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Macbooster: the top free tool to optimize your Mac

Macbooster is an all-in-one system optimization tool for Macs. Download it for free!

Mac owners are often under the impression that their computers don’t need resources to help them run more smoothly. Yet the fact is, Macs can be just as susceptible to bloatware, unnecessary system files, bits of forgotten programs that have been uninstalled, and duplicate files that do nothing but hog resources. Even if you’re meticulous in keeping your Mac in order, chances are that you’re bound to miss the things that are keeping your system from running at peak performance.

That’s where Macbooster comes in. Produced by IObit, a trusted name in software development, Macbooster has just had its eighth release – which demonstrates the dedication the IObit team has to constantly improving its product.

Start your 7-day free trial now!

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What it is

Macbooster is an all-in-one system optimization tool for Macs. It analyzes every corner of your system, seeking out files that keep your computer from running at its full potential and then either removes the files for you automatically, or allows you to decide what to delete and what to keep.

When the software is first launched, you are given the option to run a full system scan. Upon its completion, you will be presented with an overview of three areas in which your computer may need improving:

System Junk: A look at files that do little more than take up space on your machine including leftover code from iOS software updates, application junk files, your iTunes cache, software installation utilities that are no longer needed, and more.

Virus and Malware: Scans your system for potentially damaging files that can creep onto your Mac despite its famous safeguards against viruses.

Turbo Boost: Examines items like disk permissions and looks for places to optimize the functioning of your drive and your storage configurations.

Click into any one of these categories, and you’re provided complete details regarding the results of the scan. You then simply click the “Fix” button and the software gets to work making things better, or you can choose what you’d like to repair.

On top of the main scans, the software also provides its tools as individual functions. These include a memory cleaning function; privacy protection; an uninstaller, which completely deletes all files associated with a program; a start-up optimizer; a duplicate finder; photo sweeper; and a solution for finding large and old files that you may no longer need.

What’s new

In version 8 of the software, IObit has given its Swiss-Army-knife software even more functionality by increasing the functionality of Turbo Boost with more disk optimization items; expanding and updating its malware database; improving and smoothing out the interface; and fixing the few bug reports the software company received since its last release. It has also made the software completely compatible with macOS Catalina, so it is basically one of the most cutting-edge optimization tools you can own right now.

Free download

To get a sense of how Macbooster 8 works, you can download a fully-functional trial version for one week. You can use the software to run a scan of your system and fix any issues that are uncovered. While you can cancel any time during your first seven days with no penalty, the reasonable rates make keeping Macbooster easy decision though, with robust plans starting at just $3.33 per month.

Start your 7-day free trial now!

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Best free board games

These are all the best free board games you can download for free from the Softonic games catalog

Who doesn’t love a good old classic board game? With all the incredible advancements in video-game processors, graphics, and most of all production and marketing budgets, it is easy to forget the fun you can have playing board games. You have the board, the rules, and then any extra cards, pieces, or paraphernalia and then you are good to go. Board games can take you into any type of game world and provide any type of experience.

These days board games are easier than ever to play as many of the best games have been digitized and made available online. What’s even better is that many are available to play right now for free. Let’s not waste any more time then and dive into the best place to get your hands on free board games and all the best games you can download. If you have a party coming up, this is the list for you.

Free board games online

Softonic

Softonic is the web’s number one source of secure downloads for all different types of software. At Softonic, you can download everything from service packs for Microsoft Office to the latest Opera web browser. Games also form a massive part of the Softonic download catalog and there is a dedicated section for popular board games.

This is the place to go if you want a game for free and you want it for life. There are lots of classic online board games here for you to choose from including the likes of Chess, Yahtzee, Uno, Monopoly, and classic games like Dominoes and Mahjong. Let’s go through the best games together.

Best free board games

Free Chess

Chess is probably the most famous board game there’s ever been. The classic strategic battle of wits has been played for centuries and its winners have long been marked as the most intelligent people out there. Free Chess offers all chess fans, old and new, a free and lightweight program that offers quick access to single and multiplayer games of chess. This program isn’t feature-rich; it is simply a popular platform for playing chess.

Free Chess Download now

Mahjong Deluxe

Alongside Chess, Mahjong is another classic game that has been played throughout the ages. Originally developed in China, Mahjong is a tile-based game that sees three or four players battle it out in a game of tactics, memory, and strategic observation. Mahjong Deluxe offers a beautiful Mahjongg simulation that looks fantastic and plays very smoothly. It also offers stunning backgrounds and a variety of sounds and songs that play in the background.

