1. Chrome
   replaces Internet Explorer

   Mozilla Firefox is the undisputed champion of browsers and so there's no point in putting it on this list. However, Google have recently released their own take on a browser and, in my opinion, have managed to create a browser that – for me – ticks all the boxes; it combines a minimalistic design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer and easier. Not to mention the sleek design features. I have been using it instead of Firefox since it's beta phase and I love it. There's not many plugins out yet, but I haven't needed to use any of my Firefox plugins since I installed it. It's perfect.

2. 7-Zip
   replaces WinZip

   WinZip just doesn't cut it any more, it supports a limited amount of compression types, eats system resources and isn't free. Whereas 7-Zip on the other hand supports everything WinZip and WinRAR does with a few extras: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z. It also has a powerful file manager, localisations for 74 languages, strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats as well as up to 10% better compression ratio to that of WinZip (for ZIP files). Definitely one of the best compression utilities around.

3. µTorrent
   replaces torrent software

   µTorrent is the world's most popular BitTorrent client; it's another application that's lightweight and fast. It runs perfectly as a background process because it uses minimal system resources – typically about 6MB – and the application itself is a single executable file no bigger than 250KB. If you're a torrent freak then µTorrent is definitely for you.

4. CCleaner
   replaces Disk Cleanup

   CCleaner makes it easier to clean-up your system, it allows you to securely remove temporary internet files, history and cookies (of most browsers), Explorer MRUs, system temporary files, memory dumps, Windows log files. It also cleans third-party application temporary files (including Adobe, Microsoft Office, Sun Java and 7-Zip). It can also be used to delete missing DLL links, unused file extensions, obsolete software and MUI cache from your registry. It's designed to make Windows startup/shutdown faster and reclaim some of the disk space that is taken up by temporary files.

5. Defraggler
   replaces Disk Defragmenter

   Defraggler is another program, like CCleaner, that replaces the normal Windows tool for a faster and more feature-rich third-party tool. Defraggler differs from other file defrag tools by enabling you to quickly and simply defrag the files you want to, without having to process the whole drive. It also allows you to defrag freespace as well as files; so that new files are written towards the end of the drive and not all over the place – which helps to prevent future fragmentation as well. The defragmenter included with Windows misses files that are fragmented on large drives if the overall status of the drive is not fragmented. I have 3 drives at present, all of which I know are fragmented and yet Windows said only one of them was fragmented whereas Defraggler told me that all 3 have fragmented files. Defraggler is definitely a must-have for drive management.

6. AVG Anti-Virus Free
   replaces anti-virus software

   AVG Anti-Virus is the best anti-virus program I have found to date. Norton was once my favourite, but it's not free and hogs system resources. AVG on the other hand is lightweight and runs in the background, silently scanning files as they are opened and closed. It also has built-in anti-spyware, e-mail scanner and link scanner capability to improve the chances of catching viruses.

7. Ad-Aware
   replaces anti-spyware software

   I have used Ad-Aware has been my favourite anti-spyware program ever since I started using one, simply because it's effective, has an excellent reputation and – best of all – it's free. It was also one of the first applications to be built solely to find and remove spyware/adware, so it's no surprise that it's good at what it does. The only problem is the fact that real-time protection, plugins and automatic updates have been disabled in the free version of Ad-Aware and so forces you to use it as a secondary privacy tool – which is why AVG and Spybot – Search & Destroy are also on this list.

8. Spybot – Search & Destroy
   replaces privacy software

   Spybot – Search & Destroy is another anti-adware program that checks your system against a comprehensive database of adware and other system invaders. Scan results now appear arranged by groups in a tree, and a sliding panel lets you instantly view information about a selected item to help you decide whether to kill it or not. The Immunize feature blocks a whole load of uninvited crap before it reaches your computer. Other useful tools, including Secure Shredder, complement the program's basic functionality for completely destroying files. Hosts File blocks adware servers from your computer, and System Startup lets you review which programs load when you start your computer.

9. Pidgin
   replaces instant messaging software

   Pidgin is another third-party instant messaging application that lets you access multiple IM networks from one window, including Google Talk and MySpaceIM as well as lesser-known protocols such as Jabber and Gadu-Gadu. It's feature-packed with customizable emoticons, file transfers, multiperson chats as well as a special Buddy Pounce feature that enables you to perform a specific action when a certain contact signs on or off. The only thing it lacks is video conferencing, but remains a highly recommended and extensible text-only messaging application.

