Network Magic 4.1.7039
Download location www.networkmagic.com
File size 1.08M
Licence Free
Platform Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista
Network Magic is a comprehensive wireless networking utility for your home network. The program includes options for setting up the network, an Internet speed test and other useful functions, and it is easy for novices to use. The most valuable feature is its security: the ability to lock out wireless intruders. The free version includes a 30-day free trial of the functionality of the Premium version.

AirSnare 1.5
Download location http://home.comcast.net/~jay.deboer/airsnare
File size 15.86M
Licence Free (voluntary donation for commercial use)
Platform Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server
AirSnare tracks all the Media Access Control (MAC) addresses on your wireless network. The MAC is each computer's unique hardware number, and AirSnare will warn you of attempted connections by unknown MAC addresses that aren't on its recognised list. You can use AirSnare to monitor all the computers on your wireless network, including Macs, but the software must be installed on a Windows machine.

BlueAuditor 1.3.5
Download location www.nsauditor.com/bluetooth_network_scanner.html
File size 1.4M
Licence 30-day trial, registration $US19.50
Platform Windows XP/2003 Server/Vista
BlueAuditor detects and monitors Bluetooth devices in a wireless network. Its intuitive graphical interface shows all recognised Bluetooth devices. It will track any Bluetooth devices up to 100 metre radius and show you information on each one it detects as well as the services it provides. You can save the data of all detected devices in a file.

Safend Personal Protector 1
Download location www.safend.com/425-en/Safend.aspx
File size 13.57M
Licence Free for a limited time
Platform Windows XP/2003 Server
Safend gives you total protection against data theft, whether via WiFi, USB, FireWire or PCMCIA devices — the program completely guards against unauthorised access to your computer. Since Safend doesn't need a complicated setup process, it's ideal for new computer users. You can approve devices for one-time or continuous access.

Wireless Network Ignition 2 build 352
Download location www.singleclicksystems.com/wirelessnet.html
File size 4.46M
Licence 30-day trial, then $US19.95
Platform Windows 2000/XP
Wireless Network Ignition offers simple and easy wireless network setup and maintenance. It organises your home or office wireless network, and lets you access other wireless networks when you're on the road, safely. The encryption ensures that no one accesses your communications. The big benefit of the program is that it's self-maintaining, with auto-repair features.

SingleClick Wireless Security 2.0
Download location www.singleclicksystems.com/products/sws
File size 6.71M
Licence Trial, $US39.95 full
Platform Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server
If you need complete wireless security for your network, SingleClick Wireless Security provides constant monitoring and blocking. The program lets you create wireless networks; audits them, maintains them and secures them against intrusion. The big benefit of the program is that you can maintain your network from a single computer.

Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5.0.10
Download location www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird
File size 6.07M
Licence Free
Platform Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP
A stablemate of the Firefox browser, Mozilla Thunderbird is a powerful, highly customisable email program. It handles spam and phishing attacks with ease and changing over from another program is easy: just import your current messages. The advanced security features alone are a good reason to make the switch from your current email program.

Tablane Browser with TClipper 1.8.1 build 1080
Download location www.tablane.com/home.php
File size 1.39M
Licence 30-day trial; $US29.95 registration
Platform Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server
Tablane Browser with TClipper is a Web browser that allows you to surf in ‘parallel’ lanes, so you can surf multiple Web sites at the same time. The TClipper helps you to collect content, which you can publish to your own Web site with Tablane Publisher. This is a unique application — useful for students, business people and for Web shoppers.

FoxyTunes 2.9 add-on for Firefox browser
Download location www.foxytunes.com
File size 535K
Licence Free
Platform Windows 2000/XP, Mozilla Firefox 1.5
Now you can surf the Web to music. The FoxyTunes add-on to the Firebox browser integrates your favourite music player with Firefox. It supports most popular media players, including iTunes, Winamp and Windows Media Player. You can show and hide the player, see what's playing, control volume and change tracks.

BestAddress HTML Editor 2007 Professional 10.1
Download location www.mmaus.com/bestaddress.html
File size 7.51M
Licence Trial, then $AU72
Platform Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista
BestAddress HTML Editor is an Australian program that has been getting some great reviews. It's a complete WYSIWYG Web site creator with a code-mode too. It includes everything you'd expect: an FTP program, tutorials for beginners and free templates. If you're looking for a program that lets you build sites from go to whoa, give this editor a try.

