Articles about Software

Adobe has released Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 and Adobe Premiere Elements 2018, brand new versions of its consumer-level photo-editing and video-editing suites.

The 2018 versions remain standalone tools -- allowing users to purchase them outright -- and come with a number of new and improved features to build on previous updates.

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HPE has come under fire over claims that it gave Russian defense forces access to review software it sold to the Pentagon to supposedly protect the agency's networks.

According to regulatory records seen by Reuters, HPE gave Russian defense agencies access to its ArcSight software as part of a bid to gain the certification needed to sell its software to the Russian public sector.

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Fans of the image editing tool Paint.NET have two big pieces of news to digest. While this is only a minor version number bump, Paint.NET 4.0.18 improves startup times by around 25 percent as well as improving portable mode and introducing per-user plugins.

But perhaps the biggest news -- as promised a few months ago -- is that Paint.NET is now in the Microsoft Store. While many people will welcome the arrival of the app in the Store, the fact that a price tag has been slapped on it will come as a surprise -- and a disappointment -- to some.

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Go out and buy a brand new Windows 10 PC and it usually ships configured with a host of trial software, often sponsored by the software manufacturer, to encourage you to switch to an alternative office suite, security or photo management tool.

You could spend time migrating all your data manually. Out of the box, Windows makes it relatively easy to transfer your preferences across to your new machine. The problem starts when you have a host of installed applications and want to get these transferred and setup as quickly as possible.

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We wouldn’t define ourselves as "Mac users", although we do use a Mac, quickly switching between OS X and Windows 10. It’s been this way for nearly 20 years, although 20 years ago, emulating Windows on a PPC Mac was far from a pleasant experience.

Roll forward 20 years and this is a vastly different and much nicer experience, primarily thanks to Apple’s move to Intel processors. On our quad-core iMac, Windows 10 flies at almost native speeds. Sure, it’s not quite as fast as running Windows 10 on Bootcamp, but it’s more than acceptable. We even create our website graphics using Windows design tools, without any noticeable slowdown.

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You’re busy using your PC and it’s suddenly 2004 again. Your system is running slowly and your drivers are to blame.

Should you keep your drivers updated? Usually, the rule is "if it’s not broken, don’t try and fix it." It’s simply not true that out-of-date drivers will slow or your hinder your computer. Usually, Windows itself will make sure you have the most relevant drivers for your system and, if you have Windows 10, you’ll usually have the latest drivers. And even if you’re using Vista, and there are newer drivers, it doesn’t necessarily mean your system will be enhanced by installing them.

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O&O Software GmbH has unveiled O&O Defrag Professional 21.0, a major new build of its renowned Windows drive defragmentation and optimization tool.

Version 21’s headline new feature is that it includes a free version of O&O DiskStat 3, which can be used in conjunction with O&O Defrag’s DiskCleaner component to help clean up hard drives. O&O Defrag 21 also comes with the promise of faster file access and further optimizations to its DiskCleaner module.

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iTunes has to be the marmite of applications. Essential for getting content onto your iPhone, but frustratingly bloated and slow. Worse, iTunes is designed for the lazy user, making it super-easy to purchase your content directly from within the application.

You can, of course, transfer your media files to iTunes, by simply dragging and dropping the content and iTunes will handle the artwork and upload your files. But only if they are of the supported format. If you’ve ripped your CDs in the FLAC format, you can’t get this onto iTunes unless you’ve converted the files elsewhere. If you have a 4K video, there’s no easy way of getting this onto your iPad via iTunes.

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When news broke yesterday that CCleaner had been hacked and a dangerously modified version had been available to download for a number of weeks, there were understandable concerns from the program's large userbase. And the concern is well-placed -- some 2.27 million machines are thought to have installed the infected software.

Avast now has something of a PR nightmare on its hands as it tries to rebuild the trust of its users. To this end, company CEO Vince Steckler and CTO Ondřej Vlček have written an article clarifying what happened with CCleaner, and give some details about how they plan to protect their customers -- as well as "correct[ing] some misleading information that is currently circulating."

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WinX MediaTrans is a fast and easy to use iTunes alternative for Windows that lets you manage content on your iPhone/iPad/iPod. No iTunes or Apple ID needed, and no file erasing risk.

The software, from Digiarty WinXDVD, usually retails for $59.95, but BetaNews readers can get it entirely free for a limited time.

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Users of cleanup, privacy and optimization tool CCleaner are being warned to update their software after it emerged the tool was compromised by hackers. Security researchers at Cisco Talos say that there are a "vast number of machines at risk."

CCleaner is produced by Piriform, now a subsidiary of security firm Avast, making the compromise not only serious, but also embarrassing. With 2 billion downloads -- a number that's rising at a rate of 5 million per week -- the software was targeted by hackers who added a backdoor that could be used to download malware, ransomware and keyloggers. The problem is being compared to the NotPetya ransomware threat.

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Bern software developer iterate GmbH has released Mountain Duck 2.0 for Windows and Mac. Mountain Duck is designed to make it easy for users to mount server and cloud storage through File Explorer and Finder.

Version 2.0 adds several new features, most notably support for transparent client-side encryption of data using Cryptomator. It also adds support for Microsoft OneDrive accounts.

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HPE has finalized the sale of its software division, bringing to an end one of the company's most traumatic periods.

The technology giant has confirmed the spin off of its software business in a deal with British firm Micro Focus which is valued at around $8.8 billion.

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Everybody needs a backup -- with ransomware added to the list of threats to your data, now is the perfect time to take full advantage of our latest Downloadcrew giveaway: a full copy of O&O DiskImage 10.5 Professional, worth $49.95, across this coming weekend.

What makes O&O DiskImage special is that it allows you to back up both individual files and folders as well as take a full drive image, so you can protect key data alongside your fail-safe drive image covering your entire Windows installation -- all from one application.

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Novawave Inc has released Novabench 4.0, a major new update for its Windows and Mac benchmarking tool. Version 4.0 unveils new and updated benchmarks, plus an interface redesign.

The tool opens with updated CPU tests to support the latest processor features, and debuts new graphics tests -- a cross-platform OpenCL GPU compute test, plus Direct3D 11 (Windows) and Metal (OS X) tests. There’s also a new disk read speed test.

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