Mahjong Deluxe Download now

Monopolie

You are reading that right and it isn’t a typo. Monopolie is a free version of the classic property tycoon simulator board game. This program is simple enough. You get a board, you get the cards, you get dice, you get the famous little pieces, and yes, you get $200 when you pass Go. There are other versions of Monopoly out there and you might even say some of them are slicker than Monopolie, but this is free, and it works well so we’re happy to add it to our list.

Monopolie Download now

Pyramid Solitaire Saga

Pyramid Solitaire is a particularly entertaining version of the classic card game you play on your own. The action sees you lay out the cards in a pyramid shape and then try to work your way through them all from the foundation up. Pyramid Solitaire Saga brings all the elements of the solitaire game and plays on the Pyramid theme by adding a narrative that involves traveling around the world and searching out the secrets of the ancient of the world.

Pyramid Solitaire Saga Download now

Uno

Uno is another classic card game that offers players lots of fun. This simple and free version of the famous game recreates exactly, everything you can do with Uno cards on your PC. You can play against up to 9 players, either AI or human, and the action is exactly the same as you’ll get playing the game in real life. No bells, no whistles; just Uno.

Uno Download now

CheckerBoard

The real beauty of a good board game stems from the endless hours of fun that can be had with such simple concepts. Perhaps no board game encapsulates this truth more than checkers. Played on a chessboard, checkers is easy to learn and rewarding to master. This excellent free version of the game mirrors the real-life version. It is simple yet effective. You won’t get explosions or cutting-edge graphics, but you will get to play Checkers.

CheckerBoard Download now

Domination

If you’re a strategy game fan, you’ve probably played Risk. Risk is the game of global domination that carves up the world and then asks players to try and win the largest share of the pie. Domination is a well-executed free version of the classic strategy board game that mirrors the original, complete with global power plays and epic battles. What the game adds to the traditional board game experience though, is detailed performance statistics on how you and up to five other players did during the game.

Domination Download now

Dominoes

From Domination to Dominoes. Again, this is a classic tabletop game expertly recreated in video game form. The game offers customizable tables and has three different game modes. You’ll also get a tutorial that will teach you the basics and train you up to be a more advanced player. What’s even cooler about this simple recreation of a simple table game is that you can also play it on your phone and even in 3D using a Microsoft HoloLens. If that sounds a bit complicated for you, don’t worry, the standard Windows version is lots of fun too.

Dominoes Download now

Wrapping up

There you have eight excellent free board games you can download for free right now. As well as the eight games we’ve highlighted above you’ll find many more board games in the Softonic library like Backgammon, Battleship, and Ludo. Make sure you head over there and check out all the games Softonic has to offer.

Where to find the best sports wallpapers

If you’re a sports fan, we’ll walk you through of the best places to find sports wallpapers and backgrounds for your phone and desktop PC or Mac.

We’re back with another of our desktop and mobile wallpaper guides today, bringing you the best places to find the coolest backgrounds and wallpapers for all of your devices. Scroll down to see all the other cool guides we’ve brought you this week including the best movie wallpapers, video game wallpapers, space wallpapers, and minimalist wallpapers. Today, however, we’re concentrating on sports and we’ve found some fantastic collections for you to use on your electronic devices.

We’re going to cover all the biggest sports in the world from American Football to what the rest of the world calls football but is known as soccer in the US. We’ll also look at Baseball, Basketball and many other great sports. Let’s not waste any more time then, and get into the best sports wallpapers for Windows PCs, Apple Macs, Android smartphones and tablets, and iPhones and iPads.

Sports HD Wallpapers

NBA.COM

We’re starting today’s sports list with basketball. The NBA is the biggest basketball association in the world with all the greatest players donning team vests for NBA teams like the New York Kicks, Utah Jazz, LA Lakers, Boston Celtics and more. As you’d expect, NBA.COM is a central hub for all things Basketball related in the US. You can do everything there from buying tickets to following live score updates.

What we’re interested in today, however, are the sports backgrounds you find via the team pages. Most NBA team pages have official basketball wallpapers that you can download and use for free. These are professionally produced backgrounds that look fantastic. To access them you need to click the Teams option in the menu that runs across the top of the page. From there, select your team in the menu down the left side of the page and then click the Team website option over on the right side of the page. When you’re there, you need to search for the Fans or Community sections in the menu that runs across the top of the page. If your team has an official Wallpapers section, this is where you’ll find it.

FIFA.COM

FIFA is the world governing body for soccer or football as it known all around the world. FIFA is responsible for setting the laws of the game that other football associations then follow and also decides who will host the World Cup. If you’re interested in learning more about football, the FIFA website is a great place to go. You’ll also find an excellent library of photos that would be perfect as a desktop or mobile wallpapers. You’ll find live-action shots from the biggest football tournaments all around the world as well as cool and interesting images from behind the scenes. This is a really interesting place to search out sports wallpapers for your devices.

