FTP clients have become less relevant since the development of modern web browsers, this is mostly because the latest broadband packages provides more reliability and greater connection speeds. Most people who now use the Internet have probably not used an FTP client before, or probably because they don't really need to, but in some instances they can come in useful, especially if you regularly download files.  They are also an efficient way of quickly uploading data.

FileZilla 3.2.4.1 is a popular, modern freeware FTP client that enables you to transfer files to and from the Internet quickly and easily. By using the client alongside a good broadband connection, it's possible to administer a remote site or take advantage of any free homepage space you may have to upload files more efficiently.

FileZilla 3.2.4.1 link.

There are some fantastic professional photo manager's available, applications such as Adobe's Lightroom and Apples Aperture, which offer a number of powerful features. Unfortunately, these professional suites aren't cheap, and although you may be an enthusiastic photographer, it may still be difficult to justify the expense. Many of the free managers that are available offer very basic functionality but there are other options available.

Pictomio 1.2.29 is a freeware photo management application that may not be as feature rich as Lightroom but will still enable you to achieve professional looking results. The application is more than capable of cataloging, managing, and editing your images, and even providing reference information about each of your photographs.

Pictomio 1.2.29 link.

Although most of us know we should be regularly backing up photographs, music and other personal or important files and folders regularly, we never seem to find the time or find an excuse to get on with something else. Those who have experienced problems before are more likely to be aware of potential issues, but for those who haven't; it may be worth investing in a backup tool, before you experience any problems of your own.

SyncBack SE 5.5.0.9 is a useful tool that enables users to backup important data at regular intervals. This means that in the case of an emergency, backups are as up-to-date as possible. You can use the application to backup and store information on a CD-R or portable Flash drive or by utilising homepage space so that data can be accessed anywhere, via the Internet.

SyncBack SE 5.5.0.9 link.

With constant always-on broadband, there are going to be situations where if you leave your PC online, people will attempt to find a backdoor or security hole in your computer. Once they gain access, they can either control aspects of your PC, embed a keylogger or use other spyware to monitor your computer use. However, most modern broadband modems now include a hardware firewall which means it's far more difficult for someone to find a potential hole. Snag is, if you need to open up ports on your firewall, you may want to protect individual computers on your network that contain your most private information.

Agnitum Outpost Firewall Free 2009 is a free version of the commercial firewall that enables you to protect a local PC within your network with a basic firewall. This means that you can open up ports on your hardware firewall and then use a software firewall to protect individual machines, depending on your requirements, The free version of the firewall lacks some of the features, and support, from the professional version.

Outpost Firewall Free 2009 link.

Most people now have access to a high speed broadband connection, either at home or in the workplace. Many people tend to sign up to these packages based solely on figures published by the service providers. Before you renew your broadband package with your current provider, it may be worth looking at your bill more closely, especially if you are regularly being charged for excess bandwidth usage. Unfortunately though, how do you know if you are being incorrectly charged for unused services? The only way to know for sure is to use a monitoring tool, or to set incoming traffic limits.

NetWorx 4.9.4 is a free tool for monitoring and evaluating bandwidth usage and network activity. Using the application, you can set usage limits over given periods of time to avoid excess charges from your ISP. Traffic information is represented in a line chart and logged as a file, enabling you to view your statistics in a variety of formats.

NetWorx 4.9.4 link.

It's a good idea to look after your day-to-day finances and make sure that you have enough money to pay for your bills and look after your costs. It's too easy to pay for something you can't afford and be in a situation where you run out of money at the end of the month. Thus we turn to budgeting, where we make sure we make sure that we can pay for the items we want and make sure we don't get in to debt. However, when you need to save for something long-term, then we need another solution, so we can plan for the future.

PocketSmith is an online service that enables you to setup long-term forecasts for the future so you can make sure you put away enough cash for a project such as a replacement car or similar. Quite honestly, the website is superbly designed and looks like a professional Mac application, rather than a pure online-only site.

PocketSmith link.

When you wipe your drive and re-install Windows, you often have to wait an hour for the install to finish. At least you can leave it running and come back to the installer from time to time. The worse part is when you have to find all your most important applications and re-install from scratch. This can take ages and most of the smaller free files need to be downloaded from the Internet before you can even install. A better idea one be to download a package of free software and install from this, rather than have to find and download the individual files.

Smart Installer Pack 1.0 is such a solution. The developers have used some of the more popular free apps such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Firefox and Adobe Reader, then packaged them up in to one convenient installer, so you can download and get them on your system ASAP. The only downside is that British users won't get the British-language version of some of the free apps included within the package.

Smart Installer Pack link.

