Best computer programs 2007

If you need to record or mix audio without spending big bucks on pro software, Audacity is hands-down the best option around. This powerful open-source audio editor offers excellent production capabilities—and a dizzying array of buttons and options.

Keep in mind, however, that Adobe Audition is a pro tool and not a starter option. Revo Uninstaller wipes out everything. Revo uninstaller only takes care of the basics. WinDirStat is another free program that behaves similarly to SpaceSniffer. But what if you want to bring a deleted file back to the realm of the living? Recuva is a clean, simple undelete program from Piriform, the makers of CCleaner.

Still, Recuva has saved my bacon on more than one occasion. If you need only basic functionality, go with Sumatra PDF instead. Sumatra lacks the fancy extras found in many full-featured PDF readers, but when it comes to straight-up reading Portable Document Format files, Sumatra PDF is blazing-fast and completely accurate.

But they offer features that few people need such as the ability to edit PDFs, watermark, and annotate them. Sometimes, blasting tunes is the only thing that makes slogging through a spreadsheet or a stuffed inbox even remotely tolerable.

For musical neophytes I recommend two programs: iTunes and Spotify. The high-profile hack attacks of the past few years have driven home the point: You need strong passwords, and you need a different password for each site you visit.

Rather than juggling dozens of alphanumeric codes in your noggin, download a password manager. Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, the next chapter in the real-time strategy franchise from Relic Entertainment is powered by an upgraded version of Relic's proprietary Essence Engine with full Microsoft DirectX 10 support.

Opposing Fronts features two unique armies with full length campaigns. Players can fight as the tenacious British 2nd Army during the heroic World War II liberation of Caen, France, or command the German Panzer Elite as they struggle to repel the might of Operation Market Garden, the largest airborne invasion in history.

Players can battle online in exciting new multiplayer modes with these two all-new armies and utilize full compatibility with the original Company of Heroes for a total of four playable armies. With Gears of War, Epic returns gamers to the massively scoped worlds, memorable characters, co-operative gameplay, and hyper-realistic combat that gamers have come to expect from the franchise, plus a few new surprises.

Gears of War features locations that are unique to the franchise and the genre. Players encounter all of their favorite foes from the Xbox version; however, these intense encounters take place in some new environments and allow players to manipulate the new game modes and technology found only in a Games for Windows title.

Boasting three new multiplayer maps, a new multiplayer game type, game editor, five new campaign chapters, and DirectX 10support, Gears of War, challenges and pushes the limits of the PC gaming experience and provide an unparalleled visual presentation.

For a millennium, three opposing forces of humanity--the Cybran Nation, the Aeon Illuminate and the United Earth Federation--have fought a bitter and bloody war over conflicting and unwavering systems of belief. There is no room for compromise. No room for mercy. No room for anything but the complete eradication of anyone with opposing belief systems. Labeled the Infinite War, this horrific conflict has shattered a once peaceful galaxy and only served to deepen the hatred and schisms between the three factions.

Now, after centuries of struggle, the battle for supremacy has at long last reached a turning point. You are a Supreme Commander, and only you have the power to bring the Infinite War to an end once and for all.

Set in the 37th century, Supreme Commander signals the next evolution in the RTS genre by being the first strategy game to deliver a truly strategic and tactical experience. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is the second expansion pack for Civilization IV and focuses on the late-game time periods after the invention of gunpowder and delivers 12 challenging and decidedly different scenarios created by the development team at Firaxis Games, as well as members of the Civilization Fan Community.

Firaxis Games delivers a massive increase in new units, buildings, and technologies to the epic game with additional focus on the late-game time periods.

The expansion pack includes ten new civilizations, such as Portugal, Babylon and Netherlands and their associated unique units and buildings. Sixteen new civilization leaders including leaders for the ten new civilizations, as well as additional leaders for existing civilizations.

A new gameplay feature allows players to create corporations and spread them throughout the world. Each corporation provides benefits in exchange for certain resources. Now available much earlier in the game, an espionage feature offers players many new ways to spy on opponents, stir citizen unrest and defend their government's secrets. New random events such as natural disasters, pleas for help, or demands from their citizens will challenge players to overcome obstacles in order for their civilizations to prosper.