Spamfighter 5.3.1
Download location www.spamfighter.com
File size 1.29M
Licence Free
Platform Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista
Start fighting spam and phishing today with SpamFighter. It's a spam filter for Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Express. The program's three million users report spam emails, and when several people have tagged a message as spam, it's filtered for all users. The program's picture filter, which can even recognise spam and phishing in images, is a great new development.

Opera 9.2
Download location www.opera.com
File size 6.26M
Licence Free
Platform Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista 
The latest version of the free Opera browser is as speedy as ever, and has lots of interesting new features too. The new Speed Dial feature gives you fast access to your favourite Web sites, the fraud and phishing features have been enhanced, and the page tabs now give you thumbnail previews when you mouse over a tab.

Windows Live Writer beta
Download location http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!D85741BB5E0BE8AA!174.entry
File size 3.59M
Licence Free
Platform Windows XP
Windows Live Writer beta is a desktop blogging application. You don't need a Microsoft Spaces blog as the program supports all popular blogging applications: Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad andWordPress. Live Writer uses your current blog's template, so you can post to your blog in WYSIWYG view, or you can edit the source code in HTML. The program's best feature is live photo editing.

Paint.NET 3.05
Download location www.getpaint.net/index2.html
File size 4.71M
Licence Free
Platform Windows XP or later; .NET Framework 2.0
Paint.Net is a powerful free image editing program with many features including layers, which are usually only available in commercial graphics programs. With tools like Bezier curves and many special effects, the program is valuable for students, as well as small businesses. This new release supports gradients in colours, as well as in a special transparency mode.

OpenOffice.org 2.2
Download location www.openoffice.org
File size 105.58M
Licence Free
Platform Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP, Java Runtime Environment 1.4
OpenOffice.org is a free alterative to Microsoft Office. Although it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the industry leader offers, OpenOffice.org gives you word processing, a drawing program, a database program, a spreadsheet, as well as a presentation program. It's simple to use and reads all major file formats.

Active Desktop Calendar 6.8
Download location www.xemico.com/adc/index.html
File size 3.58M
Licence 42-day trial, then $US19.90
Platform Windows 2000/XP/Vista
Active Desktop Calendar is a great little application that turns your Windows wallpaper into a calendar, so you can see exactly what you should be doing and when without the need to open another program. The program features Microsoft Outlook integration, as well as layers, so you can share your calendar with others.

Total Organizer1.9
Download location www.konradp.com/products/organizer
File size 1.19M
Licence Free
Platform Windows NT/2000/XP
Total Organizer is a clever Personal Information Manager (PIM) that helps you to organise your personal and business life. With an attractive, well designed interface, in which you can see your appointments, notes and projects at a glance, it's a pleasure to use, and lives up to its name. The tag feature, which helps you sort information into categories, is especially useful.

Yahoo! Widgets 4
Download location http://widgets.yahoo.com/
File size 11.63M
Licence Free
Platform Windows 2000/XP/Vista
Yahoo! Widgets are tiny desktop programs that perform a multitude of handy tasks: check email, display the weather, play games, search the Web, and much more. These utilities are meant for both productivity and fun and are often created as application enhancers. You can even create your own widgets.

AlienFiles 2.11
Download location www.alienfiles.net
File size 808.93K
Licence Trial, register for $US49.99
Platform Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
If you sell on eBay, you know it's vital that your auction listings stand out in such a competitive environment. AlienFiles helps you to make your listings magnets for sales. Not only can you create eye-catching ads, you can add video, audio and PDF files as well.

Belltech Business Card Designer Pro 4.6.1
Download location www.belltechsystems.com/business-card-software
File size 8.99M 
Licence Trial, then $US29.95
Platform Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista 
Belltech Business Card Designer helps you to create stunning business cards in a range of sizes. Templates and graphics are supplied, or you can use your own logos and images. Print your cards on any printer: the program supports all popular business card papers from Avery and others. You can even take your designs to a print shop for professional printing.