When it comes to removing applications from a computer you can often be left wondering how on earth you managed to install so much software in the first place. Sometimes though, it can be done without even realising. Media payers and plug-ins are easily downloaded and installed when listening to music or watching a video online, but they often remain on your system even when you've finished using them. Removing such  applications using the Windows Add/Remove can be problematic and the utility doesn't always completely remove the files and folders associated with some applications, so it may be time to look to a third party application to completely remove unwanted apps.

Total Uninstall 5.4 is a tool designed to effectively remove all traces of a particular application. It monitors where folders and files for the application are placed during the installation of any new application so when it comes to removing them, it's far more thorough and effective than the standard Add/Remove utility.

Total Uninstall 5.4 link.

Although you may not need one very often, a good screen grabbing tool may come in handy and can have a number of practical applications. You can use a good grabbing tool to take grab of anything that's visible on your monitor, enabling you to use the grabs as a reference when working on or presenting a particular project. More advanced tools will also enable you to take grabs of images, open applications and even text.

HyperSnap 6.50 is a handy utility that for taking a grab of photos, images, error messages and even grab areas of editable text which is handy when the standard copy/paste function isn't applicable. The application is small and easy-to-use and you can assign your own keyboard shortcuts, create instant toolbars, and even control HyperSnap with voice commands.

HyperSnap 6.50 link.

All computers will store a certain amount of personal information; even if it's a work machine there will still be login details and other passwords that may be stored. The reality is that most of the files and folders on your machine won't contain private or sensitive information, but a certain proportion will and you may want to keep them secure, especially if you're using a home computer that you share with other users. One way of keeping information secure is to use a file security program, that way you can hide, encrypt and even lock particular folders and files that are stored on your PC.

Folder Lock 6.1.7 is an application that you can use to prevent others from accessing private or sensitive folders and files. You can create encrypted storages or 'Lockers' and keep as many of your private files & folders in your Locker and password protect them with a single click. You can also protect any data stored on removable media including USB Flash drives and CD-RW. This is a useful application that's incredibly easy-to-use.

Folder Lock 6.1.7 link.

It seems a fair amount of time since the last service pack for Microsoft Office 2007. Of course, a service pack only contains fixes and updates that have been released since the original software (or service pack), but people are keen to update, regardless. For example, the latest SP2 contains a number of enhancements that should help speed up the original Office 2007. Always a bonus - using Outlook is still as slow as ever and could do with a speed boost. The big problem is, unlike SP1, we couldn't get SP2 to install on our test computer. Will every possible app closed, the installer managed to get half the way through before stating there was a problem.

Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 is available to download as a standalone installer. There are some new features, including support for the OpenDocument format. You can also update Office 2007 through Windows Update (recommended by Microsoft) or order it on a DVD.

Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 link.

For most people a computer is a fairly big purchase and upgrading or replacing a machine is usually done occasionally, maybe every few years. Within these few years computers tend to improve pretty significantly as hardware and operating systems are improved. When it's time to replace computer or it's components it's important to identify which upgrades will be most beneficial to your own needs.

CPU-Z 1.51 is a freeware application that enables you to gather and view an audit on your machines CPU. You can use this useful application to analyse cache details, CPU speed as well as find details on related hardware such as installed memory and motherboard information.

CPU-Z 1.51 link.

Many people have a particular web browser they feel more comfortable using, and using an alternative browser on another machine can take some getting used to. It may not happen often, but you may be using a different work computer or family member's machine which may be equipped with a default browser such as Internet Explorer or Safari. Although it's not a huge problem if you're killing time, although having applications you are familiar with using will increase productivity in a work environment.

Firefox Portable 3.0.9 is a transportable version of the hugely popular web browser which can be launched directly from your portable storage device. The application maintains privacy as it's self contained which means all your browser history, cookie information and bookmarks remain on whichever portable device you use.

Firefox Portable 3.0.9 link.

In theory, it's possible to grab an iPod Classic and use this both as your portable music device and also as a removable hard drive where you can store both your most important files and also your portable applications. Could be an ideal way of taking your most important work on holiday or on the road, without dragging your laptop or annoying the family with your Blackberry. Biggest problem is that not every application is available in a portable format.

PackageFactory for U3 is a tool that you can use to package your Windows application in a portable format for your USB device. That's the theory, at least. The problem is that it's quite tricky to turn commercial software in to a portable version as they rely on the host Registry and need to be installed on the system. Any app that requires minimal Registry intervention should be able to be packaged as portable version. This is free for non-commercial use.

PackageFactory for U3 link.

A few years ago you had to purchase commercial PDF application to create a PDF from a Windows application. Now it's dead easy. There are many PDF tools, such as the free doPDF, that will enable you to create a PDF suitable for the web or commercial printing. Problem is that there's only so much editing you can do with a supplied PDF document. You can open it and grab some of the text, but you can't really re-format or edit and send back to the user, apart from adding comments. The answer is to convert the PDF back to a usable format.

