Mike Williams

VPN software can be great for browsing anonymously, bypassing trackers, perhaps avoiding some web censorship. But it can also be awkward to set up, tricky to use, with all kinds of potential pitfalls and issues to consider.

TunnelBear is, fortunately, a little different. It’s a solid and reliable VPN service with all the functionality you need (and more, probably), but smart design means it also keeps any of the usual hassles to an absolute minimum.

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SmartSystemMenu is a small, open-source tool which adds five useful functions to your application window system menu.

"Information" displays various details about the window and its process. Most are aimed at developers (Handle, Class, Style), but the Process tab presents the full path of its executable, handy when you need to know where it’s stored.

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NirSoft has released WebCacheImageInfo, a computer forensics tool which scans your browser caches (Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer) and displays details on any JPEGs which contain interesting metadata.

The information available can (but won’t necessarily) include the camera used to take the photo; the dates when it was taken, generated, modified or viewed in the browser; and the name of whatever editor was last used to process the image.

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Helsinki-based security company F-Secure has released Key, a password manager for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac.

The program has similar features to many competitors. You can enter your login details for multiple URLs; a secure password generator helps you generate new credentials, and your AES-encrypted database is protected by a single master password.

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It’s happened to us all. You’ve found what looks like some great freeware, downloaded and installed it, only to discover that your browser has a new toolbar, home page, search engine and more. Many setup programs now include these "offers", unfortunately, and they’ll employ all kinds of tricks to fool you into installing them.

If you’re tired of this situation, though, there’s a new way to fight back. The free Unchecky monitors setup programs, checks for any attempts to install adware, toolbars and other unrelated extras, and uses a couple of strategies to ensure they don’t end up on your hard drive accidentally.

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German utilities developer Ashampoo has announced the release of Ashampoo Burning Studio 14, the latest incarnation of its disc burning suite.

Top of the new features list is support for AES-256 encryption. The "Crypted disc" project type will encrypt whatever files you burn to CD, DVD or Blu-ray, and only someone who knows the password you’ve chosen will be able to access your data.

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Windows System Restore is a very useful PC safety net which regularly backs up your key system settings and files, then helps you restore them later if disaster strikes. So it’s a shame that its interface is so poor, difficult to find and requiring the maximum number of clicks to do anything at all.

Restore Point Creator is a free and portable tool which aims to change all that, and you only need launch it to see major improvements. Everything you need is available in the same dialog: the list of restore points, a "create new" option, a "restore to selected" button, and more.

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A capable local and online backup tool, Nero BackItUp normally comes bundled with the boxed version of Nero 2014. There is also a stand-alone version offering 5GB of online storage for free, though -- so is it worth your time? We took a closer look.

The PC client installs quickly, and has a very familiar interface. As usual, you first select files and folders by checking boxes in an Explorer-type view. And then you choose a local drive or your online account as the destination (although not both as a part of the same job, unfortunately).

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German developer Paragon Software Group has announced the release of Hard Disk Manager 14, the latest edition of its drive partitioning, backup, copying and management suite.

New features this time include the introduction of pVHD, an optimized container format, and its greater efficiency makes for smaller backup files, improved performance and stability.

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Commonly used for everything from program help to e-books, Microsoft’s Compiled HTML Help (CHM) format works very well on the PC. CHM files aren’t always as easy to browse on other platforms, though, so if you need to access their content elsewhere then you might be interested in CHM to PDF.

This free program is extremely easy to use. Just choose your source CHM file, click Convert, and a PDF of the same name (but with a PDF extension) will be produced in the same folder.

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When you need to read a long document then you could just sit at your PC, scrolling for an age, until you’re finally done. But having the computer read to you could make much more sense. There’s no eye strain, no document navigation issues, and you might even be able to do something else as you listen.

Windows provides a simple text-to-speech solution in Narrator (Control Panel > Ease of Access Center), and this can easily read the current document in many applications. For real TTS power, though, the free Balabolka is hard to beat.

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When writing about new programs we’ll normally start with a general outline of what they do, but FastKeys ($9.99) makes that unusually difficult. It’s a highly versatile Windows automation program with support for several time-saving technologies, but how these are used is very much up to you.

The program could be a simple Start Menu replacement, for instance; move your mouse to the top edge of the screen and a basic Start menu appears. This starts off with just a few links (Office, system applets, Documents folder, a few web shortcuts, shutdown options), but can easily be expanded to add more.

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Finding the right disc burning tool for you can sometimes be a problem. The big commercial suites are expensive, but smaller freebies are often buggy, unreliable, sometimes weighed down with adware. So it’s good to find a small but capable alternative in Free Any Burn.

The program arrives as a compact download, only around 1MB. You can just unzip and run it right away, no installation required, no adware hassles. And it’s extremely portable: the authors claim it can run on anything from Window 98 upwards, so this really is a program you can run just about anywhere.

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You’ve found an essential Android app. You click "Install", wanting to check it out immediately. And so, let’s be realistic, you’re probably not going to spend a long time reviewing the app permissions, and thinking about whether it really needs to "send SMS", or not. Much easier to just click "Accept" and give it a try.

Skipping basic security checks can catch up with you later, of course, but install Bitdefender’s Clueful and this doesn’t have to be such an issue. This free app warns you of privacy risks whenever you install something new, and can produce a detailed report on your system whenever you like.

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Most fractal programs are entertaining for a while, and capable of producing some amazing abstract pictures. But the constant focus on 2D Mandelbrot imagery means that boredom will inevitably set in, and sooner rather than later. What you really need is something more interesting – and we have the ideal candidate.

Mandelbulber is a fractal program with a difference. Forget the usual 2D pictures, this brings you amazing ray-traced 3D images, with complex shading, full lighting and camera control, even the ability to create custom animations where the camera flies around and into your chosen view.

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