Nick Peers

Piriform Software, best-known for its CCleaner cleaning product for PCs and Macs, has released Kamo 4.0, a major new update to its Windows privacy tool.

Kamo 4.0, which blocks online trackers through a range of tools built into a single application, has added location masking through the implementation of a basic VPN, which masks the user’s IP address and exact geographic location via an encrypted connection through another server in their own country.

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If you’re looking for an all-in-one image viewer, editor and batch converter for your Windows PC, then FastStone is the tool for you. And with the release of FastStone Image Viewer 7.6, this powerful freeware app just got a whole lot better.

Forget the point release -- 7.6 arrives more than two years after version 7.5 and could easily have been version 8.0 given the number of new and improved features. Highlights include a new database engine, rating system and pre-scan folders option.

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Security is always a hot topic, but recent world events have made it more critical than ever to review -- and potentially change -- the security you use to protect your PC. With governments worldwide reiterating their warnings about using Russian-made antivirus tools, now is the time to look for a trusted alternative, and we’ve got just the tool to protect your entire household for the next two years.

Developed in Europe, Avast Ultimate 2022 is designed to protect up to 10 devices across Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. It’s a suite of four products: Avast Premium Security 2022, Avast SecureLine VPN 2022, Avast Cleanup Premium 2022, and Avast AntiTrack Premium 2022. Combined, you get comprehensive protection from all kinds of threats, not just against malware.

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Italian developer Incomedia has released its first major point release to the Website X5 2022 line.

Both Website X5 Pro 2022.1 Pro and its cut-down sibling Website X5 Pro 2022.1 Evo introduce a new personal branding tool for individuals and businesses as well as support for integrating PayPal’s Buy Now Pay Later feature into their websites’ ecommerce stores.

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Blue-screen errors can be the hardest ones of all for Windows users to troubleshoot. Usually there’s a low-lying problem -- kernel or driver corruption, or even hardware failure. But how do you go about diagnosing the problem and finding the cure?

WhoCrashed is a tool designed to help you interpret these crashes, and with the release of WhoCrashed 7.0 Home Edition, this powerful diagnostics tool just got a lot better.

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Just over two months after unveiling its landmark 5.0 release, Vivaldi 5.1 arrives on desktop and Android with more new features.

Version 5.1 highlights two major desktop improvements -- the introduction of horizontal tab scrolling using the mouse, plus a built-in Reading List feature. Android users benefit from better performance under heavy loads and more Theme color options.

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The Document Foundation has released LibreOffice 7.3, the third major point release for its open-source, cross-platform office suite. Accompanied by the tag line, "More performance, more compatibility", the release boasts several noteworthy new features.

The key focus of this new release is better interoperability with Microsoft Office documents.

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Rambox LLC has started the New Year by relaunching its workspace consolidation tool with the release of Rambox 2.0. Available on Windows, macOS and Linux, the new app combines paid-for and free tiers within a single program for the first time.

Rambox originally launched in 2016 as an open-source beta under a 'Community Edition' banner. In 2018, a paid-for Pro version with additional functionality was added, and now Rambox has combined the two in a single program with both free and paid-for tiers.

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Open-source painting app Krita 5.0 has been released, almost four years since the 4.x branch first saw the light of day.

The cross-platform app, available for Windows, macOS and Linux, promises vastly improved performance, better gradients, a rewritten smudge brush engine and an overhauled animation system among other things.

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Screen-recording specialist TechSmith has unveiled Snagit 2022 for Windows and Snagit 2022 for Mac, a major new release of its screen capture and recording tool.

The 2022 release offers several new features, including support for cloud libraries, improved picture-in-picture recordings and cross-platform compatibility improvements enabling users to move seamlessly between Mac and Windows builds.

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The world’s most customizable browser just got a major update. Vivaldi 5.0 arrives on desktop and Android with a host of new features.

Desktop users get a brand-new Themes editor, with the ability to share custom themes with others easily, while two-level tab stacks have been added to the Android build.

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Windows 11 is here! It’s shiny, it’s new, it’s streamlined, it’s -- er -- missing some favorite features. If you’ve discovered that the new Start menu is more stop than start, and yearn for something old and familiar, then the good news is that there are options -- both paid-for and free -- to fill the gap.

Chief among these comes from renowned Windows developer Stardock. It’s just officially released Start11 v1.0. The bad news is that it’s no longer free to use now it's out of beta, but you can at least give it a trial run before deciding if $5.99 is a fair price to pay for it.

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Berlin software developer O&O Software GmbH has unveiled its latest major update to its comprehensive Windows backup tool. O&O DiskImage Professional 17.0 provides users with both file-based backup and complete drive imaging for Windows PCs, and this latest release comes with the carpet rolled out for the recently released Windows 11, sporting both full compatibility with the new operating system and a user interface designed to fit seamlessly in with Microsoft’s new design.

The interface refresh -- a common feature for new O&O releases -- opts for colorful icons in place of the minimalist look favored by the previous version. The design and color scheme follows closely the recent design changes in Windows 11 itself.

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German developer SoftMaker Software GmbH has unveiled the latest version of its free office suite for Windows, Mac and Linux. SoftMaker FreeOffice 2021 is the first major release in over three years, and provides free alternatives to the key components of Microsoft Office, namely Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

New features are thin on the ground, and form just a subset of those that accompanied the commercial release of SoftMaker Office 2021 last year.

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Windows 11 is here! Well, it is for some people. If you’re currently running Windows 10 and you navigate to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update, you’ll have already verified whether your PC meets the system requirements to receive the update.

Assuming it passes muster, Microsoft would like you to wait for the update to be offered to you. But what if you can’t wait, or want to use the opportunity to create a clean install of Windows 11? What options are available to you?

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