Mozilla has revealed its plans to launch a version of its Firefox browser for the Windows 8 Metro interface.

The announcement was made as part of the company's roadmap for 2012 and says an Alpha release will be made in the second half of 2012.

The Firefox for Windows 8 Metro browser will be built using the Gecko API and will be reimagined to suit the touch sensitive controls and will also boast full-screen capabilities.

Familiar features like the Awesomebar, an app bar and navigation controls will be present, but it appears it will be pared down somewhat compared to recent versions of the desktop browser.

Connected to the Metro environment

A post on the Mozilla roadmap page says: "The feature goal here is a new Gecko based browser built for and integrated with the Metro environment.

"Firefox on Metro, like all other Metro apps will be full screen, focused on touch interactions, and connected to the rest of the Metro environment through Windows 8 contracts.

"Firefox will have to support three "snap" states -- full screen, 1/6th screen and 5/6th screen depending on how the user "docks" two full screen apps. Our UI will need to adjust to show the most relevant content for each size.

"In order to provide users with access to other content, other apps, and to Firefox from other content and apps, we'll need integration with the share contract, the search contract, the settings contract, the app to app picking contract, the print contract, the play to contract, and possibly a couple more. We'll be a source for some, a target for some, and both for some.

"We may want to offer a live tile with user-centric data like friends presence or other Firefox Home information updates."

Getting in early with a solid Windows 8 Metro app could offer Mozilla a way out of its recent slump, which has seen a rapidly declining share in market share after being overtaken by Google Chrome.

BrowserID: what it is and why you should care

BrowserID is a method, presented in July 2011, to use email addresses to prove an identity and sign in to a website quickly and safely.

The system was developed by Mozilla Labs.

It's designed to be easier and faster than the esisting method of a site sending you an email and you clicking a link to verify your true identity.

So why is it important and how will it work? We decided to find out.

Q. How would it work in practice?

A. In order to log in on a website that supports BrowserID, you would only have to click on a Sign In button and then select from a menu what email address you want to use. Your browser and the website would take care of everything else.

Q. What about logging in via Facebook, Twitter or Google? That would be even faster and simpler, wouldn't it?

A. Yes, when you're browsing while logged in to any of those portals, you don't have to do anything, since any website connected with them will immediately know who you are. And that's the problem. Outsourcing these tasks to giant private providers creates lots of lock-in and privacy protection issues.

Q. That's surely true, but wait a second! Wasn't OpenID supposed to provide (more or less) the same service?

A. Indeed it was. In practice, it looks as if OpenID failed to reach critical mass for several reasons. Probably the biggest one was the need to temporarily go to another website to gain access to the one you wanted to visit.

Unless someone really understands the value of reliable online authentication services (and cares about it) that's much more cumbersome than just telling a browser to remember all passwords, or click on the Remember Me boxes provided by most log-in web forms. BrowserID tries to provide the same level of security and trust as OpenID, but in a much more transparent way.

Q. Tell me more about privacy protection in BrowserID, please.

A. First of all, unlike other sign-in systems, BrowserID does not force the user to share or transmit online personal, sensitive data, such as date of birth. In addition to this, BrowserID is designed not to pass to any server data about which web pages you visit.

Q. Why is BrowserID based on email addresses?

A. First of all, because everybody using the web on a regular basis already has at least one email address and knows it's already used as an identity and authorisation token. Next, because email addresses are not controlled or controllable by any single organisation.

Finally, because practically all websites that require their users to log in already store their email addresses to handle direct communications, password reset requests and other services: therefore, BrowserID gives them a better way to use for authentication some user data that they have already.

Q. Would BrowserID prevent me from using my favourite nicknames on those websites?

A. Not at all. The email address is used only for the initial authentication. BrowserID doesn't limit in any way how a website lets you configure your local account.

Q. Could I have multiple BrowserID identities then?

A. Of course. The only requirement is that each of them is associated with a different email address.

Q. What about other applications, such as chat clients? Could I use BrowserID with them too, or is it a browser-only thing?

A. Yes you could, as long as those programs implement the protocol, and provide their users with an interface to log in to their identity provider to get the keys. These may then be stored in Kwallet or any other desktop-based password manager.

Q. Sorry, what protocol and keys? Is BrowserID based on some sort of proprietary technology?

A. No. Technically speaking, BrowserID is an application of the Verified Email Protocol; a decentralised authentication system based on public/private key cryptography, through which users can prove to a website that they own an email address.

Q. Does BrowserID work on all browsers?

A. BrowserID can work on every modern browser, including mobile ones. The only requirement is that those browsers be compatible with the BrowserID JavaScript API. This said, even if you were forced to use a noncompliant browser, it would still be possible to use an equivalent web-based service.

Q. What should I do to start using BrowserID?

A. You should log in the old way to the website of your identity provider. That server will then tell your browser, through a JavaScript API, to generate a public/private pair of cryptographic keys.

Right after that, the browser will send the public key to the identity provider and get back a signed identity certificate. The browser will then store the private key and certificate as it would do with traditional passwords.

Q. What would happen next, when I visit a BrowserID-compliant website?

A. That website will tell your browser to run a JavaScript function that asks you if you want to log in and with which identity – that is email address.

Q. And when I accept...

A. The browser will send to the website the identity certificate, signed with the private key. At that point, the website will download your public key from your identity provider and verify that the signature is authentic.

Q. And that's how I'll prove to that website that I really am who I say I am?

A. Yes… and no. What this procedure provides is a third-party confirmation (unlike what happens with cookies!) that the authentication request comes from a browser that has the secret key associated to the provided email address. Which means that…

Q. I should never let other people use my browser!

A. That's absolutely true. However, that's the same risk you already face with every other authentication system that doesn't force you to enter a password every time, isn't it?

Q. I suppose that's true, but this also means I won't be able to authenticate from other browsers, right?

A. It depends. That's really up to you. In and by itself, BrowserID does allow you to have one certificate for each computer or smartphone you use, including borrowed or public ones such as internet kiosks. Of course, in those cases you would have to delete the private key and certificate as soon as you're done!

Q. Let's go back to identity providers. You keep mentioning them – who are they?

A. In the simplest and most natural scenario, your BrowserID identity provider would be your email provider.

Q. What if it doesn't support the system?

A. You could still use, without problems, a trusted, secondary identity provider that offers the same services. The Mozilla Foundation, for example, has set up a website called BrowserID.org for this very purpose, in order to speed up testing and adoption of BrowserID.

Q. Ah, yes, adoption. What is the current status of BrowserID? Is anybody already using it?

A. At the time of writing this piece (late November), BrowserID is still in its infancy. Most browser developers haven't announced any official plans to integrate BrowserID support in their software. That's not the main problem, though.

Q. Really? What is it then?

A. The real open issue is if and when the major email providers and online communities, such as Facebook and Twitter, will support BrowserID – that is become identity providers. Especially when, like Facebook, they have their own in-house alternative.

Besides, all these providers would need to agree on a standard way to make public keys accessible. Luckily, none of this makes it impossible to try BrowserID or implement it on your website.

Q. That's cool. How can I try it today?

A. For the moment, the best way to see how using BrowserID looks is to visit the official demo site at Myfavoritebeer.org.

Q. What about webmasters?

A If they use popular open source software, such as WordPress or Drupal, they're lucky: BrowserID plug-ins for those content management systems already exist.

Alternatively, they'd have to follow the instructions for developers published at browserid.org. Even in that case, though, they'd be able to use BrowserID without having to write any authentication code by themselves.

How to get started with Apple Mail

Despite the popularity of social networks, no computer is complete without a great email app to help you keep in touch with friends and loved ones.

It's no surprise, then, that all Macs come with Apple's Mail program built into OS X. It makes it easy to set up your email account and browse and sort your messages, as well as write emails to others.

You'll need to have an email account. And for many email types, including Yahoo!, AOL, Gmail and Windows Live/Hotmail, Mail can set up your account using just your email address and password.

You can set up other kinds of accounts, but you may need to know the details of your incoming and outgoing servers, which your provider should be able to supply you with.

Once your account is set up, you'll see the Mail interface, with a list of emails on the left, and a preview box on the right. There's a Show button just above the messages list that enables you to see your list of account inboxes, which is handy if you have more than one set up, have created multiple mailboxes, or if you want to browse messages you've deleted from your inbox.

From the toolbar along the top of the Mail window, you can check for new messages, compose a new email, create a new note, delete emails, mark emails as junk mail, forward and reply to messages, and flag emails for your attention later.

There's also a search bar here, which enables you to find text anywhere in any of your emails, so you can easily search for its subject, or the person who sent it, for example.

In this walkthrough, we'll talk you through the basics of using the Mail app, including getting set up, reading your emails and writing messages, but once you're more confident with Mail, you can do a lot more.

For example, you can set up Rules such as having incoming messages sorted into different inboxes depending on the sender, you can change the default font and size that messages are displayed in, and create multiple email signatures.

Of course, if all you want to do is send and receive the occasional hello from family members, you can stick with just the steps on the opposite page and enjoy the full email experience.

How to get to grips with features in Apple Mail

1. Set up your account

When you first open Mail, or when you add a new account, it will ask for your name, email address and password. For many types of email, this is all you'll need to enter, but if Mail is unable to find the information it needs automatically, it'll ask you for more details.

2. Read a message

With your account set up, and email flooding in, select one in the left-hand inbox list to display it in the window to the right. Or, you can double-click on an email to open it in a new window. From here, you can click the arrow buttons at the top to reply or forward emails.

3. File attachments

If an email sent to you has an attachment, you'll see a paperclip next to the sender's name. A file icon will be displayed beneath the email text. You can click a file's name to open it, open it with Quick Look for a brief check, and save it by right-clicking.

4. Photo attachments

Attachments, such as photos and PDF files, are handled slightly differently. They are displayed in full under the email's text. Again, they can be opened or saved, and if there are several photos, you can view them in a slideshow with Quick Look.

5. Search through emails

In the top-right of the Mail window is the search box. Mail will search all emails for anything you type in here. Results appear in the inbox pane, and below the search box. You can use this list to search for emails from certain people, or by subject line, for example.

6. Compose a message

Click the paper-and-pencil icon to create a new message. In the To field, you can enter the email address of your recipient.

If they're stored in your Address Book, you don't need to type out their email address in full – start typing their name, and Mail will offer their email address. Add a subject line and type a message in the blank space below that.

To attach a file, click the paperclip icon at the top of the windows and browse to the file you want. Clicking the icon that looks like a mountain will open a photo browser, so you can insert a photo from your iPhoto library.

To the right of this icon is a button to open the stationery pane, which enables you to send colourful emails.

Windows 8 will come with a number of pre-installed apps, which look set to include things like messaging, mail and contacts.

The apps will be in the Windows Phone Metro style and some, like messaging may incorporate mobile aspects like SMS support.

The full list, acquired by The Verge, includes camera, messaging, mail, calendar, SkyDrive, people, photos, video and music.

Soon, soon

We should see all these apps and, possibly, more in the Windows 8 beta set for this month.

None will be branded WIndows Live, as some Windows apps like Messenger currently are, but the Music and Video apps are said to be branded Zune at the moment, with plans to move this to Xbox Live for Windows in the long term.

Speaking of Xbox Live, there's also a possibility that a Windows Phone-alike Xbox Live Companion app will come bundled in the consumer preview too.

So, not exactly groundbreaking information, but rather another blank filled in in the great tech crossword puzzle that is Windows 8.

Google's Chrome web browser has finally launched for the Android platform.

The long-awaited arrival comes in public Beta for smartphones and tablets currently using Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

That means very few Android users are going to be able to access the popular web browser at this stage.

The Android browser teams-up with your desktop version to bring the tabs already open on your computer, directly to your smartphone, if you're signed-in to a Chrome account.

The feature will be of great benefit to users when they have to step away from their main screen, while in the middle of reading an article.

Your favourite and previously visited sites will also sync to the mobile iteration, while the fast-search functionality is also on-board.

New tabs and link preview

In terms of looks and appearance, Chrome for Android Beta has re-imagined the way tabs are presented to ensure they fit comfortably on the screen, while gestures will allow you to flip through them "like a pack of cards," Google says. Cool.

There's also a new feature called Link Preview, which allows you to easily select the correct link on a smaller mobile device by automatically zooming-in to the links on the page.

Google hopes this will end the all-to-common occurrence of users accidentally hitting the wrong link while browsing the web using a smartphone.

We're excited to finally see Chrome land on Android and, while it's sure to become the default browser on all Google-based devices before too long we'd love to see it available to more than the tiny percentage of users currently graced with ICS.

Here's Google's video preview below.

According to The Verge, Windows is about to lose something precious: the Start Orb, better known as the Start button.

We're already familiar with the new, touch-optimised, orb-free Windows 8 Metro interface, but it looks like the Orb's getting booted from the traditional desktop too.

There's no doubt that many people would like to see the back of it - we've had comments of the "OMG LOL YOU HAVE TO PRESS START TO SHUT DOWN YOUR PC BUY APPLE BUY APPLE BUY APPLE" variety since it was introduced in 1733, and there's no doubt that Metro looks much more modern and friendly than the ageing Windows UI.

But in the whoosh of Microsoft throwing out the bathwater, some people think they can hear the waaah of a baby.

Stopping Starting something

The rumours, I'm sure, are right: Microsoft has been making Windows 8's interface more Metro-y for some time, and killing off the Start button makes sense from that perspective.

The thing is, though, Microsoft isn't killing it: it's hiding it. When you move the mouse to the bottom corner the Orb magically appears again. You'll still be able to access the Orb from the Start key on your keyboard, too.

If we were living in a time of great pixel shortages, where gangs of graphics card manufacturers fought in the streets over packets of stolen pixels, hiding the Start Orb might be a great advantage.

However, we aren't, and as a result all that's really going on is that Microsoft appears to be making the classic Windows desktop a little bit more confusing, choosing to hide a key part of the user interface. Maybe once we get our hands on the Consumer Preview we'll think the new way is fantastic, but right now it looks like a step backwards in user-friendliness for no real benefit.

• Windows 8 beta: new features to expect

According to Windows boss Steven Sinofsky, "people 'in the know' who valued efficiency were moving away from the Start menu, and pinning their frequently used programs to the taskbar so that they could access them instantly in one click."

Program pinning is handy, but you can't pin everything to the taskbar or things start getting silly - and if you're in legacy mode rather than Metro mode, surely you want Windows to work like Windows always has?

Sinofsky says that the old Start menu is bad because it provides access to lots of programs and features people don't use very often, but for some of us that's exactly the point: we *like* having something that provides access to the things we don't use very often.

I'm imagining Sinofsky as a crazed vivisectionist here, cutting up cats and gluing their heads onto horses to make the cats better at showjumping.

Maybe, like cats and horses, Metro and classic Windows are best kept separate. Anyone fancy FrankenWindows?

Create an iTunes playlist: make the perfect mix

There are several ways that you can browse your music library in iTunes. Its grid and Cover Flow views are really great for picking out an album by its artwork, and you can play an individual track within seconds of it springing to mind, just by typing in the search bar.

But sometimes you'll want to kick back with a tailored selection of songs, or create a playlist for a party. iTunes caters for this with several kinds of playlist.

Each type is differently suited to the effort you want to invest and how finickety you happen to be feeling.

The most basic type of playlist is nothing more than a place to gather songs from your whole library and play them in whatever order you choose.

With Smart Playlists, instead of hand-picking every single song, you can specify criteria that inspects information attached to your songs, such as the artist and year of publication. iTunes also records dynamic information, such as the number of times you've played a song and how many times you've skipped it.

iTunes does the hard graft of working out what matches your criteria, which it does in next to no time even if your library contains thousands of songs.

