Free Software

Its last big release was back in 2007, but Windows weather monitor WeatherMate has jumped back to life with the release of version 4.0, and a host of major improvements.

The program can now display a vast number of detailed US radar and weather maps, organized into categories like "Current Conditions", "Forecasts", "Severe Weather", "Travel", "Health", "Aviation", "Marine", "Golf" and "Farming".

Portable start menu and program manager SyMenu has been updated to version 4.06 with new Sysinternals support.

You can now browse the full catalog of Sysinternals tools, select and download Autoruns, Process Explorer, or whatever else you need. Whatever you choose is downloaded to your USB key (or other destination), and added to the program menu.

Epic Games has announced that its development suite Unreal Engine 4 is now free for everyone.

Where’s the catch? You might have to pay a royalty per product (although you might not).

Windows Explorer makes it straightforward to view the files in a folder, but if you’d like to do something with that information -- share it with others, maybe save it for future reference -- then life gets more difficult.

If you only need to do this occasionally, a quick workaround will probably be enough. Take a screengrab, say, or use the command line for more control (dir "c:\program files\*.exe" /b /s | clip lists all executable files under C:\Program Files, sending the results to the clipboard).

File sharing tool BitTorrent Sync has been updated to version 2.0 with a new $40/ year PRO version.

Sync 2.0 introduces the "personal identity", which automatically gives access to every added folder on all of your linked devices (sync a folder anywhere, and it’s immediately available everywhere else).

What do you need from a backup program? Set up in seconds, maybe? Complete system backups, full disaster recovery, maybe integration with all your favorite cloud storage providers?

Bad news: Areca Backup doesn’t provide any of that. But if you’re an experienced user who wants a more configurable way to run file-based backups then the program could still be worth a try.

Troubleshooting network problems can be a nightmare, even for Windows experts, but equipping yourself with the right software can make all the difference.

As we wrote last month, NetCrunch Tools is a useful collection of common network management tools, an easier way to access old standards like Ping and Traceroute.

Avast Software has released a new version of Avast Free Antivirus 2015, Avast Internet Security 2015 and Avast Premier 2015.

The big change is that the premier Access Anywhere feature has been replaced by a new Remote Control tool available via the Account screen in all editions (click Account, scroll down to My Other Devices).

Identifying a file type is normally just a matter of glancing at the extension: EXE, a program; ZIP, an archive; JPG, an image, and so on.

But what if the extension is missing, or has been changed for some reason? The free HexBrowser.NET analyzes the file contents to tell you more.

It’s happened to us all. You need to carry out a simple PC task, find and download some freeware, but then discover it’s a huge file, requires installation, comes packed with adware, has loads of functions you don’t need, yet still leaves out some that you do.

SepPDF is much more like freeware ought to be: tiny, with a single function -- splitting PDFs into individual PDF pages -- and absolutely no unwanted extras at all.

VideoLAN has announced the release of VLC Media Player 2.2.0 (and64-bit) for the desktop, along with coordinated releases for iOS, Android, and the first public betas for Android TV, WinRT and Windows Phone.

The desktop build now features a built-in extension manager. No need for manual tweaking any more, just click Tools > Plugins and Extensions, browse and install whatever you need.

If you’d like to run a classic DOS game under Windows then DOSBox is the perfect solution: tiny, free, and with enough hardware emulators to support almost anything.

It’s not the only option, though, and if you’re more interested in running text-mode, business-type applications then DOSBox fork vDos may be a better choice.

Android apps aren’t just for your phone and tablet. Install Droid4X and you can run Android on your PC, too, taking full advantage of the extra screen resolution and more easily sharing files and data.

As with many similar applications, Droid4X is essentially a wrapper around VirtualBox, with Android 4.2.2 provided on a custom virtual machine. But you don’t need to know any of the low-level details, as the program manages all of those itself.

Windows Explorer’s "Send To" menu can be a convenient way to copy, send or open files. Just right-click, select "Send To", and chose whatever drive or application you need.

Most programs don’t make use of the menu, unfortunately, but grab a copy of Send To Manager and you can easily tweak it yourself.

Utilities developer Tweaking.com has released Technician’s Toolbox and Technician’s Toolbox Portable, a free-for-personal-use suite of 20+ PC maintenance, monitoring and management tools.

Networking features are a highlight, with a graphical netstat, in-depth details on your network adapters, traffic monitoring, DNS server management, an IP subnet calculator, network scanner and more.