Unsplash

Unsplash has made it into more than one of our wallpaper lists this week because it offers a broad range of fantastic images across a wide range of topics and themes. It makes it into today’s list of places to find HD sports wallpapers though, because of how well organized and laid out all its sports categories are. Sure, you’ll find breathtakingly cool images from the big sports here, but you’ll also get dedicated libraries of HD and Ultra HD 4K images for sports like Volleyball, Running, Cycling, Climbing, Track, and even Archery. On top of that, what you’ll find with Unsplash is that the images will have an all-round different style and tone to what you’ll find elsewhere. These are trendy photos taken by photographers at the top of their game.

Wallpaper NFL

If you’re a football fan, then Wallpaper NFL is a great place to go to search out some high-quality images to set as a football wallpaper. You’ll find over 42 pages of HD desktop wallpapers, but you’ll also be able to search via a handy search bar at the top of the page and also browse through different categories that you’ll find at the bottom of the page. In reality, these categories are rather simple, but you will be able to browse through different wallpapers and backgrounds for each of the major NFL teams as well as backgrounds optimized for certain types of smartphones. The wallpapers here are good too and have clearly been made with a high level of design and care.

MLB.COM

If you’re a baseball fan, you’ll likely already be familiar with MLB.COM. The site performs the same function for baseball in the US as the NBA site we’ve already mentioned does for basketball. In that respect then, we want to point out that that you can find team specific wallpapers for MLB teams in exactly the same way you can for NBA teams at NBA.COM. The only difference here is that when you get to the individual Teams page, you’ll need to look for the ellipsis icon ) three vertical dots in the menu that runs across the top of the page. When you click that icon, you’ll open a drop-down menu, which will contain the Fans section where you will find all the wallpapers and screensavers attached to that particular team.

Where to find the coolest minimalist wallpapers

These are the best sites, pages, and posts for finding the best minimalist wallpapers

Minimalism is a philosophy that stands out in today’s world of more, more, more. The idea that less is actually more goes against the very culture that we’ve built our society upon, but do you know what? It works. There is a true, elegant beauty that can be found in minimalist designs, which has led to many non-believers adopting the minimalist deign style too.

A perfect way of adopting the minimalist design style is via a desktop wallpaper. Think about it, you don’t want your background distracting you from the live icons that sit above it. You don’t want a busy image with lots going on, you want something smart and distinct yes, but also quiet and understated. You want a minimalism wallpaper. What’s more perfect then for this than an image than adheres to the minimalist design philosophy. Let’s look today then, in our fifth and final article on desktop wallpapers for Windows PC, Apple Macs, and Android and Apple smartphones, iPhones, and iPads, at where to find the best minimalist desktop wallpapers and 4K Ultra HD backgrounds. You’ll get extra points, if you spot the second Star Wars design.

Minimalist wallpapers

Imgur

Amazingly, our first source of mind-bendingly good minimalist wallpapers isn’t a webpage but rather a post on social media. Imgur was set up originally as a way of sharing images across the social network Reddit. As is usually the case on the internet, however, things evolved quickly and the Imgur platform quickly developed its own community, complete with its own unique quirks.

The post we’re highlighting today was made in 2016 and contains over 140 unique HD wallpapers. Strictly speaking, not all of these designs are what you’d call minimal designs, but there are more than enough fantastic designs here to warrant it a place in today’s list. These designs do follow a chic and minimal design philosophy but some of the images also include minute details, which goes against the idea of keeping elements to an absolute minimum. Still though, this is a fantastic collection of wallpapers that definitely deserves a look.

Inspiration Feed

If you’re looking for quotes, articles, tips, tricks, and all manner of listicle designed to inspire you to do what needs to be do then Inspiration Feed is a site worth looking at. There is lots here and the site is still updating with new content. What we’re looking at today though, is a post from 2019 that included 75 excellent minimal designs that would make fantastic minimalistic wallpapers on both desktop and laptop PCs, and mobile devices. The great thing about minimal designs is that they can simply be cropped to suit you layout needs. As there isn’t a lot going on in the images the chances of you cutting out something vital are slim to zero.

Minimalism.Life

As we mentioned earlier, for some, minimalism isn’t just a design philosophy it is a way of life. For those people, or anybody looking to enter that way of life, minimalism.life is a central hub offering information on how to organize your life according to minimalist principles.

As well as the articles and links to other minimalist organizations, you’ll also find a small gallery of minimalist wallpaper designs you can use on either your PC or smartphone. There are some great iPhone wallpapers here. It is definitely worth us pointing out though, that these designs take the minimalist idea to a whole new level offering little more than a fade from one color to another. In fact, some don’t even bother with the fade, simply offering a solid brick of color.