CometDocs is online technology that will enable you to convert between various document formats. For example, you can convert a PDF back to a Microsoft Word document or even as an image file. You can convert a XPS file to just about anything else and more. Most of these conversions are available for free.

CometDocs link.

When we sign up to a broadband account, many of received free space to put up a basic homepage. Indeed, there are many web providers in the market that will offer you free space to design your first site. Even designing your first commercial space, with a domain, can be relatively low cost. Back in the 90s GeoCities where one of the first companies to offer a web hosting service and enabled people to create their own local 'city' or community.

In all fairness, the domains they used to give were rather obscure, long-winded and almost impossible to remember. Worse, the the page designs weren't good. However, people still used them and they were popular as local homepages. Hard to believe, but Yahoo bought GeoCities for over $3 billion (yes, billion) in 1999 - ten years ago.

Now the service is going to close so anyone with an existing GeoCities account will have to move the service to another hosting service, such as the paid-for Yahoo hosting service.

I've asked around, but no-one can give me a clear idea on how you successfully manage to follow more than 300 people through Twitter. Surely you must spend your day sorting the wheat from the chaff (and there's a lot of chaff), just to be able to chat and respond to your friends or colleagues? Still, I suppose if you look like you are following 300 people, it gives the impression you're immensely popular. There must be a better way of managing your incoming and outgoing tweets.

The Nambu Network 1.1.12 is a free tool for your Mac that enables you to follow people from multiple social networking sites, including Twitter and Friendfeed. Indeed, these are the primary two, at the moment. Still, it's well designed and enables you to group together key friends, see who's following you and much more. We're still not clear why it wasn't created in Adobe Air, as many other similar apps are and this enables cross-platform development.

Nambu link.

One day computers will take over our lives (well, they have, I suppose..) and will make our decisions for us. If you've ever wondered about your personality and how people perceive you, then look no further. You're now able to take a check on your personality by examining how you perform via Twitter. Seriously. No idea how it analysis your posts and posting style, but some users come out as 'cautious' and 'spamming' within the same personality result.

Twanalyst is online technology that will enable you to get a better idea of who you are via your Twitter account. Simply enter your Twitter username and a detailed (yeah, right) analysis will be performed. You can also see other people's personalities based on their Twitter username, just in case you couldn't figure that out for yourself.

Twanalyst link.

There are few options for retailers to accept transactions over the Internet. Of course, you can sign up to merchant services through your local bank, then accept credit cards. However, if you are new to the market with no history, your bank may be reluctant to give you merchant services or charge you a restrictive rate, to cover their chargeback costs. Another option is PayPal and anyone can use this service and accept PayPal payments on their website. Problem is that if you receive a lot of PayPal orders, then you don't really want to be logging in to a web browser to access your account.

GaragePay 1.5 is a Mac-based commercial application that enables you to manage your PayPal transactions in a desktop tool - much like an email client. Simply download your PayPal transactions, run a search, print transaction info, refund money and much more.

GaragePay link.

There's much discussion about corporates leaving the office lights blazing through the night. However, we forget that we leave our appliances running through the night as we forget to turn off our computers, the photocopier, coffee machine and vending units. Even if our computer goes in to sleep mode, it's still using energy. If your company uses over 500 computers, and none of these are switched off overnight, it's going to use a lot of resources and cost your company unnecessary money.

Edison 1.1 is a free tool for your PC that enables you to quickly re-adjust how much energy your computer should be using, during the working day and overnight. Schedule your working day and configure Edison to use as little energy as possible overnight. You can even see how much it will cost in energy usage, per year, with your current energy requirements. With us, maximising our energy resources would save us £52/year for a single PC.

Edison link.

Sooner rather than later you'll either consider upgrading your computer or moving across to a new system. Either way, you may choose a larger hard drive. Problem is that this will either ship pre-formatted with one large partition or with multiple partitions. You'll want a partition for Windows, another for program data, perhaps one for your media and another for an alternative operating system. This is where you hit a brick wall: formatting your drive is relatively easy in Windows, but partitioning is less straightforward.

Paragon Partition Manager 10 Express is free partitioning software and a current vnunet.com world exclusive download. This software should be enough for your basic partitioning requirements, including creating a new partition or re-sizing existing partitions. You can also use the tool to create a recovery media builder in case you have system-related problems. If you need more than these features, you can always upgrade to Paragon Partition Manager 10 Personal.

Paragon Partition Manager 10 Express world exclusive download link.

Scouring the web for the latest headlines isn't really what you should be doing whilst at work, sometimes though, we might have our eye on a particular news story and it may be within your interests to keep track of it. One way to do this could be to use the news feeds provided by your favourite websites, enabling you to stay updated with headlines of particular interest.  

