The Rugby World Cup kicks off this Friday and if you want to keep up with all the action then the iTunes App Store is the place to go.

There are dozens of rugby-related apps out there that will help maximize your enjoyment of the tournament - it takes place in New Zealand over the next six weeks and culminates in the final on the 23 October in Auckland. Here are some of our favorites.

Rugby World Cup 2011

This official tournament app is the best way to follow the World Cup for free on your iPhone. Besides comprehensive live coverage of every game, the application offers the latest news, a mountain of stats, video highlights and interviews, and even an option to buy tickets for matches. A must-have World Cup companion. Price – Free

IRB Laws of Rugby

Rugby can be a bit complicated to follow at times. If you’re not well versed in the intricacies of the rulebook, then this app is worth downloading. It has lots of very clearly presented information about the game, including more than 200 videos outlining different set plays, tactics and rules.

Knowing how fast your PC is or how much RAM it has shouldn't be information that's limited to übergeeks. Having a clear idea about your system hardware specifications is important, and may come in quite handy in different situations: when trying to sell your computer to someone else, buying a new videogame or checking the system requirements of that huge program you're about to download, to name but a few.

While Windows does offer this data, it's not always easy to find. It's scattered all over different system areas, and you usually have to browse quite deep in system menus and submenus in order to find it. Luckily there are some applications that do the hard work for you, digging out the information you need and displaying it in a nice, user-friendly way. Here are some of these system analysis tools you can use to learn more about your computer's capabilities:

• PC Wizard - Though it's perhaps the most complex tool in this list, PC Wizard makes up for it with an outstanding analysis of your system, focusing mainly on hardware. It also shows information about the process0r's activity and offers many benchmarking possibilities to put your computer to test.

• Belarc Advisor - This analysis tool scans your system upon start and displays the results in your default web browser. The list is so detailed that newcomers may find it  a bit off-putting. With a little time however, you'll find tons of interesting and useful information in it, covering hardware, network settings, software versions and more.

• Speccy - Developed by the creators of CCleaner, Speccy features a nicely designed interface and it's probably the simplest of the three. On the downside, it doesn't include as many options as the two previous ones. It does have a useful snapshot function that lets you save system snapshots for future reference.

Quicken 2007 won't work on Lion due to Apple's decision to drop Rosetta support. This is possibly the final blow for thousands of Mac users who were bitterly disappointed last year by the latest version of Quicken - Quicken Essentials - because of the decision to drop online features such as the ability to pay bills, store investment transaction history and export to TurboTax. If there were ever an example of a developer trying to their best to alienate Mac users and destroy their own product, it's definitely Quicken creators Intuit.

However, the good news is there's no reason to let Intuit or Quicken 2007 stop you from upgrading to Lion. Here is the only selection you'll ever need of the very best alternatives for Lion:

Moneydance

While Moneydance may not feel quite as intuitive as Quicken for Mac at first, it can do pretty much everything the latter can and was actually one of the first ever financial applications on the Mac so it's certainly not lacking in experience. Most importantly, unlike the majority of financial software for Macs, it supports extensive online banking and bill payment features. You can retrieve credit card statements and bank statements from most major US banks that support OFX standards. Even better, you can use Moneydance to automatically pay your bills for you too and if you're worried about all your Quicken data, Moneydance will import it all from Quicken Essentials.

Cricket is a great sport, with fans around the world. If you're not able to play yourself, or are in between games, you might want to see some of the action on your desktop. If that sounds like you, then we've rounded up the best cricket games on Softonic, so you can take your pick!

Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 is one of the classics of the genre. Although looking at it in 2011 it is a little dated, it's still the slickest, most popular cricket game out there. It's got a dedicated World Cup mode, not to mention fully-licensed players, meaning you can play as Ricky Pontin, Andrew Flintoff - or whoever takes your fancy!

There's no doubt that Microsoft Word is the best word processing program around. Like most luxury products, however, it comes with a hefty price tag. Even if you decide to get a Microsoft Word trial, you can't download the program individually - you must download the whole Microsoft Office suite, and it's a monster. Even once you manage to get the beast installed on your machine, you'll only be able to use it for 60 days before you need to pay up nearly $400!

So, what's to be done? Luckily, there are a bunch of great free Microsoft Word alternatives, each of them perfect for a different purpose. Keep reading, and we'll show you how to get all of the functionality without the tyranny of Word!

Just need to read a Word document?