I can be creative

Here we have another design website that offers various tools to budding and professional designers alike. You’ll find tutorials here as well as guides and many different types of free tools that you can download. On top of all that, you can also download different designs to be used as wallpapers and backgrounds. Lucky for us, and for all you minimal lovers out there, there’s also a section for minimal wallpapers including lots of great minimal takes on things such as the solar system, superheroes, outfits, movies, and more. There are some fantastic designs here for you to check out.

Hongkiat

Our final source of stunning minimalist designs you can use as backgrounds for your phones, tablets, and desktop backgrounds is Hongkiat. Another design website, Hongkiat brings with it all the usual inspirational bells and whistles as well as a place for up and coming designers to showcase their work. This is where we come in looking for cool images and iconography to plaster all over our electronic devices. Hongkiat doesn’t let us down here at all and presents us with many different cool, inspirational, and most of all minimal designs that look amazing.

All the best movie wallpapers 2020

These are all the best places to find all the best movies wallpapers for your PC and mobile.

This week at Softonic we’re bringing you all the best places to find cool and epic desktop wallpapers and backgrounds for your Windows PCs, Apple Macs, and also some for your Android smartphones and tablets, and iPhones and iPads. We’ve split our offerings up into five categories and although some of the sites we’re flagging today have cropped in more than one of our lists, we’ve tried to broaden out our offerings so that we can bring you as many different sources of HD and 4K wallpapers as possible.

Today’s offering is movie wallpapers and backgrounds and we’ve got some really great options for you to get into. If you’re a film buff or just somebody who appreciates the aesthetics of a good movie poster, today’s list is for you.

Movie wallpapers

Movies Wallpaper HD

The first internet library of HD desktop wallpapers and backgrounds we’re bringing to your attention today is a simple Blogspot website called Movies Wallpaper HD. Don’t let this page’s humble layout fool you, this site has a ton of great wallpapers from some of the biggest movies ever. What’s even better is that the site is well organized into excellent categories meaning it is really easy to search for movie wallpapers via genre. There are lots of categories here too, including 4K wallpaper Hollywood movies, animation movies 4K and HD, classic movies wallpaper, Harry Potter movies, Horror movies, Marvel movies, and many, many more. All you need to do is search through this extensive library and click on the wallpaper you want.

The Movie Score

Although it hasn’t been updated in quite some time, The Movie Score is a half decent site for all movie fans to visit. It is full of movie and TV related content including reviews, trivia and quizzes, behind the scenes reports from shoots, and many different types of lists and galleries. The site also claims to have the largest archive of movie facts. Unfortunately, however, the list of movies it claims to have facts for only take to you to trivia hosted on other websites.

Despite that, however, you’ll still find a great library of HD photos and images from some fantastic movies that you can use as your desktop background. This is the place to go for truly beautiful shots from some of the all-time classic movies including the likes of Indian Jones, Star Wars, and Apocalypse Now. This old site is where we found some of our favorite movie wallpapers.

HD Wallpapers

You won’t find any movie trivia here or industry insider information. Instead, what you get at HD Wallpapers, as we’re sure you’ve already guessed, is an extensive and well-organized library of HD and 4K movie desktop backgrounds that will make your PC, Mac, or mobile phone stand out from the crowd. There aren’t nearly as many categories as you’ll find at Movies Wallpaper HD, but you will find well over 200 pages of HD and 4K Ultra HD wallpapers from both blockbusters and arthouse indie movies. You’ll even find desktop wallpapers for movies that haven’t been released in theaters yet.

Movie Mania

Movie Mania is an astonishingly large and well put together a library of movie wallpapers and backgrounds. In the top-right corner of the page, you’ll find a little switch that will toggle between the desktop wallpaper site and the smartphone wallpaper site. There are thousands of options in each and all of them look amazing. You get all of the usual categories here, but it is the content that is so good. You’ll get images and promo shots from all the biggest movies, but you’ll get angles and setups that you just won’t find anywhere else. The content here is unique and looks amazing.

1001 Free Downloads

The 1001 Free Downloads site is a bit of a catch-all site that offers a little of everything. You can find fonts, icons, brushes, vectors, and much more here but what we want to show you is the wallpapers section and in particular the movie wallpaper section. There are no categories here, movies is the category, but there are still plenty of interesting and cool movie images you can download and set as your background. The focus here is much more geared towards Hollywood blockbusters than you’ll get elsewhere in today’s list, but you will find wallpapers that you won’t find in the other sites we’ve listed. This is the place to go for high-quality wallpapers from movies like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Batman: The Dark Knight, Superman, Avengers: Infinity War, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Deadpool, and more.