FeedReader 3.13 enables you to have access to and read the latest RSS-based news headlines. Simply subscribe to a news feed from your desired website and it will automatically keep you updated with relevant headlines or bulletins that are of interest. You can then read the news headlines and, if you want more information, a link will open the news story within your web browser.

FeedReader 3.13 link.

When you boot your PC, there are a number of applications and files that start before Windows is fully up-and-running. Some of these applications cause almost no issues, but others can really take there toll on system resources. Sometimes it's hard to identify what an application is installing on your PC or what information it is adding to your Registry.

WinPatrol 16 is a useful tool that enables you to identify problematic software that may be performing hidden tasks. Rather than scan your drive for previously installed threats the application, it pro actively examines your system and warns of any changes made to your system without your permission.

WinPatrol 16 link.

We've spent time recommending add-ons such as McAfee SiteAdvisor or TrustPilot which will give you information about a website, before you visit. Run a Google search and see the usual results. With McAfee SiteAdvisor, you'll also see a traffic light approach to web safety, as voted by end users. A rogue site maybe flagged up with a red warning and you can find more info about why it's rogue on the McAfee website. Problem is, this only works if the website has been visited and rated by a user. If not, you'll be the first to try the site and could end up on a scamming website and end up having to warn other users.

AVG LinkScanner 8.5 uses a different approach. It's a free download and was first released as part of AVG AntiVirus 8. When you run a Google or Yahoo search, each search result is pro-actively scanned by LinkScanner to see if it can determine whether the destination site is rogue or legitimate. Problem with this approach is that it can take time to examine each website, so will slow your web browsing experience.

AVG LinkScanner link.

How many people use their phone on the tube or down the pub, after work? The problem is that now we use our phones as mini-smartphones, storing our contacts, 'to do' list and other plans, when we lose our phone, we forget that we've also lost the information we've been building over a period of time. There are no excuses though. If you have an iPhone, when you connect to your computer you're also able to backup and synchronise your data back with your PC. If you lose or replace the phone, you simply synchronise the data back to the phone.

Nokia PC Suite 7.1.26 is free software from Nokia for their phones. Gone are the days you have to connect your phone with the right cable, either. You can simply set it up as a bluetooth device and then backup your contacts and other data, without directly connecting to your PC. Of course, if you already have your business contacts on your computer, you can synchronise between PC and phone and vice-versa.

Nokia PC Suite link.

People love the idea of having the latest technology, so when there's a major release of an operating system, we rush out, buy and install. Unfortunately, this is when many people first realise much of their older software won't install or run. Apart from a few visual improvements, it's not always necessary to upgrade to the latest OS. Another option could be to visually enhance your current operating system and bring it in line with the latest revision, especially as there are plenty of customisation tools that will enable you to get more from your current OS.

VistaMizer 3.2 is a customisation tool that provides users with a number of functions designed to enhance the feel of Windows XP, and replicate the look of Vista. A useful tool for users that like the functionality of XP, but prefer the cleaner look of Vista.

VistaMizer 3.2 link.

We all know how useful the Internet is, and many of us depend on it for various reasons. The trouble is, it's littered with malicious material which you are certain to encounter at some point. Many people use firewalls to protect our computers, but the way in which machines are being targeted is becoming more ingenious. Why then, if we sometimes use virtual environments to launch suspect applications, we don't do this when browsing the web?
 
ZoneAlarm ForceField 1.3 is an application that sits in front of your web browser. It enables you to browse in a secure, private environment, so no personal data is shared and no browser history or download information will be stored or shared with other users.

ZoneAlarm ForceField 1.3 link.

We're all guilty of the scenario where we decide that we're going to take up a new hobby or skill, such as learning a language or producing music on our computer, then go out and spend hundreds of pounds on the software, books and magazines we need to make this happen. It doesn't and we later realise that we spent far too much on the commercial software. Ironically, it's the steep learning curve presented by the software that stops us from going past first base.

AlternativeTo is a website that attempts to present some of the best free or low-cost alternatives to some of the expensive commercial applications. For example, run a search on Dreamweaver and you'll find various cheap apps that will do much the same thing. If you can't pick one of the alternatives yourself, simply refer to the number of people who like a particular application. If you only want freeware, just to view only the free alternatives.

AlternativeTo link.

The problem with working in a corporate environment is that everyone has Internet access, but few can be trusted. For that reason, many employees are banned from accessing eBay, social networking sites and even online retailers such as Amazon. However, chat clients such as messenger and Twitter are often allowed. Follow a few hundred people and you'll soon find that tweets are incoming quicker than you have time to read and follow the updates. Your boss will soon realise that you spend more time on Twitter than you do on your work.

