Nick Peers

Cloud-based file sync and sharing solutions are not exactly thin on the ground, as any user of Wuala, AVG LiveKive, Dropbox, SugarSync and SpiderOak will tell you. That's why being able to stand out from the crowd is especially important in this cramped marketplace.

YouSendIt has carved a unique niche for itself by offering services you won't find in rival products, such as its "Send a file" service and options for annotating selected documents with text, images and even an electronically scrawled signature. Until recently, much of this functionality was restricted to your web browser, but YouSendIt has just released two new free apps for Windows and iPhone to accompany its existing YouSendIt Express application, which runs on both Windows and Mac.

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London-based ZABKAT Software has released version 2.0 of its Windows Explorer replacement tool. xplorer2 2.0 includes a number of notable new features and improvements, including support for dockable and floating panes.

xplorer2, which costs $29.95 and is also available as a 64-bit build, also utilizes the native preview handlers found in Vista and Windows 7 to deliver improved document previews, notably with PDF and Office files. Also new in version 2.0 are dual bookmarks, tab locking, context menu extensions and faster file browser operations.

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It doesn't matter how much RAM you pack into your cutting-edge PC running off a SSD disk  -- programs have a habit of gobbling up all the resources they can get their hands on, resulting in sluggish performance and a sudden desire to take a pickaxe to your digital companion.

You can often diagnose problematic programs simply by opening Task Manager to review which ones are currently swallowing up all your RAM and CPU cycles, but it only works in real time. If you want to be able to monitor selected applications and processes over a more extended period of time, try Kiwi Application Monitor 1.4.6.

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Oracle has announced a major update to its open-source, cross-platform virtualization software. VirtualBox 4.1, which allows users to run different operating systems in virtual environments through a window, boasts a number of major new features, including support for VM cloning and an experimental WDDM graphics driver providing Windows Aero support in Windows guests. There's also a networking mode (UDP tunnel) that's designed to allow VMs running on different hosts to connect easily and transparently.

In addition to these new features, VirtualBox 4.1 sports some user-interface improvements, including the ability to keep the aspect ratio scaled in Windows and Mac OS X hosts when manually resizing the guest window. In addition to this it features numerous bug fixes and other minor tweaks.

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EASEUS has released a public beta of its Todo Backup 3.0 software. Version 3.0 adds a number of major new features to this versatile backup application, which is capable of backing up and cloning entire disks and partitions as well as offering file-based backup tools.

EASEUS Todo Backup 3.0 Beta adds support for dynamic disks while improving compatibility with SSD drives, and adds one-click options for system backup and restore as well as migrating a drive image to new hardware.

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Apple has updated its Safari browser for Windows and Snow Leopard Mac users to version 5.1, bringing it in line with the versionbundled with the new Lion OS X release. Despite this, many features found in Lion won't be present in this build, such as sandboxing, full-screen browsing and multi-touch gestures.

The update does include a new process architecture designed to make Safari more responsive and stable. It also boasts a number of new features, including Resume (restore last browsing session when launching Safari), Reading List (add interesting webpages and links for reading later) and a new privacy pane, designed to make it easier to scrub cookies and other data left on your system by websites.

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Mathias Svensson has released version 1.10 of his Windows file management tool, Multi Commander. It's a notable release for being the first build to be made publicly available as freeware, and also features a number of notable new tools and improvements.

Multi Commander 1.10 contains over 180 changes according to the author, including a new Folder Tree feature, which adds a folder tree option to each of Multi Commander's two window panes. Also new in version 1.10 is customizable file colors based on the file name as well as a new column listing additional information from IMDB and RottenTomatoes.com for identifiable movies.

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Everyone with writing sensibilities dreams of becoming a published author. Magazine publishing houses are full of frustrated novelists "getting by" writing magazine and online articles while trying to find time to cram in a novel or two.

The self-publishing route is nothing new, but it's only now you can actually get published for no upfront costs by publishing digitally using a service like Lulu. The problem is, Lulu wants to distribute your finished work in the EPUB format, and if your manuscript is in Word format, how can you avoid paying a hefty fee in order to generate the required file? The answer lies in a simple, open-source and cross-platform solution called Sigil.

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Adobe has released public betas of the next generation of both Adobe Flash Player, and Adobe AIR, highlighting how the essential browser plug-in and cross-platform runtime component share similar code and technologies.

The most notable new feature is found exclusively in Flash Player 11 Beta: support for 64-bit browsers. 64-bit support has been in development since Flash 10.2, but until now has been available only as a limited pre-release build, codenamed Adobe Flash Player "Square". By incorporating it into the Beta release of Flash Player 11, Adobe has signalled its readiness for final release, due later this year.

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COMODO has made a third beta of the next version of its backup product, COMODO BackUp, available for download. The major change in COMODO BackUp 4 is the switch to a two-tier product, with a function-limited Free version now being joined by a fully functional Pro version, pricing details of which will be made available on the program's final release. At the present time, the Pro beta version functions as a 30-day trial.

This seems to be the major driver for version 4, with other improvements and changes being relatively minor, while the user interface itself remains largely unchanged from the current version 3 release.

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There are so many ways of storing your data online these days that accessing it all can become rather a chore. FTP soon gave way to accessing storage via your web browser which, while convenient in terms of not needing another program, is quite restrictive.

Such problems fuelled the development of Cyberduck. Yes, it's an FTP client, but it's also capable of giving you quickly and easy access to a wide range of other online storage providers too via a single client, including Amazon S3, Google Docs and WebDAV. Version 4.1 has just been released, promising a raft of the under-the-hood improvements, new WebDAV implementation and a tweaked user interface in Windows.

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Rogue Amoeba Software LLC has announced updates to its Airfoil application for Windows and Mac. Airfoil allows users on Windows and Macs to wirelessly stream music to compatible devices on an Apple Airport Express network, including AirTunes-connected speakers and hi-fi systems, as well as iPhones, iPod touches, iPads and other computers running the complementary AirFoil Speakers software.

The updates, which are platform specific, include a redesigned user interface in Windows for greater ease of use, plus full support for third-party Airplay devices on Mac, and greater controls for those running the free AirFoil Speakers add-on to control playback of streaming media.

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AbiSource  has announced the release of a developmental version of its popular and free cross-platform word processing application, AbiWord. Version 2.9.1 represents the first glimpse of AbiWord's journey towards a major new stable release, which is set to be version 3.0.

AbiWord 2.9.1 includes a number of notable new features, including full Unicode support in Windows (accompanied by improved localization), support for paragraph borders and shading, and an experimental EPUB plug-in, enabling users to create eBooks from existing documents in AbiWord quickly and easily.

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Opera has updated its Opera Next browser, which contains the latest developmental (and unstable) build of Opera to version 12.00. This is a pre-alpha release, and contains only a series of minor bug fixes and stability improvements, with "juicy and fresh stuff" promised for future releases.

Opera Next 12, codenamed "Wahoo" after the fish, is designed to be installed alongside the latest stable version of Opera, currently version 11.50. Opera 11.50 was released eight days ago, and has been downloaded more than 32 million times according to Opera.

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Mozilla has started the Firefox development merry-go-round again, updating its Beta, Aurora and Nightly 32-bit and 64-bit builds to versions 6, 7, and 8, respectively. Unlike the recent Firefox 5 release, version 6 introduces some visible new features, including a Permissions Manager for better privacy, while version 7 sees Firefox taking long overdue steps to address its memory consumption issues.

Once again, the question arises: Which version should you install, and what sets each release apart? Read on for our updated guide to what's happening with each version of Firefox.

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