Windows Software

Chat clients are great for interoffice communication and sending quick messages to co-workers and friends. The only problem is once you've chosen a particular chat client--usually decided by what your friend uses--you can only communicate from within that particular client's network. In other words, Yahoo chat users can only talk to other Yahoo chat users. If you've spent any time using chat clients, you know that people use several different apps, making it difficult to talk to everyone without downloading each one.

Fortunately, clever software developers came up with chat programs that would play nice with all the major clients, so you only needed one program to talk to everyone. There are a lot of these programs available for download and most are free. But in addition to the ability to chat with people on several networks, these clients also offer features and options that make them great apps in their own right.… Read more

Few people other than the lawyers, product leads, and a handful of seriously committed users actually know what's in a product's EULA, the end-user license agreement you need to accept before it will install.

Users see the EULA as a long, seemingly pointless block of textual mumbo jumbo; for publishers, it's a legal fallback.

Since some EULAs can trap you into welcoming bundled adware and third-party info-sharing, it's in your best interest to slash through the dense legalese and know what you're agreeing to. EULAlyzer, a free, quick bit of software from the makers of SpywareBlaster, practically does it all for you.… Read more

The folks in Mountain View, Calif., have recently updated their Google Pack, and while combining some of the best programs with an automatic updater and installer, some of the program choices have left me disappointed. The recent addition of StarOffice confirms that while this collection is good, it could be a lot better.

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Firefox is the second-most-popular browser on the Internet, and with good reason--it rocks. Want to try out some specialized versions of it? Here are six flavors of Firefox, ranging from the Mac-centric all the way to bird-themed music jukeboxes.

Firefox Campus Edition The Campus edition is the most recent of the branded/sponsored/partnered Firefoxes. There's nothing particularly special or amazing about this version of Firefox that's different from the regular one, besides a bundle of extensions and add-ons that give Firefox a notably "social" feel. Campus edition ships with a trifecta of extensions, including Zotero, … Read more

So ... what happened?! It seems like I should be sitting by a pool, sipping a fruity cocktail. However, the calendar claims that it's back-to-school season. (Most frighteningly, I saw my first Christmas advertisement yesterday.)

The end of August is an excellent time to optimize that old laptop for your son's freshman year of college, or to find great free software for empowering that new PC with an arsenal of goodies. Check out two collections of excellent back-to-school software: the first (with video!) from honor-roll assistant editor Jessica Dolcourt; the second from our favorite superhero, Power Downloader.

In the … Read more

Last week I shouted out seven CNET Download.com staff favorites for small, straightforward software for Windows, Mac, and mobile that perform a single task simply and well. Here are five more fresh picks, suggested by you.… Read more

It's the most popular PDF software on the planet, but sometimes Adobe Reader can be slower than molasses to start up. Tom Merritt shows you how to use Adobe Reader SpeedUp to disable unnecessary plug-ins and help Adobe Reader open documents much more quickly.

Students everywhere are stirring from their summer stupors to stock up on supplies for the coming year. If your back-to-school must list doesn't include software, listen up. Browse some picks of student-friendly downloads for elementary-aged young'uns to graduate scholars, or get a run-down in the video below.

If you don't see what you want, take a turn through the vast halls of CNET Download.com, where you'll find educational software and games aplenty.

Torrent Swapper mashes a perfectly reasonable BitTorrent client with the idea of a burgeoning community. The result?

Nobody's quite sure yet.

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