Spreadtweet is a tool that offers a fake user-interface for your Twitter conversations, presenting them within an Office 2003 or Office 2007 design. Whilst you look like you are working in Excel, you're really reading your tweets. As it's based on Adobe Air, you can use Spreadtweet across Windows, Mac and Linux computers and there are different user-interface's depending on your OS.

Spreadtweet link.

The problem with BBC HD scheduling is that some of your favourite TV programmes are not always simultaneously broadcast on the HD channel at the same time as BBC1 or BBC2. This is due to the BBC only having one channel for HD content. However, the BBC iPlayer is a fantastic application that enables you to to watch BBC programmes you've either missed or forgot to record, again, at a later date. You can catch up with missed episodes of Eastenders using the iPlayer.

iPlayer will contain HD content going forward, which means that the forthcoming Dragon's Den, due to be filmed in HD, can be streamed and played through iPlayer on your computer. If you have a computer connected to your TV, you can stream HD programmes directly through your HD television. This includes your Mac, too, as there is a Mac version of iPlayer.

iPlayer HD news release.

Whether you notice or not, it's inevitable that at some point your computer will encounter malicious software of some kind. This software can be disguised and distributed in a number of different ways and is becoming increasingly difficult for many applications to identify and protect against. Unfortunately, many applications that claim to protect against malicious software tend to be large and overblown when all that's required is a simple and effective tool.  

Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool 2.9 is a basic utility for ensuring you are protected against the very latest online threats. The application scans and checks your system, automatically removing any unwanted items as well as displaying a full report at the end of each scan.

Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool 2.9 link.

In the current financial climate, managing money has become much more of a priority. Sometimes its all to easy to spend money, especially when shopping online and it can be a bit of a shock when you sit and look at what's come in and gone out at the end of each month. Although looking at the state of your finances isn't always a pleasant surprise, seeing when and where your money goes could help you manage money more effectively. Using a money management application may help you to not only keep track of your own finances but it may also help you to take control of your household or small business.

iCash 5.4 enables you to manage all areas of your finances including income as well as credit and bank transactions. It's a user friendly tool designed that's equipped for use by almost anyone from a single user or even a small business. The application is incredibly useful for identifying what's coming in and going out, even if it is a shock.

iCash 5.4 link.

When browsing the web you'll be presented with adverts almost constantly, not only are they annoying but they increase the loading time of most web pages as the source of the ad is often located away from the page or site. It's virtually impossible to avoid these adverts but you may be able to block at least some of them by using an ad-blocking utility. This may even speed up and enhance your browsing experience.  

Adblock Plus 1.0.2 is a useful addon designed to work with Firefox that enables you to prevent annoying adverts from loading. Once the application has been installed, right click a particular advert and it will not be loaded again. You can also use the filter subscription to automatically prevent unwanted ads. This utility will only prevent in-line ads from loading, but not pop-ups.

Adblock Plus 1.0.2 link.

PCs are constantly storing information, whether you're running an application or even a game. Most of the stored information will be fairly innocuous but there's no doubt your machine will also be full of personal and private information that you may want to keep secure. It's not always easy to remember to clear your computer of private data every time you finish using it. Wouldn't it be easier if you could run an application within a self-contained environment? Then you could simply log off without having to manually clear any data.

Sandboxie 3.36 is an application that enables you to run applications in a sandboxed environment, very useful for anyone using a shared computer. All the information stays within a sandboxed environment and not on your drive, which also helps to protect your system from malicious infection.

Sandboxie 3.36 link.

If you are an artist but have little or no experience with computer based illustration applications, it can be difficult getting ideas on-screen. For many artists and even designers, there's nothing like the freedom of using more traditional methods such as pencil and paper for quickly developing ideas and sketches, and computers can affect the spontaneity of exploring ideas. One option is to scan in your hand drawn images, but raster images can't be used with many popular CAD programs.   

RasterVect 14.6.3 is an application that enables you to convert raster drawings into a more versatile vector format. Use the application to scan in hand drawn images and convert them so that they can be opened and edited in almost any CAD application. The program has four different conversion methods and includes a selection of viewing tools.

RasterVect 14.6.3 link.

Now, here's a theory. Grab yourself a laptop, a 3G card, move to a country of your choice, make sure you have fast broadband and use your computing knowledge to help other users to understand and get the most from their machine. It's possible. Say your a music producer, as an example. There's no reason you can't contribute to a track or help a musician understand how to use soft synthesizer using your skills, from a remote location. Long gone are the days where you have to be in the same room to help other users get the most from their computer.

TeamViewer 4.0.5769 is a tool that you install on your computer, Windows or Mac, and then use to access, control and manage a host PC or Mac. The host doesn't need any software installed, either and can end the session at any time. However, with fast broadband (or even fast 3G), you could easily access their machine across the Internet, even if they are located in another country. Yes, you could charge for this service, too. CrossLoop is another example of similar technology.

