Welcome to the 2010 Brothersoft Editors Pick List, where you’ll find a collection of the best Software from 2010. Our editorial experts’ annual tradition of picking out the top software is based on the software’s competitive advantages and its value to customers. You can be sure that all the software in the list are worthy of being noted. Look at all the choices below for yourself.
Format Factory was picked out because of its powerful ‘all-in-one’ functions as a free media converter. It’s packed with all the features you’d expect in a media converter. It allows you to convert files of all popular image, audio & video formats into whichever format you may require. It supports the merging of files & addition of subtitles. It also can repair damaged video & audio file. Furthermore, it’s also able to reduce Multimedia file size. It even supports the latest technology such as iPhone & PSP, making it a great way to cram multi-format goodness onto your favorite portable player.
PhotoScape is an all-in-one style photo editor, fun & easy to use. It loads incredibly fast. As mentioned above, it’s jam-packed with features, such as screen capture effect, Page Editor, Photo editor, Rename Tool, slideshow editor & batch editor, as well as many others. Much more worth mentioning is that it comes with prebuilt templates for users to create photo collages or Web comics. Furthermore, it has a standard set of red-eye removal, light/shadow, & contrast-editing features. Though packed with so many functions, it still remains easy to use. Each function is pretty self explanatory.
Orbit downloader is a download manager which is not only light & fast but can download virtually anything present on your screen. What’s great about this software is that it’s not just a simple download manager, but also serves as a media downloader. It has the unique ability to download a variety of streamed media from video sharing sites like YouTube, music from sites like Pandora, and other files from sites like Rapidshare. The Grab++ tool is an amazing feature, which scans all downloadable media on any open website and lists them with details. It also can auto detect the download link.
Aimp player, a free & light software, has been included for it’s a great alternative to Windows Media Player. It provides all the basic tools you’d expect from a media player. It supports more than 20 formats. Simply put, all major formats ’ re covered and you won’t have to waste time converting your music in order to play it. The design is sleek and the command buttons are simple to navigate. Also there’re a wide range of skins for your choice. The sound seems crisper when compared to say Winamp. Besides, it’s more than just a player with functions like recording, conversion & ripping.
Sandboxie distinguishes itself from the other security program by creating an isolated virtual operating environment where applications can be run without modifying the local drive. It keeps files off your system and in the “sandbox” instead, preventing any malicious programs from infecting operating system. As the official website states, think of your PC as a plain piece of paper, every program you run write itself on the paper. Sandboxie works like a transparency layer placed over the paper, protecting your computer.
It’s inevitable that VLC Media Player finds itself in our list, with its ability to open just about any type of video and audio file you throw at it. Among its key advantages is that there is no need for a separate codec such as WinDVD. VLC comes with nearly every codec built in! What’s more, it can play back your files even if the media is damaged! Missing or broken pieces won’t stop VLC. All the video and audio information that remains can be played. As it cleverly acclaims, it plays everything!
Xnview is a free and ease-to-use software that allows the user to view & convert graphic files. It provides a range of image processing functions including altering brightness, contrast, color, resizing & cropping, and much more. It also provides batch processing and batch renaming of files. In addition, you’ll find tools for capturing screenshots and creating basic slide shows, as well as a simple audio player. Besides those standard tools, this app also can convert pics among a wide variety of formats. It’s reported that the program supports more than 400 graphics formats.
EditPlus stands out because it an awesome code editing tool which offers many powerful features for Web page authors & programmers. The many powerful features include syntax highlighting for HTML, CSS, PHP, ASP, Perl, C/C++, Java etc, a seamless Web browser for previewing HTML pages, and FTP commands for uploading local files to FTP server. Additional features include URL highlighting, clip library, search & replace, spell checker, customizable keyboard shortcuts, and more. It was, nevertheless, fast and not clumsy. Overall, It’s a minimalistic but feature-rich tool.
Unlocker is an awesome little program that allows its user with a simple right click on a file or folder to get rid of error message such as “cannot delete the file”, etc. It’s free, quick to download, easy to understand. In an instance, it can kill or unlock either the selected item or all. Additional functions include renaming, moving or copying the selected file. One unique feature is it can remove locks on a directory. Due to its useful functions, Unlocker is regarded by PC users. Therefore we editors feel strongly that this little program is worthy of being noted in the top list.
Avast! Free antivirus was picked for its superior protection quality & its continual improvement in spite of the fact that it remains free of charge. In the new edition, a number of improvements have been made. The new UI makes it easier to use. More appealingly, a new code emulator lets the program evaluate behaviors without allowing a process to run. The new heuristics engine, starting with version 5.0, is designed to proactively detect malware undetectable with normal definitions. All these offer greater control over settings & more detail in reporting compared with other free competitors.