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Many file types support metadata, special tags that provide more information about their contents. A digital photo JPEG may reference the model of camera that took it, for instance; an MP3 might detail the album where it was originally released; PDF documents will often include tags mentioning their title and author.

In some cases you’ll be able to view at least part of this metadata from Explorer (right-click, select Properties > Details). For full control, though, you’ll typically have to go back to an application that specializes in that particular file type: an image editor for JPEGs, an ID3 tag manager for MP3s, and so on. Unless, that is, you have a copy of ExifTool.

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We’re approaching the end of 2011, so it should come as no surprise that developers are pushing out their 2012 products. Uniblue is a company synonymous with system utilities, and the newly announced 2012 product lines bring a number of important updates to all of the key programs. SpeedUpMyPC 2012,DriverScanner and RegistryBooster are all available as individual tools, but there is also the money saving PowerSuite 2012 which incorporates each of these utilities into a single suite.

As the name hints at fairly strongly, SpeedUpMyPC is concerned with boosting the performance of Windows. This is achieved by optimizing network and hard drive settings, amongst other things, and you are guided through the whole optimization process. Additional performance boosts can be achieved by turning to Uniblue RegistryBooster 2012 which can be used to defragment, trim and optimize the registry. There’s also DriverScanner which automates the process of keeping your system’s drivers up to date.

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Online storage services can be a great way to share documents or back up key files. Of course they all have their own interfaces and clients, though, so if you use more than one then you’ll have plenty of software to install and master.

But maybe it doesn’t have to be that way. Cloud Turtle (from Genie9, the company behind the Genie Timeline backup package) doesn’t only work with Genie9′s own Timeline Cloud service, where it enables you to search your backed up files, restore any you need, stream music and videos, and more. It also delivers equally strong functionality with both Amazon S3 and Nirvanix accounts.

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SiSoftware has released the latest version of its flagship system information and benchmarking utility, Sandra 2012.

Upgrades to this kind of tool are normally rather dull, just adding support for this CPU, that graphics card or various other items of hardware. But Sandra 2012 is different -- it's packed with genuinely worthwhile improvements and additions.

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Bloodrop greatly simplifies the process of sharing a file in your Dropbox public folder when using a Mac. It’s a small system dock application that enables you to share files to your public folder by simply dragging and dropping them onto the dock icon.

This copies the file to your Dropbox public folder and adds the all important public link to the clipboard, ready for you to paste it into an IM conversation or an email.

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Watching TV using the Internet is nothing new, but sometimes you can’t access the channel you’d like to view from where you are. The simplest way to watch any form of television on your computer is with a TV tuner --whether it’s cable, satellite or terrestrial, it gives you access to the widest possible range of channels, including those you subscribe to.

Now, imagine being able to take that TV signal and watch it from anywhere you like: another computer on your network perhaps, a DLNA-certified device like your PS3 maybe, or even your mobile phone or tablet. The good news is there are a number of options, ranging from free (MediaPortal) to paid-for (DVBLink TV Source), which you can test for free for up to 20 days.

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The idea of tracking exactly when a PC is turned on or off doesn’t exactly sound like it’ll make the most interesting of applications. But give it a try and you’ll find Neuber Software’s PC On/Off Time really can be surprisingly useful.

If you use a particular system for work-related tasks, for instance, then finding a way to track its uptime could help you to complete a timesheet or prepare billing information. Maybe you’re wondering precisely how much time your kids spend on their computer? Again, PC On/Off Time should be able to reveal all.

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If you’re interested in finding great free PC games then you could just start browsing the many gaming websites and forums available online. There’s a lot of competition, though, so it may take quite some time.

But a smarter option, at least initially, might be to use the portable Game Downloader, a tiny client which provides easy point-and-click access to more than 100 of the best free PC games around, with more being added all the time.

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Time is definitely money when it comes to providing support in a medium to large enterprise. Auslogics OnCluster ensures that downtimes, slow PCs and frustrated employees calling the support desk are kept to the bare minimum by providing easy to supply centralized maintenance and real time support.

Auslogics OnCluster is based upon the company’s very successful range of home maintenance and support products that help automate common tasks like finding and removing registry and hard drive errors and defragmenting them both.

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Apple’s iTunes may not be everyone’s favorite music player or media management tool, but for millions of iPod, iPad and iPhone owners it is the software they use to work with their music collection. We have all experienced problems with MP3s to one degree or another -- a library littered with duplicate tracks, albums that have no ID3 tags, tracks with misspelt name to name but a few -- and this is something that Real Networks’ Rinse can help with.

This is an Adobe Air application that can be used to analyze and fix your music library, comparing the information attached to your files with an extensive online database. If you are the sort of person who likes to remain in control of what is happening with your computer, you may want to work through your music collection one track at a time, confirming any suggested changes that Rinse comes up with.

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GFI Software today unveiled the latest editions of the company’s security products, VIPRE Antivirus 2012 and VIPRE Internet Security 2012.

And while much of the competition tries to win you over by adding ever more malware-hunting features, GFI takes a different tack, concentrating just on the basics, but making them as simple to use as possible.

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Postbox 3.0 has been released for both Windows and Mac users. This commercial mail client is aimed at those who rely heavily on email and who find the various free email tools, such as Thunderbird or the clients supplied by OS X and earlier versions of Windows too restrictive.

Postbox 3.0’s headline new feature concerns tighter integration with numerous third-party apps and services, including Gmail, Dropbox and a range of popular social networks. It also includes handful of interface tweaks designed to take better advantage of new features in Windows and OS X, plus throws in a handful of minor new improvements.

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Plex, Inc has announced the release of version 0.9.5 of its freeware cross-platform media browsing suite. Now split into two distinct programs, Plex Media Server and Plex Media Center, as well as a mobile app for Android and iOS, Plex 0.9.5 introduces a number of new features as well as major changes behind the scenes.

One key new feature -- the creation of a myPlex account -- aims to make accessing your media content remotely over the internet a simpler task, while PC users can now access their media collections via the first Windows build of Plex Media Center.

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One of the curses of modern day life is remembering, storing and managing passwords. Whether you use a password manager, store passwords in your browser or try to remember the lot, there are always challenges. Storing in your browser is the easiest option, but how can you be sure that they’re safe? Secure Login for Firefox is a very handy extra layer of security.

Like Opera’s magic wand, Secure Login helps you to log into sites where you’ve already saved your username and password in Firefox. If you have an account stored, when you rest the mouse pointer over the key icon to the left of the address bar, you’ll see if it's available to login. Just click this button to securely authenticate yourself on this site.

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Emulation is nothing new: as soon as 16-bit computers like the Atari ST or Amiga came on to the scene, coders attempted to emulate their 8-bit forebears like the Spectrum or Commodore 64. Nowadays both 8-bit and 16-bit machines are themselves emulated on PC and Mac, while Windows has gone so far as to now emulate its own predecessor, DOS, in the form of DOSBox.

It’s now becoming possible for Windows users to emulate certain mobile devices on their desktop. BlueStacks App Player lets Windows users emulate Android, while a brand new open-source app aims to do something similar for Apple’s iPad. Enter, stage left, iPadian.

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