Winning the race to Alpha Centauri now requires more strategic planning and tactical decision making. Apostolic Palace: The United Nations becomes available earlier in the game, providing a way for players to win a diplomatic victory earlier. New resolutions will also be added which will expand the available diplomatic options. Advanced Starts: A major fan request, this new feature enables players to "buy" components of a custom-tailored empire and begin play in the later part of the game, allowing them to experience many of the new features of the expansion pack in a shorter amount of time.

Enhanced AI: The AI has received many enhancements, making it tougher to beat on the higher difficulty levels. Also known as "Worldwide Soccer Manager " Football Manager returns before Christmas packed full of new features for fans of the much-acclaimed series from Sports Interactive to feast their eyes on.

Transfer Center - A new way of managing all current transfer and loan bids for your club, both incoming and outgoing, making it easier to compare bids and reject or accept them. Finance Revamp - Sports Interactive have updated the finance area of Football Manager to better reflect the ever-changing modern football world.

More information is available to the manager too, including, but not limited to, corporate matchday income, season ticket news, investment funds, improved sponsorships, collective win bonuses and the ability to move around funds from the wage budget and transfer budget and vice versa at any point to help you in your quest for the ideal squad. International Management - The international management gameplay has been completely revamped for Football Manager , including, but not limited to, media improvements, international retirements, player interaction, international scouting, improved national pool selection, captain selection and a separation of international and club morale for players.

Match Flow - The largest change to matchdays in a Sports Interactive game since the introduction of the 2D match engine. Match flow brings more atmosphere to matchdays with match previews, team talks, opposition player instructions, the match itself, half time and post match now seamlessly following on from one another. There's no more pausing to make tactical changes and you'll find a mini-radar pitch whilst making those tactical changes to keep you in touch with what's going on in the match.

The only massively-multiplayer role-playing game set in J. Tokien's Middle-earth. Travel with your Fellowship in the fight against the forces of Sauron. Across the wide lands of Middle-earth, the Free Peoples must face the threatening Shadow growing in the East. The rumor of war brings forth many eager adventurers who will find their place among the great events of the Third Age. High deeds call to the willing, for their time is at hand. Hundreds of thousands of people will enter the perpetual world of Middle-earth for the very first time.

Prepare yourself to choose a path amongst the likes of Elves, Dwarves, and Humans. Will you choose to fight for the things that bring peace to the land or will you add to the corruption of Middle-earth as the forces of Sauron move swiftly to extinguish all that is good?

Oleg Maddox's Il-2 Sturmovik series of flight simulators continues to expand. The latest offering, Il-2 , adds 36 new planes, four new gigantic maps, over a hundred new ground objects, and nearly new campaign missions. This new opus also includes all of the previous Il-2 series content.

What began as a one-aircraft study sim is now an astonishing anthology, with a whopping flyable aircraft and over aircraft total! Not to mention that players will have the opportunity to get a first glance at the future of the series arriving next year: Storm of War Battle of Britain via exclusive bonus videos. Shivering Isles features more than 30 hours of new gameplay and allows you to explore an entirely new plane of Oblivion — the realm of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness.

Within the Realm of Sheogorath, players can explore the two extreme sides of the god's madness — the sublimely creative and the completely psychotic. Something is happening to the Shivering Isles and Sheogorath himself looks to you to be his champion and defend his realm and its inhabitants from destruction.

Do you have the strength to survive his trials, tame a realm fraught with paranoia and despair, and wear the mantle of a God? The Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides — Mania and Dementia-filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within.

You'll encounter more than a dozen new creatures including hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibious Grummites. Throughout your adventure, you will discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and more, and have the talented craftsmen of Crucible and Bliss forge new armor and weapons just for you.

It is and the stakes could not be higher. Tiberium—a self-replicating alien substance that has infected the Earth—is spreading like a radioactive ice age. All-out war rages over Tiberium and the fate of the planet rests in the balance. Experience a revolution in RTS gaming with a single player campaign that rewards you for your gameplay style. Add layers of strategy to your gaming experience by building mobile bases, wielding the power of terrifying Ion Storms on the battlefield, or customizing your armies by combining units.

