Microsoft has released the first customer preview of Office Mix, a free PowerPoint 2013/Office 365 add-in which makes it easier to create and share your presentations.

There are new tools to record you giving your presentations, draw on slides as though they were a whiteboard, add audio or video, take screenshots or record what’s happening on the desktop, all available from the Mix tab on the PowerPoint ribbon.

Screen to Gif is a free portable tool which allows you to record desktop activity, edit it, then share the results.

As you’ll guess from the name, the program saves its recordings as animated GIFs, which means they’re limited to 256 colors and can’t include audio. That’s just fine for simple animations, though -- software tutorials, problem reports -- and Screen to Gif has more than enough interesting extras to justify the download.

Cloud backup and sync provider Dropbox is almost ready to unleash its next major update on Windows, Mac and Linux users. Dropbox Experimental Build 2.8.0 is now at the Release Candidate stage, and may even ship in its current state if no issues show up between now and its planned release date.

Version 2.8.0 debuts a number of improvements to the program installer, informs the user when the hard drive is full and offers new icons in the pop-up menu that sits in the user’s Notification area or menubar.

Panda Security has announced the release of Panda Cloud Antivirus 3.0, the latest edition of its popular cloud-based antivirus tool.

As with many other security packages, the program now has a Windows 8-style interface. Panda has made a better job of it than most, though: it looks good, is easy to use, and you can even drag the tiles around to rearrange them.

If you’re the kind of person who has to hurriedly switch off their monitor whenever anyone comes near, you need Bagrify’s AntiSnooper 1.1. This free tool makes it possible to obscure selected program windows whenever they’re not in focus, hiding whatever sensitive information you may have to hide.

It’s perfect for both business and home use, and runs on any PC with Windows XP or later installed.

PC access is usually restricted with a plain text password, but this isn’t the only option. Windows 8 users can already create a picture password, where they log in by drawing custom gestures (with a fingertip, or the mouse) over their chosen image.

If you’re not using Windows 8, then installing Eusing Maze Lock similarly protects your lock screen with a smartphone-like pattern password, this time using custom swipes over a 3×3 grid of dots.

It’s a tough world for CD rippers. Windows Media Player already handles most basic ripping needs all on its own, so developers really need to layer on the extras if they want to attract attention.

It can still be done, though, with a little work -- and FreeRIP is a good example.

Windows has included a basic slideshow-type screensaver for many years, and it’s always been very easy to set up. Choose a source folder, maybe a display speed, and that’s it: your PC will begin showing your digital photos whenever the screensaver kicks in.

While this works just fine, it’s a little -- okay, extremely -- limited. But there is an alternative. The free JPEG Saver can also be set up in a flash to display a quick and easy slideshow. But it can also customize what happens next in just about any way you like.

Those looking to build a low-cost, lightweight media server will be pleased to see that OpenELEC 4.0.0 (32-bit) and OpenELEC 4.0.0 (64-bit) have been released.

OpenELEC provides a complete Linux-based distribution based around XBMC that takes up a mere 125MB thanks to the fact it’s designed specifically for running XBMC and nothing else. Version 4.0.0 includes the recently released XBMC 13.0 FINAL and includes several under-the-hood changes of significance.

WinSetupFromUSB is a free tool which creates bootable USB keys from ISO images, perfect for anyone who wants a faster and more convenient way to launch PC boot discs.

As you’ll guess from its name, the program started life as a way to prepare USB keys to install Windows. It still does that very well, too, for every version from Windows 2000 to 8.1.

Remember McAfee? You know, the company whose AV software you couldn't remove from your computer fast enough after picking up an off-the-shelf model? The firm was founded by the now infamous John McAfee, although he has not actually been associated with it in anything other than name for quite some time now. In fact he has become better known for a series of bizarre incidents that saw him accused of manufacturing drugs, mentioned in association with a murder and becoming a fugitive who was concerned that the police were going to kill him.

Sounds like the sort of person you'd like to make an app for your phone? Well, the man is back and this time he, or at least his company Future Tense, has come up with Chadder -- yet another messaging app. But this is a messaging app with a difference. The focus is, allegedly, on privacy, security and encryption. The company's motto is "Say what you want! ⋇⊮ ≩⋉⊱∪≀ ⋘≫≯⋌∹∦ ≎⋡⋔∪≙∼≉{] (We can’t see it anyway!)". My, those symbols really do trip off the tongue.

Athentech Imaging is best known for its Perfectly Clear Photoshop/ Lightroom plugins, clever tools which can optimize thousands of photos, entirely automatically.

At $199 each, this technology isn’t for everyone. But if you’d like to get a feel for how it works, Athentech is currently working on a standalone equivalent, Perfectly Clear Desktop, and the beta is free to download and try.

After a relatively short two-month period in beta, Team XBMC has released XBMC 13.0 FINAL. Codenamed "Gotham", XBMC 13 is packed full of new features and improvements across all platforms.

The open-source cross-platform media powerhouse gains support for Android hardware decoding, and stereoscopic 3D rendering, plus promises improved touchscreen support, UPnP capabilities and a radically reworked audio engine.

Microsoft has released OneNote for Mac 15.1, the first major update to its note-taking tool that was released back in March.

Version 15.1 comes with printing support, a new Format Painter tool and support for embedding web links. It’s joined by OneNote for iPhone 2.2.1, which is now capable of creating notebooks and sections from scratch as well as bundling Office Lens functionality for document scanning.

WindowsX has refreshed its pair of skinning tools with the dual release of Windows 8 UX Pack 8.1 for PCs running Windows 7, and Windows 8 Transformation Pack 8.1 for earlier versions of Windows, including XP.

The latest version of the tools, which aim to give users the Windows 8.1 look and feel in earlier versions of Windows, have been updated to squash bugs and generally improve each pack’s stability.