freeware

Whether you are creating your own gaming Web site or simply checking out the latest Buzz Out Loud, trying to choose one of the dozens of Web browsers out there can be a massive waste of time. Among the big five of Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, and Opera, there are still more than a dozen second-tier Web browsers that are trying to make a splash in cyberspace. These obscure browsers got a break in 2009 when the European Union settled the Internet Explorer antitrust case with Microsoft. As part of the settlement, Windows PCs sold in Europe now offer … Read more

Perhaps the best-known alternative media player for Windows and Mac, VLC's popularity has been driven by its open-source and cross-platform nature. The latest update, for Windows, Mac, and Linux, goes to great lengths to keep the player current.

VLC 1.1 adds in hardware acceleration on Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Linux computers; supports encoding and decoding the HTML5 video and audio codec WebM; better MKV HD support and 40 percent faster HD decoding; introduces lua-based extensions; and has overall better performance because of the removal of "tens of thousands of lines" of code.

There's also … Read more

Common Windows security wisdom says it's a bad idea to run multiple antivirus apps simultaneously. Generally that's true, but Immunet 2.0 intends to play nice with your existing protection and bolster it with help from the cloud and the crowd. Immunet's latest update introduces new scanning tools, detection engines, and support in a bid to persuade users that the program is the spackle they need to plug the holes in their security wall.

Installation and setup The installation of Immunet 2.0 asks for registration, which you can skip to avoid sending your data up to … Read more

Mozilla released a minor update to its tabbed e-mail program Thunderbird 3 this week, in anticipation of the release of its next beta version.

Thunderbird 3.0.5 for Windows, Mac, and Linux includes several fixes to the user interface, improves message indexing and profile access on a network, and corrects an e-mail notification bug on Mac OS X.

The changelog for version 3.0.5 is available for your perusal. More than 60 bugs have been fixed since Thunderbird 3 was released last December.

Common Windows security wisdom says it's a bad idea to run multiple antivirus apps simultaneously. However, that's not always the case, and Immunet's latest update intends to bolster your existing protection with help from the cloud and the crowd. Available exclusively Thursday on CNET Download.com, Immunet 2.0 introduces new scanning tools, detection engines, and support in a bid to convince users that the program is the spackle they need to plug the holes in their security wall.

Similar to PC Tools' ThreatFire, which didn't originally address virus-related threats but does now, Immunet seeks to … Read more

Mozilla published a second release candidate for the next build of Thunderbird on Wednesday. Judging from the public bug list, only one critical bug kept Thunderbird 3.1 Release Candidate 2 from becoming the final build of the current branch, code-named Lanikai.

Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, this second release candidate fixes one critical bug on Macs, one major bug on all platforms, and three ''normal'' priority bugs. The now-fixed Mac bug had caused the open-source e-mail client to crash, and then crash again on subsequent launchings. The cross-platform, major-level bug repaired a settings migration assistant problem where the … Read more

Some people don't mind strangers rummaging through their Facebook friends lists, wall posts, status updates, and other details of their online selves. The rest of us attempt to control who has access to our Facebook information. The recent revamp of the Facebook privacy settings makes it simpler to adjust the many settings that determine whether and how people contact you, and how much of your information they can access.

Two free online scanners put your Facebook privacy settings to the test, though they take very different approaches to how they generate their ratings. ReclaimPrivacy.org gives you a Facebook … Read more

The developer's build of Google's Chrome browser now includes WebM, the open-source and royalty-free video technology that allows browsers to use cutting-edge streaming-video features without publishers paying a dime.

In the new Chrome dev released Thursday for Windows, Mac, and Linux, Google has baked in support for the VP8- and Ogg Vorbis-powered, next-generation WebM codec.

The developer's build of Chrome is now the third major browser to support WebM, along with versions of Firefox and Opera that are still in development. Chromium, the open-source fountainhead of Chrome, added rudimentary support in mid-May. Google has yet to indicate … Read more

Though juggernaut Microsoft and smaller security suite maker Panda both introduced new cloud-based antivirus solutions for Windows last year, today's upgrade from Panda swiftly moves Cloud Antivirus back into the public eye by adding features without sacrificing snappy performance levels. Exclusively available today from CNET Download.com, Cloud Antivirus 1.1 now more closely resembles a traditional antivirus program, at least in features offered, and includes a behavioral blocking engine that can protect users against generic nonbrowser exploits, new configuration options, and default deactivation of autorun in Windows.

In a conversation at CNET's San Francisco offices yesterday, Panda … Read more