As Jon already pointed out, today is Clean Out Your Computer Day, which makes it the perfect time to review some useful applications and routines for spring cleaning your Windows computer. That said, I hope you don’t limit these routines to one single day every year; all computers can benefit largely from frequent cleaning sessions, in terms of drive space, speed and performance. Here we go!

1. If you install new software apps quite often, you should probably check the list of installed programs on your system and start cleaning there. Ask yourself whether you still need that 500 MB program you haven’t used lately, and don’t be afraid to uninstall anything you don’t need anymore.

2. After months browsing the web, your browser history files and cache memory will have surely reached a huge size. Trim those down the easy way by using the browser’s own history manager (Tools > Clear Recent History in Firefox) or using a third-party app such as Free Windows Sweeper.

3. Check the folder where you save all the files you download from the web, and make sure you clean them up. Keeping a program’s executable file after it’s been installed is just a waste of space!

4. Use disk analysis tools like SpaceSniffer to locate the largest files and folders on your system, and decide whether you need to keep them or not. Maybe it would be a good idea to store those gigabytes of old photos somewhere else…

5. Last but not least, use your favorite cleaning tool to get rid of any other additional junk data your computer has been storing in the background, such as Windows temporary files, recent document lists, log files and more.

These are by no means the only tips we’ve we’ve got about computer spring cleaning. If all this isn’t enough for you, check our previous posts about how to recover hard drive space, five tools to clean up your computer, cleaning tips for a faster PC, how to free up disk space with Scanner, how to use a USB memory device to clean your PC and how to configure advanced options in CCleaner.

What about you? Do you have any other personal routines for computer maintenance?

Windows: After a few betas and release candidates, our favorite torrent client has finally made it. uTorrent 2.0 is now available for download with the same speed, ease of use and simple interface we’ve grown to love. The new version also features support for UDP tracker and a completely overhauled setup menu, among other new features.

iPhone: Want a Kindle but can’t afford one? Then try Stanza. It’s ebook reader and library for your iPhone, offering commercial titles, which can be bought through bookstores in the app, and free titles from providers like the Gutenberg project. This is a really good application. It’s well organized, easy to use and makes reading on the iPhone as comfortable as possible on such a small screen.

Mac: Imagine if you could access your iTunes collection from any Mac, anywhere in the world. MyTunesRSS allows you to do exactly this by accessing your iTunes folder over a local network or the internet. Initial setup involves setting up a server using the IP address of the computer that contains your music. Once connected, the user interface is like a stripped down version of iTunes showing you your tracks and categories.

Because they’re amazing, you might think you never have to think about spring cleaning your Mac, but it’s still a good idea to keep things in order. The second Tuesday of February is Clean Out Your Computer Day, so today’s a good day to start!

There are some myths about optimizing your system, and perhaps the most damaging is that of cache cleaning. Tools like Cache Out X will find and ‘clean’ your various caches, some of which may look pretty big. While that may save you disk space for a few moments, it’s a bad idea. Cache files in OSX are created precisely to speed up performance, so if you delete them, the system will have to recreate them, actually slowing you down!

That’s not to say there aren’t things you can do, so here’s some good advice:

1: If your browser is slow, perhaps it’s time to delete its history, cache and cookies? A year’s worth of browsing with a saved history and cache will seriously decrease efficiency. Instead of relying on the history, bookmark your favorite sites, then hit clean (File>Delete Cache in Safari, Tools>Clear Recent History in Firefox).

2: If you’re running any OSX up to 10.5 (Leopard), and you turn off your Mac at night, there are some scripts that perform clean up tasks automatically in the early hour of the morning - they clear up any unnecessary log files and system cache. Left in sleep mode, they’ll run when you wake up the computer but if you turn off your Mac they won’t. You can’t do any harm by running these scripts anyway, and doing so is really simple:

Open Terminal (look in Applications>Utilities) and enter the following text exactly: sudo periodic daily weekly monthly. You’ll then be asked for your system password - enter it, and hit return. You won’t see anything happening, but it will finish when the blinking prompt reappears.

3: Run Disk Utility. Found in Applications>Utilities again, this will just make sure your directories are in order, and keep things running smoothly. It’s easy to use - click on your Hard drive in the Disk Utility window, then click Verify Disk, wait for the process to finish the click Repair. Repeat for Verify Disk Permissions. It may not speed your system up, but it won’t do any harm.