Battle it out online with native voice-over IP, integrated clan support, and new spectator modes that let you play RTS games like a sport. Kingdoms features four new entire campaigns centered on expanded maps of the British Isles, Teutonic Northern Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. In Medieval II, players were only given a glimpse of South America, but in Kingdoms, vast tracts of land in both North and South America have been opened up for players to conquer.

All-new factions from the New World are also now fully playable, including the Aztecs, Apaches, and Mayans. Along with the new maps in the Britannia, Teutonic, Crusades, and New World Campaigns, there are 13 new factions to play, over units to control, and 50 building types, adding up to 80 hours of new gameplay. Kingdoms also offers new multiplayer maps and hotseat multiplayer, a first for the Total War series, allowing players to play one-versus-one campaign games on the same computer.

Ready, aim Clear the orange pegs from 55 fanciful levels as 10 whimsical teachers guide you toward Peggle greatness. Wield mystifying Magic Powers, rack up huge bonus points and make shots you'll smile about for weeks. Amidst all this fevered action, only one question remains: Can you become a Peggle Master?

Designed specifically to entertain both casual and hardcore gamers with its deep immersion, five to fifteen minute play sessions and turn-based play style, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords incorporates strategy, role-playing elements and a persistent storyline in a puzzle board setting. Set in the Warlords universe, the game challenges players to create, develop and customize the ultimate hero in order to save the land of Etheria from evil Lord Bane.

To advance their character, players battle in turn-based, head-to-head "match-three" style puzzle games in one of three distinct gameplay modes: Single-player allows gamers to battle against the AI as they embark on over challenging quests, Instant Action allows gamers to jump in and immediately play continuous battles to level-up characters without participating in quests, and Multiplayer allows gamers to battle live opponents.

The new Colin McRae title goes beyond the series' point-to-point rallying to deliver the most diverse selection of extreme off-road competitions. Sensational gravel, mud and dirt racing events from the world over include perilous Hill Climb and collision-packed Rally Cross events. International rallying competitions are also featured, with official cars on tracks based on real roads and locations around the globe. The title also expands on beat-the-clock racing and includes events with multiple cars on track to satisfy anyone who wants to push their on-the-edge driving just that bit further.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars pits the armies of Earth against the invading alien Strogg in the ultimate online strategic shooter. Featuring strategic team play, persistent character promotions, day and nighttime combat missions, and the universe's most powerful weapons and vehicles, the game transports players to the front lines of an epic new war for Earth.

As the invasion begins, players choose to battle as one of five unique classes in either the EDF Earth Defense Force - humans or the barbaric alien Strogg armies, each augmented with specialist weapons and combat hardware.

Troops utilize over 40 conventional and futuristic vehicles, deployable structures, and defense systems like quad-bikes, tanks, and alien walkers for epic ground assaults; or helicopters and anti-gravity ships to lend firepower from the air. Throughout each battle, teams establish bases, deploy defense structures, artillery, radar, and advanced forward-command systems into enemy territory while constructing and demolishing obstacles to speed progress and gain a tactical advantage over the enemy.

Players can take on class specific missions or join a fireteam to utilize advanced command and communication options, including voice-chat and the game's context sensitive mission order system. With bitterly contested multi-battle campaigns, each soldier fights not only for victory, but to gain valuable skills, special rewards for team-play, and persistent military promotions and medals. Players assume the role of a futuristic warrior engaged in contests of intense shooting battles against skilled opponents, controlled either by human contestants online or by A.

These contests are fought with the most powerful sci-fi weapons and vehicles. Unparalleled graphical and physical realism from the latest Unreal Engine 3 technology delivers the most compelling First Person Shooter Experience to-date The weaponry is bigger and badder than ever. Destroy your opponent from a distance with the ever popular Link Gun or blast away at close range with the Bio Rifle. Battle against lightening fast A.

Expanded Onslaught game type features two complete sets of high-tech vehicles, including the massive Leviathan, the terrifying Darkwalker, and a completely new way to get into the action Fight side-by-side with or compete against new and returning characters from the UT franchise, all with enhanced abilities, extremely detailed looks and distinct personalities.