Several Smart Playlists are automatically provided to serve common purposes. One shows your highest-rated songs, while another shows recent additions to your library. You might want to create a list just to show dance music from the 1990s only, or songs by particular artists that you haven't listened to in the last six months.

For a Genius Playlist, you only need to pick one track from your library to generate a selection of up to 100 songs. This requires the Genius feature to be on (Store > Turn On Genius), so that iTunes can periodically provide Apple with information about your songs and listening habits.

Apple analyses information from many people around the world and cross-references with your library to pick out songs that it thinks are complementary to the single song you've chosen.

How to create perfect iTunes playlists

1. Build a playlist

Choose File > New Playlist or click the + at the bottom-left of iTunes' window to create a playlist. Name it and press Return. Click Music in the left pane and drag songs from your library onto the playlist's name. Hold Command to select multiple tracks to add in one drag.

2. Change the order

Click your playlist. Tracks play in the order they were added. Drag them up and down the list to change that. Click the second icon at the bottom-left to turn on shuffle. The third repeats the playlist or song indefinitely. Playlists individually retain these settings.

3. Get smart

Smart Playlists have a cog to the left of their name in the left pane. Hold Ctrl and click one of the pre-defined ones that comes with iTunes and choose Edit Smart Playlist. From the same menu, use Duplicate to adapt an existing Smart Playlist.

4. Make the rules

Choose File > New Smart Playlist to start from scratch. Click the + button to add rules to be additionally matched. Hold Option and the + will change to '…', which adds a group of conditions. You can set it to match any of the rules within.

5. Tidy up

File > New Playlist Folder organises playlists. Drag a playlist onto a folder to put it inside. Folders can contain other folders. To move a playlist to the top level, drag it over a playlist at that level, then left of its icon. Let go when the blue highlight disappears.

6. Speedy creation

Make sure Genius is on and up to date (Store > Update Genius). Next, hold down Ctrl and click a song in your library. Choose Start Genius to create a Genius Playlist. At the top-right, you can choose how many tracks it contains.

7. Saving genius

Press Save Playlist at the top-right so you can revisit this playlist later. A Genius Playlist remains the same until you select one and press Refresh at the top-right. To avoid losing content, press Command+A to select and choose File > New Playlist from Selection.

8. Listen on the go

Playlists can help transfer music to an iPod or iOS device if it can't hold everything. Connect your device, select it on the left, then click Music at the top of the right pane. Under Playlists, put a tick next to any playlists you want to take with you.

Essential iCloud guide: Introduction

Poor old MobileMe. It tried hard, but never quite delivered. Expensive, sometimes slow and saddled with a clumsy name, it has long had the air of an unloved child.

Its development cycle was long and drawn out. And by the time Steve Jobs announced the end of its short and undistinguished life, just two years after its rebirth from the ashes of .Mac, few were inclined to shed any tears.

Yet it wasn't all bad. The email service was stable and largely dependable. It synced our contacts, so we didn't need to tap them all in on an iPhone keyboard, and the calendar tool always made sure we turned up on time, wherever we happened to be.

Apple knew this as well as anyone, which is why it chose to preserve those parts, jettisoning the web publishing, photo gallery and iDisk, as it set about building iCloud.

Housed in a vast data centre in North Carolina, iCloud is Apple's next-generation online service. It syncs your iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod touch. It can track a lost device, copy your iPhone snaps over the web so they're safely backed up on your Mac, and synchronise your iWork files so that whatever device you're using, downtime is never wasted time.

Over the next few pages, we'll show you how to set up your Mac and iOS devices to use iCloud, how to sync your apps and data, and how easy it is to back up your documents to the web. You'll soon see that MobileMe's demise really was the iCloud with a silver lining.

Whether you're moving an existing MobileMe account to iCloud or setting it up for the first time, Apple has applied its trademark logic to the process to make it as simple as possible.

The most important step you need to take is to make sure all of your devices are up to date and running the most recent versions of each headline app. Here we'll walk you through the process, step by step.

Update your Mac

To take advantage of all of iCloud's features you need to be running OS X Lion. This is now well bedded in and although some older machines appear to run a little slower than they did under Snow Leopard, it's generally proved to be fault free and enjoys good compatibility with existing third-party hardware and software.

iCloud requires Lion version 10.7.2 or later, which is the version currently being shipped through the App Store (£21). If you upgraded to Lion when it shipped back in July and haven't touched it since then, run Software Update now to downloaded the latest revision before going any further.

Lion only works on Macs running on an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, i5 or i7, or Xeon processor. That precludes the earliest Intel Macs and anything running a PowerPC processor.

It requires a minimum of 2GB of RAM, 7GB of hard drive space and Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later. This was the first version of the OS released via the Mac App Store, through which the 4GB installer must be downloaded.

If you're on a capped broadband deal or you don't have broadband, then all is not lost. Head for a bricks-and-mortar Apple Store if you have one within reasonable driving distance and download it there using the free Wi-Fi.

Alternatively, order the £55 OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive from http://store.apple.com/uk/product/ MD256Z/A. It's over twice the price of the downloaded edition, but it does come on one of the best-looking thumb drives we've ever seen.

Update iPhoto/Aperture

One of the most exciting features of iCloud is Photo Stream, which automatically copies the 1,000 photos you've most recently taken over the last 30 days between your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as backing them up to any Mac running iPhoto or Aperture.

Again, you'll need to ensure that you're running the very latest edition of either of these applications. In the case of iPhoto, that's iPhoto 11 version 9.2 or later, while Aperture users should be running version 3.2 or later.

Both of these are available through the Mac App Store (iPhoto 11 costs £10.49; Aperture 3 costs £55).

Update iTunes

iCloud has taken over from MobileMe as the main synchronisation conduit for all of your data on Apple's integrated ecosystem. That includes not only your contact, email accounts, calendars and so on, but also your purchases through the iTunes Store, iBook Store and Mac App Store.

That means that any purchase you make on any of your devices, or through iTunes on your Mac, will automatically be synchronised on each of your other devices. This works on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch as soon as you upgrade to iOS 5 and activate iCloud.

But to get the Mac side of things working you need to upgrade to iTunes 5 or later, again through Software Update.

Update iOS devices

iCloud is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4S, iPad and iPad 2, and the third- and fourth-generation iPod touch. Each must be running iOS 5 to gain access to options for enabling the integrated iCloud features that sit at the heart of the OS.

The original iPhone and iPod touch only support as far as iPhone OS 3.1.3, and the iPhone 3G and second-generation iPod touch, iOS 4.2.1. If you're updating several identical devices at one time, download the iOS 5 setup files manually so that you don't tie up your internet connection as iTunes retrieves them for each device individually. See here for the direct download links and instructions on how to apply each patch.

Be aware that if you follow this route, the bundles differ according to which device you want to update. So while the OS underpinning your iPad 2, iPhone 4 and iPod touch might all be called iOS 5, they differ sufficiently for you to require a different setup file for each one.

The simplest route to updating your device, therefore, is to connect it to your Mac using USB and launch iTunes. iTunes will check Apple's servers for the iOS 5 update and patch your device. Click Download and Update to proceed, having already performed a manual synchronisation to ensure there's an up-to-date backup of your data in place should anything go wrong.

Once you've updated to iOS 5, all future software updates can be performed directly through the phone without plugging it in to your Mac. Tap Settings > General > Software Update to check for new releases.

You'll also need to update your Apple TV to take advantage of Photo Stream and access your previous iTunes purchases. Do this by using your remote to select Settings > General > Software Update. When Apple TV has located the installer, click Download and Install (or Download Now on a first-generation Apple TV). When the download completes on Apple TV 2, the update will have been applied. On Apple TV 1, click Update Now. Note that only Apple TV 2 is compatible with iCloud Photo Stream.

With all of your devices and applications up to date, it's time to take the plunge and set up your iCloud account properly. For existing MobileMe members, this is a simple matter of transferring your existing account. Everyone else, however, is starting from scratch. Turn the page to get started.

Setting up iCloud

iCloud for new users

Signing in to iCloud requires an Apple ID. If you've ever bought anything from one of Apple's online stores – music, apps, books, videos and so on – you already have an Apple ID.

If you can't remember what it is, point your browser at https://iforgot.apple.com, click Forgot Apple ID and enter your name, address and email address (or, if you can remember your Apple ID but you've forgotten your password, simply enter your ID in the box and click Next).

If you don't already have an Apple ID you can sign up for one for free without making any purchases at https://appleid.apple.com. Your selected Apple ID will take the form of an email address, but note that you can't use an existing MobileMe address here.

If you have one, it counts as an existing Apple ID, so you can use that to set up your Mac and iOS devices. So with your Apple ID registered, point your browser at http://icloud.com and sign in.

MobileMe users

As you already have an account set up, you need to convert it to iCloud. Open a browser window and visit www.me.com/move. You'll need to enter your MobileMe password to authorise the transfer.

There's no such thing as an iCloud family account, so master account holders of MobileMe Family Packs will have to transfer each user individually.

Data synchronisation

Like MobileMe before it, iCloud synchronises all of your day-to-day data, including appointments and contacts, between each of your devices. Again, setting this up is a two-step process conducted first on your Mac and then on your iOS device.

Open System Preferences > iCloud on your Mac and log in using the Apple ID and password tied to your iCloud account. Now check the boxes beside the data you want to synchronise, including Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks and Mail & Notes.

As with MobileMe, this latter option doesn't synchronise your email messages – just your account settings. However, it does synchronise jottings created using the Notes application on your iPad or iPhone, filing them neatly inside the OS X Mail application.

Now turn to your iOS device and add your iCloud account: tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account… and enter your Apple ID credentials, choosing iCloud as the account type. With this in place, step back to the overall Settings screen and tap iCloud, followed by the sliders beside the data types you want to synchronise. That way they match the ones you activated on your Mac.

Bear in mind that the more you synchronise, the more you'll eat into your storage allocation, with even Mail and any attachments in your inbox, outbox, drafts and folders counting against your limit. Photo Stream is the only synchronisation feature that Apple excludes from its calculations when working out how much you've used. And for good reason: it would be impossible for you to accurately judge in advance the exact size of each picture you take and how much space it will occupy on Apple's servers.

You should therefore avoid synchronising more data types than you need if you want to avoid having to upgrade to a paid account at some point in the future.

iTunes Store syncing

iTunes' status has been demoted slightly since the arrival of iOS 5 in that you don't need to use it to set up a new iPhone, or necessarily plug in your phone using USB to sync it. However, it remains a hub for your incoming data and an essential backup location for downloaded apps, books and music, so that should you lose your iOS device you won't also lose all your purchases.

Launch iTunes and click iTunes > Preferences > Store, then click the check boxes beside Music, Apps and Books to automatically download all purchases made on your iOS devices simultaneously to your iTunes library. This saves you syncing your device manually the next time you want to create a backup.

Setting up iTunes is only one half of the process, as you need to enable the same options on your iOS devices. Here, click Settings > Store and tap the sliders beside Music, Apps and Books to activate synchronisation.

On the iPhone and on 3G-enabled iPads you'll find a further option here to download your purchases over the cellphone network. Tap the slider beside Use Mobile Data to do this, but only if you're sure you're happy for your mobile 3G data allowance to be used in this way. If you are intending to take your device overseas, be sure to disable this particular feature. The excess fees you'll be charged for data roaming will make even a free app painfully expensive.

How to free up space on your iCloud account

1. Consider an upgrade

Every iCloud account comes with 5GB of free storage, which you can optionally upgrade by 20GB or 50GB for £28 and £70 a year respectively. You might consider doing this when things start to get tight. But before you do, how about clearing out some unused files?

2. Manage current storage

You can manage your iCloud storage from either your Mac or an iOS device. If you're at your Mac, simply open System Preferences > iCloud and click the Manage… button. On iOS, tap Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup > Manage Storage.

3. Clear unused files (OS X)

On OS X, click through the various apps that are authorised to save data to your iCloud space to see which apps are hogging more than their due. Select the files you don't need any more and press Command+Delete to remove them, or click Delete All to clear out all files of that type.

4. Clear unused files (iOS)

On your iOS device, tap the name of each application in turn, followed by Edit, and then the red circles beside the names of the files you want to remove. This calls up a series of red Delete buttons. Simply tap these to confirm the removal.

5. Buy more storage

If you still need more storage, step back to Manage Storage on iOS, or click Buy More Storage… in OS X and select the amount of extra space you want to buy. Bear in mind that the specified quantities are in addition to your free 5GB account.

6. Downgrade options

Avoid paying for additional storage that you may no longer need when your account comes up for renewal by setting it to a more appropriate level. Click Downgrade Options… and select your new account quota. Note the billing details at the top of the pane.

Essential iCloud guide: Photo Stream

Photo Stream is like Time Machine for your iPhone snaps. Take a photo on any device running iOS 5 or later and it'll be synchronised to all of your other devices, and your Mac, without any input from yourself.

It's quite magical the first time you see it in operation, but how does it work, and how can you put it to use?

Set up Photo Stream

Enable Photo Stream on your iOS device by tapping Settings > iCloud > Photo Stream and tapping the action slider so that it reads 'ON'. You can now step out of settings and get on with using your device as usual.

On your Mac, Photo Stream helpfully synchronises with iPhoto 11 or Aperture 3.2. You can enable it through System Preferences by clicking in the Photo Stream check box on the iCloud pane. You now need to decide which application should act as the archive for your remotely shot images. (Apple doesn't allow you to send them simultaneously to iPhoto and Aperture.)

Open either application's Preferences and click the toolbar's Photo Stream icon, then tick the box to Enable Photo Stream, followed by either or both of the options to automatically import and automatically upload new photos. We would recommend at the very least enabling automatic import so that you maintain a complete archive of your iOS photos on your Mac.

Unlike the photos in the Photo Streams on your iOS devices, these will never be removed from your account, even after the 30-day limit.

Do you really need to enable automatic uploads? That depends on what your plans are. Are you going to be importing several hundred holiday shots when you return from your travels? It's better to decide now whether you want them to also be sent to your iOS device. If not, uncheck that option.

Photo Stream only works over Wi-Fi, so it won't hammer your 3G bandwidth and risk taking you close to your mobile contract's monthly cap. One less thing to worry about when you're on holiday!

Every time you take a photo on any iOS 5 device linked to your iCloud account, it's uploaded to Apple's servers when you quit the Camera app. From there it's sent back down to your other iOS devices and your Mac.

The next time you fire up iPhoto or Aperture (depending on which you have linked to your iCloud account) you'll find a Photo Stream entry in the sidebar containing a copy of each of your iOS photos. Your pictures will also appear on the second-generation Apple TV running software update 4.4 or later.

Photo Stream on iOS

Things work slightly differently on an iOS device to the way they do in Aperture or iPhoto. Images shot on any device are saved locally, as usual, to the Camera Roll in the Photos app.

Step back one level from here on the iPhone or iPod touch, or use the buttons at the top of the screen on the iPad, and you'll see a new library called Photo Stream. This is where you'll find your synchronised images, whether they were snapped on an alternative iOS device or synchronised through iPhoto or Aperture.

Any photo taken on an iOS device will remain on that device until you actively choose to delete it. However, items that appear only in the Photo Stream album will be removed from the device after 30 days. They will also be removed from the Photo Stream album on an iOS device one at a time if you add more than 1,000 during that 30-day period, with the oldest one in each instance being killed off to make way for each new addition.

It's therefore vitally important that you take an active interest in saving (and backing up!) your synchronised pictures. Fire up iPhoto or Aperture at least once a month to make sure you have a copy of your images on your Mac. And if you want to keep synchronised photos on any iOS devices other than the ones originally used to take them, copy them to your Camera Roll by following the instructions in the walk-through below.