4: Clean out your folders. Over time it’s easy to let your pictures, documents and downloads folders get messy. Take time every month to clear them out. It makes finding things easier, and will free up some hard drive space. Go through your applications folder and delete apps you never use - they’re a waste of space!

Do you have any other cleaning routines?

I was surprised to learn that the new version of Firefox is 15% faster than the previous version. When I say surprised I actually mean I didn’t believe a word of it. I decided to challenge this figure by putting Firefox 3.5 and Firefox 3.6 up against each other in a series of three benchmarking tests. I also included comparisons with the latest versions of Chrome, Opera and Internet Explorer. In the name of transparency, I’ve decided to explain the benchmarking process for each of the three tests I applied. Why not try it for yourself and see which of your web browsers runs the best?

Test One:  Peacekeeper Browser Benchmark

Peacekeeper is a free service that puts your browser through its paces in a series of thorough tests. It checks performance in the following areas: rendering, social networking, complex graphics, data, Document Object Model operations, and text parsing. Each test takes about five minutes and simple involves hitting a button on the Peacekeeper site in the browser you want to test. To make a fair test you should ensure that you just have one tab or window open, and disable or uninstall any extensions you have running.

Peacemaker gives each browser an overall performance score, and you can view a more detailed breakdown of how that score was arrived at by clicking the ‘Details’ link on the graph. Here’s the graph generated by the browser tests I performed:

Test Two: SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark

The second test I performed was the same one run by Computerworld in its tests on Firefox 3.5 and 3.6. The SunSpider JavaScript benchmark is a utility that tests the speed of a browser by running a series of JavaScripts and measuring the speed at which the software process them. It breaks the results down into a series of different categories based on the scripts it ran. These results are a little harder to interpret than the Peacekeeper test, but you can look at the total time and use this as your benchmark for comparing the browsers. Here are the overall times (fastest first) for the browsers I tested:

• Chrome 4.0 - 649.4ms

• Firefox 3.6 - 1415ms

• Firefox 3.5 - 1700ms

• Opera 10.10 - 3051ms

• Internet Explorer 8 - 6346.2ms

Test Three: The Acid 3 Test

The third and final test is much quicker and simpler than the previous two. The Acid 3 Test is used to measure a browser’s compliance with web standards, particularly relating to the Document Object Model and JavaScript. To pass the test a browser needs to attain a score of 100/100 and the final image it displays must match the reference image.

Of the five browsers we tested, only Google Chrome and Opera attained the maximum 100 out of 100. Firefox 3.6 (94) and Firefox 3.5 (93) both almost made the grade. Microsoft should hang its head in shame though, because IE8 only scored a measely 20 out of 100, meaning it falls way short of standards compliance.

Analyzing the results

Our benchmarking supports Computerworld’s claim that Firefox 3.6 is much faster than version 3.5. In fact, according to the SunSpider test we ran, the newer release comes out 17% quicker than the previous version. It’s still not as speedy as Chrome though, which was more than twice as fast as Firefox, and way ahead of Opera and IE.

What’s more, the Mozilla browser performs very well against its competitors in the Peacekeeper benchmark. Again, it’s only Chrome that pips the latest version of Firefox. And again, Internet Explorer is left floundering in final place, this time in a test than examines the overall capabilities of the browser.

So, my advice based on these results is to upgrade to Firefox 3.6 if you haven’t already done so. Better still, install Chrome and use that to browse the web instead. Having said this, ut’s definitely worth running the benchmark tests on your own browsers because the results can vary considerably depending on your setup, the amount of extensions that you have installed, the OS you’re using, etc.

Last night I was reviewing messages in my Gmail account, trying to get them all sorted out and reach the much-coveted inbox zero. I needed Gmail to display only my unread emails so that I could process them one by one, when I realized Gmail didn’t have that option anywhere. Sure you can select all unread messages, but that’s of little use if they’re all scattered over a dozen pages. So I started searching for a solution, and only a few minutes after I found Gmail Advanced Search.

The advanced search options in Gmail let you use special words or symbols – called operators - to filter the messages displayed on your web browsers. It’s a quicker, more accurate way to find certain messages. You can filter you inbox to display only unread emails, only starred emails or only emails that came from a specific sender. What’s more, you can combine different operators and create super-refined filters like “messages from Peter with the word ‘dinner’ in the subject”.

