Chicken Invaders Christmas Edition – Revenge of the Yolk 3.50
Site: http://www.interactionstudios.com/ci3/chickeninvaders3xmas.php
Licence: Trial; full USD € 22.50
Platform: windows (all)
The chickens have landed. Their plans include total world domination, and only you can save the day in this space-shooter game, which is a multi-player game for up to four people. You can journey to various galaxies and fight the hordes of chickens. The full version of the game includes 12 star systems, 120 waves of chickens, seven weapons, and 30 bonuses.

Glest 2
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Site: http://www.glest.org/en/downloads.html 
Glest is a free, 3D, real time strategy game, like Warcraft III. In the game, you choose to join either the Magicians or Technicians. Then you create  workers, construct buildings and develop military units, with the aim of destroying your enemies' bases. There's an excellent level of gameplay in Glest, and it may become your favourite game.

Knight Online 1.506
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Site: http://www.knightonlineworld.com/download_client.php 
Knight Online is a popular massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) game. The theme of the game is an on-going war between two forces. When you join, you create a character, and begin building your character's strengths so you can become a knight. As you build your strengths, you can join other players in war parties.

Sudoku Epic 4.0
Licence: Trial, full USD $14.95
Platform: Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista
Site: http://www.kristanix.com/sudokuepic/ 
Sudoku Epic is a fun program which lets you create sudoku puzzles and solve them. The program will create puzzles at several levels, from easy to challenging. If you're stuck, you can get tips, so that you develop your skills as you play. The full version of the program gives you unlimited puzzles to enjoy.

World in Conflict demo
Licence: Demo; full USD $49.99
Platform: Windows XP/Vista
Site: http://www.sierra.com/en/home/downloads.html
World In Conflict is a military strategy game with the premise that instead of the Soviet Union dissolving in 1989, it went to war with the US. In the game, you get currency to spend on troops, vehicles and weapons. You're given an objective, and then you deploy to win the objective. Great visuals and sound.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Dark Motives demo
Licence: Demo; full USD $29.99�
Platform: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Site: http://csidarkmotives.ubi.com/�
In the CSI: Dark Motives demo you're a crime scene investigator tracking down the criminals in five crimes. You get all the CSI paraphernalia – fingerprint powder, microscopes, and fancy gadgets. Working in the field with the team, you gather evidence and investigate. The demo combines great graphics with music from the TV show to give you the real CSI experience.

Fancy Dress Podcasts 2.50c
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows (all from Windows 98)
Site: http://www.softwaretutor.co.uk/
Fancy Dress Podcasts is an unusual program which is both fun and useful. You can create podcast (audio) animations with your own photos, and can send podcast messages to friends and colleagues. The program is suitable for novice users, because you can record audio at a single click.

Brilliant Nature Screensaver 1
Licence: Free�
Platform: Windows (all)
Site: http://www.wallpaperscreensavers.net/brilliant-nature-screensaver-p-571/�
With 20 gorgeous natural landscape images, Brilliant Nature Screensaver is a stunning addition to your computer. All the photos are high resolution, so you'll feel as if you're in the landscapes. The images in the  screensaver are optimized for a screen resolutions of 1024 x768, although they look fine on 800 x 600 too.

ArcSoft Print Creations 1.4
Licence: Free online version; desktop version one free ¼ fold greeting card
Platform: Windows/ Mac
Site: http://www.arcsoft.com/support/downloads/download_trial_pc_MAC-PC.asp
Want to create and print your own unique Christmas cards quickly? Print Creations lets you create electronic cards online. Alternatively, you can download the desktop version with a single free printing format: a ¼ fold card. The desktop version offers many designs and templates, but you're restricted to a single free print format. The benefit of the desktop version is that you can save your designs to use again.

Unique Gift Maker Greeting Card Free Edition
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server
Site: http://www.goztun.com/products/uniquegiftmaker/
Unique Gift Maker Greeting Card Free Edition helps you to create electronic greeting cards. They're personal and unique, and you can send them to everyone in your family and colleagues as well. Use your own images, add some text, and you're done. There's also a commercial version of the product which is USD $29.95.