Images downloaded to your Mac are saved at their native resolution, so for anything taken using the rear camera on an iPhone 4S that means the full 8 megapixels. This matches some compact cameras on sale just a couple of years ago.

However, images sent to Photo Stream on an iOS device are first reduced in size to optimise them for display on that particular device's screen. The exact resolution will depend on the dimensions of the original, but Apple currently uses 2048x1535 pixels (3 megapixels) as its benchmark.

Photo Stream is compatible with JPEG, TIF, PNG and RAW images imported from your iPhoto or Aperture library. These formats are in turn converted as part of the transfer process.

How to archive synchronised photos on an iOS device

1. Select Photo Stream

To save synchronised images from being expired and disappearing from the Photo Stream on your iOS device, you should copy any you want to keep to your Camera Roll. Open the Photos app and step back to the albums page, then select Photo Stream.

2. Tick images

Tap the shortcut button on the toolbar (it looks like a box with an arrow curling out of it) and select the images you want to copy by tapping on each one in turn. As you do, they'll be given a small red tick to show which have been selected.

3. Tap to keep

Tap the save button at the foot of the screen to store them in your Camera Roll. The images will be left in place on your Photo Stream and removed when their time is up, but the versions you saved will be kept on your device until you remove them manually.

How to delete your Photo Stream

1. Log in to iCloud

Although your Photo Stream contents don't count against your iCloud storage limit, there may be times when you want to delete the contents of the stream entirely. Log in to your iCloud account at icloud.com and click the iCloud icon in the top-left corner.

02. Delete remote photos

Click your name at the top of the screen to open your account preferences. Click the Advanced button and then, click Reset Photo Stream. This clears out the images on Apple's servers but leaves them where they are on your Mac and iOS devices.

3. Delete local photos

To remove the images from your iOS device, open Settings > iCloud > Photo Stream and tap the activity button so that it reads 'OFF'. You'll be asked for confirmation, after which all of the synchronised photos will be removed, leaving in place only original and saved snaps.

Essential iCloud guide: Backups and storage

As we've already discussed, iCloud takes care of backing up all of your iOS purchases on your Mac, and simultaneously installs any apps you buy on your Mac to each of your iOS devices. However, you can now go one step further and save your device backups directly to the cloud.

Previously, every time you synchronised your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with iTunes on your Mac it would create a local backup. That way, should the worst happen, you could easily recover your documents, contacts, appointments and apps. That's still an option, but in iOS 5 and iTunes 5 Apple has improved on this feature in two ways.

First, you can now enable wireless backups to iTunes so that whenever your device is plugged into a power source and connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your iTunes library, it will automatically synchronise the two. You can opt instead to save that backup to iCloud, so that should your Mac be damaged or lost your backup won't be lost with it.

To enable this, connect your iOS device to your Mac, select its entry in the iTunes sidebar, and click the Back up to iCloud radio button on the Summary page. Now your device will be backed up once a day whenever it's plugged in.

The final piece of the iCloud puzzle (at least until iTunes Match arrives in the UK) is Documents in the Cloud, which maintains a backed-up copy of all of your remotely edited Pages, Numbers and Keynote documents.

Synchronisation with iCloud requires the latest versions of the iOS iWork apps. These updates are free for all existing users, but if you don't already have them, the apps are sold individually at £6.99 apiece through the App Store. They're all Universal apps, so work on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

You need to opt in to use iCloud with each application individually. If you're firing up any one of them for the first time you'll be given the option to do this on the startup screens. But if you've already been using them in the past, you can activate them through the iOS Settings application where they appear among the third-party apps at the bottom of the menu.

Working with documents

Open the iWork app of your choice and create a new document by tapping the '+' in the upper left corner of the screen. We'd recommend ignoring the option to use iDisk as this will disappear over time, so it makes sense to get out of the habit as soon as you can.

Tap Create Document and choose a document type in the usual way, then start working. When you've finished, and you return to the document menu, you'll notice that its thumbnail has a small arrow on a turned-over corner. This is a warning that the document hasn't yet been backed up to iCloud.

Your documents will automatically sync to the same apps on any other iOS device the next time you start them up, and are also saved to your online iCloud account. Point your browser at www.icloud.com/iwork, and you'll see that there are individual tabs for Keynote, Pages and Numbers, with the relevant documents organised inside each one. Here, things don't work quite as smoothly as you might hope…

Apple has made great claims about iCloud's ability to synchronise your documents across all devices. It says you can shut down your Mac on your way out the door and finish working on your document, spreadsheet or presentation on your iPad on the way home.

Technically that's true, but only if when using OS X you manually copy your data to and from iCloud. To access the document created on your iOS device, click it in the web interface and select the format in which you'd like to download it. Choose from the native iWork formats, their Microsoft Office equivalents and PDF.

To send documents from your Mac to your iOS device, select the relevant application by clicking its name on the tabs at the top of the web interface; then drag the file into the document management area that fills the rest of the screen. A progress gauge monitors its passage onto iCloud.

We can expect to see more apps exploit Documents in the Cloud, as Apple has opened up the underlying hooks that will enable third-party coders to integrate the service into their own apps. But we would also hope to see iCloud integrated directly into the OS X iWork apps so that we no longer need to open a browser window to access our iOS documents.

How to manage iCloud files in your browser

1. Rename files

Click once on the document's filename and type a new name, pressing return as you would in the Finder to confirm the change. Filenames can be up to 255 characters in length and contain anything you like – so long as they don't start with a colon, dot or slash.

2. Copy a document

Click once on the document's thumbnail icon, followed by the cog icon, and then select Duplicate Document from the drop-down menu. The next time you check your iOS devices you will see that the file has been duplicated and is ready to work on.

3. Keyboard navigation

Now press Ctrl+Esc to activate the keyboard, then use the cursor keys to move around your files in the browser view. Pressing Shift+Esc has the same effect as clicking the iCloud icon – you will be taken back to the applications menu.

Music streaming service Rhapsody has enhanced its mobile offering with a brand new application for tablets running Android.

The reimagined app for Android tablets running the Ice Cream Sandwich or Honeycomb operating systems offers a gorgeous magazine-style user interface.

The new Rhapsody app brings album art and imagery to the fore compared with the text heavy approach of the smartphone version.

Rhapsody for Android tablets is also built around the editorial content the company is so proud of, bringing you the latest news, reviews and features all with playable links.

Reach out and touch

The app also brings the ability to swipe through music libraries while listening, and also allows for offline playlists to be downloaded.

"The tablet transforms Rhapsody into an immersive experience that's inspired by what digital music lovers miss about physical albums and CDs: album art, photos and the ability to reach out and touch the next album you're playing," said the company in a media release on Friday.

"The tablet amplifies the experience with the best aspects of digital, with links across the universe of content that Rhapsody editors have produced over the past decade."

The app, which requires a screen of nine inches or more in size, brings access to Rhapsody's 14 million-strong song library for premium members who pay $10 a month for the service.

The company already has apps for iPhone, Android smartphones and BlackBerry devices, but this is the first tablet-centric application launched by the US streaming giant.

10 worst programs of all time

Programs can be our friends: they can help us express ourselves, can solve our problems and can do their very best to make our days happier.

Sometimes, though, they do the Devil's work, making simple tasks so complex and frustrating that you'd happily make everybody involved face a firing squad.

So which programs made everyone angry? Let's discover the software Hall of Shame.

1. Final Cut Pro X

Apple's movie editing software isn't a bad program, but this release turned even the most mild-mannered editor into an incandescent ball of sheer fury. It was sold as an upgrade, but it was really a brand new, version 1.0 product - and that means it didn't have all the features or compatibility that existing users expected, wanted or relied upon.

2. Adobe Reader

Everybody needs to open a PDF from time to time, but Adobe Reader is a sledgehammer sold as a nutcracker: it's enormous - on the Mac, the current version is 69.1MB - it keeps putting a shortcut on your desktop for no good reason, and once you've installed it seems to spend most of its time moaning that you haven't paid it enough attention or installed yet another enormous update. No wonder Windows 8 plans to whack it with a shovel.

GOING: OS X has its own PDF reader, and Windows 8 will do the same with the new Open Reader

3. Ask Toolbar

We're not fans of browser toolbars at the best of times, but the Ask Toolbar is a particularly poor one: it's been variously accused of installing itself without asking permission, making changes to users' browser settings and promoting itself to children. Many problems occurred because over-zealous software writers bundled the toolbar with their own applications but didn't ask whether or not you wanted it.

WHAT'S THAT JEEVES?: We don't like third party toolbars at the best of times, but the Ask one proved particularly unpopular

4. Lotus Notes

IT departments loved this popular messaging and collaboration system, but users were considerably less keen: in the mid-2000s the product was widely criticised for appearing to have been put together by somebody who really, really hated the entire human race and wanted to make it suffer. According to The Guardian, its popularity in business was partly because "the people who choose [business software] tend not to be the ones who use it."

NOT OF NOTE: Lotus Notes still exists, but these days it's very different from its much-hated mid-2000s incarnation [Image credit: Koman90, Wikimedia Commons]

5. Norton Antivirus

Symantec's desktop antivirus software generated enormous ill will through its unfortunate habit of slowing your PC down to a crawl. Part of the problem was that the software tried to do too much: scanning every conceivable thing you do on PC requires significant resources at a time when PCs weren't the flying machines they are today. Thankfully, Norton has addressed such issues these days.

PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS: Happy Norton Man won't be smiling when his system slows down and he can't uninstall the program

6. Microsoft Word

Some people say "I hate Microsoft Word because it's far too complicated!" Some say "I hate Microsoft Word because it introduced Clippy the bloody Office Assistant!" A few say "I hate Microsoft Word because it's often used by idiots to make really horrible-looking things!" Others say, "I hate Microsoft Word because its HTML output made web designers' lives miserable for years!" Still others say "I hate Microsoft Word because I keep sending .docx files that only three people on Earth can actually read!" We say, people! Come together! Let's hate Microsoft Word for all of those reasons!

OFFICE PEST: Aaagh! Aaagh! Aaagh! Aaagh!

7. Adobe Flash

Despite its many benefits - in web design circles it's a powerful and useful creative tool - Flash can be enormously annoying. In many cases the problem was with its users, not the technology - you can't blame Adobe for irritating splash screens, badly designed ads or appalling user interfaces - but for many internet users, a Flash blocker is the first thing they install in a new browser.

NOT JUST JOBS: Flash remains a powerful design tool, but in the wrong hands it can be a powerful force for evil

8. iTunes for Windows

Steve Jobs called iTunes for Windows "like giving a glass of ice water to someone in hell". The reality distortion field was strong that day, because rather than show Windows users the joys of Apple software, iTunes on Windows seems merely designed to depress them. As we've said previously, "the Windows version is a sluggish, resource-hungry mess. Apple has Windows users worldwide loving its iOS devices and despising iTunes, and this needs to change."

SLOOOOOOW: iTunes is proof that Apple doesn't always get it right. On Windows it's a donkey

9. Windows Me and Windows Vista

Yes, we know these are operating systems. This one's a joint nomination: Windows Me because it was a largely pointless update of Windows 98, and Windows Vista because it didn't work properly. Vista in particular should have been a great OS, but show-stopping bugs - copying a file could easily take four million years - and a lack of initial driver support turned a potential racehorse into a donkey.

WOW NOW: The wow starts... now! No... now! Now! NOW! Oh okay, let's just wait for Windows 7 then

10. Internet Explorer 6

Imagine a pristine swimming pool with crystal clear water. That's the internet. Now imagine an enormous poo floating past. That's IE6.

You know something's bad when even its creator dances on its grave. The problem wasn't the browser as such, which was fairly modern when it was released in 2001; it was Microsoft's refusal to update it significantly for years and years, breaking websites and leaving internet users vulnerable to all kinds of online unpleasantness. IE6 was Microsoft at its worst.

TERRIBLE: "Imagine an enormous poo... that's IE6". IE6 is officially pronounced "Aieeeeeee"

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From time to time even jaded tech hacks get a "wow!" moment. I had one last night when I saw that Avid had launched an iPad app.

Avid? The high-end video and ProTools firm? An iPad app? Yep, yep and yep.

Avid reckons the iPad makes a great wee video editor, and its Avid Studio plays happily with the firm's high-end desktop software. It's right, and it's not the only firm thinking along the same lines. Apple, of course, already does Garageband and iMovie, Adobe has Photoshop Touch, and there are stacks of digital audio products such as Auria and the tasty-looking Bitwig music studio.

Not bad for toys, eh?

Getting better all the time

What's really great about this is that we're still in the very early stages, both in terms of technology - we've gone from single core to dual core to quad core tablets already; imagine what horsepower tablets will have in five years - and in terms of what's possible for our tablets to do.

Take music, for example. You can use your tablet as a quick and dirty composition device, or as a controller for a desktop music production program, or as a fully-fledged studio, or you can slot it into another bit of hardware such as Behringer's utterly brilliant/completely demented iAxe or its faintly frightening iPad mixers.

This isn't about whether tablets are better than PCs or vice-versa; it's about people, and what they can do, and the ever-expanding universe of possibilities today's technology delivers and tomorrow's promises.

We've only had iPad-y tablets for two years. What on earth will we be doing with them in ten?

Avid has launched a version of its Avid Studio video editing software for the Apple iPad.

The £2.99 app brings a host of the 'prosumer' features associated with the desktop suite and hopes that iPad owners will use it in collaboration with the full suite for Mac and PC.

Like Apple's own iMovie software, which launched with the iPad 2 back in March, the software will enable users to arrange and fine-tune clips with frame-by-frame edits.

There's also a host of effects and transitions that can be dragged onto clips, while soundtracks can be added from the many built-in options or songs from your iPad's music library.

Once you're done with editing the project, it can be exported to Facebook or YouTube and also to the device's camera roll.

Avid to Avid

It's at this point that Avid hopes that owners of the desktop software can benefit from the on-the-go aspect of the app.

Once the video has been exported, it can be easily brought in to the Avid Studio for Mac or PC, which brings the full-range of editing and exporting options.

"We've seen a shift in how creation is happening, and it's really happening on almost any device," said Avid VP Tanguy Leborgne. "We think the tablet is more than just a consumer device; more and more people are creating on it."

The launch of software like iMovie and the more powerful Avid Studio add more weight to Apple's claims that the iPad is a post-PC device.

After 30 days of using the Avid Studio for iPad app, you'll need to front-up a couple more quid to continue using it on a full-time basis.

Best free video converter: 1-6

AVI, MOV, MPEG, FLV, MKV, MP4 - videos come in many different formats. Each of which can then vary in a raft of subtle ways.

Which would be just fine if every application and device could handle every possible format, but of course that isn't the case.

And so often you'll find you've downloaded a movie to your PC, phone or tablet, but either it has major playback problems - no picture or sound, say - or you can't watch the clip at all.

This doesn't have to hold you up for long, though. There are plenty of free video conversion tools which can quickly import movies in just about any format, perhaps tweak them in useful ways (change the resolution, maybe carry out basic editing operations), and export them in formats you can actually use.

And if you're aiming to view the clip on a mobile device then some of these programs can be incredibly easy to use. They'll often include a library of presets for common devices, so if you want to export a video to an iPhone 4, say, you won't have to manually tweak every possible setting.

Just choose the iPhone 4 preset and the program will automatically configure itself to produce the precise format you need.

The only real problem is that there are now so many free video conversion tools that you might be left wondering, which is best? We're curious, too - so we decided to pitch 12 popular packages against each other in an effort to find out.