These are some of the most useful operators you can use in Gmail:

• from: - displays messages received from a certain sender: from:peter
• to: - displays messages sent to a specific recipient: to:john 
• subject: - displays messages with certain words in the subject: subject:bbq
• label: - displays messages filed under specific labels: label:work
• in:(inbox, trash, spam) - displays all messages stored in any of those locations: in:trash
• is:(starred, unread) - displays messages you’ve starred or haven’t read yet: is:unread
• filename: - displays messages with a specific attachment: filename:softonic.pdf

I guess it was Nintendo who invented ice levels in platformers, and since then it’s become a video game standard. Whatever you’re playing, you can bet at some point you’ll be asked to continue what you have been doing for the last few hours, but on slippery surfaces. I’m not a fan, possibly with the exception of the snowy levels in Mario 64.

I Hate Ice Levels is an ode to everything we dislike about these staple levels. It’s unbelievably tricky - I got cramps in my fingers after ten minutes playing! It’s meant to be a satire of ice levels, and as such it works well. It’s also a tough challenge for anyone who thinks they’ve got skills when it comes to platforming. Play it here - requires Flash.

We’re big fans of Twitter here at Softonic, so I was surprised when I realized that we haven’t actually written a post about the best clients for PC. Well, fret no more, because I’m about to remedy the situation. Read on…

Echofon is a great option for serious tweeters. Although it seems to get uglier with every release, it’s still the OnSoftware team’s first choice. It integrates into Firefox, doesn’t take up much room, and makes it easy to post and switch between Twitter accounts. Try it!

Saezuri is equally light and flexible, but this app operates from your desktop, not the browser. It has pretty much the same features as Echofon, so if you like the sound of the add-on but don’t use Firefox, this is the client for you.

DestroyTwitter is guaranteed to make an impact. Scary name aside, it’s also a powerful Twitter client. A member of the AIR family, this sleek black app uses tabs to keep your tweets, contacts and messages under control.

Twhirl is the perfect solution if you want something even lighter. Fast, easy to use, but fully-featured, this AIR application is a great option. It also allows you to customize the interface and update frequency, as well as having support for various accounts.

TweetDeck is probably the most popular Twitter app on Softonic. It’s quite a looker and has lots of features, making it almost as good as using Twitter directly. It also integrates into Facebook and MySpace, but it isn’t weighed down by the extra functionality.

Seesmic Desktop is a tool you often see on twitter rankings, but it doesn’t make my top ten. Although it is a perfectly useful Twitter client, it also has a lot of additional non-Twitter related features. If you do want one app for all your social media needs, check out Sobees, AlertThingy or Yoono Desktop. They all do a similar job, but are more streamlined and nicer to use.

Update: Sorry, there aren’t any codes left. Thanks to all who entered!

We love Battlefield Heroes, the free to play online shooter. It’s unusual in that it’s not serious, with its cartoony style, and the fact you can buy upgrades for your avatar: Costumes, experience upgrades special moves and even gestures (in game emoticons).

The  latest addition to Battlefield Heroes is the Vampire vs Werewolves pack, which for about $10 gets you a new outfit, special moves and more.

Electronic Arts have given OnSoftware 15 Nicolai Vampire packs and 15 Grims Varg Werewolf packs to pass on to our readers. So if you’re a fan of Battlefield Heroes and want to get one of these hellish upgrades for the game, leave a comment including your email address in the ‘email’ field below, telling us which pack you’d prefer. It’s first come first served so be quick!

One of the great things about Snow Leopard is that you no longer need Cisco’s VPN Client to connect over a private network. Snow Leopard has its own Cisco VPN network configuration tool that works within OS X 10.6. Cisco’s VPN client doesn’t even work with Snow Leopard so if you’ve still got it on your system, you can dump it in the Trash. However, setting up a Cisco VPN network might be a little tricky for those doing it for the first time so here is a simple guide.

Go to System Preferences and select Network:

Use the “+” symbol at the bottom of the list of network connections on the left-hand side to add a new network. Read on…

Today sees the arrival of another edition of Softonic’s software blog, OnSoftware. That’s right: fr.onsoftware.com has launched!

We’re very pleased to welcome our French colleagues to the blogosphere. They’re all experienced software journalists with Softonic.fr already… and they’ve really been chomping at the bit to get their blog online.

As you’ll expect, they’ll be providing the very best software coverage, tips, tricks, advice and more… just in French! So whether you’re a French speaker or you’re still learning, check out fr.onsoftware.com and let the guys know what you think!