Wrapping up

So, there you have five great sources to get all your favorite movie images to use as a background. We’ve shown you were to find backgrounds for all your devices, so it doesn’t matter if you’re looking for a wallpaper for your phone, Windows PC, or Apple Mac. This list has you covered. We’ve picked out some of our favorite images, but you’ll find thousands more by following the links we’ve included above. As a little bonus though, let us know in the comments if you can name all the movies we’ve featured with today’s article. We bet nobody will be able to get them all.

Where to find the best videogame wallpapers

Here are some amazing video game wallpapers and links to some fantastic collections of HD video game wallpapers.

Video games are now true works of art. Epic in size and scale, and breath-taking in their beauty; video games have established themselves as not just for the gamer but an essential part of modern popular culture. They offer experiences, feelings, and emotions that cannot be found elsewhere. We’re not here today though, to talk about story lines, emotions, or character development. Mostly, we’re here today to talk about amazing graphics and incredible vistas. We’re mostly focusing on them, because they’re what make great video game wallpapers.

Scroll on then to go through some of the best video game wallpapers available right now and also to discover some of the best places to find video game wallpapers too. Get ready for epic!

HD video game wallpapers

Cyberpunk 2077 and more

Cyberpunk 2077 might just be the most hotly anticipated video game in the world right now. Coming out April 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 is CD Projekt Red’s hotly-anticipated follow up to The Witcher 3, which is widely regarded as one of the best RPGs ever. Yep, you’re right, that is the same Witcher that is currently on Netflix. Cyberpunk 2077 looks fantastic and on top of that, the cyber punk genre is incredibly popular with fan artists meaning there is a lot of great fan art available too. Check out these wallpapers below.

All of these Cyberpunk 2077 wallpapers came from GameWallpapers.com. To access the full HD version of the above wallpapers you should head over there and register as a user. You’ll also find great computer game wallpapers for games like Total War, World of Warcraft, Gears of War, Doom, Halo, and many more.

Battlefield and more

Battlefield and Call of Duty have been the two stand out first-person shooter games for quite some time. Both have ebbed and flowed and occupied the top spot at different times, but it has always been one of the two. Now, this might be a bit of a subjective choice on our part, but we’ve always loved the promo artwork that has gone with the Battlefield games and think there are some really excellent wallpapers there for you to check out.

Again, all of these wallpapers and more can be found in a single place. If you got to Wallpapers Wide, you’ll see all sorts of different wallpapers that go way beyond video games. As you’re here, however, looking for video game wallpapers, you might be most interested in the strict video game section, which includes wallpapers from a broad variety of games including the likes of Age of Empires, BioShock, Grand Theft Auto, and more.

Super Mario and more

We’re taking you a little left-field now as we delve into the world of fan art. These are video game wallpapers of your favorite games and characters but as you’ve never seen them before. If you want to assert your video game fan credentials while also maintaining an air of independence, these are the wallpapers for you.

If you’re into this kind of video game background then you should head over to the video game section of WallpaperPlay where you’ll find well over 70 cool and unique HD wallpapers based on your favorite computer game characters such as Minecraft, Assassin’s Creed, Fortnite, Far Cry, Guild Wars, and League of Legends.

Computers, consoles, VR headsets, and more

It’s worth noting that it’s not just the video games themselves that look beautiful and epic anymore. A lot of design work goes into creating every single piece of equipment that helps us immerse ourselves in the video games we love to play. Even something as simple as a PlayStation controller looks good today but you can add to that VR headsets, Ultra HD TV sets, the video game consoles themselves, modded up gaming PCs, and all manner of experience boosting peripherals from gaming headsets to strip lighting that makes monitors glow in the most epic fashion.

All of these gaming equipment wallpapers are from the uber cool and free stock photography website Unsplash. If you head over to the Unsplash gaming collection, you’ll find all the wallpapers we’ve shown above and more. Unsplash is definitely the place to go for anybody who is looking for a more hipster type of gaming wallpaper.

Wrapping up

We’ve given you 18 HD gaming wallpapers to help you personalize your Windows PC or Mac. If you’re an Apple iPhone or Android smartphone user, then all you need to do to get wallpapers for your devices is follow the links we’ve included after each set of images.

We’ve tried to cover as many different aspects of gaming culture as we can for our list of wallpapers and places to find great video game themed backgrounds. We’re confident that after reading our guide, you’ll definitely have found something you’re happy with. Let us know your wallpaper choices in the comments below.

How to control Google Earth Flight Simulator

Google Maps and Google Earth are edging closer and closer to becoming the same app. There is still a huge Google Earth feature missing from Google Maps though. One of the more lesser-known features of Google Earth Pro is the in-built hidden Flight Simulator. Accessible via the Tools Menu, the Flight Sim allows you to fly around the globe from a selected number of airports around the world.