NOTE: While these tools are free, many now include browser toolbars and similar addons. If you'd rather not install these, don't just keep clicking Next during the setup process: read each screen carefully. Choose "Custom" installation options where they're offered, and clear the checkboxes next to any "bonus extras" which you'd rather not have on your system.

Best free video converter: How we tested

Our first measurement of video conversion tool quality comes in looking at its features. How many formats can it import and export, for instance? Do these cover all the options you'll need?

We checked to make sure that you can carry out basic tweaks during the conversion process, like changing the video resolution. And we awarded extra marks for bonus features, such as the ability to edit the source video before converting it.

Video editing can be a complicated, jargon-packed process, so we were also interested in ease of use. We wanted our conversion tools to provide access to low-level conversion options (sometimes that's very useful), but these should never get in your way.

Our utilities should ideally provide sensible default settings at all times, and device presets as well, so you can export to, say, an iPad 2 just by selecting it from a list.

And as converting videos can take a very long time, performance is particularly important. To measure this, we gave each conversion tool four tests.

Starting with the source files from Big Buck Bunny, we converted the 1080p surround-sound AVI to 320x240 WMV; tried transcoding the 480p MOV to MP4 (vital as that's such an important format these days); and converted the 320x180 MP4 file to both FLV and MPEG2.

AVI to WMV

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MOV to MP4

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MP4 to FLV

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MP4 to MPEG2

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And while these tests don't cover every possibility, they provided a great deal of very useful information. So read on to discover which conversion tools you really need to consider, and the programs you should avoid at all costs.

1. Any Video Converter Free 3.3.2

Compatible with: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7

Video conversion tools can sometimes be scary, complex, intimidating - but not this one. If your needs are basic then you can just drag in your files, choose the output format you need from the wide selection on offer, click "Convert Now!", and the program will go to work. It's all very easy.

There's also plenty of power here, though. Any Video Converter Free can download videos directly from YouTube, Google, MetaCafe and so on, for instance. Handy editing options include the ability to trim and crop footage, and apply useful special effects (sharpen, reduce noise, tweak brightness or contrast). And once you've chosen an output profile then you can customise a few of its settings, perhaps choosing a new resolution, frame rate, bit rate and so on.

Performance was a little disappointing, especially considering that Any Video Converter is (like many similar programs) mostly just a front end for the excellent FFMPEG conversion library. Only two programs were slower in the important MP4 conversion test, and the others weren't quick, either.

And there was another problem. The program includes a "Burning to DVD" profile which is supposed to burn your videos to DVD when the conversion is over, but just gave us an error message.

This is a pity, because Ant Video Converter is well designed and had lots of useful functionality. It only offers limited control over the conversion process, so video experts may want to look elsewhere, but if you're more interested in ease of use and can put up with the below-par performance then this could be an acceptable choice.

We liked

Easy to use, downloads from YouTube, useful video editing features, supports many input/ output formats

We disliked

Only limited control over the video conversion, DVD burning didn't work for us, disappointing performance

2. Free Studio 5.3.3

Compatible with: Windows XP, Vista, 7

Free Studio is a suite of 45 freeware tools to handle all kinds of video-related tasks: downloading, ripping, burning, and of course converting clips from one format to another.

A front end menu tries to integrate all these, but it still takes some exploration to find what you need. Once discovered the relevant tools, though, they follow the usual route: import your chosen videos, choose the appropriate output format or device, and convert at a click.

If Free Studio doesn't provide a profile to suit your needs, then it's possible to configure a new one. So if you need to create 1024x768 AVIs, say, then in a click or two you can build a profile which uses that resolution, and in future you'll be able to simply select it from the list. Which is handy, although there are only very few tweaks available within a profile: video frame rate, bit rate, resolution, audio sample rate, bit rate, the number of audio channels, and, well, that's it. (You can't even choose the audio codec, typically - the program selects what's appropriate for the format.)

When it comes to performance, the story is mixed: Free Studio did very well in the important MP4 conversion tests, but was poor at creating FLVs, and couldn't produce an MPEG2 file at all.

And so if you're looking for real video conversion power this Free Studio probably won't be good enough. But if you only need to convert videos occasionally, maybe to MP4, then Free Studio may deliver exactly what you need (and its ease of use and host of extras are a welcome bonus.)

We liked

Well designed, many extras (download, ripping, burning tools), good MP4 conversion speed

We disliked

conversion functions are inconveniently split across several programs, only limited conversion tweaks, slow FLV export, failed to create MP2 file

3. Format Factory 2.80

Compatible with: Windows XP, Vista, 7

Format Factory offers a good balance between ease of use and video conversion power. It's easy to get started: you can choose the type of file you'd like to create, add some videos to be converted, and pick your required output settings. But you also just get a little more control over those settings than in some of the more basic tools here.

When creating an MP4 movie, for instance, you can choose the encoding option (DivX, XviD, H264); the video resolution; frame rate, audio codec, sample rate, volume and more, even rotating the image, or adding subtitles or a watermark, if you like.

But if you're in a hurry, no problem, the program also provides multiple profiles which configure all your settings in a click. The MP4 conversion, for instance, has 27, with descriptive names like "Mobile Device Compatible 320x240 MPEG4", so it's easy to find what you need. (And if for some reason it isn't, then you can easily create new profiles to do whatever you want.)

Performance wasn't bad, either, with Format Factory scoring well on our HD to MP4 and WMV tests, although its inability to run our MP4 to FLV conversion dragged its mark down.

The programs mix of usability with plenty of advanced conversion tweaks does mean it's worth a look, though. And as a bonus, there are plenty of extra options, including the ability to create animated GIFs from movies, extract video soundtracks, convert audio and image files, rip DVDs and CDs, and more.

We liked

Advanced conversion options, plenty of built-in conversion presets, watermark and subtitling support, bonus audio/ image/ other conversion types, good MP4/ WMV output performance

We disliked

Failed to convert one test file

4. Freemake Video Converter 3.0.1

Compatible with: Windows XP, Vista, 7

If you need your conversion tool to support the widest possible range of formats then Freemake Video Converter could be ideal: it supports a lengthy list of video types, as well as being able to import audio files, images, DVDs, even YouTube URLs.

Once your movies have been imported, you're able to remove sections you don't need via a simple video editor. There's a useful option to set a limit on the maximum size of your movie, or you might choose to import a series of files, but then join them together so they're saved as a single video.

Export support for files is a little more basic, being mostly limited to the essentials, and you can only tweak a few elements of your chosen format (codec, resolution, frame rate, audio and video bitrate, sample rate, channels).

Exporting to mobile devices is better, however, with support for many Apple, Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry and other device types (there are even pictures of many phones, rather than just the model names, to help you choose). Choose the appropriate device and the program will automatically configure itself to produce compatible videos: all you have to do is click Convert and watch it happen.

And you won't be watching long, as Freemake Video Converter delivers marginally above-average performance, not least because of its CUDA support.

A few more output formats would be welcome, then, as would some more advanced conversion tweaks. But that's really just nit-picking: Freemake Video Converter is an excellent tool which already has more than enough power to satisfy most people's transcoding needs.

We liked

Wide input file format support, lots of device export options, simple video editor, can limit converted video size, reasonable performance, easy to use

We disliked

Output file format support is limited, can only tweak a few aspects of the converted videos

5. Handbrake 0.9.5

Compatible with: Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OSX, Linux

HandBrake is probably the oldest of our crop of conversion tools, having been around since 2003. And it's also one of the more specialised, being best at transcoding videos to run on Apple devices. The program can only export MP4 and MKV files, for example, and its output presets are mostly Apple related (iPod, iPhone, iPad and so on).

As long as your target device plays MP4 files, though (and most do), this doesn't have to be a major problem. And HandBrake does enable you to customise the video conversion process in many different ways, which could be appealing if you find the competition a little too basic.

Once you've selected your source files, for instance, you can of course choose the output resolution, video and audio codecs, frame rates and so on. But there are also options to crop the source footage, add subtitles, or include extra audio tracks. You can include chapter markers, or apply some useful cleanup filters (Detelecine, Decomb, Deinterlace, Denoise, Deblock). And real experts can access many low-level encoding and analysis details via the Advanced tab.

What you don't get here are spectacular conversion speeds, unfortunately: Handbrake's MP4 output performance remained resolutely average in our tests (although perhaps it could be improved if you spend time tuning the program's more advanced settings). Still, if you need lots of encoding options, and can live with the meagre selection of output formats, then Handbrake may still be a reasonable transcoding choice.

We liked

Many useful editing options and video filters, advanced encoding and analysis tweaks

We disliked

Only exports MP4 and MKV files, average conversion speeds

6. Internet Video Converter HD

Compatible with: Windows XP, Vista, 7

If there were awards given for horrible interfaces then Internet Video Converter HD (IVC HD) would be an obvious candidate. It's a cluttered mess, confusing and poorly laid out, and will quickly have you wishing you'd downloaded a more conventional tool, instead. The program has received quite a few positive reviews, though, and once you get past the dubious design decisions then a few plus points do emerge.

IVC HD can download videos from YouTube and 12 other video sharing sites, for instance. It's able to create Flash files (FLV or SWF) from your videos, and can generate the HTML to host them. Editing options include the ability to trim, rotate, deinterlace or sharpen your source footage, and converting HD footage from one format to another is simplified by a convenient set of built-in presets: just choose the one which matches your needs and you'll be ready to go.

The basic conversion process isn't too difficult to follow, either, once you've tried it a few times. Choose your input video, pick an output format, customise a few settings and click Convert: even if the developer is entirely clueless about interface design, the core procedure is just the same as with more normal tools.

Performance isn't quite as good as you'll get elsewhere, however, with the program delivering marginally below average conversion speeds in our tests. And so, if you really need the video downloading feature, or you want to generate Flash files (SWF) with matching HTML then IVC HD might be worth a try, just about. But otherwise we'd recommend you ignore it entirely

We liked

Handy HD conversion presets, downloads online videos from many sites, can generate HTML for Flash files, some basic editing options

We disliked

Dreadful interface, below average performance

Best free video converter: 7-12

7. KoyoteSoft Free Video Converter 3.1.0.0

Compatible with: Windows XP, Vista, 7

At first glance, Free Video Converter doesn't look like the most impressive of transcoding tools. File format support is limited, for instance; you can only tweak the most basic aspects of the output video (codec, resolution, frame rate, bitrate and so on); and there's nothing like the bonus features you'll get with some of the more powerful competition.

Try a few conversions, though, and the program will soon seem more appealing. Importing videos is just a matter of dragging and dropping, for instance (and it supports all the formats most people will ever need). There are lots of presets available for various devices (Apple, Android, Sony, BlackBerry, Xbox and more). And while there's only one editing tool, it's perhaps the most important, allowing you to trim unwanted footage from the start and end of your clip.

There are also some issues, though. And the major one is performance. The program proved particularly slow in our HD conversion tests, and the other times weren't great, either. While elsewhere, minor irritations included the lack of a local help file, always an issue when you're dealing with such a complex topic. And an interface quick means you can't manually type the video bitrate you require into the program (you're bizarrely forced to use assorted buttons and a slider, instead).

Free Video Converter scores highly for its ease of use, then, and if you only occasionally need to run simple conversions of small files then it may be good enough. If you're after power or performance, though, the program will probably disappoint.

We liked

Easy to use, lots of device presets, video trimmer

We disliked

Relatively limited file format support, some interface quirks, poor HD transcoding performance

8. MediaCoder 2011 R10

Compatible with: Windows XP, Vista, 7

If your video conversion needs are complex, and only the most powerful tool will do, then start by downloading a copy of MediaCoder 2011 - it's packed with functions and features.

The program doesn't just import all the main video formats, for instance: it can also download streaming videos, read CDs and DVDs, connect to video capture devices, and more.

In-depth editing options then allow you to trim and crop your footage; tweak levels, brightness, contrast, saturation, hue and gamma; and apply filters to deinterlace, denoise, deblock, dering and otherwise enhance your footage.

You can then output to all the usual video formats. And not just using whatever settings the developer thought best. MediaCoder gives you access to an incredible number of options, probably more than you ever realised existed (the Advanced XviD section currently contains 39 settings all on its own).

And smart optimisations, along with support for CUDA and Intel video acceleration technologies, helps to ensure that MediaCoder delivers the best possible performance. It was the fastest in our tests by a large margin.

With all this power comes a degree of complexity, unsurprisingly. The author has tried to combat this by providing a wizard and some simplified device-specific interfaces to help configure MediaCoder's key settings, but it's still trickier to use than most of the competition.

If you'll use the program's extra power, though, don't let that put you off. It doesn't take too long to master the MediaCoder basics, and your efforts will be handsomely rewarded by its powerful features, extreme configurability and great performance.

And if you must have something simpler, check out the program's website: there are simpler, more specialised versions of MediaCoder (for Apple devices, say, or mobile phones) which deliver similar performance but are much easier to use.

We liked

Wide input format support, powerful editing, vast range of conversion settings and tweaks, excellent performance, straightforward configuration wizard

We disliked

Interface can be intimidating, relatively complex to use

9. Miro Video Converter 2.5

Compatible with: Windows XP, Vista, 7

Throughout these tests we've been giving extra marks to programs which allow us to tweak the video conversion process, change various advanced settings to produce the precise results we need. But if you don't care about any of that, and just want the easiest conversion tool you can find, then Miro could be interesting.

The program really is very simple to use. All you have to do is drag and drop a file onto it (all the major formats are supported), choose an output preset (Apple and Android devices are covered, along with the PSP and basic MP4/ WebM/ Theora options) click Convert, and that's it: Miro will begin converting your movie right away.

This simplicity does mean the program has plenty of limitations, though. You can't tweak the resolution or frame rate, for example. There's no talk of codecs here, no editor, no configurable sample or bit rates. You can't add additional presets for your own devices.

It's not even possible to process more than one file at a time, so if you've ten files to convert then you'll have to drag and drop them individually.

Still, conversion speeds proved acceptable, with the program ranking fourth out of twelve in our MP4 export test. And so, if you occasionally need to convert a single video to play on your iPad, say, then Miro will get the job done fairly quickly and with the absolute minimum of hassle.

If you'd like wider format support, more (or any) conversion tweaks and a few video editing options, though, then move along to the next program: you won't find any of those items here.

We liked

good input format support, drag and drop simplicity, above average MP4 export performance

We disliked

no configuration options at all, no editing tools, very few output formats, can't add new presets

//score//

58%

10. Quick Media Converter HD 4.5.0.0

Compatible with: Windows XP, Vista, 7

Quick Media Converter HD does its best to create a good first impression by opening in an "Easy Mode", with minimal conversion options and plenty of bright, colourful icons. But it's not long before you realise that "Easy Mode" isn't really so easy, at all.

The program tells you to drag and drop your input videos, for instance, but that didn't work for us. Many of the presets are confusing, basic and inconsistent. And while "Easy Mode" includes resizing and "bit rate select" buttons, most of the time they don't work, either.

Switching to HD Mode is a little better, in that you can choose from some common target HD resolutions.

But then Expert Mode introduces new problems, in that it allows you to create all kinds of impossible combinations (like converting videos to GIF files using the H264 codec). Presumably they're hoping experts will choose more sensibly, but a little help from the interface would still be welcome.

And other interface irritations include the horribly basic integrated video player, which doesn't have a progress bar, so you can only play clips from the beginning - there's no option to jump ahead.

Still, at least Quick Media Converter HD uses FFmpeg to convert your files, so we thought conversion performance would be acceptable. But no, it turned out the program wasn't great here, either. It did reasonably well on our small file tests, but when converting HD files Quick Media Converter HD was clearly outperformed by most of the competition.

