September, 2008 - Softonic English

Today’s downloads for Windows, Mac and Mobile

Windows: If you’ve always wondered how to create panoramic photos, here’s the answer: Microsoft Image Composite Editor lets you create panoramas in a couple of clicks, with no artistic or technical skills required. Simply select the right photos and let the program do the rest. Take your camera out and start creating panoramas today!

Symbian: If you want to be able to identify callers more easily then you may want to check out Skyecaller. The Symbian-based application allows you to identify both voice callers and senders of SMS messages, by a full-screen image of their face. So next time they call, you’ll know exactly who it is at a glance.

Mac: The world’s best open-source multimedia player just got updated. VLC Media Player, now on version 0.9.3 is one of the most popular programs on Softonic and it’s not hard to see why. VLC is lightweight, compact, easy to use and will play just about any video you throw at it, from DVDs to broken WMV files. What’s more, it’s totally free and open source. All in all, one of the truly great little apps out there.

Nero 9: full review

Over the years Nero has evolved from being a simple CD burner in its earlier versions to becoming the complete multimedia suite we find in its latest version, Nero 9.

To be honest, Nero 9 will not be remembered as a big turning point in the history of this program, in the sense that it doesn’t feature a bunch of brand-new apps or goes under a complete graphical overhaul. In a way I would describe this new Nero as an evolution of Nero 8 that learns from previous mistakes and applies slight changes that make it easier to use and even more complete.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying Nero 9 is not interesting or doesn’t have any good features. More than just a burning tool – the classic Nero Burning ROM, which now supports Blu-Ray – Nero 9 includes pretty much everything you need to make the most of your music, photos, videos and creativity. You’ll be able to carry out complete multimedia projects, from ripping your favorite audio CDs and mixing the tracks with Nero SoundTrax to creating videos with your photos, and even design CD artwork (top and back covers, booklet and CD sticker) by yourself with Nero CoverDesigner. What’s more, if you have a LabelFlash-enabled drive you can burn those custom designs right onto the disc.

Nero 9 full review

Continue reading “Nero 9: full review”

Video: First look at Nero 9

Despite the criticism for its ever growing size, Nero remains the most popular burning app in the world. Its latest version, Nero 9, offers new features such as a more elegant interface design, a better tool organization, support for Blu-Ray discs and several HD video formats, a highly improved backup tool and other slight changes that make content sharing and multimedia creation easier and more enjoyable. If you want to take a first view at Nero 9, don’t miss the screencast we’ve prepared for you with all the Nero 9 essentials.

How to remove ads from Live Messenger

There’s many things that annoy me about Windows Live Messenger but nothing more so than the advertisements that scroll the bottom bar. Invariably, they’re of no interest to me whatsoever, they make the program more bloated and if you click on them accidentally, you end up diverting your browser where you don’t want to.

There’s no way of deactivating this within Live Messenger itself so the only thing for it is to use Live Advert Remover (formerly known as MSN Advert Removal) which blocks all advertisement banners from being displayed in Live Messenger. It works with all versions of Live and MSN Messengers and you need to run it only once to “patch” your system.

Live Messenger Advertisement

In fact, Live Advert Remover doesn’t do anything special – it just modifies a script in your host file that you could do yourself but it’s a little bit tricky and much easier to use this program. Note that Live Advert Remover does not make the default Live Messenger banner disappear – the banner will remain intact, but it is never replaced by a commercial advertisement. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work with Messenger Plus! either.

How to: create a system restore point in XP and Vista

create a system restoration point in Windows XP and Vista Before showing you how to create a system restore point, I guess I should explain what a restore point is anyway. System restore is a Windows native service that enables you to recover your computer from any harmful situations, be it caused by a virus, an application or misuse of the system’s tools.

Windows creates system restore points automatically by default, but it’s also a good idea to create them by yourself, for example before installing a program you’re not sure about or tweaking Windows Registry.