This makes traveling the world using Google Earth a bit more interesting and fun than just panning it over with your mouse.

Google Earth Download

How to control Google Earth Flight Simulator

Step 1

To access the Google flight simulator mode, go to the Tools menu and look for Enter Flight Simulator…

Step 2

You can then choose between two types of planes. Also, you can choose whether to fly from your current position in Google Earth or take-off from a selection of different airports.

Step 3

The controls for Google Earth Flight Simulator aren’t very clear. It isn’t as simple as pressing a start flight button. There is joystick support so you can use a Joystick if you’ve got one but if not, you’ll need to refer to this list of flight simulator keyboard controls. These keyboard shortcuts include the arrow keys, page up, ctrl, alt+a, and all manner of complicated keystroke and mouse controls. Note that they are different for Windows/Linux and Mac.

Step 4

The Head-Up Display is a standard basic HUD that displays altitude, heading, throttle, etc.

Step 5

It takes a while to master the basics, especially controlling thrust and altitude to prevent crashing. Once you have, it’s fun flying around and clicking on points of interest as if you were browsing Google Earth normally. You can even land your plane by throttling down when you approach an airport and pressing G to extend the landing gear. It’s quite hard as you need to control your flaps as well as hitting both “.” and “,” to break the left and right wheels.

5 tips for Google Earth Pro

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Over 60 Google Docs templates

We’ve put together links to some of the best Google Docs templates as well as some of the best place to find more.

The Google Drive suite of productivity apps has taken the world by storm. Google Docs is kind of like the hip younger brother of Microsoft Word. It is free for a start, if you’ve got a Google account, but then it also has lots of modern new features like the fact you can use it anywhere on your web browser, it makes it really easy to collaborate on different projects, and you can even get down to business using the Google Docs app on your phone.

Being the younger brother, however, means that it isn’t as refined as Word and that it doesn’t come with as many potential add-ons and templates as you can get with Word. We’re here to tell you today, however, that when it comes to Docs templates the Google upstart is catching up with Microsoft Word. There are plenty of great Google Docs templates already available online and today we’re going to walk you through the best of them.

Google Docs download free ►

Templates for Google Docs

The Google Doc Template gallery

Google Docs actually has its own template gallery that you might not have noticed before. When you open the Google Docs homepage, you’ll see at the top next to the Start a new document icon a few example templates that you could use. These include templates for resumes, letters, and project proposals. Above these you’ll also see a small button labelled Template Gallery. Clicking this will open up the Google Docs template gallery that has 54 different templates for you to choose from. These include resume templates, letter templates, business letter templates, recipe templates, brochure templates, and newsletter templates among others.

This gallery isn’t an exhaustive list, however, so we’ll push on to recommend you some more great Google Docs templates. The other great thing about Google Docs, is that when you open one of our recommended templates it’ll go to your recent documents meaning it’ll be there next time you open Google Docs.

Google Docs templates resume

There are plenty of fantastic Google Docs resume templates out there that will help you lock down that job you’re after. With recruiters often having to go through hundreds of CVs and resumes it is more important than ever to have a resume that will stand out from the crowd. That is where these great free resume templates for Google Docs come in handy. You could try this Smart and professional resume template or go for something a little cleaner. Other options include this colorful resume template that contrast blue against white and this bold resume design that will catch anybody’s eye.

Google Drive Download Google Drive ►

Google Docs templates cover letter

To go with that jazzy resume, you’re going to need an eye-catching cover letter. Fortunately, we’ve got some great cover letter templates for you. You could pair up the clean resume template from earlier with this minimalist cover letter design that looks very clean and clear. If you went for the blue and white resume earlier then this striking cover letter template could work well for you. Obviously, you’ll have to play around with fonts and job titles a little, but these are a great starting place.

Google Docs templates invoice

If you run your own business or if you work as a freelancer, chances are you’re going to have submit invoices regularly. This means having a reliable source of invoice templates is a must, unless you constantly want to have to draw them up from scratch every time you need one. Fortunately, you’ll be able to find a lot of invoice document templates for Google Docs at Superside. Another great place to find invoice templates is at Invoice Simple. As the name suggests, Invoice Simple specializes in helping you sort out all your invoicing issues. This means you’ll also be able to find invoice templates for Google Sheets as well as Google Docs.

Google Docs templates brochure

Brochures are another key ingredient of the modern business. Whether you print them out and distribute them physically or share them digitally online doesn’t matter. A well designed and organized brochure is one of the key marketing and communications tools of the modern world. Again, there are lots of great templates here for you to take advantage of should you want to create a template using Google Docs. You’ll find some excellent Google Docs brochure templates at Envato Tuts+ and for more excellent options check out Template.net.