So whether you want simplicity, advanced controls or reliably speedy conversions, Quick Media Converter HD just doesn't deliver - give the program a miss.

We liked

Colourful interface, multiple operating modes, lots of device presets, reasonable SD encoding performance

We disliked

Poorly designed, often confusing and difficult to use, feeble video player, below average HD conversion speeds

11. SUPER 2011.49

Compatible with: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7

While many video conversion tools try to hide their more involved settings, SUPER displays them up front, cramming its opening screen with more options than some of the competition have in total. And that can be a little intimidating, if you're a transcoding novice.

In reality, though, the settings are sensibly grouped, leading you through the various options you need to take: choose an output file format, a video and audio codec, select a resolution, frame and bit rates, and so on. You're able to drag and drop a bunch of files onto the program, and with a single click SUPER will then try to process them all.

Whether it'll succeed is another matter. SUPER uses popular tools like FFmpeg to handle the conversions, so they really ought to be reliable, but it did give us errors on some conversions (and we've no idea why).

The real problem here is the horrible performance, though, particularly in the HD conversion tests, where SUPER trailed way behind everyone else. (Putting this into perspective, MediaCoder was more than 17 times faster in our MOV > MP4 benchmark.)

It's a shame, because SUPER does have lots of interesting features: it can import streaming videos (rtsp, mms, http), understands playlists (asx, m3u, pls, wmx), and includes many advanced configuration options. In our view that's not enough to make up for the dire performance, though, and so you'll be better off looking elsewhere.

We liked

Imports streaming videos, lots of advanced configuration options, supports plenty of input and output formats

We disliked

Interface isn't the best, poor performance, various quirks and irritations

12. XMedia Recode 3.0.6.0

Compatible with: Windows XP, Vista, 7

XMedia Recode made a good impression from the moment we launched it, thanks to a clear and well-designed interface which for the most part works just as you'd expect.

Here's a box for your input files, for instance, and of course you can drag and drop whatever videos you like there. If your needs are simple then you can get by with just choosing an output format or device profile from the huge selection on offer. And if you need more, then the program organises more advanced conversion tweaks under various tabs so they're easy to find.

It's true, some of these are, well a little obscure ("Offset between I and P-frame Quants"). But there are plenty of more accessible settings here, too, with options to help you resize, crop, colour correct, deblock, denoise, deinterlace, sharpen and otherwise improve your source footage. It's an impressive package.

One small issue is that your list of imported videos can't be converted directly. You must set up the output format you need, select the files and choose the "Add Job" option before the Encode button becomes available, which isn't immediately obvious. The program doesn't have any English language help, either, so if you don't understand something then you're out of luck. And HD encoding performance was below average.

Conversion speeds in our other tests proved more acceptable, though, and the mix of powerful functionality with an easy-to-use interface gives XMedia Recode a lot of appeal. If you're a mid-level user who needs access to advanced conversion tweaks, but only occasionally, then this could be the ideal solution.

We liked

clear interface, vast array of device profiles, wide file format support, many useful filters/ editing options/ advanced configuration tweaks

We disliked

No English language help, below average performance in our HD AVI > WMV test

Conclusion

Which is the best video conversion tool, then? What our tests reveal is there's no one package which will suit every need, and the best program for you will depend very much on your requirements.

If you just want to convert the occasional video to play on a mobile device, for instance, and don't want any conversion complexities at all, then Miro should appeal. Drag and drop a file, choose your device, click a button and that's it: there's nothing quite as simple here, and its MP4 creation performance isn't bad, either.

Most people will want more power and configuration options, though, and the best all-round combination of power and ease of use is to be found in Freemake Video Converter, our pick for the novice and casual video conversion user. The interface is clean and well designed, it supports lots of input and output formats, there are useful extras, and while performance isn't the best, it's perfectly acceptable.

If you need more control over your output video, though, the next step up is XMedia Recode. Performance isn't so great, but the program makes a host of advanced settings available, while an excellent interface ensures it remains generally easy to use.

Our highest score has to go to MediaCoder, though. It's more complex than the other tools here, but if you're a confident PC user then you'll quickly master the basics. And what you'll get in return is access to more video conversion tweaks than you ever knew existed, and performance which effortlessly outstrips the competition in just about every department: it really is a staggeringly powerful tool.

Microsoft Office 15 won't be rebuilt to fit the Metro stylings of Windows 8, according to insiders at Microsoft, but it will receive some tweaks to pull it in line with the modern look.

Instead of being rebuilt as Metro apps using WinRT programming, Office 15 will feature a radial menu system and a flatter, cleaner design that will mask what will be traditional Windows apps.

Pobody's nerfect

It's not what the company wanted, it seems, but time is working against it.

One source told The Verge that plans to create Office in true Metro style had to be pushed back "as the Office team would have to overhaul the entire suite to take advantage of WinRT" which would take far too long.

Some less complicated elements of Office 15 will be coming out as true Metro apps, however: OneNote and Lync are both expected to hit the Windows Store in their own rights.

This gives us hope that a true WebRT version of the Office suite could yet be in the pipeline – but we're definitely not holding our breath.

Office 15 went into private technical preview earlier this week, with a public beta to follow in the summer.

10 Siri tips and tricks

Siri is a digital assistant that's currently only available on the iPhone 4S. Siri is designed to understands what you say and get the right meaning from the instructions that you give it.

Using Siri you can dictate, send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls and plenty more - it'll even tell you the weather.

But its effectiveness can be patchy unless you give it the right commands. So we've put together our top tips and tricks to get more from Apple's digital assistant.

1. Dictate to Siri

Why type when you can speak?

Commands and questions aren't the only ways to put Siri to work. Wherever you can type a long passage of text, tap the microphone key (left of the spacebar) to dictate instead. Siri listens for a bit longer in this mode. Tap the Done button when you're finished. If it stops listening prematurely, just tap the mic key to continue. If you forgot something, move the text cursor to the correct spot, tap the mic and Siri will insert text at that specific point.

2. Fix mistakes

Correct Siri when it gets it wrong

By now, you'll know that Siri doesn't always get things right. It's particularly sensitive to slurred or mumbled words. Sometimes, Siri will recognise that it probably didn't understand what you said and underline those words and phrases in blue. Tap them to see likely alternatives. Any word, not just those underlined, can be tapped to type over it; or tap the mic key to dictate a replacement for what's selected instead of repeating everything.

3. Add grammar

Punctuate your dictation

Siri doesn't make assumptions about punctuation and grammar, but it recognises commands for inserting new paragraphs, commas, full stops and many other grammatical constructs. Sadly, these aren't recognised when composing emails outside of Mail. Work around this by starting to compose a message, but provide only the recipient and subject. Next, tap the message to open it in Mail. The text cursor will be in the body, so tap the mic key to start dictating. In this mode, Siri responds to grammatical instructions. See http://tinyurl.com/646sr44 for more.

4. Set relationships

Personalise the conversation

In the Contacts app, find your record and edit it. Swipe all the way to the bottom of the form, add a field and pick Related People from the list. Tap the left side of the field that appears on the form and you'll be presented with a list of relationships. Siri recognises these connections to you, allowing it to understand personalised requests, such as "Send a message to my boss to say the train has broken down so I'll be late." You can even establish these relationships with spoken commands, such as "My father is...".

5. Arrange to meet

Let Siri find your friends for you on the map

You were planning on a quiet weekend, but a friend just called encouraging you to meet them at a cool new place they've found. They don't have to send their location using the Maps app to show you where it's at, provided you've already linked up with Apple's Find My Friends app (Free). When you ask Siri where that person is, it retrieves the information from the app and shows their location on a map, along with an approximation of the address so you can pop over and be there in no time.

6. Schedule events

Organise your diary

Setting up calendar events is one of Siri's most useful features, but its scheduling abilities are more sophisticated than that. You can check your availability with phrases like "Do I have anything on my calendar next July?" and "What does my day look like next Friday?"

If you don't check your schedule, Siri will warn you about any potential overlaps that might exist. It only explicitly asks if you still want to add the new event. However, it will take into account the context for further spoken commands, so you can tell it: "Change the time." Alternatively, if it's the existing event that you want to change, commit the new one to your calendar, then say something like: "Change my 5pm meeting to 4pm."

7. Add to an email

Pick up where you left off

You might want to add something to a note or email after Siri stops listening. Say "Add" to append where you left off. If you are using the Home button or raise-to-speak method to talk to Siri, you can't use instructions like "new paragraph". Nor can you tell it where to add text. To overcome this, tap the preview to open the item in its corresponding app. Use the mic button to give further dictation. It will be inserted at the cursor's position.

8. Get social with Siri

This tip works with Twitter too

Siri can't interact with Facebook directly, but you can set things up to post status updates just by speaking. On the Facebook website, in Account settings, click Mobile on the left and follow the instructions to set up text messaging. Create a new contact on your iPhone with 'Facebook' as its name and set its mobile number to the text messaging one Facebook provides. Now you can tell Siri to "Send a message to Facebook".

9. Make lists

Add to pre-existing reminders

Although Siri can't create new lists in the Reminders app, it can add to existing ones as things spring to mind. Say something like: "Add passport renewal to my holiday list", substituting the list's name followed explicitly with 'list' to give context. Be wary of including the word 'list' in a list's name; Thankfully, if it recognises you're adding to a list but isn't sure which one, it'll prompt you to choose from those available.

10. Security

Prevent tricksters and strangers from using Siri

You can prevent access to your apps and information by locking your iPhone with a passcode. Still, Siri can answer questions, reassign relationships and, most worrying of all, send messages without you entering it.

You can turn off access to Siri when the phone is locked to stop practical jokes by your friends – or strangers if your phone is lost. In the Settings app, go to General > Passcode Lock, enter the code, then flick the Siri switch to off. Siri remains accessible when the phone is unlocked.

Microsoft has launched its technical preview of Office 15, promising a full public beta this summer.

If we were building a new version of Office, we'd probably give it an exciting codename like Office Excalibur or Office Opossum – you know, something that stays with you while subtly bigging up the product (do not underestimate the opossum).

Not Microsoft though – no, Ballmer's babies have gone with the thoroughly unimaginative Office 15 which tells you nothing but that it'll probably be, you know, more of the same.

Save your party poppers

But perhaps we're wrong about that: "I'm not able to share too much about Office 15, but I can tell you Office 15 is the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division," blogged PJ Hough, CVP of development, Microsoft Office Division.

And by that he means that the software will be capable of simultaneous updates of cloud services, servers, mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project and Vision. Doesn't it sound exciting?

We're also expecting full Skype integration into the new version of Office, video editing, some potential new apps, Metro-inspired styling and a thoroughly appropriate name like Office 2012.

We won't be hearing too much from the technical preview though, as all customers testing the early builds are bound by non-disclosure agreements.

Still, we're sure you can control your excitement until the public beta this summer – something which surely means a Windows 8 release date is not far behind.

Best free graphics editing software

It's very easy to build up a custom collection of media files; take a few digital photos, shoot a movie or two on your mobile phone, download a little music, and your PC will be packed with files in no time at all.

Processing these files afterwards, though, is a little more challenging. What if some of your photos need work, your videos could benefit from a little trimming, maybe your audio files need an edit or two?

You could opt for a commercial solution, of course. But this could be expensive - the best image and video editors in particular come with a sizeable price tag - and may also be overkill for what you need.

A simpler solution might be to opt for a free media editor. There are a wide range available, from straightforward beginner-friendly tools which can handle the basics, to advanced, high-end applications which are up for almost any challenge. So which are the best? We pitched fifteen top names against each other - 5 graphics, 5 audio and video editors - in an effort to find out.

Just keep in mind that, while all our tools are free, it's increasingly common for programs to come bundled with browser toolbars and other potentially unwanted extras.

You don't have to install these, but sometimes you'll have to do a little work to avoid it, so make sure you don't simply keep clicking "Next" through an installation: read each dialog, choose the Custom installation option where it's offered, and refuse any bundled toolbars if you'd rather do without them.

Graphics editors

1. Paint.NET

Just as you'd expect from a project which (it was hoped) would one day replace the regular Windows Paint, Paint.NET focuses primarily on ease of use. And in general it succeeds very well.

The toolbar buttons are sensibly chosen, for instance, with helpful tooltips available to explain how everything works. The menus are well designed: even if you've never used the program before, you won't be searching long for a particular function. And overall it's easy to open an image, carry out some basic edit, repair or retouching task, and save it in the format you need.

Still, demanding graphics users may be left wanting more.

The program's file format support is mostly essentials-only, for instance (although it can read and write DirectDraw Surface/ DDS files, too).

Vector drawing and paint tools are a little on the basic side.

The selection of effects (and their configurability) is limited by comparison with some of the competition.

And although Paint.NET has a very lengthy list of plugins available to extend its abilities, the program uses a standard of its own: you can't simply drop in your own Photoshop plugins and expect them to work.

Of course if you only need a basic feature set then none of this matters (if anything, not having too much extra junk cluttering the menus and toolbars makes the program easier to use). So while Paint.NET may not be the ideal editing choice for experienced users, if you're a beginner - or just in a hurry - then the program will get most basic jobs done with the minimum of hassle or fuss.

We liked

Ease of use, clean interface, lots of plugins available, busy online community ready to help if you need advice

We disliked

Drawing tools are very basic, no Photoshop plugin support, limited number of effects, short on configurability, no local help

2. PixBuilder Studio

At first glance, PixBuilder Studio seems to be a fairly basic editor, along the lines of Paint.NET. There's a similar toolbar, up-front layer and history panels, the same sort of natural interface for basic operations: it's all very easy to use. But take a closer look and you'll soon spot more advanced features, dotted around the package.

There's support for importing more file types, for instance, including icons (ICO) and Photoshop PSD formats (although the program can't write either).

PixBuilder is strong on selection options, too. You can choose areas of your image by rectangles, polygons, magnetic polygons, single rows and columns, a colour range and more.

The program has more features than you'd expect in a number of areas. So when painting, for example, you don't just get to choose from a selection of prebuilt brushes, but you can also edit these in some fairly subtle ways (diameter, hardness, angle, roundness, spacing).

And if you'd like to use PixBuilder Studio on an underpowered system then you'll appreciate the memory manager, which enables you to restrict how much RAM the program will consume.

You only get a very few effects built in as standard, though. There's no red-eye remover here, no noise removal, no distortion effects and so on. But by way of compensation, you do get support for Photoshop 8BF filters, so if you're willing to invest the time and effort to get set up then you'll be able to install just as many effects as you need.

The fact that you need to carry out this preparation means PixBuilder Studio won't be for everyone. If you just want to fix up a few party photos to remove a little red-eye, say, it'll be easier to install Paint.NET and get the job done right away.

But if you're looking for a tool which goes just a little beyond the basics, with good layer and selection tools, PDF import and 8BF support, then PixBuilder Studio could be the ideal choice.

We liked

Straightforward interface, PSD and ICO import, good layer and selection controls, memory manager, Photoshop 8BF filter support

We disliked

Short of built-in effects, can't write PSD/ ICO files, requires some preparation before you can use 8BF filters

3. PhotoScape 3.6

PhotoScape takes an unusual approach to the editing interface, with a thumbnail browser, an area for a picture preview, and a compact tabbed pane containing surprisingly few buttons. Your first impressions will be that there's no way it can compete with the competition, then - but start clicking a few of those buttons and you might just be surprised.

You may only see one of the program's photo frames up front, for instance, but there's actually around 170 available for use.

It's easy to add lines, polygons, ellipses, squares, stars, and many other objects - including speech bubbles, complete with captions - to a photo.