10. TeraCopy
    replaces file management

    TeraCopy is a compact program designed to copy and move files at the maximum possible speed, it replaces the Windows file management (moving, copying, deleting etc.) and provides you with a faster, more efficient and feature-rich replacement. It uses dynamically adjusted buffers to reduce seek times and enable faster file copying. File transfers can be paused and resumed at any time and shows an interactive list of files that have been copied, will be copied or have failed to be copied and allows you to recopy and skip only selected files.

11. FileZilla
    replaces FTP client

    FTP clients are probably one of the hardest things to find. I used SmartFTP for ages until they decided that they were going to force everyone to pay for the damn thing. I was hunting around for a good few months for free FTP clients and have only recently found this one; FileZilla. The straightforward interface, caching of directories, multiple uploads and downloads and low memory usage makes FileZilla one of the best FTP clients around.

12. Songbird
    replaces Windows Media Player

    Songbird is a Mozilla-powered media player; it is very similar to iTunes but doesn't have all the unwanted junk (such as Bonjour, iTunesHelper and iPodService). Because it's powered by Mozilla it has add-ons and skins as well, which are a must-have because the basic program isn't feature-packed. Many of the iTunes features – such as minimize to tray, media flow and album array-view – can all be enabled on Songbird with the use of add-ons. And if you really want, there are even skins that enable you to make Songbird look like iTunes. It's only just been released and so things are just getting up to speed, but as it stands it's the perfect replacement for Windows Media Player and iTunes.

13. Spotify
    replaces music streaming service

    Spotify offers you legal and free access to a huge library of music. All you need to do is create an account and download the streaming music player. Currently it does not allow you to import your own music, but you really don't need to. Just search from millions of tracks and stream it directly from the web, no need to download. You can even create your own playlists of any music you find on Spotify. Obviously, you can't download from it but for an on-the-fly music player, it's really good. Planning music for parties is no longer a problem, just let your guests search for what they want while it's playing, and add it to the play queue. It's pretty new, but it seems to be off to a very good start, I'd recommend it for all you music enthusiasts out there.

14. PeerGuardian
    replaces blacklist software

    PeerGuardian is a premier IP blocker for Windows, with features such as support for multiple lists, list editing, automatic updates and blocking of TCP, UDP and ICMP, PeerGuardian is the safest and easiest way to protect your privacy on peer-to-peer sites and applications. It can be set to download a multitude of blacklists, from advertising and spyware to government and educational IP addresses, and if that doesn't take your fancy, you can even create your own. It's definitely a must-have if you are planning on using peer-to-peer.

Pownce tried it, and if I'm honest, I didn't really see many improvements that gave Pownce the edge over Twitter (except maybe being able to post different types of updates). Twitter was still in the lead (kind of). Until now? Plurk has arisen from the depths of… well, uh… Plurkland (yeah it's like Twitter and Pownce; made by some unknown company).

Then the inevitable happened: Twitter finally overflowed and started throwing the "fail whale" at people, so a lot of users "began to look for a new playground" (yes, I stole that last quote from Veribatim). On one of the few chances I had to check the public timeline of Twitter, I found a link to Ping.fm, which had a list of social networking applications, amongst them was Plurk. Naturally I placed my cursor over the link and clicked the left mouse button, funnily enough I landed straight on the Plurk homepage.

I have a fetish for creating accounts on things anyway, so I created one just to see what it was about, I didn't even read the about page. However, that would have been a complete waste of time if I had, because the first thing that happens when you sign in is you are greeted with a getting started guide that tells you about all the important elements of your new Plurk page.

Once I got over the general sexiness of the whole experience I began Plurking and soon realised that I needed some friends in order to get any sort of feedback from anything I Plurked (there doesn't seem to be a public timeline like Twitter, which could be a good thing). I went around adding a few people I didn't know and this increased the amount of responses I received and the amount of Plurks that I could reply to (as they were in my timeline).

