contact databases from your various social network, phone and other address books.

Yahoo oneConnect link.

One key problem with the Internet is that we use it to track our friends, keep in touch with the family, check our bank balance and the latest sports news. Get in to work and it's all too easy for a lot of people to spend too much time trawling through their various sites searching for updated information, when they should be working.

PageOnce is an online tool that you can also use with your iPhone to aggregate a number of online account in to one user-interface. You simply open a PageOnce online account, choose the sites you want to add (with their relevant login and password) and then acess this info when you're on your iPhone. It's all read-only, so you can't interact with your bank account from your mobile, but you can see daily update info, securely.

PageOnce link.

Some of our better audio tracks are those that were remixed by other producers. However, you might feel that you could do something better or more suited to your taste. If you feel a track is slower than you'd like or feel it could be enhanced by a loop from another track, there's no reason why you couldn't remix the track yourself and then save it as a new track. As long as you don't make it available commercially or spread to other users without permission, you can do what you like with your own audio (DRM free) audio tracks.

With Computeractive 281 magazine, on-sale now, we're giving you the full version of MixVibes Home v6 which will enable you to mix together two different audio tracks and then output the result as a new track.

Computeractive 281 link.

Working on the same machine each day you get used to having all you need at your fingertips, everything for a days work. This may be your favourite applications, but may also be important contacts and web addresses. Sometimes though you may be away on business or working in a different office and will be required to use a different computer. If you are on an unfamiliar machine it may be difficult to remember specific and important URLs, so how do you access them?

Foxmarks has been a popular add-on for Firefox that has now been made available for Internet Explorer. It enables you to synchronise bookmarks across multiple computers via my.foxmarks.com, so it's possible to access your bookmarks from any computer with Internet access.

Foxmarks for Internet Explorer. link.  

Although Google does a great job of finding websites, the results can be a little hit and miss. The trouble is that Google is so good at finding sites that it's sometimes difficult to identify which site are legitimate and which sites aren't. The last thing you want is to find out the hard way and end up on a rogue site accidentally, so surely there's a way of identifying the good from the bad?

GooglePreview 3.16 is a useful Firefox extension that may help. It provides a small visual representation of your search results; this can help identify any potential rogue sites before you visit them. One downside to the add-on is that your browser speeds maybe slightly decreased if you don't have a great Internet connection, but it does provide an extra level of security.

GooglePreview 3.16 link.

There comes a time when you may need to cleanse your PC, by removing or filing desktop clutter, uninstalling unused or unwanted applications as well as remove old and unnecessary files and folders. The trouble is, it's all too easy to get a little carried away and start deleting items you may still need. Some of this information could be important, maybe even private, so how do you recover these files once you've emptied your recycle bin.

Recuva 1.21 is a small and popular application that enables you to recover any files you may have accidentally deleted, even if you have emptied your recycle bin. Recuva can also be used to salvage photographs from your digital camera or memory card and you can even recover songs from your MP3 player.

Recuva 1.21 link.

It's become so easy to install software that sometimes you can do so without even realising, like downloading a media player plug-in online. It takes a few simple steps and then it's installed, but when it comes time to remove it, it's a completely different story. The Windows Add/Remove utility can struggle to completely remove some more stubborn applications and will often leave associated files and folders on your computer. It may then be time to resort to a third party application, one that will remove all traces of an unwanted application.

Total Uninstall 5.0.2 is an application designed to completely remove all traces of files and folders associated with any installed applications. It will monitor where associated files are placed during the instillation of a new application so that removal is much more thorough and effective.

Total Uninstall 5.0.2 link.

Even if your new PC ships with basic security software, from the moment you connect to the Internet it's susceptible to numerous online threats. It may be worth investing in a solid all-in-one security package that offers complete protection, one that is updated regularly. A goo security application will protect your computer from viruses as well as identify potential threats and be capable of removing them. The benefit of using a single security package is that you won't have any difficulty getting different applications working together correctly.

Comodo Internet Security 3.5.55.810 is a free security suite made up of different security utilities which are designed to provide complete protection for your computer. This tool provides solid protection against almost anything you may encounter online and if you require further protection, there is also a professional version available.

Comodo Internet Security 3.5.55.810 link.

Most current graphics cards will come with a number of different display options. These settings are often pre-configured on any card installed on your machine, providing very limited adjustments. These basic settings may not enable you to get the most from your display settings, or even manually tweak settings. What if you wish to change your current monitor or connect additional monitors?

