Trillian Astra 4.2

If it isn't enough to chat with friends from Google, MySpace IM, Skype, and Facebook, as well as AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, and IRC on Trillian't multinetwork IM app, you can comfortably count the app's deep hooks into Twitter and Facebook alerts and checking e-mail (both POP3 and IMAP varieties) as reasons for switching from your current messenger.

Among its best social networking traits, Trillian will automatically shorten URLs in your tweets, and handle direct messages, re-tweets, and replies. Twitter Trends can show up in your contact list, and you can get tweets to appear in tooltip form. Facebook features include news feed integration, Facebook in-box checking, and synchronized message updating in addition to Facebook IM. Just on these features alone, Trillian Astra offers a bit more than its IM competitors.

In addition, there's support for drag-and-drop file transferring, skins, notifications, and all sorts of tweaking in the preference menu. Trillian earns a thumbs-up for previewing a Web site when you hover the cursor over a URL in the conversation window, but the same feature is less effective and less accurate when applied to looking up definitions of terms found within the chat window (luckily, you can turn the helpers off.)

Legacy users will be pleased to know that Trillian Astra (code for version 4.0 and up) runs lighter than previous versions, and you're less likely to notice system slowdowns because of memory leaks. Video chat gets basic support. The paid upgrade gives you browser-based IM from Trillian.im, full-screen video and filters, many more visual customizations, multiple simultaneous file transfer, and themes, as well as tech support. These features are available for the first 30 days you use the free version, then they deactivate. The biggest changes, besides the reskinned interface, are the long-needed performance improvements and support for a broad range of IM protocols. Longtime fans won't be disappointed with the changes, though those using the free version clearly won't get the full effect of Trillian's more-advanced features.

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FreeZ Online TV 1.30

While we love the idea of free TV (who doesn't?), it never seems to be quite what we hoped. FreeZ Online TV is no exception. The channel selection is unimpressive and user guidance is nonexistent.

The most confusing things about the program are the links that appear on the initial screen when the program is opened. We mistakenly believed they might provide more guidance for the program but instead directed us to two different sites promising free online TV. Both require additional downloads, and weren't related to FreeZ Online TV.

That said, once we explored those two false leads, the program itself proved fairly easy to operate, although disappointing in its outcomes. A standard viewing screen sits next to a file tree with 16 main categories, including News, Entertainment, and Weather. Within each category are at least a half dozen channel choices, but many are not in English. Simply click one and it begins playing. The typical media controls to stop, start, pause, etc., become visible at the bottom of the screen as the content buffers. What you won't find are any guides to the channels, which seem randomly selected from various countries around the world. All you get are the call letters (like WSTV) or largely unrecognizable names like NOS Journaal. We also found that many of the listed channels didn't play at all. There are no user settings, so you can't delete or add your own channels, and no Help file or other user guidance is available.

During installation, a box is pre-checked that will add the FreeZ Online TV Toolbar, so be sure to uncheck this if you don't want this little extra. Or, better yet, skip the download altogether and avoid not only the toolbar but this unimpressive program as well.

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BitSpirit 3.6.0.401

BitTorrent technology has revolutionized the way we share files, making the transmission of movies, large pieces of software, and entire albums of music a relatively quick process. There are many torrent-sharing clients out there to choose from, and BitSpirit is one of the better ones we've encountered. There's nothing flashy about it; it's just a well-designed, easy-to-use piece of software that makes sharing torrents a breeze.

BitSpirit's interface is attractive and intuitive, and even users with rudimentary torrent knowledge will be able to figure it out. Clear, well-labeled buttons give users access to the program's major functions, and the layout is well-organized and easy to navigate. A small, unobtrusive toolbar with adjustable opacity lets users keep an eye on their torrents even when using other programs. Actually using the BitSpirit is extremely simple; we had no trouble downloading a torrent or creating a new torrent to share. We especially liked that BitSpirit lets users organize downloaded files by media type, making it easy to locate music, books, movies, software, and more. There was nothing about BitSpirit that really wowed us, but that's OK; if a program does the basics and does them well, sometimes that's all you need. We do wish that BitSpirit had a proper Help file instead of a paltry online FAQ, but that's our only major criticism. On the whole, we liked BitSpirit very much.

BitSpirit is free. It installs politely but leaves a folder behind upon removal. We recommend this program to all users.

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Luxand Blink 2.0

Blink and you'll miss it. This free program adds an extra level of security to your computer through your Webcam, associating your face with your username and password so you can start using your computer after a few seconds of looking at your Webcam.

When you install the program, it will offer to run a wizard to help you set it up. The wizard will autodetect your Webcam, and give you a choice if you have more than one. After giving you a screen to click through, which serves to give you more of a chance to compose yourself for the scan, the program takes about 10 seconds to add your image to its database. The publisher Luxand, known for its facial-recognition algorithms, claims that the program is powerful enough to see through minor adjustments to your visage, including eyeglasses, facial hair changes, and even sunglasses. During tests with printed color photos of the reviewer's face, the program wasn't fooled. Blink was, however, able to see through sunglasses in less than 3 seconds, the same amount of time it took to log in an unaltered version of a registered face.

Blink is not the only program that adds an extra level of security to your computer through your Webcam, but it is one of the only free ones. It supports multiple users, creates a log of those who try to access the computer, offers a "learning" convenience setting and a high security setting, and the run at start-up option can be toggled off.

It has one major drawback: it only works on 32-bit computers. Considering that more and more new computers are coming out with Windows 7 x64, the lack of 64-bit support could be fatal sooner rather than later. However, for right now that's a problem that most Windows users probably won't notice. The program also doesn't allow your face to replace Web site log-ins, a logical extension of what it does. Simple in function, Blink is a must-try for its novelty, but you might just wind up keeping it for its effectiveness.

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