Being able to reply to Plurks, just like you could in Pownce is a very good feature. Pownce attempted it, but there was way too much page reloading involved. With Plurk all your friends' Plurks are added to your timeline, at the top of your Plurk page. Each Plurk is collapsed so that only a few words are displayed, you can then click on a Plurk to see the rest of the story and respond with a witty comment. These responses are threaded to the original Plurk, and are counted as Plurk Responses rather than Plurk Updates. Which is where Twitter went wrong; the Twitter engine counted your replies as updates to the main question "what are you doing?", when in fact they aren't.

Obviously, the more friends you have, the more responses and publicity you are likely to get. You can then treat it like your very own blog, without all the hassle of encouraging readers to post comments and finding readers in the first place. Though the posts are considerably smaller (140 characters maximum), they are a lot easier to digest and are more likely to provoke comments and discussion.

Noun. plurk (plüer-kh) – A really snazzy site that allows you to showcase the events that make up your life in deliciously digestible chunks. Low in fat, 5 calories per serving, yet chock full of goodness.

Verb. plurk (plüer-kh) – To chronicle the events of your always on, action-packed, storybook, semi-charmed kinda life.

We've taken the time, the complexity, and the deep introspection required out of blogging.

This isn't Billy Q. Poindexter's blog, no, no. Instead, Plurk is an easy way to chronicle and share the things you do, the way you feel, and all the other things in between that make up your life, with the people close to you. It's instant gratification, instant self-indulgence, instant celebrity, instantly YOU. Share your life stream, live your life… Plurk!

Citation: <http://www.plurk.com/aboutUs>

As you can see from that, the owners are a lot more laid back and informal, which makes it even more fun, especially when reading the Plurk blog. Anyway, that is enough rambling for one blog post. Will Plurk be the new Twitter? Join me on Plurk!

June 17, 2008 (23:21):Everything seems to be running smoothly and we currently have just over 1.5 million downloads and a speed of about 7000 downloads per minute. The USA is in the lead with over 450 thousand downloads, followed by Germany with over 130 thousand downloads and the UK trailing behind at over 80 thousand downloads (apparently lower than Spain, which I find hard to believe). The aim is for at least 5 million.

June 17, 2008 (21:42):Most things have been sorted out now and you can download Firefox 3 directly from the Mozilla website.

June 17, 2008 (19:37):Download servers are up and the websites are slowly coming back up. There is a download counter up as well. I've just got my download from Mozilla Europe and have just installed it.

June 17, 2008 (18:27):Apparently something went wrong as it has been 26 minutes since it was supposed to start, and all of the Mozilla websites did hit the dust. I will keep you updated. You can get real-time updates from Mozilla Air though.

Mozilla is inviting the whole world to pledge and download the release version of Firefox 3 tomorrow. The hope is to set a new Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in 24 hours; and you could be part of it. Still using Internet Explorer? Dump it and join the worldwide effort to download the latest and greatest browser on the net!

There is currently no record set for the most software downloads in 24 hours and so Mozilla have spoken to Guinness World Record to initiate a download count for the full version of Firefox 3. Downloads will only be counted if they are completely transferred from the web server to your computer, and if that computer hasn't downloaded before. So invite your friends, family and co-workers to download it as well.

Every download will be logged in order to take a recount and exclude any duplicates or errors. However, the Guinness World Record's website and the printed version of the book receives many record attempt requests and cannot accommodate everyone. Mozilla hopes to catch their eye by making this a spectacular record with millions of downloads and great Download Fests at schools and places of work.

It is so simple to get involved: just pledge to download right now and then as soon as Firefox 3 is available, you will be notified via e-mail and then all you have to do is download it, preferably from the Download Day Headquarters. You'll even get a customized certificate by downloading from the Download Day Headquarters; aren't they nice?

Hopefully, we will be able to see the results of the record and whether or not we have officially set one about a week after the download day, this is because judges and the Guinness World Records team need to review the download logs and validate the record attempt.

The only rules are that you must only download one copy of Firefox per computer (though this doesn't mean that you only have one chance to download it, but your second download just won't count towards the record). The Firefox team ask that you refrain from downloading more than once, creating download bots or any other mechanism that could be classed as cheating and therefore invalidate the record.

So cancel everything you are doing tomorrow, sit back, relax and casually surf the internet with your brand new, shiny version of Firefox 3. Download Day starts at 18:00 Greenwich Meantime on Tuesday, June 17th. For local times see time and date conversions.