PowerStrip 3.84.640 enables you to adjust a huge number of different display settings using over five hundred controls and settings. You can create multi-monitor set-ups and control all settings. The application supports numerous graphic cards and all popular chipset vendors, so it should work with most machines.

PowerStrip 3.84.640  

Checking weather forecasts is not something many of us do on a daily basis; maybe we hear the forecast on local radio or catch it on T.V before work. The trouble is if you're job requires you to travel, maybe even abroad, staying updated with current weather can be difficult. There are a number of useful websites available offering national and international weather forecasts, but there are other useful applications that make it even easier to retrieve global weather information.

Weather Watcher 5.64.1 is a desktop weather watching application for Windows that enables you to track hourly and daily forecasts. You can use it to get forecast and alerts from thousands of cities worldwide as well as customise the application with a choice of skins, to make it less of a feature on your desktop.

Weather Watcher 5.64.1 link.  

Almost all image viewers, even basic freeware tools, enable you to convert the format of your images. Images are often gathered from a number of different sources, from your own photographs to pictures received via email and are often in several different formats. This can cause issues when trying to view images and you may find it more convenient to convert these images into a single, unified format. This makes your images easier to manage, send to friends and upload to a website.

XnView 1.95.4 is a small utility that enables you to convert images into around fifty different formats. It's a useful tool for browsing images and it can be used to edit, adjust and crop any images before conversion. XnView can also be used to rename batches of images.

XnView 1.95.4

There are a number of tools available you can use to paint and create original works with, from basic freeware utilities to expensive, professional applications. Although these applications enable you to paint, they tend to be geared around graphic design and image manipulation rather than helping you to create more artistic pieces. If you are a more creative artist you may find it difficult finding an application that suits a more expressive style, but there are applications worth investigating.  

Artweaver 0.5.6 is an application designed for users who prefer working with a mouse or directly on a tablet. The program offers a number of realistic tools such as pencils, charcoal, chalk and numerous other brush styles. You can import a range of image formats as well as use existing images and photos to create sketches from.

Artweaver 0.5.6 link. 

There are now a huge number of add-ons available for Mozilla's Firefox, and depending on your needs, some may be more useful than others. The right Add-ons can greatly enhance your browsing experience, but it can be a chore trying to find ones that work for you, or combination of add-ons that work for you.

Mozilla have now introduced a new way for Firefox users to get add-ons most suited to their needs via ¨Fashion Your Firefox¨. Packs have been assembled containing recommended plug-ins, all with individual names and based on themes depending on personal preference. For example, there's ¨Social Butterfly¨ for those who just can't stay away from social networking sites, ¨Shutterbug¨ for anyone viewing or sharing photos and videos online and ¨News Junkie¨ for keeping up-to-date with the latest news and weather. There are a number of other packs available too; all aimed a specific type of user, so there is something for everyone.

With around five thousand add-ons currently available and with Firefox add-on downloads recently topping one billion; this is probably the easiest way to get a selection of add-ons that best suit your needs.

Use your computer online, even if it's to keep in touch with friends, and you run the risk of being a target for identity fraud. The problem with social networking sites is that it offers both your friends and other users a way to find your name, date of birth, contact email address and more. The first step is to attempt to change your password for your email account. They only need key personal info to gain access. Once inside, they may find other information that leads them to access an online account such as your PayPal login info.

Get Safe Online is a new government-backed UK site that gives you detailed information about the potential threats, how to protect your machine and, of course, various download links that enable you to obtain security software. However, refer to vnunet.com and you can find the latest anti-virus and other security tools, including Secuni PSI which we discussed this morning.

Get Safe Online and vnunet.com links.

If you're a Windows user, there are so many threats to your system you wonder if it's safe to do anything with your machine. Only today the BBC reported that UK identities were available for £80 per person. Problem is that we're now encouraged to use our computer to access our bank account, pay bills and other sites that require a password. Most security tools will stop a virus attached to an email, an application or a tool that attempts to get behind your firewall. However, you can quite easily make your PC vulnerable by installing (legit) software.

Secunia PSI 0.9.0.6 is a tool that will look at installed software and examine potential security holes from applications that may need patching/updating. Rogue developers will often spend serious time looking at legitimate software and potential holes then, once found, use these holes to access your hard drive, personal info or other areas.

Secunia PSI link.