Norton Internet Security 2010

In the 2010 version of its flagship security suite, Symantec continues to build on the unexpected progress it made last year. In addition to maintaining the quick load and scan times, and significantly smaller system footprint, Norton 2010 includes a behavioral detection engine based on both behavior and reputation.

Called Quorum, this new engine doesn't adversely affect Norton's performance--a major concern after years of system-crippling sluggishness. It works in concert with Norton Insight, introduced last year as a whitelist-style guard for ''trusted'' files. By examining your files and how they behave--both locally and when trying to access the Internet--and comparing them with other Norton users, Symantec claims it offers better protection than its competitors. Like its competitors who also have behavioral detection systems, however, Norton allows you to opt out of anonymously submitting your data without sacrificing the protection that Quorum provides. Third-party detection and removal ratings are not available for this new version, but last year's results placed Norton in the upper echelon for efficacy.

The premium services in Norton Internet Security include a firewall, add-on parental controls through OnlineFamily.Norton, Wi-Fi protection for unsecured hot spots, and identity protection including antiphishing tools and browser search result authentication for Internet Explorer and Firefox. Although Norton lacks a searchable knowledge base, e-mail, IM, and phone support are available, as well as the well-trafficked Symantec forums. A single license is good for three computers, making Norton a competitive choice for families with more than one PC. With the trial doubled from 15 days to 30, Norton Internet Security should be a top consideration for any multicomputer family.
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GetGo Download Manager

For users who download a great deal of content, there are always headaches in the process. No matter how fast your computer runs, downloading seems to slow down and complicate matters. GetGo Download Manager proved to be worthy of the task of taming the download process.


This freeware program will not be immediately noticed, as it comes as a command button on your Internet browser. But even then, this program doesn't come alive until users attempt to download music, movies, pictures, or other forms of media. A box will open asking if the user wants to use GetGo to download. From there, they are sent to a screen that shows what you are downloading, how large it is, where it comes from and how long it will take. At the bottom of the screen is a monitor of how much bandwidth this is taking. To the left is a navigation screen to look at all downloads past, present, and on hold. We appreciated the range of options for managing downloads, including picking the download folder, sorting videos into categories, and renaming files.

We were very impressed with the performance GetGo provided, as it lived up to its billing and downloaded media at a much quicker rate than expected. The program is organized in a very intuitive way and does a nice job of sorting out jobs. We highly recommend this program for any user who frequently downloads flash video files.
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Orbit Downloader 2.8.20

Downloading videos, Flash games, and large batches of files is greatly simplified with this freeware download manager, but Firefox users may have difficulty with integration.

Orbit's primary interface is bland, but the basic toolbar and info boxes guarantee everything is easy to find. Orbit shines with Internet Explorer integration. To get a media file, simply right-click a video or photo and choose Download from your context menu. Grabbing a Flash game is even easier. Hover over a Flash file, and Orbit displays a button for a fast download.


Fast and small are key traits of this application. It uses a bare minimum of memory, and downloads are much faster than with a browser alone. Where Orbit shines is its one-button simplicity for downloading multiple files on a site. From there, you can easily filter for file type. Orbit's numerous configuration options make it one of the more flexible download managers available.

Although designed to integrate with the IE, Firefox, Opera and Maxthon, we had great difficulty getting Orbit to work seamlessly with Firefox. We finally gave up trying to get the Flash download feature to work. Nevertheless, anyone downloading large numbers of files will find this freeware indispensable.
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DivX 7 for Windows 7.2

DivX 7 for Windows is a free software download that provides everything you need to watch digital videos on your computer. In addition to playback of any DivX video, DivX 7 for Windows enables you to watch H.264 (.mkv) files, the new standard for true HD digital video. The DivX 7 for Windows download includes:


DivX Player to watch HD videos on your PC; DivX Community Codec and Filters to watch HD videos in your favorite software media player; DivX Web Player to watch DivX videos in your web browser; DivX Converter (15-day trial) to convert to DivX video in one easy step; DivX Pro Codec (15-day trial) to create DivX videos in your favorite video editing applications. Users may purchase DivX Pro 7 for Windows ($19.99 USD) to receive unlimited use of the DivX Converter and DivX Pro Codec. DivX playback is always free.

Quick specs:
# Price: Free to try (15-day trial of DivX converter, 6-month trial of the DivX Pro Codec); $19.99 to buy (Buy it now)
# Operating system: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7


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Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 9.0.0.415

Consistently at or near the top of independent efficacy testers, Avira's AntiVir remains one of the best freeware security solutions around. Its scans are flexible, allowing the user to fully scan both internal and external hard drives, run a preloaded scan--for rootkits, for example--or customize a scan. The latest version introduces antispyware protections, scanning tech that can crack open "locked" files, improved internal security to prevent AntiVir's files from being maliciously altered, and one-click threat removal--no more baby-sitting.