FxFoto 5.0.066
Download location www.fxfoto.com/fxhome.htm
File size 2.35M
Licence Free
Platform Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista
FxFoto now has Vista support. You can use the free version for ever, but to use the creative enhancements of the program, like collages and scrapbook pages, you need to buy a Licence. For everyday work with your photos, the free version offers photo organisation and basic editing, like red-eye removal.

AltDesk 1.8
Download location: www.astonshell.com/altdesk
File size 987.22K 
Licence 30-day trial; registration $US15.00 
Platform Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista 
AltDesk is a great productivity enhancer because it lets you create as many virtual desktops as you need. You can swap desktops easily and drag applications from one desktop to another. Each desktop can be set to run automatically, and can have its own sticky applications. The program includes security features, so you can hide desktops at will.

WarRock 1
Download location www.warrock.net
File size 602.09M
Licence Free
Platform Windows 2000/XP
WarRock 1 is a massive tactical First Person Shooter (FPS) multi-player game. You develop your soldier character so that the character rises in rank and gets money to trade for more equipment and power. The soldiers are fighting a civil war on land, on sea, and in the air. As new material is added to the game, it changes, adding more maps and weaponry.

Plotplan 2
Download location www.clarkscript.com/plotplan.html
File size 2.38 MB
Licence 30-day trial, then $US19.99
Platform Windows NT/2000/XP
If you love gardening, you'll enjoy Plotplan, a small application that lets you track the progress of your garden. Now you'll know exactly when you planted your lettuces, or your new lemon tree. You can record your plantings on a grid, and can record garden events in a password-protected diary. You can even add videos of your garden.

Cool Paint for Kids 2.6
Download location www.secoolsoft.com/coolpaintforkids.htm
File size 57.94M
Licence 15-day trial, then $US14.97
Platform Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista
Cool Paint for Kids is a fun painting program that contains a gallery of 1,000 images and animations in several categories. There's a stack of paint brushes, pencils and special effects, as well as a ‘Fairy Pocket’ of tiny images. For a children's drawing program this is a powerful application: it even includes layers and transparency.

My Farm - Demo version 1
Download location www.bip-media.eu/site/article.php?id_article=23
File size 25.86M
Licence 10-day trial, then $US12.80
Platform Windows Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista
My Farm is a fun program for children. It's a farm breeding simulation. A child starts off with a hen, sells the eggs, and buys farm animals that produce milk, eggs and wool. As these items are sold, the farm can be extended, with a pond, henhouse and tractor. Packed with activities, this game will keep kids entertained for hours.

Mountain Car 2
Download location www.myplaycity.com/mountain_car
File size 18.06M
Licence Free
Platform Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 
As the name suggests, Mountain Car gives you a four-wheel-drive all-terrain vehicle, and you drive it through a 3D landscape. When you successfully complete one rugged level without overturning the vehicle, you progress to the next one. Your games are timed, so you receive points for speed. Top-scorers can upload their scores to the Web.

Google Earth 4
Download location http://earth.google.com
File size 14.3M
Licence Free
Platform Windows 2000/XP 
Zoom around the world from the comfort of your desktop. With its 3D terrain, and amazing satellite imagery, Google Earth is remarkable. The latest version of the program adds lots of new features. Find your house by typing in your address. Search for parks, restaurants and hotels, and receive driving directions.

Family Sudoku 1
Download location www.familysudoku.com/download
File size 1.33M
Licence Free
Platform Windows XP
This is an unusual Sudoku game, in which you don't solve one puzzle at a time, you solve ten. All the games are linked, with one parent game, and nine child games. Although the game sounds difficult, it's fun to play, and beginners pick it up quickly. It adds an intriguing twist to Sudoku.

Feyruna - Fairy Forest 1.2.1
Download location www.jochenkaercher.com/feyruna-fairy-forest.htm
File size 25.97M
Licence 20-level trial; $US19.95 full version
Platform Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista
Feyruna - Fairy Forest is a fun game for all ages. The game includes puzzles and treasures, as well as three mini-games. The graphics are enchanting, with witches, toads, flying creatures, and many different landscapes. Treasure maps are supplied, so you can travel through the landscape and collect the treasure.