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Google Docs templates business cards

Another staple of the business world here. Business cards have been given out by professionals for centuries. Handy little pieces of cards that carry all your major contact details are practical in the extreme sense. OK, these days they have websites and email addresses on them, but the basics are the as they ever were. For some excellent premium business card templates check out the Stand Out Shop. You will have to pay the Stand Out Shop templates but you’ll find some great free options at Every Last Template.

Google Docs template calendar

If you’re looking to create a calendar using Google Docs, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that Calendar.com has an excellent guide that will walk you through the process. If, however, you’d like to get your hands on some Google Docs calendar templates that will do most of the hard work for you then you should check out Smart Sheet, which has all sorts of different types of calendar templates for both Google Docs and Google Sheets.

How to stop Gmail spam forever

Follow these steps to block all spam emails from reaching your inbox.

Spam is not only annoying it is dangerous. No, we’re not talking about the canned luncheon meat that you used to have nightmares about as a kid, we’re talking about the spam mail you get in your email inbox. Junk mail, as it is sometimes called, is annoying because it clogs up your inbox and makes it harder to find the emails that matter; and dangerous because it can often be carrying malware, viruses, and phishing scams.

You’d be forgiven then for wanting to get rid of spam forever and that is probably why you’ve ended up here. This is the Softonic guide to stopping spam mail forever. With these tips and tricks, you should be able to send everything to your spam folder and live a spam-free life. This is how to avoid Gmail spam.

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How to block spam on Gmail

Spam blocker — This is not the spam we’re talking about

First things first. You’ll be happy to know that Gmail, like Outlook, already has a spam filter. It’ll search for incoming emails that look suspicious or that carry links to untrustworthy URLs. With the power of Google behind it too, it is pretty powerful. Unfortunately, however, some spam can trick the Gmail filter with canny subject lines, etc. and find its way into your inbox. This means to block ALL spam from your email list you’re going to have to take some extra steps. Let’s get started then.

Train your spam filter

Like everything else from Google, your Gmail spam filter is always learning. It learns from everything it does, but it can learn most from you. You and your big human brain can look at an email and know immediately that it is spam. To help your spam filter do the same, don’t just delete the spam, report it. This way your spam filter will get a better idea of what spam looks like every time you make a spam complaint, and will then be more likely to spot it next time.

Keep your email address secret

OK, so this isn’t the most practical step you can take. If nobody knows your email address, then what good is your email service in the first place? Think of this as more of a general rule than a blanket ban. We’re constantly under pressure these days to hand over our email address whenever we want to use online services. This rule is designed to think twice about the websites you share your email address with. It is also a reminder to never post your email address on public forums and to hesitate every time you think of forwarding that spammy email content chain you received. If you’re careful enough, your email won’t ever end up on the contact lists of email marketers looking to send you spam messages.

NEVER open a spam email

We’ve already pointed out the security concerns that should be warning you off opening any spam emails that end up in your email inbox. The other big reason for not opening spam emails, however, is that they’re likely filled with trackers that will flag your email address as active whenever they’re opened or if elements like images are interacted with. Opening spam emails will lead to many more spammers sending you stuff that should only ever end up in your junk folder.

Only tick the boxes you MUST tick

Like we’ve already said, these days almost every online service and website will try and get you to hand over your email address so they can hit you with email campaigns. Then, when they get you to opt-in, they try to get you to double opt-in to other various email newsletters, and maybe even to give them permission to share your details with selected third-parties. Needless to say, if you don’t want spam, don’t allow them to share your email address with other companies. It’d also be in your best interest to only sign up to the newsletters you actually want rather than whatever they try and shove on you when they show you the terms and conditions. Only opt-in to what you have to and don’t be afraid to click that unsubscribe link whenever necessary.

Change your email address

This final trick for blocking all spam on Gmail might sound a little drastic but if you’re constantly being bombarded by nonsense spam email emails from Nigerian Princes or for cheap Viagra, it could be the best way to go. In truth, we’ve all had our email addresses for longer than we can remember so we’ve probably been bouncing all over the internet for years without even considering shielding our email address from prying eyes.

If you’re getting a lot of spam emails getting through your spam filters, follow the first rule we laid out. Report them so that your spam filter can adjust and do more to block out those unwelcome junk emails. Then unsubscribe to all the email marketing rubbish you know longer want to receive. If that still doesn’t work, you’re just going to have to bite the bullet and start again. Once you’ve done so, stick to the rules outlined above and you should be able to live a spam-free existence. Just make sure that when you’re sharing your new email address, you’re doing so in a responsible manner and not just blasting it all over the internet.