And while seeing a single listbox with the word "filter" probably won't leave you expecting very much, give it a click and it actually turns out to be packed with functions. And not just obvious choices, like Blur, Emboss or Noise. You also multiple film effects, some powerful vignetting tools, and an attractive lens flare. As well as multiple distortion tools, smart tools to correct red-eye, remove moles and more, and eleven ways to turn your image into a piece of art ("Oil Painting", "Pastel", "Pen", "Pencil", "Cartoon" and more).

The unusual form of presentation may mean some will never take to PhotoScape. And it's no doubt there are some crucial omissions to the program. There's no layer support, for instance, and you can't select areas of a photo to work on in the usual way. (Although the program does partly address this by providing tools, like Red Eye Correction or Mole Removal, where you must first select the relevant part of the photo before they'll work.)

Still, there is plenty of more basic image editing power here. And PhotoScape extends this even further with a host of associated programs, including a screen capture tool, a module to convert RAW files to JPG, batch rename and editing tools, printing utilities, even an option to create animated GIFs from multiple photos. So its interface may be quirky, but if you can live without layers then there's a lot to like here.

We liked

Plenty of effects, a good selection of photo frames, lots of bonus features,

We disliked

Quirky interface, no layers, limited selection options, some effects deliver below average results, no local help, very little brush control

4. GIMP 2.6.1.1

It started life as a student project way back in 1995, but GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program - is now a powerful image editor which is available on Linux, Windows and the Mac.

Old age hasn't lead to a more finely-tuned interface, though, unfortunately, and the program's images, dialogs and toolbars all open in separate panes. Which can be a little confusing. It seems the complaints have finally hit home, though, and the interface will be unified into a single window in an upcoming release.

Fortunately there are plenty of compensations for any interface confusion, though, and the first appears as soon as you hit File > Open. As well as the common image formats, GIMP can read a host of others, including Photoshop PSDs, Windows icons (ICO), PS and EPS files, even PDFs and AutoDesk FLIC animations.

Once your image is available, then it can be processed by stacks of essential features. And these show huge attention to detail. So you don't get just one "blur" filter, for instance, but rather 6, and each of these is further configurable in a host of valuable ways. There are some excellent distortion filters, too, and a top-quality "oil painting" option.

The Colours menu is another strong point, with its ability to tweak hue, lightness and saturation, brightness, contrast, levels, and more. Again, you get a rich set of tools to do whatever you want, without any of it being particularly difficult. That is, if you don't want to tweak your image manually then a click or two and GIMP will handle everything on your behalf.

And elsewhere there are a host of painting options, a good range of selection tools, plenty of layer control, and just far more power than you any right to expect from a free tool.

If you only need something very basic, just to resize a few clips or apply simple image corrections, then it's probably not worth the effort of installing GIMP. The program isn't particularly complicated, but it does have a lot of features, and you're likely to spend quite some time learning how everything works.

If you're looking for real image editing power, though, and you're willing to spend time getting over the initial learning curve, then the GIMP just might be all you'll ever need.

We liked

Wide file format support, lots of powerful filters and editing options, highly configurable, customisable keyboard shortcuts,

We disliked

Quirky interface, some filters don't have preview options, local help not installed by default

5. Photo Pos Pro

Photo Pos Pro got off to a bad start by attempting to install a browser toolbar during setup. That's acceptable if it's done up-front, but the program makes it less than obvious - you must choose the "custom installation" option to clearly see what's happening.

With that done, though, Photo Pos Pro launches to reveal a fairly clear and conventional interface. The toolbar buttons are a little small and there's a vast array of menu options to explore, but most users should still feel at home right away.

You get all the usual basic manipulations, for instance: flips, rotations, resizes and more. You can tweak image colours, brightness and contrast manually, or get the program to do the hard work for you. There's a good set of effects, and plenty of selection tools and layer options for when you need to get a little more advanced (although this can get a little complicated at times).

The program also includes some relatively unusual features. So there's a very capable thumbnail browser, for instance. The HTML Export wizard allows you to save a tweaked image as a customised web page. And Photo Pos Pro doesn't just have a few canned batch processing options to, say, rename images or convert between formats: you get a full script editor which supports applying any sequence of 29 commands to the images of your choice: resize, rotations, brightness and contrast tweaks, colour changes, whatever you want.

And these more surprising aspects of the program keep popping up, everywhere you look. Like an HTML Image Map creator, for instance. The ability to open some animations and movies to grab a particular frame, at least in theory (it didn't always work for us). And the library of objects which Photo Pos Pro can use to customise an image: the buttons and banners, the decorative clipart, the frames, picture boxes, the text with special effects applied, and more.

You don't get quite the painting, selection or layer control which you'll see with GIMP, however, and so if you're looking for the powerful basics then that remains our favourite. Photo Pos Pro has plenty to like about it, though - the script editor alone could save you hours of work - and so if you'll make use of its wider feature range then it could be the ideal choice for all your photo work.

We liked

Thumbnail browser, web features, batch processing/ script editor, loads of features, local help file

We disliked

Tries to store browser toolbar during installation

What is the best free graphics editing software?

If you're mostly interested in carrying out simple operations - resize this, crop that, add a text caption maybe - then Paint.NET could be ideal. It's clean, easy to use, handles the basics well, and supports layers for more advanced work if you ever need that.

If you need a little more power then there's something to like about each of our test tools. So PixBuilder Studio may be useful if you need PSD import, and 8BF filter support; Photo Pos Pro is a good choice for batch processing, carrying out the same operations on a set of photos; and PhotoScape comes packed with extra functions and annotation options, including a raft of photo frames.

For all-round editing power, though, the winner has to be GIMP. The multi-windowed interface can be confusing, but you'll get over that in time, and then details like the program's file format support, its lengthy feature list and configurability all help to ensure you'll get the best possible image editing results.

Best free audio editing software

Best free audio editing software

1. Audacity 1.3.14

Audacity began life long ago as a personal project of Dominic Mazzoni, in his student days. Mazzoni has long since graduated and now works at Google, but Audacity lives on, only now it's so popular that he gets development assistance from all around the world.

The program scores highly on the editing basics. It can import a wide range of file formats, for instance (once extended with external tools like LAME and FFmpeg, anyway). Unwanted areas and be selected with the mouse, then trimmed in a click or two, and if that's all you need then the results can be exported as MP3, FLAC, WMA, AAC, AIFF and many other formats (again, with a little help from FFmpeg and others).

If you need something more complex, though, you'll appreciate the 37 built-in effects: there are options to change pitch and speed, fade audio in and out, clean up a recording, improve the bass, and much more. (You'll need to be familiar with audio jargon to understand all your potential options, though - there is a manual, but don't expect its explanations to help very much.)

Audacity is also useful for recording audio from a microphone, line in or any of your other soundcard sources, though. And if you've the hardware, then it can even manage the recording of 16 channels at once.

The program is unusually extensible, too, in that if it doesn't provide the features you need, then you may be able to add them via LADSPA or VST plugins.

And while the interface doesn't make any concessions to audio beginners, it's not particularly difficult to use. If you've ever used another Windows-based audio editor then you'll be opening, playing and carrying out basic editing operations within a few minutes of trying it out. And although mastering the more advanced tools may take considerably longer, the program makes it easy to progress at your own pace, making it an interesting choice for both experts and beginners who'd like to learn more.

We liked

Straightforward interface, good file format support, lots of effects, strong recording abilities, can be extended via LADSPA/ VST plugins

We disliked

Many features require extra components to be installed, program manual isn't too beginner-friendly

2. Expstudio Audio Editor Free 4.31

Expstudio Audio Editor Free is actually the free version of a commercial product, and as such it does have a restriction: it can only save files in WAV or MP2 formats. Which means you'll need a converter to hand (or, perhaps, one of the free editors here) before you can use it.

Is it worth the hassle? The program does support opening an excellent range of formats: MP2/ MP3, CDA, WAV, VOX, RAW, OGG, WMA, G.72x, AIFF, even the soundtracks from MPG or AVI videos. And this just works, no need to integrate with other products as with Audacity.

Expstudio Audio Editor Free includes easy-to-use zoom controls which make it straightforward to zoom in on your audio waveform, too. And editing works much the same as in most other tools: choose the area you need with the mouse, then cut or delete it, or apply one of the other menu options.

The core effects selection is capable, if not quite up to the standards of Audacity, but Expstudio Audio Editor Free does provide an additional "Special FX" menu with a couple of useful options: Cassette Noise Reduce and Voice Breath Reduce. And a few novelties, if you're interested, such as converting male voices to female and vice versa, as well as giving recordings the voice of a chipmunk.

And while the interface inevitably includes plenty of audio jargon, the program does at least provide a searchable local Help file which makes some small effort to explain what's going on. It's often not enough, but the document is still better than you'll get with some of the competition, and so could be useful if you're an audio beginner.

Is any of this good enough to put up with the WAV/ MP2 export restriction? Maybe, just about, if you need to work with an unusual format or will make use of the noise restriction special effects. Otherwise Expstudio Audio Editor Free isn't significantly different from the rest of the competition here, and you'll be better off choosing one of those.

We liked

Supports opening a wide range of file formats, easy zoom and editing controls, useful noise reduction special effects, documentation is occasionally helpful

We disliked

Free version only saves WAV/ MP2 files, some of the competition have more effects

3. Music Editor Free 2012

Music Editor Free 2012 is one of those programs which stands out from the crowd just as soon as it's launched.

The authors don't assume that everyone understands audio editing, for instance - beginner-level tutorials take the time to explain the basics.

The attractive ribbon-based interface proved a pleasant change after we'd spent so long dealing with programs which hadn't seen a significant facelift in years.

Navigating around a wavefile is easy, thanks to an easy-to-use bookmarking system. And the program just feels more straightforward to use, that it works more or less as we'd expect. So you can select a part of the waveform, right-click and carry out some useful operation right away.

This simplicity doesn't mean Music Editor Free 2012 is short on features, though. It comes with all the usual effects, sensibly categorised so they're relatively easy to find. And multiple noise reduction tools are on offer to help clean up a recording (Noise Reduction, Cassette Noise Reduction, Voice Breath Noise Reduction).

The program also provides a capable set of recording functions.

And, surprisingly, it's even able to rip and burn audio CDs.

Music Editor Free 2012 may not appeal to everyone. The program can't be expanded through plug-ins, for instance, so advanced users may still prefer something like Audacity. But if you're an audio editing beginner then this is an ideal tool to learn the basics, and it has more than enough power to handle just about any task you'll give it.

We liked

Attractive interface, straightforward waveform navigation, beginner-friendly help file & tutorials, lots of effects, rips/ burns CDs

We disliked

No plugin support

4. WavePad Free

WavePad Free is the giveaway version of a commercial product, and so missing a few features - but there's still plenty here to help the program stand out.

If you need to import some oddball file formats, for instance, there's a good chance WavePad Free can help. The program can handle MP2/ MP3/ MPGA, WAV, OGG, WMA, RA/ RM, GSM, VOC, VOX, RAW, MID, DCT, AMR, MPC, APE, SPX and WV formats, amongst others, as well as being able to extract the soundtrack from many common video formats.

A convenient bookmarking system and a good range of zoom controls makes it easy to navigate around your audio waveform.

Editing works more or less as you'd expect. A reasonable selection of effects are well-organised to help you quickly track down what you need (the Clean section includes multiple noise and pop-reduction tools, automatic gain, the high-pass filter and more), and some of these are particularly configurable: there are some great equaliser tools, for instance.

Authors NCH Software have made more effort than usual to explain the basics, too, with a marginally above average help file and a few video tutorials.

And there are also occasional features which you won't find anywhere else. In particular, clicking Sound Library gives easy access to hundreds of sounds and music samples, which can be freely downloaded in a click or two and then used to enhance your recording.

When you factor in the program's support for VST plugins, too, then this really is one powerful editing setup, with plenty to offer everyone from the novice to the expert user.

We liked

Opens lots of file formats, easy navigation, decent selection of effects, VST plugin support, free library of downloadable sound samples

We disliked

Cut-down version so some functions don't work unless you upgrade

5. Wavosaur

Some of the audio editors here are complex creations, requiring many different files and components to be installed before they'll work correctly. Wavosaur? That's a little different. This tiny program consists of a single 560KB executable, and as it's portable you can launch it from a USB flash drive on any convenient PC, running Windows 98 or later.

It's no surprise that the Wavosaur interface is a little basic when compared to some of the competition, then, with lots of tiny icons scattered around its toolbars. Still, the basic editing procedures are more or less the same as they are elsewhere (select a part of the waveform with the mouse, then carry out some operation on it), and the program has far more power than you might expect for something of its compact size.

You get all the usual commands to zoom in and out, zoom to a selection, and so on, for example. And a convenient Marker toolbar works much like the bookmarks in other programs, so you can set markers at key points, and jump from one to the other with a click.

There are a surprising number of ways to view your source audio: a 2D and 3D spectrum analysis, a sonogram, even input and output oscilloscopes for tracking live sound. (These are always displayed in a separate window, though - the editing window uses a conventional waveform only.)

The effects on offer are relatively basic: you can fade samples in or out, tweak their volume, apply a few filters, and so on. More advanced effects are restricted to a single example, the vocal remover, which can sometimes deliver good results but for the most part really doesn't. However, if this is an issue then Wavosaur's VST support will allow you to add further plugins, at least in theory (it can be a complicated process).

Wavosaur is a little too much like hard work to use it for advanced editing tasks, then. But if you're looking for a compact tool which you can run almost anywhere then it could be a sensible choice, and it's certainly powerful enough to sort out the usual audio editing basics for you.

We liked

Tiny, portable, provides lots of views on your audio source, easy waveform navigation, VST support

We disliked

Relatively limited file format support, slightly cluttered interface, vocal remover works only occasionally, few effects, VST setup can be cumbersome

What is the best free audio editing software?

If you're new to the world of audio editing, not quite sure how the technology works, then you'll probably benefit from starting with a program like WavePad Free or (particularly) Music Editor Free 2012. Both programs are very capable of handling the editing basics, while clear interfaces and helpful tutorials will quickly get you to up-to-speed with more complex tasks, too.

You're already familiar with most editing tasks? Then, if you simply want to carry out some basic job, Wavosaur may be enough. It's tiny, doesn't even require installation - just unzip it, and go - yet still somehow manages to cram in more features and functionality than many competitors.

Our pick of the editors for experienced users, though, has to be Audacity. It's not flashy, and doesn't fall over itself to appeal to the editing novice. But the program's not that difficult to use, includes an excellent feature set, and can easily be expanded via plugins to add even more capabilities, if you need them: it's a powerful and reliable tool.

Best free video editing software

Best free video editing software

1. VirtualDub 1.9.11

Just like Audacity and GIMP, VirtualDub started life long ago as a student project. It's a relatively simple editor and remains that way today, but its straightforward, no-nonsense interface gained the program a lot of fans and if your needs are fairly basic then it may still provide everything you need.

Your first issue may be file format, though; VirtualDub is optimised for editing AVI files, though it can handle MPEG-1 streams and a few other oddities (including animated GIFs). If you're working with MOV or MP4 files then you'll need to look elsewhere.

Once you have your movie open, however, a host of keyboard shortcuts makes it very easy to navigate around. You can step backwards and forwards by a frame, 50 frames, a keyframe, a drop frame, a scene and more. And it's easy to trim off footage which you don't need.

Need more power? The program provides around 60 video and audio filters to handle all kinds of tasks, anything from sharpening or resizing a movie, to resampling its soundtrack or even giving a video your own custom watermarked logo. The presentation is lacking - there's none of the animations you might see in a high-end commercial editor, everything here all looks very plain - but the core features are surprisingly powerful.