Ecard Magic 2.0
Licence: Trial with limitations - Watermark on output, 14-second recording; full USD $24.95
Platform: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP
Site: http://www.focussoft.net/downloads.html�
If you're tired of packaged Christmas cards, Ecard Magic lets you create your own personalized cards. You can add a cover image of any photo on your computer to your cards, add whatever greetings you wish, and add an audio accompaniment as well. The program is simple to use: a tabbed wizard leads you through the card-creation process.

MonkeyPhoto 3.5
Licence: Trial, full USD $29.99
Platform: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server
Site: http://www.soft3k.com/MonkeyPhoto-p13120.htm
Want to let the kids create your Christmas cards? MonkeyPhoto makes it easy for them: they just choose photos from your computer, add frames and greetings to the photos with couple of clicks, then send the photos via email, or print them. This program is a lot of fun for kids (and adults), and the results are spectacular.

EZ Photo Calendar Creator Plus
Licence: Trial (watermark on output); full USD $24.99
Platform: Windows (all)
Site: http://www.spectrumsoftware.com/ezphotocalendar.htm
EZ Photo Calendar Creator Plus creates beautiful calendars which you can give as gifts, or create for your own use. Design and print wall calendars, as well as annual calendars, and customize them. If you want to give calendars as business gifts, you can add footer text to your calendars advertising your company name.

Greeting Card Designer 4.6
Licence: Trial, then USD $39.95
Platform: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista
Site: http://www.belltechsystems.com/greeting-card-software/gcdownload.asp
With Greeting Card Designer, you can create your own cards for any special event, including Christmas, birthdays, and weddings, using your own photos and images, or those supplied with the program. Greeting Card Designer is a full-featured drawing program, with design options. Templates, backgrounds, and clipart are included. Printing is easy, with formats for popular card papers from Avery and other suppliers included.

Smart Desktop Calendar
Licence: Trial, full USD $19.90
Platform: Windows (all from Windows 98)
Site: http://www.smartdesktopcalendar.com/
Smart Desktop Calendar has all the information management capabilities that you need. It also prints out many calendar views, from daily to yearly. True to its name, the calendar display is large, so you can see exactly what's on your schedule for a week or a month. You can personalize the calendars you print with photos, to create ideal Christmas and New Year gifts.

Easy Card 3.3
Licence: Trial, with watermark; full USD $30
Platform: Windows XP; Mac
Site: http://www.scriptsoftware.com/ecc/  
If you want to send Christmas cards which look much better than commercial offerings, this program is for you. You don't need any design experience: design complete cards, with envelopes, starting from scratch or using the program's templates. Easy Card prints on any size paper, and integrates with your "My Pictures" folder in Windows.

Acoo Browser 1.61
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista, Internet Explorer 5
Site: http://www.acoobrowser.com/
Acoo Browser is a small, powerful Web browser based on the Internet Explorer engine. The interface is attractive, offering tabbed browsing, and comprehensive advertisement blocking.  You can save Web addresses, and open them as groups. The program is  especially useful if you're developing your own Web site, because there's a Web-page analyzer included.

NewsBliss 2.2.12
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista
Site:  http://www.emarketsoftware.com/newsbliss.aspx
NewsBliss brings text, image, videos and podcasts directly to your desktop. Because it's an RSS reader, you can subscribe to sites, and choose what you want to read, watch or listen to at your convenience. Subscribe to streams from Yahoo, Google, YouTube  and any site which offers RSS. If you're already using an RSS reader, you can import your subscriptions via an OPML file.

WebShot - 1.50
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows (all from Windows 98)
Site:�http://www.websitescreenshots.com/
WebShot enables you to take screen captures of  Web pages, no matter how long the page happens to be. The images can be saved in your choice of formats: JPG, GIF, PNG, or BMP. The program will block most popups and other intrusive ads, and instead of capturing an entire page, you can choose to capture just a part of it.

SmartWallet 1
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP
Site: http://www.download.com/SmartWallet/3000-2092-10738894.html?part=dl-SmartWall&subj=uo&tag=button�
SmartWallet gives you a single log-on location for multiple Web accounts. Whether the sites you want to access are work-related, shopping or game sites, SmartWallet gives you fast and secure access. The program uses " BioSignIN" authentication for security. This program would be perfect if there was a way of taking your profiles with you; perhaps this option will be available in a later release.