Unreal Tournament provides seamless loading on servers in addition to improved matchmaking for more evenly matched competitors. Bundled with the award-winning Unreal Engine 3 Toolset. Build your own levels, gametypes, and more, or download the latest mods from the massive Unreal community. Inspired by the first Tomb Raider videogame, originally released in , Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a totally new adventure for Lara, faithfully preserving the elements which made the original Tomb Raider such a classic.

The puzzles are now more in depth and incorporate environmental interaction and physics driven solutions. The level design and flow of gameplay are inspired by the original videogame making Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary a brand new experience in gaming, while still invoking the nostalgia of the first adventure in Tomb Raiding.

Real Cars. Real Racing. Thats what it's all about in RACE Enjoy 9 different racing classes, each with its own distinctive character. These are just a few of the many cars and the classes featured in this ultimate racing curcuits or city tracks and see the track through the unique Helmet Camera or with the immersive Action Camera.

Enjoy RACE 07 and esperience virtural racing like you've never expereinced it before. Buried beneath a war-ruined land ravaged by centuries of conflict, a forgotten enemy rises.

Engage in all-new adventures as you embark on a crusade to reveal the truth of the wars between the reborn Iksar Empire and the Sarnak. Adventure awaits in the fabled land of Kunark. Players can enjoy over years of gameplay by starting at ANY date between and Nation building is flexible: decide your own form of government, the structure of your society, trade politics and much more. The great people and personalities of the past are on hand to support you. A lush topographic map in full 3D allows for a rich and complete world view, and contains more than provinces and sea zones.

Have more than a thousand historical leaders and over historical Monarchs at your disposal. Manage more than individual unit troops to secure as much power as possible. Co-operative multiplayer mode allows several players to work together to control a single nation. Customize your game: Europa Universalis III gives you the chance to customize and mod practically anything your heart may desire. With an internet crisis looming and a viral video game holding its players hostage, in this episode Sam and Max need to slip into a new reality to set things right.

Can our heroes crack this virtual case in time to avoid a worldwide system failure? In Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, players are transported back to the Forgotten Realms shortly after the events detailed in the original Neverwinter Nights 2.

Following the climactic battle against the King of Shadows, the player awakens alone and stranded deep beneath the earth. Surrounded by a horde of evil spirits, the player embarks on an epic adventure that reveals his true destiny.

Set in harsh, spirit-rich Rashemen, near the powerful nation of Thay, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer presents players with an exciting new campaign; epic levels; dozens of new feats and spells; new races, base classes and prestige classes; new companions; new weapons, armor and crafting options; hordes of new monsters; and enhanced modding tools.

A massive ocean world, teeming with life and filled with ancient secrets. Join Naija, a lone underwater dweller in search of her family, as she explores the depths of Aquaria. She'll travel from hidden caves, shrouded in darkness, to beautiful, sunlit oases, all lovingly handcrafted by its two creators. Naija's story, narrated fully with voice overs, will become yours, as you join her on this magnificent adventure. Naija has the gift of the Verse.

By singing songs, she can weave this force to change the waters around her. With each song Naija learns comes new abilities. With powerful songs, Naija is able to change form, giving players many options as to how to play the game. And with Aquaria's intuitive mouse-only control system, it's as easy to make Naija swim gracefully through the waters as it is to have her sing, cast spells, and engage in combat with the numerous dangerous creatures that inhabit Aquaria's waters.

The player will become a stalker, a guy who earns money from shoveling embers out of infernal oven of Chernobyl Zone. Returning from the radioactivity-blazing Zone, he will sell anomalous formations to underground dealers and scientists in research camps on the Zone border.

With the money procured, the player will purchase equipment, weapons and protective suits allowing him to reach previously inaccessible areas. This is a role-playing game without growing experience of your character, without changing characteristics and levels.

He's the most powerful opponent they've ever faced, an ancient being of myth — Santa Claus! Can our heroes save the world's children from a holiday tainted by tears, turmoil, and Torture-Me-Elmer? The Flight Simulator X Acceleration Expansion Pack delivers an all new thrilling multiplayer race mode, new action-packed missions, and even more new content! Challenge friends in the new racing mode, or test your flight skills in the 20 new missions like being a NASA test pilot, performing search and rescue on an ocean liner, or navigating a whiteout blizzard in the backcountry.