The first thing I noticed with CS3 is that when you install Photoshop and Fireworks from the suite, some of the image file formats, such as 'JPG' are not associated with Photoshop, they just stay with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. Fireworks then decides that it wants to be the main editor for PNG files. Funnily enough, I do not recall any point in the setup where it asked me what applications I want to associate with what file types; it just does it for me, but evidently not very well. I thought: "ah, not a big deal I will just have to change the associations the first time I run Photoshop or Fireworks", but nothing came up and I could not find any way of doing it from within the applications.

In the end I had to save a 1×1 pixel image in 16 different formats then use the Windows file type options to change each and every one manually to open with Photoshop. Once I had got that sorted (took me the best part of half an hour) I then went to do some edits to a PHP file, and noticed that it had defaulted to opening in Notepad and not Dreamweaver! I had to do exactly the same thing with 24 different document formats for Dreamweaver, but I couldn't be bothered to do all of them so I just did the main ones I use most of the time. In total it took me about an hour just to associate a few applications with some file types, which, incidentally could have been done automatically. I am dreading saving anything in Illustrator though.

I also think that there are a few consistency failures; Adobe have updated Photoshop, Flash, InDesign and Illustrator with the new, improved user interface and yet left Dreamweaver and Fireworks with the older style interface. I would love it if Dreamweaver had the newer interface as it would be a lot easier to have more/less information on the screen at the same time. You can do this already, but it isn't as advanced, because when you undock the panels in Dreamweaver they are placed into a window instead of floating. Also when you dock them to the side of the screen and collapse them all, there is still a load of wasted space underneath them, which could be filled up with the code or design views if the panels floated.

Other than that, the ones that I have used are excellent and do their jobs perfectly!

• Receive updates when friends have new photos, videos or blog posts.
• Upload up to 1,000 photos at one time to popular photo sites.
• Drag and drop photos and videos from Flock's Media Minibar to email, comment fields, blogs, etc.
• Collect your favorite photos, videos, and text from the web and blog them instantly.
• Flock Dashboard, called "My World" is now live, supporting many social networking services, enabling you to access them all from one page and post to them respectively.

The newer version enables Flock to be used as a social networking application inclusive of a web browser which just happens to be the center of attention. I personally do not like the new version, mainly because it takes a good 10-20 seconds to load on my computer and, in my opinion the graphical user interface is a mess. Here are the main reasons as to why I shall be reverting back to Mozilla Firefox as my default web browser:

• The graphical user interface is a complete mess and the theme doesn't help the situation much either.
• I do not use social networking services enough to put Flock to good use.
• It takes too long to startup, loading mostly the things that I will not put to use.
• One of it's main features is a feed subscription service, but I feel that I will not use it as I do not subscribe to feeds.
• It still has many bugs that have not yet been addressed.

Why Flock has a blog posting feature I do not know; you are in a browser so you may aswell navigate to your blog and use the built in editor for your blogging platform instead of risking losing data through the Flock Blog Editor (which I am weary of, as posts I sent through the Blog Editor in version 0.7 were changed before they were actually published to my blog and messed up the layout completely).

Some of the features actually sound quite good and I would love to try them out, but I do not wish to go to all the trouble of loading up a social networking application for just the web browser and a Flickr photo uploader, it just doesn't seem worthwhile, I may aswell use a safer, simpler and easier to use web browser instead. That is why I am now going to start using Mozilla Firefox once more.

Pownce is very similar to Twitter but has some features that improve the overall concept. There is currently no public timeline though, so that can be a downfall because your messages can only be viewed by people who know your Pownce URL (so that would be your friends and anyone you have advertised it to).

You can reply to individual messages to add your own views and comments on a message someone else has written, which makes it a little like having your own blog whereby you can post messages, links and events to your profile as if it were a blog. You can also use it as a messaging feature by sending private messages to a friend.

The website has a sleek design integrating the FamFamFam silk images and some beautiful background illustrations by artists at iStockphoto making it simple, clean and easy-to-use. The desktop application is also very nice, again using the FamFamFam silk images and colours that compliment each other, it makes it that little bit nicer to use than Twitter.

Anyway, I currently have 10 invitations to give away to anyone who wants them, so post a comment here and I will guarantee the first 10 commenters an invite, limited to one per person. Anyway, visit my Pownce profile here: http://www.pownce.com/bull3t/.