MailWasher Free 5.1
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
Site: http://www.download.com/MailWasher-Free/3000-2382_4-10450721.html�
MailWasher Free protects you from spam, phishing attacks, viruses and other email problems. You can see and preview your messages on the email server, without downloading them. Just delete suspicious messages. There program includes a blacklist and customizable filters, as well as a friends list, so you don't miss important email.

Advanced Searchbar 3.34
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista
Site: http://www.advancedsearchbar.com/�
Designed for Internet Explorer, Advanced Searchbar is a highly customizable toolbar which gives you access to 100 search engines. Of course Google , Yahoo and eBay search are included, but so are social media search engines like Digg. In addition to searching, the toolbar offers additional useful features.

Avast Home Edition 4.7.1043
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista
Site:  http://www.avast.com/eng/programs.html
Avast Home Edition is a free antivirus program with all the  real-time protection features you need to keep your computer safe. Easy for novices to use, the program is also customizable for expert users: you can select the parameters you want for your virus scans, plus wildcards. Virus cleanup tools are included.

Debrief Notes 2.2.4
Licence: Free Basic Edition
Platform: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista
Site:  http://debriefnotes.com/download.htm�
Debrief Notes is as the name suggests, a notes manager. It's the ideal repository for all those bits of information that you need to store daily, whether it's contact or task related. The Basic Edition of the program is free – you can store as many notes as you please – but it's not really a complete Personal Information Manager. If you like the program, opt for the commercial version, which is a full-fledged, powerful PIM.

Blender 2.45
Licence: Free�
Platform: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista
Site:  http://www.blender.org/
Blender lets you create stunning 3D graphics and animations. It's completely free, and offers more than many commercial applications. Although there's a learning curve, Blender has an excellent interface and it won't take you long to get up to speed. The Blender site offers a gallery to inspire you as well as free tutorials.�

VLC Media Player 0.8.6c
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista; Mac etc
Site:  http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ 
If you've ever been frustrated when trying to play a DVD or video file, you'll love VLC Media Player, which will play most video file formats. It can act as a streaming media server too, so you can share your files with others. Although the program is easy to use, it's not intuitive, and you'll need to play around with it. However, it's free, and it does the job, often when no other program will.

RegCure 1.5
Licence: Free scan then $US29.00
Platform: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista
Site:�http://www.regcure.com/ 
RegCure is a comprehensive Windows Registry maintenance tool. If you're experiencing problems with your PC, such as slow starts, or  program hangs, scan your Registry with RegCure. You can run the program at any time to fix Registry faults, or you can schedule it to run at times you're not working on your PC.

Switch 1.27
Licence: Free�
Platform: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista
Site: http://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html  
Need to convert audio files between different formats? Switch is the answer. It can convert most popular audio formats to MP3; there's a complete list of formats on the site. You can batch-convert – up to 32,000 files in a batch. This is an ideal solution if you need to conserve hard drive space; MP3 takes up less space than other formats.

Metapad 3.51
Licence: Free
Platform: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
Site: http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad/download.html
Although it's tiny, MetaPad is powerful. It's a text editor replacement for Microsoft Notepad, with lots of extra features like unlimited file size, keyboard shortcuts, and hyperlink support. It loads instantaneously, and is ideal as a notepad you keep open on your desktop for daily notes, as well as for Web site maintenance.

The Ultimate Sleeve Maker 1
Licence: Trial, with limits; full USD $7.99
Platform: Windows (all from Windows 98)
Site: http://www.theultimatesleevemaker.com/�
If you've got a pile of CDs or DVDs without professional labels, you know what a pain it is to find the disk you want. As the name suggests, The Ultimate Sleeve Maker ends the hassles – you can make your own disk sleeves using standard paper. Use your own images for backgrounds, and print your sleeves with easy-folding guidelines.