9 tips to take Gmail control

These excellent tips will help you get more out of Gmail.

With over 1.5 million users Gmail is by far the most popular email service on the planet. It is even more popular that Outlook and Yahoo Mail. It is a great program with lots of features and, as you’d expect with a Google product, it is constantly evolving. If you follow Softonic news, you’ll know just how often Google is adding new features like advanced search bar, canned responses, and email snooze and mute . As well as Google adding new features, third-party developers are also able to create Chrome browser add-ons like a to-do-list app that also boost Gmail’s capabilities.

Where do you start though? If you’re trying to step up your Gmail game, take advantage of all it has to offer, and make your life easier in the process, where do you begin? Well, that’s where we come in. Today we’re going to look at some of the best Gmail features and give you some top Gmail tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your email provider.

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How to use Gmail

Shortcut cheat sheet

A great place to start this list is the Gmail keyboard shortcut cheat sheet. There are a lot of actions you can perform on Gmail simply and quickly by pressing a certain combination of keys. This cheat sheet gives you a list of these keyboard shortcuts. To access it all you need to do is press Shift + ?.

Unsend sent messages

Did you know that you can actually give yourself a short window of opportunity to unsend Gmail messages you’ve sent. This is extremely useful, if you ever find yourself cursing your own existence when you realize you’ve forgotten to mention something important in the email you’ve just sent. To enable the Gmail unsend feature go to Settings then search in the General tab, and then tick the box next to Enable Undo Send. You can also set the time you’ll give yourself to reconsider at 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds. Don’t forget to hit Save when you’re done and then keep an eye out for the Undo Send option when you send a new message.

Spelling mistakes

Normally email messages are important messages, which means spelling mistakes are a big no no. Fortunately, Gmail has a feature that will highlight any spelling mistakes you’ve made so that you can easily change them. To use this feature all you need to do is click the ellipsis menu icon in the bottom-right corner of your Gmail compose window and hit Check Spelling.

Infinite Gmail accounts

OK, so this trick doesn’t give you an infinite amount of Gmail accounts, but it does give you plenty to play around with, should you need to sign up to an online account more than once. Basically, full stops in your Gmail address don’t count for anything. This means if you send an email to emailaddress@gmail.com and another to email.address@gmail.com both emails will go to the same inbox. This means you can add full stops between every letter of your Gmail address to create a new email you can use to sign up to accounts with. This is also a good way of tracking who is selling your data as you can monitor which accounts have full stops in certain places and then compare that list to the email addresses you receive your spam to.

Schedule send

Gmail’s schedule send feature is fairly new. You used to have to enable the feature using Gmail Labs, but now it is here for everybody to use and it couldn’t be simpler. To schedule an email to send at a later date all you need to do is hit the small down arrow that is next to the send button. This will open up the Schedule send option, which will give you the chance to send your email exactly when you want the recipient to receive it.

Add or remove inbox tabs

The Gmail Inbox tabs are a great way of keeping on top of your incoming mail. If you’re toiling away to reach Inbox Zero, tabs can help you a great deal by automatically cutting out the emails you don’t really need to handle yourself. They’ll automatically be added to different tabs and so won’t class as primary emails. To customize your Gmail tabs go to Settings, then Inbox, and then hit Categories. Once you’ve activated all your tabs you can then drag and drop individual messages between them to help Google classify your incoming mail better.

Desktop notifications

You can set Gmail to send you a desktop notification every time you receive an email. To do so go to Settings, then General, and then Desktop Notifications. Once enabled, Gmail will send you a pop-up notification every time you’ve got mail.

Filter your newsletter signups

Gmail has a very cool feature that allows you to add words and phrases to your email address by putting a + sign after it. For example, if I was to send an email to myemail@gmail.com and myemail+softonic@gmail.com, both emails would go to the same inbox. This means I could sign up for various email newsletters and use the + sign plus different categories to make it easier to search through my regular newsletters. Categories like News, Sports, Tech, etc. to help me search for particular types of content that are being pinged to my inbox.

Easy unsubscribe

Email newsletters can be annoying. Tabs make it easier for you to keep on top of them, but still, they’re a real pain, especially the ones you can’t remember signing up to. The truth is you’re pressured into signing up for newsletters all the time these days. Want to buy some clothes online, sign up to an email; looking to find a local bus schedule, sign up online; want to do absolutely anything you could think of on the internet, yep, sign up online. Fortunately, however, Gmail has an elegant solution to this very modern problem. For every email you receive that has an unsubscribe button hidden away at the bottom, Gmail will create an Unsubscribe button at the top of the email next to the email address.

There you have some top tips for the Gmail app. For more great guides to Google apps and products like Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Hangouts stick with Softonic.