TeamViewer link.

If you want to keep in touch with other users across social networking sites, which messenger would you install on your computer? If you are a business user, then Skype is a solution as many of us use the tool to make cheap international calls and it can be used to message other members. However, individuals are rarely on Skype and they use Facebook or MSN to chat to other users. Worse, business networking sites such as LinkedIn encourage you to connect, but there's no facility to message or quickly contact other users.

Trillian Astra has been in development for years and still hasn't moved beyond internal beta....until now. This messenger will enable you to chat to just about any user on any social networking platform, including MSN, AIM, Skype, ICQ and others. Better still, if you sign up to the beta testing, you can install and test straight away. There is only a beta version for the Windows platform at the moment, but Mac and iPhone versions are on the way.

Trillian Astra beta link.

Every business could do a better job interacting with their customers and suppliers. However, we're somewhat guilty of letting opportunities go, simply as we either do not allocate someone from our business to chase a potential lead or do not know what the other people within our team are doing. Ideally we'd use some kind of team collaboration tool that would enable us to allocate suppliers or contacts to account managers and then track the interaction between company and contact.

Daylite 3.9 for the Mac is one of the better collaboration tools. However, if you're on the road, you probably can't afford or justify buying another seat or license just so you can keep an eye on your tasks and calendar. There is another solution. Daylite Touch is an application for either the iPhone or iPod Touch that enables you to link back to your Daylite server and get updated task information, on the fly. You could be assigned meetings or 'to do' information from the office, without ever having to call back to the office. Ideal.

Daylite for Mac and Daylite Touch links.

There are a number of online portals where you can source film trailers, movie clips and music videos. If you watch videos online regularly, you will inevitably come across videos which you'd like to keep and browse offline. Unfortunately many popular online portals offer a view-only policy, which is frustrating as this prevents the video from being downloaded and accessed at a later date.

Ashampoo ClipFisher 1.20 makes it possible for you to obtain such online videos quickly and easily. Simply copy the video's current http:// address from your web browser and paste it into ClipFisher, the application will then begin downloading the video directly on to your hard drive. You can obtain view-only videos from portals such as YouTube, VideU, MyVideo, ClipFish and GoogleVideo and create your own video library.

Ashampoo ClipFisher 1.20 link.

Those who download files on a regular basis will know how important a fast and reliable connection can be, but if your download manager isn't making use of your connection, what's the use? Although a separate download managers are not as widely used as they once were a good one will enable you to manage allocated bandwidth and even accelerate your downloads, but be wary, many can be bulky and overblown.

Orbit Downloader 2.8.8 is a download manager that utilises multi-source download technology. It supports multiple protocols and will maximise your connection to maintain optimum download speeds and reliability. This download manager can also be used to stream video data from web pages as well as download Flash content.

Orbit Downloader 2.8.8 link.

We're told to regularly backup our most important data. In the past, I was always guilty of backing up everything but my most important commercial fonts. However, these are essential for putting together buttons for websites, images for disc interfaces and, of course, for creating commercial literature using specified fonts. Getting hold of the lost fonts is even more problematic. Can you remember the fonts you used and owned? Can you remember where you got hold of those fonts?

Fontcase 1.1 is a commercial font manager for the Mac that enables you to see all your installed fonts within one application. You can quickly compare fonts, grab a symbol from a font collection and much more. However, you can do so much more. For example, using Bonjour, you can share your font collection with other users, so other users within your company could borrow or use fonts from a central repository, rather than have them installed on every machine.

Fontcase link.

In fairness, news and RSS readers have never caught on for us. Personally, I don't see the point. They only give you a brief description of the news story and you have to get your browser out anyhow, to see the rest of the story. It's just as easy to visit the source website in the first place. However, if you're one of those people who likes to read the same news from various sources, then you may not have the time to skim through each site looking for updated information. For this reason, this is why some people prefer to use a news reader.

Times 1.1.1 is a commercial news and RSS reader for the Mac that does news in a different manner. It extracts headlines from various sources and uses a newspaper-layout style to show the news in the application. As you can imagine from a Mac application, it's well designed and easy-to-use, too.

Times link.

There are a number of applications known as being the best in their field, programs such as Dreamweaver and Photoshop for instance. Another well known professional application is Macromedia's Flash, designed to produce dynamic content for websites. Unfortunately, if you are a fairly inexperienced user and don't have access to applications such as Flash but you'd like to create dynamic content for a site of your own, are there any alternatives?   

KoolMoves 7.0.4 enables both novices and professionals to produce high quality Flash content for websites. The application is easy-to-use and ships with numerous advanced and powerful animation effects as well as other useful features that help you quickly and easily produce content using pre-defined templates.

