Figuring out how to speed up your PC can be a complex process, requiring plenty of time and expertise. Are your system's performance problems down to dated drivers, unnecessary software, hard drive clutter, Registry issues, or something else entirely? It'll probably take considerable effort before you find out.

But maybe there's a simpler solution. Run Uniblue PowerSuite 2011 and it'll scan your system for hundreds of speed-sapping problems, then fix them all at a click, helping you to maintain your PCs performance with the absolute minimum of hassle.

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It's safe to say that cloud computing can handle the extraordinary. The Internet as a storage medium has dozens of possibilities, and boundaries are constantly being pushed to link up the cloud to your desktop: get lightning fast protection against the latest threats (Panda Cloud AntiVirus), synchronise files and folders between multiple computers effortlessly (Windows Live Mesh or IDriveSync), collaborate remotely (TeamDrive) or just have quick and easy access to various cloud-based storage providers (Gladinet Cloud Desktop).

Sometimes though, you don't want to push boundaries. If you're the kind of person who likes to share files -- images, video or documents -- with friends, family or co-workers, then we have a cloud-based solution that is simple, neat and quick. There's nothing particularly revolutionary or sophisticated involved, just a neat, tidy and effortless solution. Say hello to CloudApp.

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Sparrow, the minimalist mail application for Mac, has left beta and been officially released through the Mac App Store for an introductory price of $9.99. It offers a streamlined user interface through a window that pops up from the program's Dock icon, cutting out the clutter and delivering an unfussed experience to collecting, reading and sending mail.

Version 1.0 currently only supports Gmail accounts -- support for other mobile providers, including Mobile Me, AOL and Yahoo!, along with general IMAP accounts is promised for version 1.1, which is about to undergo private beta testing.

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After much anticipation, the BBC has released a dedicated app for accessing its iPlayer service. A dedicated app has been promised for some time and the iPad version closely resembles the desktop version of the software. Using the BBC iPlayer app it is possible to access live television and radio broadcasts as well as programs from the last seven days.

Video quality is very high, and it is perhaps for this reason that BBC iPlayer can only be used over a WiFi connection. The lack of 3G support may also be down to the fact that there is not an iPhone version of the app available, but bearing in mind the file sizes involved, the connectivity issue may be a good thing for anyone using a limit data tariff.

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Especially in retrospect, Internet Explorer really did used to suck. Even though browsers were all about standards from the beginning, Microsoft used to think of it purely as a vehicle for pushing proprietary features. Not anymore. IE9 Release Candidate is available, today, and things really are different.

Microsoft's public relations and technical docs for IE9 are all about high performance, security and safety and a high level of standards compliance. It's too early to tell if it really is as good at these characteristics as they say it is, but they are at the very least saying the right things.

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For those of us who spend far too much time in front of the computer, it's easy to forget about the dangers of gluing yourself to your desk. There's the dreaded RSI acronym, as your hands and wrists succumb after all those hours of typing and mouse clicking. What about your eyes? We all blink less when staring at the screen, which isn't good news either. And then there's the lack of exercise as you sit hunched over the keyboard ignoring the strains your body are going under.

The solution already exists: take regular mini breaks from your computer, try stretching and walking about and tear your eyes away from the screen long enough for them to regain such much needed moisture. But while the theory is good, putting it into practice is more difficult -- how will you remind yourself to take those all-important breaks? The answer for Linux and Windows users lies with Workrave.

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Agnitum has released version 7.1 of its flagship product, Outpost Security Suite FREE. It's a maintenance upgrade for the most part, with under-the-hood bug fixes and minor tweaks, but there are some notable exceptions.

Top of the list is the inclusion of a second anti-malware engine. The suite now includes one antivirus engine, and a second focused on spyware, adware and trojans. The company claimed in a blog post that this offers "double the protection" and "more targeted security for Windows users"; there are no related controls or options exposed in the interface, though, so you can continue to use Outpost Security Suite as you always have.

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Gladinet has announced the release of version 3.0 of Gladinet Cloud Desktop, a tool for accessing various online cloud storage providers through Windows. Version 3.0 introduces some new features, including a new Cloud Sync Folder for Professional users, as well as a completely redesigned interface designed to make the process simpler and more intuitive.