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance is the next chapter in the critically acclaimed Supreme Commander franchise. The game continues the epic story following the Infinite War, featuring an all-new single-player campaign, a new faction and a myriad of innovative multiplayer features.

More than one hundred new units will give players access to cutting-edge strategic options, including fully realized navies, orbital weaponry and advanced counter intelligence technologies. The Witcher combines spectacular and visually stunning action with deep and intriguing storyline. The game is set in a world created by best-selling Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.

The world shares many common features with other fantasy lands, but there are also some distinguishing elements setting it apart from others.

The game features the player as a "Witcher", a warrior who has been trained to fight since childhood, subjected to mutations and trials that transformed him. He earns his living killing monsters and is a member of a brotherhood founded long ago to protect people from werewolves, the undead, and a host of other beasts. It's an action oriented, visually stunning, easy to use, single player RPG, with a deep and intriguing storyline.

Step into the role of an aspiring martial arts master and follow the path of the Open Palm or Closed Fist. In this multi-award-winning action-RPG, your choices and actions will determine the fate of an empire. Will you prevent the destruction of this beautiful land or crush it beneath your heel? Are you a warrior who uses strength and fighting mastery to bring peace or will your power bring pain and ruin? Increased graphics resolutions and new visual effects.

New monsters and enemies. New fighting styles. Improved combat AI and difficulty levels. Maybe you want to have your computer turn off every day at 10pm? Or certain keystrokes you want to record and repeat over and over again? Whatever the case, AutoHotKey is an awesome program for automating many tasks in Windows. Looking to secure your browsing traffic with a VPN?

In 14, I mentioned two professional and free movie editing programs, but they are quite complex. Got kids? Need some parental control software? The best options are Qustodio and Kidlogger. Free versions are limited obviously. Also, read my post on the different ways to childproof a computer. If you have a lot of music, you might want to consider a music management program like Media Monkey. Another good program is MusicBee. I talked about a VPN for secure browsing in 39, but you can also use a different browser like Tor to hide your identify.

Revo Uninstaller will get rid of any program whether it wants to or not. They have a whole free games section. If you have sensitive data on your computer that you want to permanently and securely delete from your hard drive, I would suggest using a program called dBan.

Do a lot of reading? A great app for reading in Windows is the Kindle app. It will also sync down to your phone or tablet too. Love using Instagram? Want to download a photo, video or story from Instagram? Check out 4K Stogram. Looking for good screen capture software? A really good one is Screenshot Captor. Of course, Windows has a lot of built-in ways to capture screenshots too.

Ever wanted your computer to speak out what you have written? Do you have a lot of programs that load when Windows starts? Does it take several minutes for your computer to become useable? If so, check out Startup Delayer , a program that delays the startup of programs so that your computer loads faster.

In addition to the Office suites we mentioned in 35, you can also use Canva and Prezi. Follow a lot of blogs online and still miss Google Reader? RSSOwl is a good alternative. Are you someone who prefers a supercharged Explorer interface?

If so, check out Total Commander , which has been around for decades and works with Windows If you think you might have bad memory installed in your computer, you can check for bad memory using memtest Want to record your screen and live stream it too?

OBS Studio is a free app that does just that. TinyTake is another decent one, though the free version is limited. Darktable is an open-source photography workflow application. Speaking of Adobe, are there any good Adobe Illustrator alternatives? One good one for working with vector graphics is Inkscape.

Another good one is Vectr. Time magazine includes the game in its list of greatest video games of all time in November Wired also recognized Portal as one of the most influential games of the 21st century. Google released Android on November 5, Microsoft released Family Safety to the public on November 6, Apple introduced macOS X Adobe Lightroom was first developed in Btrfs was first developed at Oracle in The ooVoo application and service was introduced The Snapdragon processor was introduced in November The RoHS symbol was first used on March 1, that represents the product meets the obligations of China.

The symbol is two arrows going in a circle with a 20 in the middle of the circle. Fractal Design was founded in by Hannes Wallin. Gaim changes its name to Pidgin. Acer completed its acquisition of Gateway in