KoolMoves 7.0.4 link.

Unfortunately I'm not a big fan of installing iTunes on my PC. It just never seems to go smoothly. The installer wants to write to it's own temporary folder in the root of my C: drive, and often claims it doesn't have write-permission. It's a shame that Apple often keep updating iTunes and it's a pity it can't be achieved quickly and smoothly from within the application. Apple need to look at iTunes is updated on a Windows-based machine.

iTunes 8.1.1 is now available for both Windows and Mac machines and the latest version is more than just a basic minor release. This new build now offers you support for renting HD movies through the application, so you can choose to download and view a HD movie within 30 days of paying for your rental. Once you start watching, however, you only have 24 hours to finishing viewing. Why would you want to watch HD movies via iTunes on your PC or Mac? You could easily connect a Mac to your TV and watch movies you download from the Mac via your television.

iTunes 8.1.1 for Windows and for Mac links.

When Google Browser Sync was made available, this was a genuinely innovative add-on for web browser. It enabled you to keep your bookmarks, between your Firefox-based browsers, up-to-date and synchronised across your various machines, irrespective of operating system. Add a bookmark on your work PC and the same bookmark would be made available on your Mac-based laptop, on the road. Unfortunately Google later cancelled this project, partly as Mozilla started on their own Weave bookmark-synchronising project.

Xmarks for Internet Explorer 1.04 is an add-on for this browser, Firefox (and also for Safari) that goes one stage further - enabling you to synchronise your bookmarks across the three different browsers. You can synchronise your passwords, too. The latest Xmarks enables you to find out information about a destination website via a Google search and more.

Xmarks for Internet Explorer and Firefox links.

Many computer users are required to deal with issues on a daily basis, many of these problems are minor but now and again something more serious may arise. Viral infection at its most serious may prevent your machine from booting correctly, if at all, which can not only prevent you from identifying the problem but it can also make it extremely difficult when trying to rectify it. Without taking drastic steps, how do you go about recovering your machine and all of the files and folders you have accumulated?  

System Rescue CD 1.1.7 is a freeware application that ships with a number of useful utilities on a bootable CD designed to repair Windows. It's basically a Linux system on a bootable CD so it doesn't require Windows to start and is still able to read files from the Windows hard disk. It will also access the Internet in an attempt to find answers to any problems your machine is experiencing.

System Rescue CD 1.1.7 link.

When it comes to 'tweaking' your PC many people will know how adjust certain basic settings but will shy away from attempting anything more tricky. This is probably a good idea if you are not completely sure of what you are doing as there are a huge number of variables, not only could it take forever but you could potentially harm your system. System optimisation tools are designed so that users can quickly and easily enhance a number of areas of computer performance, with minimal hassle.

Ashampoo WinOptimizer 6.23 is a suite comprising of utilities designed to help you optimise your systems performance. Use it to manage areas of your computers performance, from booting speeds to online performance all with minimal effort, ideal for those who don't have the time or in depth knowledge to manually adjust complex settings.

Ashampoo WinOptimizer 6.23 link.

It's not a wise idea to use your name as a username across forums, online portals and areas of discussion. Primarily for the reason that it's way too easy to run a Google search on your online activity and find out what you've been up to during the day. You'll also want to try and keep the same username across various social networking sites. However, finding and choosing a consistent username is far from easy. Try making up something using your name and you'll find it is taken. Try choosing your favourite movie or TV star and that username will be used, too.

Namechk is an online tool that you can use to search for username availability across various popular sites across the Internet. The only downside with this approach is that you can't type in a core name and for the site to recommend some possible usernames that you can use across the web. Still, it gives you a chance to test various usernames for availability.

Namechk link.

When we want to delete information from our computer, we drag files to the Recycle Bin (Trashcan). In the future, we'll empty the trash and realise that the file has disappeared from our computer. This is ideal if you share your computer with other users and want to hide files you've downloaded from, say, your kids. Or is it? Not at all. The files you place in your trash are kept on your drive, even though you can't see or access them. Any basic file recovery application will locate and salvage the deleted files.

Freeraser 1.0.0.22 is a free secure version of your normal Recycle bin that includes an icon within your System Tray. When you want to delete some important files or data, simply click the icon, a bin will appear and you drag them across as normal. The application will completely and securely erase the data from your computer.

Freeraser link.

Having a selection of storage devices at your disposal has numerous plus points but can make it difficult when trying to identify which letter is assigned to each drive. Most people tend to use the Windows Explorer took identify connected storage devices, but wouldn't it be easier if Windows created a desktop shortcut? By creating a shortcut this would enable you quickly find and connect to drives, then safely remove the drive when you've finished using it.