If you just need to read a Word document, but not change or modify it in any way, then you have things really easy. Just download Microsoft Office Word Viewer, an official Microsoft product that does exactly what it promises - it lets you open and read Word documents, even if you don't have the program installed!

I switched to Chrome only a few weeks ago. I didn't consider switching before because Firefox was working fine for me, and I wasn't suffering from any of the speed, stability of memory issues everyone around me was complaining about. But when Firefox 4 launched everything changed, and that was the turning point for me. I downloaded Chrome and I'm not going back. Here's my simple guide to switching without a hitch:

Switching to a new browser makes you anxious. Will it be easy to use? Will I be able to adapt? What about extensions? You spend the very first hours exploring menus and options, learning the new location of options and settings, testing if your old keyboard shortcuts are still working. Luckily, moving from Firefox to Chrome is not that difficult - there are just a few things you need to take into account.

We know you OnSoftware readers like to get the most out of your videos, which is why so many of you liked our Best Free Video Editors post. But what if you want to do something simpler, like splitting a long video file into smaller parts so you can send it by email, for example?

Luckily for you, there are lots of great, free video splitters and joiners out there that will do the job perfectly. Here are 5 of the best:

Free Video Cutter does exactly what it says on the tin! It's not fancy, but it's perfect for trimming your MPEG 1/2, MPEG4, DivX, Xvid, AVI, WMV, MOV and Flash videos, with no complications or a huge download involved.

Today is one of the biggest days in the tennis calendar as the Wimbledon Championships 2011 gets underway at the All England Club in London.

The tournament has always been notoriously difficult to follow for tennis fans. Aside from the fact there are so many events and games taking place at the same time, the big problem is that most of the action takes place during the day when everyone is at work, school or college.

The good news is that every year it gets easier to keep up with the latest action from Wimbledon, thanks to the increasing number of tennis apps and mobile services. Here are five of the best tools to stay on top of every shot from The Championships:

Wimbledon (iOS)

The official Wimbledon app is probably the best way to follow the tournament on your phone, although unfortunately it’s only available for iOS users. The neatly designed application brings you news, scores and fixtures from the event. It includes video highlights of each day’s play and there’s even a radio section where you can listen to live commentary of matches from Center Court and Court One.

Are you hooked on war games like Call of Duty or Counter Strike? Want to get your fix of combat action while you’re out and about with your phone? There are several awesome combat games for Android that allow you to play while you’re 'out in the field'.

Here’s a rundown of our five favorite Android war games:

Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus

The closest thing you’ll get to playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on a mobile device, Modern Combat 2 is a lavish first-person shooter that takes you to the heart of war in a variety of locations around the world.

The graphics and sound effects are highly polished and the controls are customizable, meaning you can set up a system that’s comfortable for you. The single-mode mode packs enough missions to keep you going for a while, but if you’re still hungry for battle after that, there’s a comprehensive online mode where you can take part in combat with others around the globe.

AirAttack HD Part 1

If you prefer wars that are fought in the skies, then you should download AirAttack HD right now. It’s a 3D vertical scrolling flying game where you must gun down planes as well as take out military vehicles and bases on the ground.

If the images in your photo album are dull and boring, maybe it’s time to spice them up! You don’t need to be a Photoshop guru or known all GIMP menus by heart; there are dozens of easy photo editing tools – available for free or in trial versions – that help you apply eye-catching effects to your images without requiring any experience in photo editing.

Want to add a Polaroid effect to your photo, or turn it into a pencil sketch? What about a pop-art effect like a painting by Andy Warhol? With this collection of apps to edit and retouch images, the only limit is your imagination!

eezPix - photo editing for everyone

eezPix is an easy-to-use, yet complete photo editor that includes all the tools you need to work with your images: adjusting brightness and contrast, converting from one format to another, adding a frame  or inserting a watermark are some of its possibilities.

All the effects included in eezPix are highly customizable. In addition to that, the program supports working in batches – adding the same effect to multiple images at the same time.

Tint Photo Editor - make color stand out

Tint Photo Editor is a photo retouching tool that specializes in one single effect, but does it really well. It highlights one color in your image while keeping the rest in black and white, thus achieving an impressive result.

Again, it’s very easy to use. Tint Photo Editor analyzes your image in search for all the colors used in it. All you need to do is choose which one you want to emphasize.