King Mania
Licence: Shareware
Platform: Mac OS X 10.3 or later
Site: www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/games/role_strategy/kingmania.html
A fast and simple action strategy game from a fantasy world. You can control different buildings, use spells and the power of hordes of your lieges to defeat your opponents.

Football Manager 2008 1.0
Licence: Demo
Platform: Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later
Site: www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/games/action_adventure/penguinsarena.html
The most realistic football (soccer) management simulation ever, developed by the highly acclaimed and award-winning Sports Interactive studio.

Pontoon 2.4.1
Licence: Freeware
Platform: Mac OS X 10.2 or later
Site: www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/games/cards_puzzle/pontoon.html
A complete Player vs Dealer BlackJack game, ideal for practicing your skills with no fincancial loss! Customize your game by enabling the major BlackJack rules and options, including Surrender, Insurance, Five Card Charlie, Split and Double.

Big Island Blends 1.0
Licence: Demo
Platform: Mac OS X 10.2 or later
Site: www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/games/action_adventure/bigislandblends.html
Serve smoothies in paradise in this original challenge that's full of tropical fun! After arriving on Big Island you discover that the "fortune" you've just inherited is … an orchard? Well, what better way to turn your fields into a real fortune than opening a smoothie stand?

Wikipedia
Licence: Freeware
Platform: Mac OS X 10.4 or later
Site: www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/reference/wikipedia.html
The perfect companion to the world’s most complete encyclopedia. View and edit complete Wikipedia articles in any language without leaving your Dashboard.

Sudoku Widget
Licence: Freeware
Platform: Mac OS X 10.4 or later
Site: www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/sudokuwidget.html
Sudoku Widget generates random puzzles with four different levels of difficulty, has the option to show when you have entered an incorrect answer, allows for “pencil” marks for temporary numbers, times your games so you can see how much better (or worse) you are getting, has high scores, allows for blank puzzles and more.

Christmas typefaces
Price: Free
Platform: Mac/Windows
Site: www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=804
If you fancy making your own Christmas cards in a word processor or even a page layout application like Apple’s Pages (which has ‘Cards and Invitations’ templates to get you started), you might like to download some of these free Christmas fonts.

SantaSnaps
Price: Free
Platform: Apple Mac
Site: tinyurl.com/2rhje2
If you want to take your own Santa-themed Christmas snap of yourself using your built-in (or plugged-in) iSight camera, try SantaSnaps. It’s like Apple’s free Photo Both with Santa items you turn on and off. Line yourself up and fool the kids.

Snjor
Price: Free
Platform: Apple Mac
Site: snow.ninjakitten.us
Good old Fjölnir Ásgeirsson has made Snjor, a sort-of background app that makes snowballs fall; they gently pile up along the tops of open windows in your screen. Bewitching.

Snowfall the ice storm
Price: Free
Platform: Apple Mac
Site: tinyurl.com/8gcoh
Snowfall is a screensaver that puts a Northern, white Chrismas on your screen. Maybe it will help you to cool down in the NZ summer. It shows soothing snowflakes falling against a deep red background.

Christmas Crisis 1.1.4
Price: Free
Platform: Mac or Windows versions
Site: tinyurl.com/29tsxd
In this free arcade game with a Christmas theme, Santa has fallen sick, so you and the elves have to make delivery trips to help out, flying over cities and dropping gifts down chimneys.

SiteGrinder 2.0
Licence: Demo
Platform: Mac OS X 10.2 or later
Site: www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/internet_utilities/sitegrinder.html
Historically, it’s been no easy task to actually build a working website that precisely matches a visual design created in Photoshop. Photoshop is designed to give total freedom to the artist, while the Web, on the other hand, is built on top of many confusing technologies and standards that place other concerns ahead of visual design integrity.

Netscape 9.0
Licence: Freeware
Platform: Mac OS X 10.2 or later
Site: www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/internet_utilities/netscape.html
Optimized for the key things you do on the Web — browsing, searching, communicating, shopping, downloading files, and playing music. It also gives you more control to customize your online experience, and features that let you express your personality on the Web.

FTPortal 1.0.6
Licence: Demo
Platform: Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later
Site: www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/internet_utilities/ftportal.html
An application and contextual menu for easily uploading files to specific folders of one or more FTP servers.