Compressed files are not always used for the space savings reasons they were initially created for, but they are still very important. The widespread availability of highspeed internet connections means that the size of downloads is far less important than used to be the case, but many downloads are still supplied in one of the many compressed formats that are available. OS X includes integrated support for a number of formats but if you want to be able to extract the contents of more archives The Unarchiver has been updated to version 3.0 with support for more compressed files types than ever before.

As you’ve probably guessed from the name of the app, this is a piece of software that is concerned solely with the decompression of archives, so if you’re looking to compress files you’re going to need to look elsewhere. In the software world there is a general trend towards jack-of-all-trades utilities, so it is slightly unusual to come across an app that does just one thing – thankfully, The Archiver does it well, so it can be let off the hook somewhat.

Read rest of the story to The Unarchiver 3.0 launched with new format support including Flash extracting

Free wifi is more prevalent than ever and the popularity of mobile devices means that more and more of us are connecting to these free networks using laptops, tablets and mobiles. In these situations, using their own computer, most people would not give a second thought to security, but if you’re using your MacBook, iPhone or iPad in a public place with free internet – such as a coffee shop – it is possible for someone to taps into your connection and steal your private data. Cloak is a security tool for Apple fans that makes securing these connections quick and easy.

There are numerous ways in which you can secure your computer’s connection when you are using public wifi, but if you don’t fancy getting your hands dirty with network configuration options, Cloak may just be the tool you have been looking for. This is a VPN service that prevents your private data from simply being transmitted for anyone to intercept. Instead, data is encrypted and routed through secure servers to help keep you protected against potential data and identify theft.

Read rest of the story to Cloak released as a shield of protection on your Mac or iOS device

Windows Search is a powerful tool, there’s no doubt about that. Its powerful indexing engine understands all kinds of file metadata, enabling you to search for documents by a particular author, music from your favourite artist, photos taken by a specific camera model and a whole lot more.

Many people are still less than enthusiastic about the technology, though. In particular, the indexing process is often reported to consume more resources than it should, and the filters can be awkward to use. But if you’d prefer something simpler, then there are plenty of alternatives around, and the portable Instant File Search Professional – just a single 618KB executable – is certainly more convenient to use than most.

Read rest of the story to Instant File Search Professional released with old-style file searching

When you need to distribute a set of files then it can often be useful to give them all the same timestamp. In part this makes sure you’re not inadvertently giving away information (maybe you don’t want people to know that a group of files in some new project were actually grabbed from something you did years earlier, for instance). But it’s also neater, and makes it easier to identify the file later. If you need to know which version of a document someone has, say, then just being given its date – which is very simple to find – may be enough.

Windows doesn’t provide an easy way to modify timestamps itself, unfortunately, but there are plenty of free utilities around to fill the gap. And if you need a portable tool to carry out this kind of task then NewFileTime could be ideal.

Read rest of the story to NewFileTime: change any file or folder’s timestamp

Paragon Software Group has officially launched Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 Suite and Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 Professional, the latest versions of its renowned hard drive management tool.

As revealed in our exclusive first look, Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 features a new partitioning engine it claims to the “fastest available” plus introduces a number of new features, including the ability to split a partition in two.

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 debuts a brand new partitioning engine, which is capable of carrying all types of partitioning schemes, and supports all modern hard drives, including high-capacity SSDs. This comes with a new split partition tool, which allows the user to split any partition in two, setting the desired capacity for each and choosing how to distribute files already on the partition between the two new drives.

Read rest of the story to Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 adds split partition and encrypted backup capabilities

Microsoft has today announced the release of its Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and made it available to download for anyone interested.

While it’s not tagged as a beta, the Consumer Preview is still a prerelease edition, unfinished and incomplete, so you need to be very careful where you install it. It’s also much closer to the finished product than the Developer Preview, though, and includes the Windows Store amongst many other interesting new features, so if you’d like to see where Microsoft are going next then it’s well worth a look.

Read rest of the story to Windows 8 Consumer Preview now available for download

Just as with your home, it is a good idea to have a spring clean of your computer from time to time. By sifting through the buildup of files that accumulates on your hard drives, you can easily free up significant amounts of disk space and help to boost not only performance but also privacy and security. Anyone looking to automate the process of clearing up the crud that accumulates over can turn to CCleaner to delete file usage histories, remove superfluous registry entries and more. CCEnhancer 3.0 is a free third-party extension to the program that provides support for even more applications.

In all, CCEnhancer adds support for more than 500 extra programs, vastly extending the already impressive capabilities of the original program. In practice, there is very little involved in taking advantage of CCEnhancer. Launch the app and you will be presented with a window featuring a Download Latest button; click this and the latest support definitions will be downloaded for you, in much the same way as downloading virus definitions for your AV software.

Read rest of the story to CCEnhancer 3.0 packs CCleaner with support for an additional 500 apps

On Tuesday Canonical revealed Ubuntu for Android, a release the company says will bring a full desktop computing experience to a docked Android smartphone. But don't expect to install this software on your current device (legally): it will only be available on new devices provided by participating manufacturers.

Canonical has reportedly combined the Ubuntu architecture with Google's 2.3 "Gingerbread" AOSP build at the kernel level. As the name indicates, it won't be out to compete with Apple's iOS, Microsoft's Windows Phone or even Android itself as a standalone OS, but serve as a "value-add" service that Canonical hopes will reduce the number of devices carried by Android consumers.

Read rest of the story to Ubuntu For Android will be unveiled at MWC 2012 next week

Windows 8, as evident from the name, is the upcoming successor to the Windows 7 operating system. Although a release date hasn’t been announced as of now, a developer preview has been out and a consumer preview is slated for February 29, 2012. Then comes the quintessential question, what’s new? Well, most of it is all new, it’s quite a leap forward from everything Microsoft has ever done. The changes are vast in number, but we will try to cover most which affect the average user.

Windows 8 : Metro UI

When you see it initially, the first thing you’d probably notice the changed UI. The snazzy new minimalistic interface is called “Metro”. This new design language is being applied across Microsoft’s range of products and is currently visible on Windows Phone 7/7.5, Zune and the Xbox 360 dashboard. It’s based on typography and is neat, sophisticated and modern. If you have a basic idea of how Windows Phone 7/7.5 looks, you pretty much know how Windows 8 will look.

Technical Changes

On the technical front, Windows 8 will be the first to support the ARM processor architecture along with previously supported Intel and AMD x86 architectures. ARM processors are mainly used in low power applications such as netbook, tablet PC, mobile phone processors, so you can expect to see Windows 8 variants on netbooks and tablets in the future. Also, Windows 8 will introduce a new file system called ReFS…

Read rest of the story to What New and Advanced Features Can We Expect in Windows 8: A Preview

Tweaking and performance boosting tools for Windows are not exactly difficult to come by, and there are countless free tools available. With the proliferation of free software, you may be wondering why you would want to spend money on a program that claims to improve the performance of your computer. Take Ashampoo WinOptimizer 9 for a test run and we think you’ll find that it is worth parting with your cash for – it will even provide you with proof that it is doing its job.

Performance enhancing software often makes all sorts of claims about what it can achieve, but Ashampoo WinOptimizer puts its money where its mouth is and provides you with benchmarking options so you can test performance before and after and see what difference it has made. You can get as hands-on as your feel comfortable with, or you can take advantage of the various one-click optimization options that have been designed to automate many common tasks. If you’ve tried system boosting software in the past and have wondered if any speed benefits you notice are for real or just the result of the placebo effect, the benchmarks available here should speak for themselves.

Read rest of the story to WinOptimizer 9 released with new HDD inspector, Registry cleaner, UI themes