This week has seen an impressive number of releases, so many that you may have missed one or two. In this roundup we’ve collected together some of the highlights starting with a selection of mobile app. OneNote Mobile has been available to iOS users for a little while now, but the app has just made its way to the Android platform. Offering synchronization with your computer and a comprehensive selection of options, this is a great way to manage notes, lists, to-dos and more.
If your children have an Android mobile or they have access to yours, you can turn to Norton Safety Minder 2.3 to place restrictions on how the Internet can be used and monitor the web pages that are visited. Should you be in the market for a new web browser for your mobile, look no further than Chrome for Android Beta 0.16.4130.199, which is available for Ice Cream Sandwich devices and compares well to the desktop version of Google’s browser, even at this early beta stage.
Burners, PDFs
Moving back to your desktop, BurnAware Free 4.6 is a free disc burning tool that can be used to create your own CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, including data, music and video discs. If you share your computer with others, it is likely that each user has his or her own preference when it comes to system settings. To avoid users to battling over what screen resolution should be used, Carroll 1.12 makes it possible to choose a different resolution for each user, automatically applied at startup.
This week also saw a number of releases from Nitro PDF. Nitro PDF Reader 2.2.1.14 (32-bit) is a great alternative to heavyweight applications such as Adobe Reader, and there is a 64-bit version available in the form of Nitro PDF Reader 2.2.1.14 (64-bit). Nitro Pro 7.0.2.8 [32-bit] and Nitro Pro 7.0.2.8 [64-bit] are the tools you need if PDF creation and editing for your business. While a little on the pricey side, it is still cheaper than many of its rivals.
Security
The importance of keeping your computer protected against viruses and other forms of malware can never be overstated. Lavasoft Ad-Aware Free 10.0.155 Beta is a free beta version of Lavasoft’s popular security tool. A redesigned interface and improve real-time protection make this well worth checking out.
This is not the only beta security tool released this week; Avast! 7 Free (beta) is another virus protection tool that includes cloud based updating and reporting. From the same company comes the latest version of Avast! Internet Security 7 (beta), which benefits from many of the same improvements and offers even greater protection.
Spybot will be a familiar name to anyone who has been using a computer for a while, and Spybot -- Search & Destroy 2.0 beta 5 is the latest version. It proved to be a little problematic in testing, but you may have a better experience.Boxcryptor 1.2 was also released, and this is an interesting file encryption tool that can be used in conjunction with your preferred cloud based storage service to secure the files that you are storing online.
Browsers
This week also saw a number of important browser releases. After the recent release of Firefox 10, Firefox 10.0.1 FINAL keeps the ball rolling with a number of minor changes. For anyone who wants to stay a little ahead of the game,Firefox 11 Beta 2 offers a few small additions, but there’s little to get too excited about at this stage. While Firefox can be installed on any system, if you want to take full advantage of a 64-bit operating system, look no further thanWaterfox 10.0 which is based on the latest Firefox code and you can install 64-bit versions of Flash and other plugins.
In other browser news, Chrome 17 became the latest stable release of Google browser as Chrome 17 FINAL hit the servers. Improvements include a new Javascipt engine, better protection against malicious files and much more. Google Chrome 18.0.1025.11 Beta was also released, giving users a chance to check out the future direction of the browser.
The past week has brought numerous programs that you might want to check out, and there’s plenty to look forward to in the week ahead. As well as the usual selection of tools, utilities and other apps, there’s also a great giveaway on the Downloadcrew Giveaway site . On Friday 10 February we gave away a free copy of Paragon System Backup 10.5 SE, a great backup tool worth $29.95. On Monday 13 February there’ll be a fantastic competition with the opportunity to win one of 50 copies of Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro 4, while on Tuesday 14 February, you can grab yourself a free copy of Laplink PCmover Express.
Join us the same time next week for another catchup of the biggest software releases.
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