There are few interface changes in version 9, and older users are not likely notice anything different in the interface besides a refreshed banner logo. The main window offers a left side navigation with drop-down menus and a central pane for more detailed information. AntiVir opens to the Status menu, informing you of your last scan, your last definition file update, whether the real-time guard is active, and premium upgrade link. Events logs changes to the program and the Reports tab keeps a history of threats. Both are exportable.

The Local Protection and Administration navigation options reveal the Scanner, Guard, Quarantine, and Scheduler features. Combined with the Configuration button located at the top of the central pane, users can customize their scans as necessary. Quarantined file information is on display, with options to scan it again, restore, delete, and e-mail the file to Avira. The rebuilt heuristic engine retains the same choices from the previous version's, and can be turned on or off in part or in full and offers three intensity levels. The scheduler offers much that other free antivirus programs don't, and the help features are excellent, with mouse-over information on each feature.

Savvy users will notice the removal of the on-demand e-mail scan, and AntiVir is still challenging to fully uninstall. Despite these hang-ups and the nag screen that follows definition file updates, AntiVir offers such effective protection and a well-rounded set of features that as long as the updates keep coming, it'll be our first line of defense.

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YouTube Downloader 2.5.3

This simple freeware application works pretty well, given how basic the interface is. It has two main features: to download FLV files from YouTube, and to convert them to most major formats.

If there's a YouTube URL in your clipboard, it will automatically paste it for you when you click on the dialog box. From there, just hit OK and the downloading will commence. One more left-click is all it takes to load the file in the converter, which supports iPhone, iPod, PSP, cell phone, AVI, MP3, WMV, and Xvid. Surprisingly, there's also a basic video editor for cropping videos by time stamp. You can also cut out the sound when converting.

This is one of the lightest editors around, but the simplistic interface belies its functionality and it performs exactly as advertised. We'd like to see support in future editions for hunting down missing codecs, and version 2.1.5 and earlier won't work because of embed code changes on YouTube itself. Still, the YouTube Downloader is proof that not only is video-making accessible to everyone, so is video downloading and editing.


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AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 9.0.704

AVG Free provides the bare necessities when it comes to security, but that should be enough for savvy Windows users. You'll get a combined antivirus and antimalware engine, LinkScanner, and e-mail scanning. AVG Free 9 introduces a few new features, with improvements focused on performance, including claims of faster scan and boot times. One new feature is the Identity Theft Recovery Unit. Only for users in the United States, ITRU is a business partnership with Identity Guard which provides "consumer identity theft solutions," accessible only from the AVG toolbar in Firefox and Internet Explorer.


The interface is nearly unchanged from the last version, and generally it's easy to use. From the main window, though, you must double-click to get further information on any feature, whether virus scanning, LinkScanner settings, or updating. Streamlining this to one click would be helpful. A scheduling utility automates both scans and updates, while the upgrade ad at the screen's bottom can be easily hidden using the Hide Notification button. When starting a scan, a slider makes it easy to jump between Slow, Automatic, and Fast scans: the faster the scan, the less comprehensive it is, so users should take advantage of the scan optimization that is recommended during installation to speed up that first scan. A progress meter for regular scans would've been useful, though. Should a virus create serious problems, AVG creates a rescue disk to scan your computer in MS-DOS mode.

The LinkScanner feature protects you from third-party code exploits before they load in your browser and for ranking search results. Annoyingly, when you install its optional toolbar, it commandeers your new-tab page, decidedly inappropriate behavior. The program doesn't obviously tax your system when scanning or when running in the background, although CNET Labs determined that it will significantly slow down your system's boot time, and slightly delay shutting down. AVG also detected some image files as threats, when two other scans decided they weren't--we decided these were false positives. AVG might not be the fastest or the most effective free security option, but it still gets the job done and you're better off with it.

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E-Zsoft DVD to iPod Converter 5.0.25

E-Zsoft DVD to iPod Converter provides an easy and completed way to Convert/Rip your DVD to iPod video format and transfer to iTunes directly. All encoders/decoders are built-in that you can convert all supported formats once downloading the DVD to iPod Converter. DVD To iPod Converter with a user-friendly and easy-to-use converter interface, even for untrained users, they can use it easy.


Version 5.0.25 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.

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