Importing audio files and adding them to your audio library isn’t always straightforward, especially if you’re extracting from an analogue source. Rare or original recordings over a certain age would not have been recorded digitally, and some recordings may still only be available in analogue formats. If you do have original, live or rare recording, how do you add them to your library and make them more accessible?

REAPER 2.205 is a recording, editing and mixing tool for rendering audio. Use it to create original compositions, or use it to extract and edit audio files for exporting to your music collection. This makes listening to your old tracks much more user friendly, you can even put them on your portable MP3 player.      

Most of us are familiar with, or have used an online chat service such as Live Messenger. It seems we cannot get enough of communicating with our friends and family, especially if it’s free. Even the social networking community Facebook has now incorporated the facility to chat amongst online friends. The trouble is, communicating in this way can often be tedious, and it’s difficult to communicate with more multiple users simultaneously.

Messenger Plus! Live 4.60 is an add-on for Windows Live Messenger that ships with numerous features that enhance functionality. These features include multi-chat within a single window, message shortcuts and it also has a fully customisable interface.

When moving folders and files, it’s frustrating when you come across a ‘locked’ file which cannot be deleted or moved. You may be required to shutdown or restart your computer, the file then becomes free again, but restarting your machine time and again just to organise files can be extremely laborious. It would be handy if these files could remain free or unlocked at all times, after all, moving files shouldn’t be that difficult.

Unlocker 1.87 is a basic tool that enables you to move or delete system files whenever you need to. It does this by freeing up system resources which may be locking a file and in turn, keeps it free to move or delete as you wish, Just click your right mouse button whenever you require. 

People have very different ideas of what a good game is, but most of us recognise good graphics when we see them. It seems though that’s all alot of modern games have to offer, so how did computer games in the past become so successful and are still recognised today? Classic games such as Tetris were not reliant on graphics, but game play, and like many other games from the past it was the original idea and addictive game play that made it a huge success.

MAME 0.125 is an application designed to emulate classic computer games by using old data files. You can use web archives to source files, giving you a choice of thousands of games from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. If you’re an avid gamer, or using it to reminisce, its great fun.   

It is not uncommon for people to own or work from more than one computer, a desktop at home or in the office and a laptop for working on the move. It's very useful if you are able to work from multiple machines as it gives you greater flexibility, however its important to keep your files synchronised between computers, this enables you to keep your work up-to-date and save con fusion when opening and saving documents.

GoodSync7.2.2 is a helpful synchronisation tool, enabling you to share documents and files between multiple computers. This way it's possible to start work on the train using your laptop, sync with your work computer when you arrive and carry on working at your desktop.

Computers accumulate files easily, even if they are unimportant they may still remain on your PC. Installation of software, browsing the web and unwanted files that are yet to be deleted may eventually contribute to system slow down. However, some information such as passwords and browser history is also stored on your PC and if somebody else gets access to this information, they have access to private or sensitive information.

CCleaner 2.07 is a cleansing tool designed to remove any information stored by applications that have access to the Internet. Use it to remove temporary and log files aswell as clearing you browser history. This application will also clean through registry files.

If you are capturing or downloading images and pictures, we generally try and use the highest quality files available. However, if you want to send these images via email, large files are a little more problematic. You can compress files for sending, but this may alter proportions or distort your image. A compression tool that keeps the correct proportions would be a more viable option, especially for sending photographs to friends or family.   

Pixresizer will enable you to compress your image files, without distorting them. You can use it to keep or convert the original file format to make it easier for friends and family to view your pictures. You may even use it to rotate or print images directly from the software. 

When we extract audio from our CDs, many applications simply convert audio to mp3 alone, wouldn’t it be nice to have bit more control over how your audio is compressed? There are better ways of compressing audio, especially if you’re a keen music fan and although it may not be like listening to a CD, it’s still possible to get better audio quality from compressing your files.

Easy CD-DA Extractor 11.5.1 is primarily designed to extract audio from CDs, and fortunately it’s not restricted to mp3s. You can convert your music into almost any audio format available, so rather than just ripping and naming you music, you’ve got control over what your tracks sound like.   

Even if you may not require one very often, a versatile screen grabbing tool may be useful. For work, you can use it to take grabs of what’s visible on your monitor, and you can then use grabs as a reference tool when working on, or presenting a particular project. Screen grabs are useful in many areas, and some more able tools enable you to take grabs of images, open applications and even text.

HyperSnap DX 6.30.02 is an intelligent utility that not only enables you to grab photos, images, error messages and text but you can also use it to grab sections of editable text. This could come in handy when the standard copy/paste function doesn’t work. It’s easy to use, but still very capable.  

How many email clients effectively identify incoming junk mail? It seems no matter what we do spam always seems to slip through the net, or even more annoyingly, your email client identifies incoming mail incorrectly and it ends up in the wrong folder. Spammers are always finding new ways of getting messages into your inbox, so the only way of stopping the barrage of junk is a filter that can identify even the latest threats.

Spamihilator 0.9.9.41 is a filter for your email client that uses a word filter to identify potential spam messages. Another useful feature is its ¨learning¨ filter, so the recognition rate for spam emails will constantly increase.