Software

We install hundreds of programs every year so we can recommend the best free software in each issue. This also means we need to uninstall plenty of programs that aren’t worth recommending – a task we often forget. Thankfully, the brilliant BCUninstaller – or Bulk Crap Uninstaller to give it its full and frank name … Read more

You’ve almost certainly come across an ISO file before. They’re typically used to bundle huge amounts of data, such as in Windows installers. ISO is short for International Standards Organisation, which is the Geneva-based body that ensures all countries adhere to common standards on matters like film speeds, currency codes and food safety. It gives … Read more

Adobe Photoshop and GIMP have some very similar features: they’re both raster image editors. Both programs also support virtually every image editing feature you’re ever likely to need, including selection editing, layers, alpha channels, scripting, retouching, resizing, HDR, noise removal, and much more. Photoshop is now a proprietary paid SaaS (software as a service) product. It’s used by millions of professional graphic designers … Read more

PDFgear offers excellent tools at no cost, making it by far the best free PDF software. Is PDFgear safe? Nik Rawlinson reveals its best advanced features. PDFgear (www.pdfgear.com) is our favourite tool for editing PDFs. It’s got a clear, unfussy interface, makes short work of converting Word files to PDF (and vice versa) and – best of all – it’s free. … Read more

My 20-year-old music library is in a mess. In the past I’ve used both MediaMonkey (www.mediamonkey.com) and MusicBee (www.getmusicbee.com) to manage it, but after the arrival of Windows 11 just about everything is duplicated. What can I use to sort this out? Is there any duplicate song remover tools? Hugh Manuel You need a program dedicated to removing … Read more

Partitioning your hard drive lets you make optimum use of its space by storing different types of data in separate sections, but the partition manager in Windows (called Disk Management) is basic and confusing. Macrorit Partition Expert is a more sophisticated alternative, which packs lots of useful features into an easy-to-understand interface. The free version offers everything you need to … Read more

WizTree has long been my favourite program for discovering which files and folders are taking up the most room on your hard drive, so you can delete them to free up storage. It’s impressively fast, free for personal use and makes it easy to identify space hogs using its colour-coded ‘tree map’. Infor DRIVE SPACE ANALYSER https://diskanalyzer.com What … Read more

l’ve always hated how file-recovery programs claim to find lost photos, but then charge you to locate them. Is there software that actually does it all for free – with no sneaky hidden charges? Simon Lindsay There are several free photo-recovery tools, but our favourite is PhotoRec. It’s open-source, so is completely free with no hidden catches. It … Read more

Is it safe to use Microsoft’s new PC Manager tool? It aims to speed up your computer, but might actually make it slower. Read our Is it safe to use Microsofts new PC Manager tool. Microsoft’s PC Manager has finally launched. We first wrote about it in Issue 645, back in late 2022, after it arrived … Read more

Hoping to recapture some of my lost youth, I decided to see if I remembered how to programme the ZX Spectrum (my first computer). Which is the best Spectrum emulator for Windows 11? Michael Cornell Try Spectaculator (www.spectaculator.com), available for Windows, iOS and Android. The Windows version has a free 30-day trial, after which it costs £ for the current edition, or £ to add lifetime … Read more

After resetting my laptop to its factory settings. I’ve lost a lot of programs that are no longer compatible with Windows 11. One was Microsoft’s SyncToy, which I used to back up my files to an external hard drive. Is there a good free alternative? Andrew Ball Backing up your files is an essential, ongoing task, so … Read more