Gladinet Cloud Desktop allows end users to access a number of popular online cloud storage providers, including Google Docs, Windows Live Skydrive, Box.net and Amazon S3 storage, through a single drive in Windows itself. Each service is allocated its own folder within the specially created My Gladinet Storage drive and acts like any other folder, making it easy to access or copy files to and from each storage provider.

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Skype is a great tool for making free and low-cost calls using your computer, but there are two major features missing: voicemail and the ability to record your calls for whatever reason. Sure, you can purchase a call plan for access to voicemail, but why do that when you can get both features for free?

Pamela Basic is a cut-down version of Skype recording software, but it still allows you to record up to 15 minutes of a Skype conversation plus add voicemail functionality to Skype for free. There's also a custom voice-recording tool that can be used outside of Skype to record whatever it is you're saying or listening too.

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The concept of taking remote control of one computer from another is nothing new -- NetMeeting predates Windows 98 -- but the goalposts keep changing and one version of Windows won't necessarily play nice with another, never mind non-Windows platforms.

TeamViewer eliminates all these problems in one sweep, offering a single solution for sharing presentations, offering remote support or simply dialling home to retrieve a forgotten file or set the DVR. It works across Windows, Macintosh and Linux systens, and can even be accessed via a web browser or mobile device. Best of all, it's free for personal use.

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Microsoft Office is such a comprehensive and powerful suite that at one time it was hard to imagine there would ever be a free equivalent. Fast forward to 2011, though, and we actually have a choice of two (well, sort of). OpenOffice.org, of course, has been around for years, but it's also recently produced an arguably more interesting spinoff, in The Document Foundation's LibreOffice 3.3. This is based on the same code (though with a few additions of its own), so if you've ever used OpenOffice then LibreOffice will seem very familiar.

There are the same core six applications, for instance: Write handles your word processing needs; Calc is a powerful spreadsheet; Impress can create presentations and slideshows; Draw is a vector graphics tool for creating diagrams, flow charts and more; Base is a database management application, and Math allows you to create and edit mathematical equations.

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The free Mac antivirus market continues to expand with Comodo joining Sophos in releasing a free antivirus program for Mac users. Comodo Antivirus for Mac isn't yet a finished product, but a public beta has been released for the purpose of testing ahead of a general release.

Comodo Antivirus for Mac offers the usual protection offered by antivirus solutions: real-time protection in the form of scanning all files as they are accessed, plus scheduled and manual scanning, with two levels of scan available: critical (covering areas likely to harbour infections) and full, (which scans the entire hard drive). There's a quarantine section for suspicious files, full logging and support for both scan profiles and tweaking of scanner settings.

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Rainmeter 2.0, an open-source desktop widget tool for Windows, has been released. Version 2.0 was originally developed as version 1.4, but the developers decided to make it a major release due to the changes implemented, plus to celebrate the second anniversary of the project's "re-birth."

Rainmeter 2.0 has been repackaged so that a single installation file covers both 32- and 64-bit Windows builds as well as an optional portable installer option. The installer has also been shrunk considerably by removing the two default "theme" packages from Rainmeter and distributing them separately. Instead, Rainmeter now comes bundled with a simple starter theme called Illustro.

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Install Sumatra PDF 1.3, the latest version of the popular open-source PDF reader, and at first glance it'll look much as it always did. (Yellow, mainly.) But don't be fooled. The new build has plenty of worthwhile improvements and tweaks just beneath the surface.

The package now uses the libjpeg-turbo library instead of libjpeg, for instance, which means that non-greyscale embedded JPEGs will typically be decompressed two to four times faster than in the previous version.

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If you're looking to monitor your Mac's system resources, then your first thought will be to access the built-in Activity Monitor tool. It'll list all running processes, plus reveals the state of play with key hardware components, namely CPU, memory, disk activity and usage, and network traffic. That's fine and dandy for the average user, but what if you need more information -- or want more control over those running processes? The solution lies in the free system monitoring tool, atPurpose Monitor.

atPurpose Monitor lists everything Apple's own Activity Monitor does, but it does it better: processes are split off from hardware monitoring into their own dedicated window, while the Activity Viewer, which can sit in the menu bar or float on-screen, displays all of the key hardware information you need without having to switch tabs to view it all. It also displays the three most demanding system processes, letting you see which programs are currently hogging system resources, and it can be configured to display both CPU and GPU temperature too. Roll the mouse over the RAM entry, and you can flush the disk caches and reclaim physical RAM -- choose Purge RAM to do so.

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