Spyware Doctor is one of those untils which you either love or you hate. It’s doing a necessary job; all PCs suffer from malware of some kind almost all the time, it’s just a case of how badly it affects performance. The only way to be totally free of it is to scan regularly OR you can have a program do it for you.

Spyware Doctor is one of the auto scanners, and it nips infection with spyware (also adware, Trojan horses, keyloggers, spyware cookies, adbots, spybots, browser hijackers, phishing attacks) and other malware in the bud, live, instantly and as it happens.

It does cost $29.95 to buy once the trial has finished, but it does provide you with very clean machines, and if you run a few of them then some kind of automatic spyware solution might be the only answer. Spyware Doctor is fast, efficient, clearly laid out and does the job beautifully.

For more info scan over to: PC Tools

If you have a need to make a DVD, then you need a DVD maker. Not many applications, even DVD burning programs, have the ability to make (or author) a DVD. Normally you have to use custom DVD authoring software, and while software such as this is coming down in price, it is still not very widespread or cheap. Video DVD Maker FREE is in fact free, so in that sense the price is definitely attractive.

The program lets you capture video from video sources, like TV tuners, webcams, DV cameras, and also import video files from Microsoft AVI, DIVX, XVID, MP4, MPG, Windows Media WMV, ASF, and Quicktime MOV.

This is a great utility and does this one job really well. Obviously it’s designed to make you want to upgrade to the Pro version, which you can for a price, but if you want to you can just use the Free version for ever. This is a much better idea than time limited versions of software; give out a cut-down special edition and a Pro version, and charge only for the Pro version.

Get your free download at the web site http://www.videodvdmaker.com

Easy Divx to DVD takes Divx movies off your hard disk and turns them into DVDs, it burns them right to disc right out of the program. It will also convert them to a disc image so you can burn the films to disc later with another program. You can convert Avi, Div, DivX, and XVid into DVD automatically. It supports NTSC and PAL, 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios, plus you can add letterbox to keep the original aspect ratio on a 4:3 screen.

Obviously there are many different applications for a program like this, ahem, but the main one is of course burning movies and videos you get over the Internet onto DVD. Of course some of the files that people download as Divx are illegal copies of commercial movies, and of course one can’t publically endorse that, but obviously these things happen. And if they DO happen, then this software is the way that you burn the movies to disc.

The program supports Vista and XP and is a shareware program which you can register for $24.95. Get the download from here.

GvsE 3 is a game from Jonathan Smelby, who is the apparent founder of Jonny Comics, Inc. who I assume has made GvsE 1 and 2. The title actually stands for Good Versus Evil, which makes it sound like a great, fantastic epic on the level of Star Wars. 

Well, it’s not. However, it is an excellent parody and full of fun. You can tell from the intro: “It seems like only yesterday. In fact, it was yesterday.” You play Buddy McCraken, a little orange ball of clay who has hands and feet, yet no arms or legs. From the information that I learned in the cutscenes, Buddy works for Mission Control, and has to stop the evil Dr. Ampere in his fortified fortress. Dr. Ampere has this gigantic ray that he will use to destroy the moon in about six hours or so. It’s kind of like the reverse of Dr. Evil’s plot in Austin Powers 2. Why he wants to destroy the moon is beyond me. (more…)

Audacity is a free audio editor which offers multi-tracking recording, mixing and applying of effects. It’s interface is very intuitive to use. It supports import/export of file formats like Aiff, Ogg Vorbis, wav, Mp3, Midi and other sound formats but it doesn’t support WMA format and uses the third party Lame encoder for MP3 conversion because of copyright issues. (more…)

If you’ve ever wanted an aquarium but don’t have the space or patience, then here’s the perfect screensaver for you. Welcome to your first 3D aquarium. (more…)

Ever wanted to call a friend but they live too far away or something and you don’t wanna pay for long distance? Then you’ll like this! Skype is a popular program for voice chatting over your PC. All you need is a microphone and a friend to chat with. (more…)

Iconoid is a neat little freeware program that runs on startup in the taskbar and can be set to keep the desktop icons hidden until you click on the desktop. It means your can see your wallpaper without messy icons in the way, as well as keeping your desktop looking a lot tidier.

One tip: set it so it keeps your icons hidden until you actually click on the desktop, and also so it hides itself on startup. All in all it’s a very customizable small program that can help your desktop look more neat and tidy.

Highly recommended for any neat freaks or wallpaper fans who want things to look a little tidier.

Second Life is a very impressive “life simulation” game, you sign up (free), download the software and then you create your character which can be very detailed. You can change every aspect of their appearance which is fun in itself. Then comes more fun, walking around the game world, and after you get used to it its pretty cool as you can build a house, get a job, make friends, do just about anything that you could do in real life, and i do mean anything!

When i first saw this i thought it would be just another “sims” type game that would lose its appeal pretty fast, but, man, i was wrong! As i ended up staying in my “second life” that entire first day! The only downside is that if you have an internet connection that slows down at times, the game can slow down a lot. (more…)

This is the 30 day trial version of the Paint Shop Pro software, but in a special edition which specializes in photo treatment. No, it’s not a Photo Paint Shop, that’s too close to home, but it does feature a number of ways to make your scanned or digital photos look nicer. There are overall tools which adjust the contrast and coloration all over the picture with very little real control, but also fine-tuning controls which give you very precise creative control over your images.

A lot of the filters are automatic pushbutton affairs, meaning that very little tuition is necessary. Although just to make sure Corel have included an extensive Learning Center which runs you through the basics to get you quickly acquainted with the new features. 

Find out more and download Paint Shop Pro Photo you can here.