To create a system restore point in Windows XP, open the Start menu and go to All Programs > Accessories > System tools > System Restore. Then follow the wizard’s instructions and you’ll be able to create a restore points in a couple steps. To create a system restore point in Windows Vista, right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Properties. Then click on the System Protection tab, make sure the System drive is selected and click on the Create button.

From now on, whenever you have problems with Windows XP or Vista, you’ll be able to use these restore points to get your computer back to its fully functional stage.

How to: Hypnotize yourself using your PC

Alter your mind using your computer First let me apologize for any strange things I might write in this article. I am currently in a state of hypnosis. Or at least I might be. I’ve always been intrigued by hypnotism and so I thought I’d try my hand at a bit of mind-alteration, using my PC. Believe it or not, there are loads of self-hypnosis applications and services available for download, ranging from titilating videos that make your eyes go funny to genuinely helpful software designed for motivation, fear conquering, or habit-breaking purposes.

Of course, the starting point for this kind of thing has to be YouTube. Type “self hypnosis” into the search and you’ll be presented with all manner of weird and wonderful videos. These range from a spinning wheel designed to make you feel like you’re in a psychedelic wonderland (it just made me feel a bit sick), to a ‘banned’ self-hypnosis clip which makes you a bit sleepy. Be warned though, because some of the apparently relaxing movies on here actually turn out to have zombies screaming or ghosts leaping out at the end of them. Hilarious stuff.

These videos may be mildly amusing but they aren’t going to change your behavior or provide any kind of therapy. For the more constructive self-hypnosis solution you could turn to Subliminal Flash, a program which uses subliminal messaging to help you improve your life. It’s very straightforward to use – first you tick the box that corresponds to the thing you want help with. Options include: ‘self esteem’, ‘slimming sensibly’, ‘attracting a mate’, and the seemingly all-conquering ‘happiness’.

After you’ve made your selection, the application will repeatedly project a series of messages of support on screen pertaining to that issue. They flash on and off so quickly that you barely even notice it, and can leave the program running all day safe in the knowledge your life is changing. Well, that’s the theory. I tried ‘stop smoking’ and ‘fear of flying’. Amazingly, after running the program all day I noticed that I was taking less cigarette breaks than usual. This indifference to smoking soon abated after I left the office though. I must admit too that I’m a little less petrified of the flight I’m taking next week, but we’ll see how it goes.

If you’ve really got sucked into this hypnotism lark then get hold of Virtual Hypnotist, which allows you to simulate complete hypnosis sessions. The application boasts its own script editor for creating therapy programs, as brainwave synchronizer that generates sounds to induce hypnosis, and a hypnotic visual maker for designing your own hypnotic effects. There’s even an AIM-compatible ‘HypnoChat’ feature whereby you can hypnotize your friends via instant messaging.

Woof woof gobble gobble I’m half dog-half-turkey. I am under your command. Take me to your leader.

How to: switch off Windows updates

It’s not difficult to get me started about what I don’t like about Windows but the “yellow shield of death” surely has to be up there. When that yellow shield appears in the bottom left of my screen, with it’s stupid little exclamation mark in the middle of it, I want to sling my laptop across the room. It is of course, the dreaded Windows Update which just sits there glaring at me intently like my dog when it needs a walk.

Click on it and you’re given two options – update Windows automatically or a personalized update. Select either and you’re reassured that you can continue working while Windows updates itself. Henceforth, your hard drive grinds away like it’s going to explode for the next hour and any work performed during this time is like wading through treacle. But it’s when the update is done that really gets me. Windows Update harasses you every 5 minutes like a bully that you need to shut-down and update now for the updates to take effect. Would it really have killed Microsoft to have produced an operating system by now that doesn’t require restarts after every single update?

The good news is that at least Microsoft have allowed us to disable automatic Windows Updates. Simply go to the Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance, System Properties and then select the Automatic Updates tab. Remember however that from now on, you’ll have to update Windows manually by going to the Windows Update site which is quite important because updates usually fix security holes and issues.