Desk drive 1.7.2 makes connecting to assigned drives easier by adding a temporary drive shortcut to your desktop. You can use the application to monitor specified drives, linking you directly to Flash drives and ignoring others depending on your settings.

Desk drive 1.7.2 link.

Only the other day we discussed the new EASEUS Partition Manager Home, which enables you to quickly create or delete a drive partition. Now Paragon have released the latest version of their popular partition manager software, with full support for Windows 7 as well as a whole host of additional functionality.

Paragon Partition Manager 10 is a commercial partition manager that will enable you to create, delete, merge or copy a partition. As an example, if you wanted to buy a larger drive, you'll want to migrate your content from your existing drive. This tool will enable you to migrate or copy across the information. New features within v10 include full support for Windows 7, GPT-formatted drives, an improved user-interface (with a simple or advanced mode) as well as an improved recovery media builder.

Paragon Partition Manager 10 link.

If you're mad keen on a band that produced their music through the 70s or 80s (think Pink Floyd), you've probably spent time collecting both their CDs and rare tracks. Video performances will have been made available, but most likely imported to a computer and then encoded with an old codec that isn't supported by the mainstream video players, such as RealTime or QuickTime. Alternatively, it could have been encoded by a Mac-based codec, thus is not supported by Windows Media Player.

VLC Media Player 0.9.9 is a universal free media (video/audio) player that's been around for aeons. It's a cross-platform media player and packed full of the codes you'll require to play just about any video. The latest version contains a number of improvements and fixes, including improved performance on Intel Macs.

VLC Media Player link.

Working across more than one computer is common practice for many people, especially if their job requires them to travel frequently. There are a number of benefits from being able to do this as it provides flexibility but on the other hand, it does pose other problems. Moving data between machines can make it more difficult to identify the most up-to-date files and folders but by using a synchronisation tool, you can ensure these latest saves are easily identified on any computer you are using.

GoodSync 7.7.1 is a useful tool for people working across multiple computers as it enables you to automatically sync or backup documents. By using the application, this application makes it possible to work on a document whilst travelling, arrive at work, switch on your office machine and continue working on the same document or project.

GoodSync 7.7.1 link.

One problem with Twitter is that it's very difficult to follow so many tweets. If you have over 100 'friends' that you follow, you can very easily miss a conversation with tweets coming through all the time. There must be another way to keep track of particular topics or find a particular discussion, without having to follow so many people.

Sideline from Yahoo is a free Adobe Air-based tool that will enable you to search for and locate tweets based around a particular term. For example, if you wanted to search for 'vnunet.com', simply set this up as a particular term of interest and Sideline will show any tweet that references this search term. Sideline from Yahoo is based on Adobe Air so will work with any operating system that Air supports. Note that it's not a tool for adding your tweet to a conversation.

Sideline from Yahoo link.

Keeping passwords safe is hugely important for keeping personal or sensitive data safe by preventing it from being accessed by anyone. The trouble is that it can be difficult to remember all of your passwords, especially as you need one to access any online account. Passwords that you use more regularly are fairly easy to remember and you may not even need to write them down, but others that are used less often may be more difficult to remember.  

AI RoboForm 6.9.94 is a popular an established form filling application. The application can be used to keep sensitive or personal data completely secure whilst enabling you to quickly fill in online forms. The latest revision supports all major browsers including Netscape 9, Firefox 3 and Internet Explorer.

AI RoboForm 6.9.94 link.

With the Windows 7 Release Candidate due for official release later this month or through May, and the rumour that you'll be able to use and install this version for a year from launch, there's no reason why you couldn't test and use this operating system on your existing PC, without having to dual-boot or install over your existing operating system. VMware Workstation is a commercial tool that enables you to create and then test your own virtual operating system. If you own this or know someone who does, there's no reason why you couldn't turn the Windows 7 RC build in to a virtual operating system you can test on top of XP or Vista.

VMware Player 2.5.2 is the free player that will run the virtual machines created by Workstation. Many are freely available, but for Windows you'll need to either create your own or get someone to create a virtual OS for you. The latest version has support for Windows Vista SP2 which is due for release soon.

VMware Player link.

Most of us have used or are aware of video portals such as YouTube and have probably used it to watch a music video, sporting clip or a humorous clip of some sort. Most of the things that people search for are fairly easy to find but if you are looking for something more unusual or rare, sites like YouTube don't always deliver. As many of us benefit from faster and more reliable broadband connections a good RSS player may be a good alternative as some provide a greater choice of clips which can be downloaded directly onto your computer.     

Miro 2.0.4 is an online television service that enables you to view and download an array of clips and channels. You can view online or save downloaded clips to watch at a later date. Clips that are downloaded are managed automatically with the oldest clips being deleted to make way for newer ones. Mac OS X and Linux versions are available from the GetMiro WebSite.

Miro 2.0.4 link.