What's more, as VirtualDub's been around for such a long time it's now also built up a useful collection of add-ons, including filters to add pans and rotations, tweak colour and white balance, remove noise, smooth, crop and just generally get more out of your movies.

And while, again, the presentation is basic, VirtualDub's core is well engineered and generally delivers top-quality results: just be prepared to spend some time learning the fundamentals before you feel at home (this isn't a program for total beginners).

We liked

Simple interface, keyboard shortcuts speed up navigation, some useful effects, filters deliver high quality results

We disliked

Limited file format support, very basic presentation, not particularly beginner-friendly

2. Free Video Dub 2.0.3

If you're looking for a really simple video editor, then they don't get much simpler than this. Free Video Dub has no effects, no filters, no transitions, no complexities at all, because it concentrates on just one task: trimming unwanted footage from your movie.

The program does benefit from a lengthy list of supported file formats, though. Not only does it open all the basics - AVI, MPEG, WMV, MP4 - but it can also handle videos that other tools often miss: WebM, MKV, MOV, FLV, RealVideo files, and a host of HD formats (TS, MTS, M2T, M2TS, MOD, TOD, VRO).

Once your movie is open then you can navigate it manually, or use the built-in scene detection feature to work your way through its contents.

Trimming is a simple matter of finding the left or right edge of the section you'd like to remove. This only takes a click with the mouse, but if you prefer keyboard shortcuts then they're on offer, too.

And when you've finished, a click on the Save button will save your modified video. It won't be re-encoded, either, so there's no loss in quality and the entire process is completed at very high speed.

Free Video Dub is distinctly short on features, then. But still, it does perform one very useful editing function, and it does it very well, so if you're looking for an easy way to just trim a video clip or two down to size then this could be the perfect choice.

We liked

Supports loads of file formats, built-in scene detection, edits without reencoding your source video, fast, very easy to use

We disliked

Interface is a little plain, trims footage only - can't do anything else at all

3. Avidemux

Avidemux is an interesting video editor which immediately stands out from the crowd, thanks to its above-average interface. All the core settings you need are immediately obvious, useful keyboard shortcuts help you to navigate around your clip, and there are plenty of configuration options to ensure the program works just the way you'd like.

Basic trimming is easy, then, but the program also benefits from a good selection of filters. There are tools to resize, crop or rotate a clip, adjust colours, reduce noise, sharpen or smooth your footage, handle various deinterlacing tasks, and even embed a range of subtitles (VobSub, DVB-T, ASS/SSA, srt/ sub). They're sensibly categorised, so it's relatively easy to find the options you need, and speedy previews attempt to give you an idea of their effect (although in our experience this doesn't always work well).

And Avidemux also tries to simplify the process of defining your required output format, by providing a few presets: iPhone, iPod 5.5g, DVD, Zune, Sony PlayStation Portable, and so on. So if you've opened a movie which you'd like to prepare for the iPhone, say, then choosing that preset will automatically select the appropriate codec and bitrate, as well as adding any necessary filters (sharpen, resize, "Add black borders" and similar).

The program isn't just about ease of use, though. Tap the Video "Configure" button, for instance, and you'll have access to all kinds of advanced settings (if you feel it's important to select the appropriate B-frame Bias, I-Frame Threshold or GOP Size for your project then this is just the tool to let you do it). And Avidemux has many powerful scripting and automation options.

If there are issues here, it's with reliability, just occasionally: the program doesn't always behave as you might expect. When things go well, though, Avidemux is both powerful and easy to use, and if you need to go beyond the basics then it's definitely worth a closer look.

We liked

Appealing interface, plenty of well-organised filters, decent subtitling support, useful presets for common output tasks, generally easy to use, some very advanced configuration options

We disliked

Occasionally buggy, doesn't always behave as you might expect

4. Windows Live Movie Maker

It would have been easy for Microsoft to produce a very basic movie editor for their Live Essentials collection, something which could carry out a few basic tasks, but very little else. Fortunately they resisted that temptation, and the free Windows Live Movie Maker turned out to be one of the more capable and accessible free video editors around.

The program provides support for a huge range of import formats, for instance: all the usual desktop choices, HD formats, mobile standards like 3GP, images, music and more.

There are stacks of animations and effects: wipes, sweeps, curls, shatters, pans, zooms and more. A straightforward interface means they're easy to browse, and you can apply the option of your choice with a click.

Still too much like hard work? Simply move your mouse over an AutoMovie Theme and Movie Maker will automatically add captions, transition and other effects to the current movie, then preview the results. You really can achieve a great deal here in seconds.

But there's also plenty of manual options, for those who need them. You can trim your footage, of course, or manually customise a subtitle in a host of different ways (font, font size, styling, alignment, the time the text is on screen, the effect to use, and more).

And once you've finished, there are presets to save your video in various common formats, as well as the option to upload it directly to Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and more.

Okay, it's true, Movie Maker doesn't offer some of the advanced features you'll get elsewhere, such as VirtualDub's more powerful filters, or Avidemux's fine control over the video creation process. And so those programs may still come in handy occasionally. For most people, though, Movie Maker offers all the trimming options, filters and format conversions they're ever likely to need: if you plan to download only one video editor, make sure it's this one.

We liked

Wide file format support, lots of animations and effects, clean interface, easy to use, AutoMovie Themes add captions and transitions automatically, lots of useful export options

We disliked

Doesn't offer quite the same fine control over its output as some of the competition

5. SolveigMM AVI Trimmer + MKV

As you'll guess from its name, SolveigMM AVI Trimmer + MKV is a fairly basic tool: it trims AVI and MKV files only, but delivers fast and lossless video editing, so if you're looking to remove a few frames from a compatible format then it could be ideal.

The program provides a straightforward interface. Open a video, and it appears in a window; choose the start and ending points for a clip, click the Plus sign, and your selection is added to the list of fragments. Repeat the process as many times as you like, then click Save to export the results as an AVI file.

There are also one or two extra features. AVI Trimmer + MKV includes a scene detection tool which works with DV-AVI files, and MKV videos with chapters, for instance. And, usefully, it's able to invert your fragments, so if you want to throw away your fragments then choosing the Invert option will enable you to save everything else, instead.

But, of course, there's nothing else. No filters, no effects, no options to convert your video format - no other editing extras at all.

If you only need to trim compatible videos then this need not be a problem. AVI Trimmer + MKV is a likeable tool, easy to use, ideal for quick, lossless editing operations.

Free Video Dub can work with a far wider range of formats, though, and has some useful additional features, so that would be our preferred trimming tool for most situations.

We liked

Straightforward interface, easy to use, lossless video editing, fast

We disliked

Only supports AVI/ MKV movies, scene detection only works with specific formats

What is the best free video editing software?

If you're just looking to trim some unwanted footage from a video then there's no need to install a full-scale editor; a tool like Free Video Dub provides a quick and easy way to remove your chosen frames without the hassle of encoding everything else.

And if you're an experienced editor then there's still a place for VirtualDub first, perhaps Avidemux second; both offer some excellent filters, and provide fine manual control over your finished movie, so helping to ensure you get precisely the results you require.

For most people, though, the winner here is extremely obvious: it's Windows Live Movie Maker. The program may not have the extensibility and configurability offered by VirtualDub's filters, but it's still packed with powerful features, yet supremely easy to use, and even editing novices will be using it to produce quality work within minutes.

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Best free antivirus: how to choose

From hacked ad servers to malicious Facebook pages, the web is a dangerous place, and so it's vital that you install good antivirus software to protect you from harm.

And this doesn't have to mean paying a bulky annual subscription for the rest of your life, as there are plenty of free security tools which claim they have what it takes to keep you safe.

Do these tools really deliver on what they promise, though? To find out, we took ten popular packages and put them through a gruelling series of tests, measuring their speeds, assessing detection rates, and finding out exactly how their installation affected our test PC's performance.

And if you sometimes feel that all free antivirus tools are more or less the same, then our results will prove a real surprise.

If you're tired of antivirus packages slowing down your PC, for instance, then the good news is that some are really lightweight. But choose unwisely and you could find your boot times extended by 20 seconds, and Firefox launching up to 5 times more slowly than before.

Scan times are important, too. So you'll probably want to know which of our test packages was the slowest, and which tool completed its tests 22 times more quickly.

And if you're interested in accuracy and reliability then we've the detection rate scores you need, and some surprising reports of major reliability issues, including one package which refused to install updates, and another that proved unable to complete a single scan.

Which is the best free antivirus package, then? Read on to see just what we've uncovered.

How we tested

The test process started at installation: we checked the size of the installer, the time it took for the installation process to complete, and the hard drive footprint afterwards.

And after rebooting, we began looking for any performance impact on our trial PC. We measured this by checking our system boot time, Firefox and Outlook launch times; every figure was taken 8 times, the first three dropped (it's normal for these to be slower) and the others averaged to produce a final result.

Our test environment contained malware grabbed from a variety of sources - newly infected URLs, malicious email attachments and more - and we next set our test programs to scanning these.

The results and scan times were recorded, but it's not enough to do these just once: many antivirus tools now include intelligent optimisations, for example not checking files again unless they've changed, and these need to be assessed. So we scanned the same environment three times with each tool, just to look for any improvements.

And while these definitive figures were useful, we also had to consider the more complex issues which arise in any software review: the range of features, the interface, usability issues and any quirks or problems that we might have noticed.

These tests don't cover everything, of course. In particular, we weren't trying to test how antivirus packages protect against malicious websites, or brand new, previously undiscovered dangers. You can see our full test results in this PDF.

There's still plenty of useful information here, though - read on to find the best free antivirus tool for you.

Best free antivirus: 1-5

1. Ad-Aware Free Antivirus 4.6

After a reasonably quick and hassle-free installation Ad-Aware Free presents an interface that will be reasonably familiar to anyone who's used the company's programs in recent years. So the opening screen has three main buttons to check for updates, scan your PC or monitor your real-time protection, and smaller toolbar buttons allow you to do much the same thing with a little extra functionality. It's basic, and not as straightforward as it should be, but it'll only take a few minutes of exploration before you understand where everything is.

Ad-Aware Free is a little limited, by comparison with some of the competition. There's no browsing protection, for instance (though downloads are covered), and no email scanner. The program installs as a trial version of Ad-Aware Pro, with four real-time protection modules - Processes, Files, Registry and Network - but once the trial expires only the first will be available. You don't get the "advanced rootkit removal system", either, and there's no gaming mode. Although you do get one minor extra in TrackSweep, a tool for clearing your internet traces in IE, Firefox, Opera and Chrome.

Performance news proved mixed. Ad-Aware Free had no effect on our boot times, but Firefox and Outlook loaded significantly more slowly after its installation. And an average time for our first scan improved significantly after a few tests, with the program achieving the second fastest time by the third check. Not bad at all, especially as Ad-Aware Free also achieved a very respectable 97% in our own accuracy tests.

Ad-Aware Free Antivirus is fairly straightforward to use, then, and will certainly help to keep your system safe. Other free antivirus solutions provide more power and features, though, so unless you're a big Lavasoft fan then we'd recommend you look elsewhere.

We liked

Fairly easy to use, doesn't impact boot time, scan times drop significantly after a few tests, good accuracy scores, cleans your browser tracks

We disliked

Short on features, no game mode, initial scan times are only average

2. Avast Free Antivirus 6.0.1367

Avast's Free Antivirus is an interesting and unusual package which stands out from the competition in many ways - not all of them good.

The program had one of the fastest installation processes, for instance, taking only 153 second to finish on our test system (and that included a quick system scan).

The clear interface provides easy access to its many features, including multiple scan modes and real-time shield covering email, web traffic, P2P and instant messaging tools, network traffic, scripts and behavioural monitoring. A browser plugin provides basic surfing protection, too, by highlighting the reputation of the current site.

And the program provides spoken alerts on many occasions, so for example a voice will tell you when an update has just been downloaded. At first we thought this was a gimmick, but actually it makes a lot of sense - you can hear what's happening with the program even if you're in the next room, so it's far better than simple system tray alerts. (Although you can turn them off if you like.)

On the down side, though, scan times of our test system were lengthy at over 50 minutes, and these didn't drop significantly over time.

There was a notable performance impact on our test PC, with boot times extending by around 18 seconds (fortunately the effect on application launch times was relatively insignificant).

And the program's score of 94% in our accuracy tests - not helped by its reporting of several false positives - proved fractionally below average.

We really don't want to rule avast! out; it's a powerful package, very configurable and with lots of features. But the mix of lengthy scans with mildly below par accuracy isn't a good one, and on balance you'll probably get better protection from some of the competition.

We liked

Fast installation, lots of features, clean interface, plenty of real-time protection layer, spoken alerts,

We disliked

Lengthy scan times, PC boot times were significantly longer, marginally below average accuracy,

3. AVG Anti-Virus FREE 2012

The AVG Anti-Virus FREE installation can take a while, as the compact installer must download and process 52MB of files, and recommends a reboot when it's finished. The entire process took around 6 minutes on our test PC, far longer than most of the competition, although still not bad when you consider the features on offer here.

There's capable real-time antivirus protection, for instance, and a good on-demand scanner. LinkScanner checks the URLs you're visiting to protect you from malicious sites. E-mail Protection scans incoming emails for spam and malicious attachments, there's rootkit and identity protection, and you even get an (optional) web security toolbar to keep you safe online.

To support all this you'll find 7 or 8 AVG-related processes running in the background at any one time, but this doesn't have the system impact you might expect. They'll typically consume a below-average 20MB of RAM, for instance, and while AVG extended our boot time by around 10 seconds it otherwise had little impact on our system.

Conventional scanning performance was also very good. The first scan of our test system was lengthy at 33:31, but thorough, achieving a 98% accuracy score and identifying an issue which others missed (an executable signed with a broken digital signature). On the second scan, AVG's time plummeted to 2:40, and by the third it was only 2:23.

While this was the best repeat scan performance here, in part it may be due to AVG having a separate scan for rootkits, which required an extra 3:22 on our test PC. The program is still speedy, though, even taking this into account, and overall it remains a capable and effective free antivirus tool.

We liked

Lots of features, relatively lightweight, fast, accurate

We disliked

Lengthy installation process, requires lots of background processes, separate scan for rootkits

4. Avira Free Antivirus

Avira's Free Antivirus product is unusual in that it provides basic web protection, but only if you install the Ask toolbar. Despite what you often read online, this is no worse than most other browser toolbars, but if you disapprove then the installer provides the option to install the core antivirus engine only.

Aside from this, the installation is speedy, with the initial setup complete in 93 seconds on our test PC. And the first scan was even more impressive at a mere 11:21: only Emsisoft's Anti-Malware was faster. There's no clever whitelisting scheme here, though, so subsequent scans remained above 10 minutes, enough to see the program drop back into 5th place.

Of course, as we've mentioned elsewhere, speed isn't everything; it's pointless being fast if you miss a lot of malware. And fortunately that's not a complaint we can make about Avira Free Antivirus, as the program scored an excellent 99% in our detection tests.

The problem here, though, is that this free build is missing a lot of features from the professional version: antiphishing, behaviour monitoring, email protection, game mode, and an antidrive-by monitor to block unwanted downloads when you're online. So while our tests show Avira's on-demand scanner is good, the program could leave you vulnerable to many other threats.

If you're looking for a single free antivirus tool to take care of everything, then, Avira Free Antivirus probably isn't for you. But if you're an experienced PC user looking for an accurate antivirus tool as a base, which you'll then supplement with other tools, then this fast, lightweight program could be the ideal choice.