Top 5 right-click extensions

Mouse One thing that most Windows users can’t do without is their right mouse button. As one user who switched to Mac once said, “Losing the right mouse button is like losing a limb”. No amount of shortcuts or launchers in the world can make up for that sweet right-click that facilitates everything from downloading to quick cutting and pasting. However, if you’re only using the default options that Windows offers when you right click then you’re not getting the most out of your mouse’s right click button. Here’s 5 top ways to quite literally, add more power to your elbow.

DownThemAll! – Add downloads instantly to your download manager in Firefox

Rightload – Upload files instantly to an FTP server simply by right clicking on it

ShellExView – Clean up your right click context menu and get rid of old or useless options

FileMenu Tools – Add customised commands for installed programs to the right-click menu

Open Command Window Here – Adds an instant shortcut to the command tool

Backup Google Chrome

It’s hardly been on the market a few weeks but already it seems people are customizing Google Chrome enough to want a backup of their Google Chrome profiles. And why not? If your PC or Chrome were to crash suddenly, you may lose all your add-ons and carefully customised Chrome interface.

Google Chrome Backup is a simple and easy to use tool to create, backup, restore and manage Google Chrome profiles. It can backup all the most essential components such as history, bookmarks, add-ons etc. It also works with Chromium which is basically the open source version of Google’s browser. It works very much like MozBackup for Mozilla profiles simply requiring you to select the profile you want to backup. In addition, it also features a restore function for corrupted profiles, the ability to delete old profiles and also create a new one.

Google Chrome Backup screenshot

While Google Chrome Backup adds a bit of presentation and ease to backing up profiles, you can of course still back it up manually by simply making a copy of the file located in: Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Chromium\User Data.

Adobe Creative Suite 4 launches today

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Today September 23rd 2008 is the date chosen by Adobe to present their new Creative Suite 4. Though the actual applications won’t be available until late October, the Adobe guys have already updated their official website with all the juicy details concerning the new CS4 Suite you’re eager to learn about. Adobe Creative Suite 4 comes in several different editions: Design, Web (with two flavors for each: Premium or Standard), Production and Master Collection. Prices range from the $999 of the Web Standard edition to the $2,499 of the Master Collection, which includes pretty much everything.

Though some discordant voices claim that the new CS4 suite is not that revolutionary after all, the truth is that we’ve read about some exciting new characteristics for all the main CS apps. For example, Dreamweaver boasts a new user interface, a powerful Live View feature that lets you design in actual browser conditions while keeping direct access to source code, integration with Subversion and support for Adobe Air authoring. In fact Adobe Air is an important element in other apps, such as Fireworks, which provides you with the perfect working environment to create Air apps, plus integrated export to CSS and PDF.

Talking about PDF, Acrobat features the so called PDF Portfolios, a document package where you can assemble images, video, audio and more in a totally customizable layout. Plus Acrobat now supports embedded Flash content, allows you to compare different versions of the same document and includes a highly sophisticated form tool. However the most exciting feature for me is undoubtedly the promise to reduce Acrobat’s launching time to under three seconds!

As for Illustrator, the new version brings support for multiple artboards which you can work on at the same time, together with the possibility to edit appearance inside the panel itself and manage gradient transparencies more efficiently.

Finally, Photoshop – which you can tell it’s my favorite CS app by far – features an impressive pan and zoom image rotation tool that lets you smoothly move around the picture and zoom to the pixel if necessary, plus content-aware image scaling and improved RAW photo processing functionalities. I must say I’ve tested the Photoshop CS4 Beta version and I was truly impressed by these new features and also by its clean, sleek interface that makes work much more relaxing and enjoyable.

I don’t know about you, but I have quite high expectations about the upcoming Creative Suite 4. I think it’s going to be a qualitative step forward for the Adobe apps and I’m really looking forward to test all of them and check whether they’re all as promising as the Photoshop Beta. If you want to know more about CS4, take a look at the Adobe site or head over to the Adobe CS4 Launch event (live now!).