Once 3D took hold of gaming, one of the early Nineties most popular types of game, the
point-and-click adventure, started to disappear. In some ways, that’s hardly surprising. The games were generally dialog driven stories with puzzles in them, and just the occasional action point - all of these things can be found in newer adventure games, which usually have much more action in them.

Nevertheless, the relaxed, quirky point and clicks were never forgotten, and the rise of downloadable and indie games on all platforms has seen a resurgence. And that’s fantastic: point-and-click is the ideal choice for the casual gamer who wants a deeper experience. They don’t require dexterity or learning complicated controls - if you can use a computer at all you can play these adventures. Currently, there’s a great mix of updated classics and new games available to play, and here are a few ways to get started.

Machinarium: One of last year’s prettiest games, the puzzle element is pushed to the fore in Machinarium, but even when it gets hard it’s cute enough to keep you motivated. There are demos available for Windows and Mac.

LucasArts Adventure Pack: This collection of four classic games from the early Nineties may look outdated, but they are fantastic. There are two Indiana Jones titles, plus LOOM and The Dig - The Indiana Jones adventures have held up especially well, with excellent writing, puzzles and humor. Windows only.

Zombie Cow Studios: This is a two man team, who’ve created two excellent adventures - Ben There, Dan That and sequel Time Gentlemen, please! They are full of jokes, definitely not for children or the easily startled, and the stories are excellently off the wall. The first game is free, too so check it out!

Broken Sword/Beneath a Steel Sky: Touchscreens are ideal for point-and-click games, which is good news for iPhone users. Two of the greatest ever adventures, from Revolution Software, have been remastered and updated with a brilliant control scheme. Both are gripping stories, and Broken Sword looks especially fantastic. You can still play the original Beneath a Steel Sky on your Windows PC.

Telltale Games: This team have brought back both the Sam & Max and Monkey Island franchises in 3D to great success in episodic content, and continued with new series featuring Strong Bad and Wallace and Grommit. These are all excellent adventures, and they bring high production values back to point-and-click games - great if you can’t stand lo-fi retro graphics!

Windows: With the All-in-One Sidebar extension you can access a bunch of tools and features in Firefox in a much easier, more comfortable way. This add-on displays your bookmarks, downloads, history, add-on updates and more on a handy, customizable sidebar. All the information you’re interested in, just a glance away!

iPhone: Tumblr is a great micro blogging service, where you can share all sorts of media, from text to quotes and audio and video. Now you can blog from your iPhone with this great Tumblr app. Pretty much everything you can do on the website you can do with this app, including adding text, video, photos and audio.

Mac: If you’re both a Firefox user and a soccer fan, then this plug-in combines the best of both worlds into a great little plug-in. Footiefox allows you to keep up with the latest results and scorelines without changing a page or even leaving your desktop. Once installed, the plug-in sits discreetly at the bottom of Firefox in the status bar. You can configure it to follow the games of your choice so you’ll always know the score.

I have to say I started using bookmarklets only a few months ago, but since then they’ve saved me a lot of time and certainly hundreds of clicks. Now, what exactly is a bookmarklet? In plain English, it could be defined as a small application stored as a bookmark on your web browser. When clicked, a bookmarklet can perform a variety of actions, usually involving the website you’re currently visiting and the service the bookmarklet is linked to.

There are literally dozens of bookmarklets available on the Web. Most online tools, web apps and social networks nowadays include a bookmarklet to make them easier and faster to use. I’ve created a list with the most popular and useful bookmarklets I’ve come across, but feel free to add more in comments!

• Convert any web page to PDF with PDFmyURL

• Make web pages more comfortable to read

• Share videos, links and music on Facebook

• Shorten URLs for easier sharing with bit.ly or tr.im

• Add anything you see online to your Amazon Wishlist

• Share interesting links more easily on Delicious

• Make microblogging simpler with Posterous or Tumblr

• Create a printer-friendly version of any web page

• Send any web content to your Kindle in one click

• Locate an address on Google Maps right away

It’s amazing how quickly Super Bowl Sunday seems to come around. This weekend sees the Colts take on the Saints in a game which could be one of the most exciting ever given the offensive nature of both teams. Super Bowl night is always special, but to make it even more enjoyable, why not grab a hold of some football apps for your iPhone? Here are some choices that will help make this Super Bowl Sunday the best ever, regardless of what happens in the match. Note that many of these apps are only available on the US App Store.