If you're a fan of comics or manga, you're going to want them to be able to keep up with the demands of modern life. Luckily for you, there is a ton of great - and often free - apps out there that mean whether you're on a PC, Mac or even out and about, you'll never need to leave your entertainment at home.

No matter what platform you're using, there are a few points to bear in mind when choosing a comic reader. The first and foremost is format support - if the app can't take your comics, it's useless. Next check the display options - it is a comic viewer, after all, and if there's no fullscreen option or the interface is cluttered with menus and non-hideable sidebars, it's next to useless.  Lastly, make sure it is relatively fast - humans read fast, and if your app can't keep up, you're going to get pretty frustrated.

PC

ComicRack is one of our favorite PC apps. It's sleek, free and full of options, making the experience highly user-friendly as well as really effective with the inclusion of bookmarks, favorites and Smart Lists. It also supports both CBR and CBZ and overall makes reading comics a really comfortable.

CoView is perfect if you want 100% of your attention on the comic. CoView strips away all the options and trimmings from the main interface, leaving you with as much space as possible for your comic. That means that you're going to have to use hotkeys for most operations, but given the acreage you get in return, that might be a concession you're willing to make!

Since Instagram released its API four months ago, we've seen lots of new apps being developed to work with the popular photo-based social network. Whether they aim to provide users with a more comfortable interface for browsing their pictures or to allow them to make use of published images to create something completely new, these Instagram apps have created a niche of their own in the software market. And some of them are really worth taking a look at!

Screenstagram - This free app takes Instagram images and turns them into a screensaver for your Mac. The good thing about Screenstagram is that it can be used without an Instagram account, in which case it takes pictures from the 'Popular' feed - but if you use your login credentials, it'll create a more personal screensaver with your photos and those of your friends.

Carousel - Though it's a paid app, Carousel is also a great alternative interface to interact with Instagram - with the added value of not having to use your browser. This Mac desktop client gives you access to all of Instagram's basic functionality, including photo browsing, commenting and liking images, and finding new users to follow. It also lets you save images to your Mac just by dragging and dropping them onto the desktop.

iTunes is a great multimedia application but as I argued a while back, its high time Apple launched a less bloated and intrusive lite version of iTunes for all those that don't want or need all the added extras. If like me, you just want something that plays music without added extras such as Ping, Genius and the iTunes store, then check out some of these alternatives to iTunes on Mac:

Audion

If you've recently switched to Mac from Windows and miss the good old days of simple music players like Winamp, then Audion could be for you. Audion is a simple but powerful music player that makes playing music easy - no music stores, no ads and no bloated syncing options. Simply drag and drop music into it and enjoy. The Audion project is discontinued but fortunately, the developers have decided to make it completely free by providing the serial number for it on their website. There are many other great features in Audion such as an Alarm so you can wake up to your favorite tunes  and lots of different skins which you can use to give Audion a whole new look.

Vox

Vox (formerly known less flatteringly as 'ToolPlayer') is a bit simpler than Audion but definitely slicker in my mind. Vox's biggest asset is that it supports a huge array of formats - it plays almost anything. One extra cool feature is if you're trying to listen to a whole album, Vox will automatically detect that the song you are loading is the first track of the album and load the rest of the tracks at the same time. Vox also now supports Growl alerts for track changes and even scrobbling to Last.fm.

Today Apple will announce the launch of OSX 10.7 Lion. We already know lots about this major update to the Mac operating system - here's my pick of the significant changes and improvements:

Launchpad.

This is the most obvious iOS influence in Lion. Hitting the Launchpad icon in the Dock fades out open windows, and replaces them with an iOS-style grid of all your apps. Like in iOS, you can swipe across pages of apps, and move and organize them in just the same way too. This may not be to everyone's tastes, but it's certainly easy to use.

Full Screen Apps.

Windows now have an extra button, allowing you to quickly enter full screen view. Using a three-finger swipe (or hotkeys if you don't have a trackpad) allows you to flick between full-screen apps, which to me seems to be an improvement over Spaces.

With music software, we're pretty spoiled for choice. Between managers like iTunes, programs like Spotify and webapps like Pandora, we could listen to music every second of every day until we die, and we still wouldn't get through everything out there! So why would you want a desktop radio app?

Well, that's simple - boredom! At some point, you'll probably get bored of your own music collection and picking what to listen to will seem like a chore. Instead of having to make all those hard decisions, download an internet radio app and let the DJ do it for you!