We liked

Speedy installation, fast initial scan times, lightweight, accurate

We disliked

Free version omits lots of features, web protection requires you to install the Ask toolbar

5. Comodo Antivirus 5.9.2

The first Comodo Antivirus feature you're likely to notice is Defense+, the program's host intrusion detection system, which monitors application behaviour and only allows trusted software to run. It's a powerful tool and can do a lot to help make you more secure, but it's also complex, with warning dialogs which can be intimidating to a PC novice. And it raises more alerts than you might expect: Defense+ jumped in to "protect" us from QTTask, for instance, even though it's a well-known and entirely safe component of Apple's QuickTime.

Defense+ may also slow down the launch of some applications, at least initially, with Outlook once taking around 10 seconds longer than usual to launch on our test PC. This did seem to improve after a few launches, though, with launch times returning to normal (although the system boot was still a little longer than usual, and RAM use was also above average).

The story was a little more uncertain when it came to scanning performance. The program started well, with a third-ranking 16:11 initial scan, but there was little improvement and by the third scan it had dropped back to 7th place.

This extra time clearly isn't buying you any better accuracy, though, as Comodo Antivirus scored a below-average 93% on our detection tests. It does do well at detecting "potentially unwanted programs", legitimate tools which can be used maliciously (a utility to display your email client passwords, say), which may appeal to some. But in our case this only wasted time by raising a host of alerts about programs which were entirely safe.

Despite these problems, Comodo Antivirus can't be ignored completely. Sure, it's not as accurate as blocking malware as many competitors, but even if a file manages to launch on your system then Defense+ may well still detect and block it (and it'll do the same even with brand new viruses which other tools are yet to recognise). So while PC novices should probably give the program a miss, more experienced users may find the power and configurability of Defense+ has a lot of appeal.

We liked

Powerful host intrusion detection system, fast first scan time, little impact on system performance (on average)

We disliked

Defense+ alerts can be complex, some false positives, scan performance doesn't improve much over time

Best free antivirus: 6-10

6. Emsisoft Anti-Malware 6.0

Many free antivirus packages have significant omissions, which the developers hope will persuade you to opt for a commercial version - so it's wise to check this before you install. And this applies particularly to Emsisoft Anti-Malware 6.0, as it doesn't provide any real-time antivirus protection. This doesn't necessarily mean you should ignore the program, though, as our tests revealed some notable plus points.

Installation is fast and straightforward, for instance. A clear and appealing interface makes it easy to find the functionality you need. And scanning performance proved excellent, with the program checking our test system in a little over 8 minutes for scan #1 - the fastest initial scan of anyone in this group - and accelerating to 6:13 after a few additional checks.

In part this speed is due to the program being very selective about the files it scans. This doesn't seem to affect its accuracy, though, as Anti-Malware scored an excellent 98% in our own detection tests, and it's also often rated highly by independent testing labs.

The lack of real-time monitoring means the problem had no noticeable impact on boot or application launch times, too, at least according to our tests. So although this does leave a hole in your PC's protection, it does mean you could install another tool to provide that functionality. And while we didn't test this, the developers claim that "Emsisoft Anti-Malware was designed to run parallel with other antivirus and firewall software", so in theory at least you should be able to install other packages without seeing any significant conflicts.

We liked

Quick and easy installation, clear interface, excellent scanning performance, accurate, can run alongside other security tools

We disliked

No real-time antivirus protection

7. Microsoft Security Essentials 2.1.11160

As its name suggests, Microsoft Security Essentials is just about the antivirus basics. So there's no application firewall here, no host intrusion protection system, no smart file whitelisting schemes, no bonus extras of any kind.

Still, who cares? There's good all-round real-time protection (downloads, on-access file scanning, behaviour monitoring, network checks), on-demand and scheduled scanning options, all wrapped up in a simple, easy-to-understand interface, which works for us.

Full review: Microsoft Security Essentials

The program's simplicity also helps to reduce its impact on your system. It requires the smallest amount of drive space of any of the competition; typically consumes under 10MB RAM when running in the background; didn't noticeably increase our boot time at all; and had less impact than most on our application launch times.

There is one issue, though, in the program's scan speeds. Security Essentials first scan came in at around 20 minutes, for a reasonable fourth place. The program doesn't whitelist files, though, so every scan takes more or less the same amount of time, and in the long term only avast! Free Antivirus proved slower.

And Security Essentials' accuracy proved nothing special, too, with the program scoring only 92% in our on-demand scanning tests.

The program didn't do anything obviously wrong, then. It doesn't leave out core features or display banner ads in the hope that you'll upgrade to something else; it won't drain your system's resources, or cause odd problems elsewhere. And if you just want something that won't get in your way, picking Microsoft Security Essentials could make a lot of sense. But if you want the very best, particularly when it comes to detection rates, then you need to keep looking.

We liked

Easy to use, very little impact on system performance, good all-round real-time protection

We disliked

Scan times not the best, below-average detection rates

8. Outpost Security Suite Free 7.1

Outpost Security Suite Free is the most generously specified product in our roundup, bundling an antivirus engine, firewall, spam filter and surfing protection into a single package.

Sounds good. We're really only interested in the antivirus element in this test, though, and here there's a problem. Outpost Security Suite Free doesn't get "priority updates". When we installed the program, it didn't automatically download a database upgrade itself. The message warning us that the system was out-of-date contained a "fix it now" button which only suggested that we upgraded to the paid version. And when we tried to update manually, we repeatedly saw a "cannot download some components" warning, followed by a "Malware database update failed" error - a fairly critical problem.

Continuing regardless, we found further issues elsewhere. The program's lengthy feature list also means it uses more RAM than some of the competition (30-40MB in regular background use, sometimes over 100MB when scanning). And after installation our Firefox launch times rose from under 2, to 8-10 seconds (although Outlook launch and boot times remained relatively unaffected).

Scan times were also notable, and not in a good way: the first scan on our test system took almost an hour, the slowest in this group. Smart optimisation meant that subsequent scans dropped to around 10 minutes, a far more acceptable figure. And when you're able to use a recent database, the program's accuracy is reasonable enough, with it scoring 95% on our tests.

We wouldn't entirely rule the program out, then - there's plenty to like about this suite, and if you're luckier than us on the update front then it should do a good job of keeping you safe. For the purpose of this test, though, the program's repeated inability to download an initial update is inexcusable, and has to result in a low score.

We liked

loads of security suite features, little effect on boot/ Outlook launch times, reasonably accurate

We disliked

no "priority updates", repeatedly failed to update our malware database, very lengthy initial scan times, Firefox launch time extended significantly

9. PC Tools Antivirus Free 2012

PC Tools Antivirus Free 2012 is a cut-down version of the company's Spyware Doctor with Antivirus product, which leaves out ThreatFire, most web and real-time protection, the program's game mode, web-based support, and more. You still get on-demand and scheduled scanning, warnings about phishing sites and real-time checks on incoming emails and the files you access, though, so there's just about enough to get by.

Despite the program's basic nature, setup takes a while, and its installation footprint is the largest here (the program gobbled up more than 400MB of drive space, mostly due to its huge antivirus database). The various PC Tools background processes typically only consume around 20MB when running in the background, though, and they have only an average impact on boot and Firefox launch times (although Outlook took much longer to fire up).

PC Tools Antivirus Free has a few design quirks. Right-click a drive in Explorer, choose the "Scan with PC Tools" option and you'd expect to see the scanning window pop up, right? But it doesn't; if you'd like to monitor the scanning process then you'll have to open the program yourself via its system tray icon.

Scanning itself works well, though. Performance was good, with the initial scan time of 29:20 falling to under 5 minutes by the third check (third fastest in this group). And accuracy was more than acceptable, as Antivirus Free returned 94% in our on-demand scanning test.

Put it all together and PC Tools Antivirus Free 2012 is a good basic security tool. It doesn't have any compelling features which demand you pick this program above all others, but the strength here is more on Antivirus Free's reliability: it's straightforward and easy to use, with none of the hassles, problems and conflicts we'd experienced with some of the other packages in this group.

We liked

Easy to use, relatively lightweight, above average scan times, reasonable detection rates

We disliked

Massive hard drive footprint, slowed down Outlook launch significantly, some design quirks, feature list is considerably cut down from the commercial version

Conclusion

We spent a great deal of time testing each of our trial antivirus packages, and the hope was that all these objective measurements would clearly reveal which tool was the best.

Unfortunately, it turned out not to be quite as easy as that, as no package excelled in every area. Some were lightweight but less accurate, others were good at detecting malware but had a significant performance on your system, and so it went on. Picking a winner inevitably involves some compromises, then, and may vary depending on your requirements.

If you're looking solely for the most accurate scanner, for instance, then Avira Free Antivirus topped our list. It also omits a lot of useful features, though, and had only average scanning times by our third system check, so wasn't our winner overall.

Similarly, Emsisoft Anti-Malware was fast, lightweight, and only a point behind Avira on the detection scales. But it doesn't provide real-time protection and so also just missed the winning spot. (Although if you want to build your own security suite and run the program alongside another security tool then you could achieve excellent results.)

And Outpost's Security Suite Free had to be marked down because of our hassles with its update process, but if you're looking for a one-stop, zero-cost security solution then it may still be worth a try.

After weighing up all our results, though, there was really only one candidate for first place: AVG Free 2012. Its initial scan time was lengthy and the program isn't the most lightweight. But it has plenty of features, smart optimisations accelerated it to the fastest third scan here, and it scored a respectable second place for detection rates, making AVG Free 2012 a good all-round winner of our best free antivirus award.

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BBC News has announced the launch of its mobile app for Android tablets.

The app offers the same layered browsing and navigation experience as its iPad equivalent and will be packed full of text and video content from the Beeb.

An updated BBC News app is now available on the Android Market for Honeycomb tablets larger than 7.1-inches in size. Smaller devices will have to make use of the smartphone iteration.

The BBC says it is also working on bringing the BBC News Channel to the platform, while an international version of the basic News offering from BBC Worldwide is also in the works.

Personalised

"It offers a simple way of navigating through the key news sections in both landscape and portrait mode," said the BBC's Kate Milner.

"You can personalise these to suit your interests; we've made it easy to share stories and the app also provides On Demand video within stories, in both 3G and Wi-Fi.

"We'll be offering the News Channel live in a later release. We're also working on homescreen widgets."

The post on the BBC website also revealed that mobile traffic now accounts for over a quarter of the organisation's total web traffic.

Best browser 2012: which should you choose?

Competition among browsers is more fierce than ever.

Google's knocking out new versions of Chrome at an alarming rate, Mozilla's been pulling nightshifts to improve Firefox, and Microsoft's rejuvenated IE team is doing great things with its browser.

There are great browsers from Opera and Apple too, not to mention mobile browsers for smartphones and tablets.

So which browser should you be using?

Let's find out which ones offer the best blend of power, expandability and all-round awesomeness.

The best browser for speed

We tested the latest official releases of the big browsers: IE9, Safari 5.1, Firefox 9, Chrome 16 and Opera 11.6 to see how they performed on the desktop. All of the big browsers deliver speedy browsing, but there are still differences when it comes to things such as JavaScript performance, which affects the speed at which web apps and complex websites work.

In the Sunspider JavaScript benchmarks Firefox left its rivals in the dust, storming through the tests in a hugely impressive 189.4ms. Safari was next with 219.6ms, followed by IE9 (247.9ms), Opera (254.3ms) and Chrome (291.0ms). We saw similar results in Windows Vista, with Firefox narrowly pipping its rivals to take first place.

These figures are based on brand new installations without any plugins, extensions or similar: once you start loading your browser up with goodies, performance is likely to take a nose-dive.

WOW: Firefox is the speed king on Windows and on OS X, but there isn't much in it: all the browsers are swift

The best browser for add-ons

You can get add-ons for all the main browsers, but Firefox has the edge here: its huge number of add-ons and Greasemonkey scripts mean that its reputation as the Swiss Army Knife of web browsers is well deserved. It's far and away the most expandable web browser, and it's got the best browser sync features too. Bear in mind, though, that all of the main browsers are expandable, and while some - such as Safari - don't have enormous libraries of add-ons, you can still get the essential ones such as ad blockers, Twitter utilities and Gmail notifiers.

Opera deserves a special mention here because it's more than just a browser. It has integrated email, newsgroups and IRC chat, the Opera Unite file server, Opera Turbo to improve performance on crappy mobile connections, and Sidebar-style widgets for games, web applications and utilities.

The best browser for Windows 7

Safari's the first to fall here: it just looks odd on Windows, and doesn't offer anything over its rivals. IE9 and Opera are both very nice to use on Windows 7 and make good use of taskbar pinning and jump lists, but Firefox has the edge in both speed and expandability and it's our pick here.

UNEXPECTED?: Opera's a joy to use and worth considering if you like the idea of widgets, integrated email and file sharing

The best browser for Windows Vista

IE9 flies on Vista - it hammered through Sunspider in 193.7ms - but Firefox is faster still, scoring 192.2ms in the same benchmarks. Safari ran through the benchmarks in 224.4ms, Chrome 246.6ms, and Opera in 251.2ms. Firefox isn't just the speediest browser on Vista, but the most expandable too.

The best browser for Windows XP

Internet Explorer takes an early bath here, because Microsoft doesn't make IE9 for its ageing OS. That leaves Safari 5.1, Firefox 9, Chrome 16 and Opera 11.6; of the four, Chrome demands the least RAM and hard disk space, making it the best bet for older XP systems. That means Chrome's the best browser for netbooks too: its more modest hardware requirements are a boon on relatively low-spec machines.

The best browser for OS X

Firefox was massively in the lead on OS X Lion, rocketing through Sunspider in 153.8ms compared to Safari's 209.2ms, Opera's 214.7ms and Chrome's 225.3. However, it's worth noting that while Safari's figures look good on paper, they don't reflect the way it chugged through the benchmarks as if it were wading through treacle.

Firefox's speed is countered by what we think is a faintly horrible interface. If that isn't your top priority then Firefox is the best browser for Mac users; if it annoys you, then Opera or Chrome is a better bet. While Safari is a perfectly decent browser, its rivals performed better in our tests.

The best browser for privacy

All of the browsers we tested had excellent privacy protection including private browsing and warnings of suspicious web pages, but IE9 is marginally ahead of the pack here: its tracking protection enables you to subscribe to lists that tell specific kinds of websites not to track you, which is potentially more useful than a global "do not track" option.

The best browser for HTML5

All of the main browsers support the important bits of HTML5, but when it comes to full standards support Chrome and Firefox are in the lead by a significant margin. According to the excellent Caniuse.com, Firefox and Chrome score 89% for HTML5 standards support, with Safari at 78%, Opera 74% and IE9 52%. If you add CSS support into the equation the scores are 87% for Firefox and Chrome, 83% for Safari, 75% for Opera and 59% for IE.

LAGGING BEHIND: All the browsers support key HTML5 features, but IE9 lags behind when it comes to full standards support

The best browser for Android

The stock Android browser is pretty good, but we think Opera Mobile has the edge for smartphones: it's got a lovely interface, goes like the clappers - we've previously described it as "comically fast" on decent kit - and synchronises well with its desktop cousin. On tablets, the standard browser is still our preferred option: while Dolphin for Pad and Firefox are looking pretty nifty, they're both still in beta.

CACHE KING: Opera Mobile for Android is particularly good on mobile phones. It's "comically fast" on decent kit

The best browser for iPad

The lack of tabs in Apple's Safari drove us daft on the original iPad, but now it's got tabbed browsing and iCloud syncing we think it's the best browser on the platform, especially on the iPad 2: in our experience it's faster and more reliable than iCab Mobile, considerably nicer to look at than Atomic Browser, and less likely to dump you back to the home screen for no good reason than non-Apple browsers.

NATIVE THE BEST: Tabbed browsing and iCloud synchronisation make Apple's own Safari the best bet for iPad owners