Experience the magic with Madden NFL 10

EA’s John Madden series is one of the longest running in the history of sports games. For seven dollars you can experience the thrills and spills of an NFL season on your iPhone. With great graphics and real teams, players and stadiums, this is the most realistic football game you’ll find. The in-depth gameplay includes almost 300 different plays, and an Action Time Control slo-mo mode to help you perfect the.

Get closer to the action with NFL 2010

Although it lacks the ability to trade players like you can do in Madden, Gameloft’s NFL 2010 is an altogether more polished game. The 3D graphics are slicker than those in Madden, and the fact that there are three difficulty levels means that it’s a lot tougher. It’s also pretty addictive, so make sure you keep NFL 2010 well away from you during the game, or you’ll end up missing the whole thing!

Order food with the Pizza Hut app

Pizza is a key ingredient in the recipe for a good Super Bowl Sunday. Don’t even think about getting up out of your chair to get one though. Just install the Pizza Hut app on your iPhone and you’ll be able to order food from your local Pizza Hut without even speaking to anyone! Choosing what to order is as simple as spinning a wheel and tapping the item you want.

Get some virtual booze down you with iBeer

Drinking beer on Super Bowl night is great fun. However, drinking a virtual beer from your iPhone will make you look cooler. So, grab hold of iBeer, tilt back your phone and watch as the succulent amber nectar froths and disappears slowly just like a real beer. There are five drinks to choose from, and you can refill your glass as many times as you like - all for just 99 cents. How many bars offer a promotion like that?

Learn your trivia with Super Bowl Winners

Now it’s time to bone up on your Super Bowl trivia. Install Super Bowl Winners, and you’ll have an at-a-glance reference to the outcome of every final, since Super Bowl I in 1967. Besides listing the winners, the app arms you with enough stats and data to be impressing your buddies all night with your “knowledge” of this great competition.

Scope out the teams with Pro Football Indianapolis/New Orleans Fan

The Colts and Saints versions of Pro Football’s series of fan apps for iPhone are perfect for brushing up on your knowledge of the finalists. They do cost two dollars a piece, but they provide so much information that they’re worth downloading even if you don’t support either team. You get all the latest news, player profiles, stadium plans, standings, plus detailed team histories.

Follow the action with Pro Football Live

Once all the hype is over and the game has started, you can follow all the action with Pro Football Live. The free app will provide live coverage of Super Bowl XLIV, offering end-zone to end-zone updates and impressive game time visuals. It’s packed with social networking elements too, so you can interact with other fans.

Listen live with ESPN Radio

Of course, you’ll almost certainly be watching the game on TV, but what happens if you need to go to the toilet or dash out for more popcorn? Well, just make sure you’ve got the ESPN Radio app installed and you won’t miss a second of the action. The station will be offering live commentary of the Colts v Saints, and the only costs three dollars then it’s yours forever.

Make some noise with Air Horn

The atmosphere is sure to be exciting in Miami come 7pm E.S.T. You can bring a taste of this excitement into to your home by installing Air Horn. Press down the horn and it will release a sound from your iPhone that’s just like the real thing. It’s guaranteed to provide endless amusement during the course of the game. Either that, or it will annoy the hell out of your buddies.

Make your point with 3D Foam Finger

If you forgot to buy the most crucial Super Bowl accessory of them all - the foam finger - then stop fretting because, naturally, there’s an app for that too. 3D Foam Finger places a giant hand on your screen which you can wave around to show your support. You can even change the color! It does cost 99 cents, but I guess you can’t put a price on fun.

I’m planning to visit Japan this year, and as part of my preparations for the trip I’d like to learn a bit of Japanese – at least some basic words and sentences to move around the country. Before starting with vocabulary though, you must learn the two Japanese alphabets, hiragana and katakana; luckily there are dozens of online resources that can help you with this task. The only thing you need to do is configuring your computer to display Japanese characters, and you’ll be ready to go!

Setting up Windows XP to display Japanese – and other Asian languages – properly involves a bit of tweaking, and requires the Windows XP CD as well. Simply follow these steps:

1. Open the Control Panel (Start menu > Control Panel)

2. Click the Regional and Language Options icon and go to the Languages tab. Tick the Install files for East Asian Languages option and hit OK. Follow on-screen instructions and insert the Windows XP CD when prompted.

3. Once the installation is finished, and after the correspondent system restart, go back to the same dialog window mentioned before and in the Languages tab, click the Details button. Read on…