When I created my Twitter account three years ago, I did it only because I wanted to see what it was like and test Twitter-related software. Nowadays Twitter has become an important source of news and interesting links, and also a way to make friends – some of which I’ve met “in real life” afterwards.

Being such an increasingly valuable tool, needing a backup tool for it was only a question of time. There are lots of stuff on my Twitter account I’d like to save in a safe place, such as favorite tweets, direct messages and interesting links shared by your contacts. But how do you backup Twitter? Actually, there are a few ways to do it:

TwitterBackup

TwitterBackup is a simple, Java-based tool that saves a copy of your tweets in an XML file. It’s very easy to use, though the backup process can take a long time - depending on the number of tweets to backup - and it doesn’t include direct messages.

Windows: If you use iTunes to listen to music but your keyboard doesn't have media keys, controlling the playback can be a pain - unless you use iTuner. This awesome iTunes plug-in not only lets you control the player with customizable keyboard hotkeys, but also displays a desktop notification with each new song and gives you access to ratings and lyrics.

iPhone: Want to remote control your computer from your iPhone? LogMeIn Ignition is an app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad that lets you access your Windows or Mac OS X machine(s) while you're away from base. And we don't mean you can just see the files - the software actually displays your computer's interface in real time and allows you to control it as if you were sat there!

Mac: Animations made with a couple of videos, pictures and music can really look great if you take the time to prepare them. PulpMotion gives you everything you need to prepare a stunning moving slideshow. It includes a number of visual themes you can choose from to start working with. The interface itself is very easy to handle working in a similar way to iMovie.

As you already know, having a PC without an antivirus is a really, really bad idea, so I'm presuming you all have one installed, right? Why then, you might ask, am I going to tell you about the best standalone virus apps? Surely they are surplus to requirements? Well, you might be helping out a friend with a virus problem, using a computer you don't know or treating a specific problem that you're not entirely confident your normal antivirus can deal with. Either way, here are some great apps for treating problems that your standard antivirus just can't handle.

Want a quick way to translate those incomprehensible restaurant menus if you're traveling abroad this summer? Then install ABBYY FotoTranslate on your phone.

The Symbian application allows you to translate words on the fly, simply by pointing your phone's camera at the text and snapping the menu. Once the shot has been taken and FotoTranslate has scanned the image, the app allows you to tap any of the words that appear and get and instant translation. I've been testing it out for a while and have been very impressed with the accuracy of the app.

ABBYY FotoTranslate currently supports five different languages: French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. You can also play around with the font size and adjust the display orientation. The software costs $34.99 and a one-day trial are available here.

iPhone: The official Twitter client for iPhone is probably the best you'll find in the App Store. Tweets can be viewed, links opened, retweeted and replied to as usual. Swipe a tweet and a menu of icons appears giving you the full range of options. Writing a tweet is simple, and a menu can be opened to add hash tags, photos, users, video and more. The latest version fixes some bugs, improves security and adds support for iOS 4.0.

Windows: If you want to fully protect your system, Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 is an excellent choice. This comprehensive suite includes all the tools you need to stay safe from viruses, worm, hacker attacks, spam, phishing and other possible online threats. It also includes a sandbox environment to test apps safely, parental controls and a gaming mode.

Mac: Optimizers and tweaking software abound on Windows, but Mac users have far fewer choices to speed-up their system. That's partly because Macs generally self-maintain better than PCs but if your Mac is slowing down, you might find running MacKeeper (now updated to version 0.9.4) helps breathe new life into it. MacKeeper is an all-in-one solution that includes hard drive cleaning tools as well as backup and shredding utilities.

Windows: If you need an image viewer, look no futher than XnView. This powerful, awesome photo viewer can display more than 400 different formats, in several modes: thumbnails, full screen and even slideshow. It's as easy to use as Windows Explorer, and includes handy extra tools such as an image converter and a screen capturer.

Mac: Adobe is acclaimed worldwide for its impressive software tools, many of which have become true industry standards in different fields. This is also the case with video production and Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. The all-new Adobe Premiere CS5 takes another leap forward in its development and provides the professional video creators and producers with all the tools they need for their daily work.

iPhone: GT Racing: Motor Academy is Gameloft's attempt to fill the hole left by Gran Turismo's absence on the iPhone. This racing game is much more of a simulation than you normally find on the iPhone, but does it do the job? This free version of GT Racing: Motor Academy gives you a taste, with three cars and one track to race round, the incredible Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway.

Want to download a song from MySpace? Well, it's not as straightforward as you'd think. Trawl the internet and you can find several hacks that purportedly work. Techniques I've tried include extracting download links and pasting to Notepad (failed), using MusicGrab.org to pull songs off MySpace (failed), and downloading via File2HD (you have to pay a fee per song). There are also a few hacks described on the FHN network, none of which I could get to work either.

After almost giving up hope, I stumbled across WonderShare Streaming Audio Recorder, which works a treat. The process of ripping MySpace music is very simple using this software, which is available to download free as a 7-day trial.

1. Start by clicking the Settings icon at the top of the interface. Now select the format you want to save the track in from the drop down list. Supported output file types include MP3, WAV, OGG and AAC.

2. Visit MySpace.com and load up the page with the song you wish to record. Start playing the song.

EA are really getting into online free to play - plus premium extras model, with BattleField Heroes, Tiger Woods, FIFA and now Need for Speed World.

All you need to do is download the client, and then sign in with an EA account if you have one, or register for a free account here.

Like all the games in the franchise, Need For Speed World is fast, with arcade-style handling. This makes it easy to pick up and play, and the relatively low system requirements keep it running smoothly on most PCs. Apparently you can earn experience points all the way up to level ten, which should make for hours of racing! It may not look brand new (it features roads from older Need For Speed games stitched together), but it's yet another fun and impressive online option from the software giant.

Windows: It started as a handy app to download videos from YouTube, but aTube Catcher is now much more than that. You can still download online videos from various popular sites, but also record your screen, convert videos from one format to another, capture streaming videos and create custom DVDs. All of this, for free!

iPhone: What better way to warm up for the World Cup than a game of X2 Football 2010? Just like Pro Evolution Soccer did on consoles and home computers, X2 Football has gained cult status among iPhone gamers. In fact, the game even looks and feels a lot like Pro Evoltion Soccer, only a little scaled back, of course. This Lite version of the game allows you to train and take penalty shoot outs.

Mac: eBay has been one of the Internet's big success stories and it's still going strong today. It's probably the most effective way to find cheap stuff and, of course, get rid of things yourself. There can be few better tools for posting and tracking items on eBay than the newly updated GarageSale either. It's beautifully presented, easy to use, and brings all of your bids and items under one convenient umbrella.

Windows: Are you planning to redecorate your home? Before your start moving furniture around, take a look at Sweet Home 3D. This great interior design app lets you create your new flat or house and then decorate it with all sorts of furniture without any hassle. Once done, you can even take a virtual your around your home!

iPhone: The FOX News app for iPhone gives you access to the latest news stories from the channel in the palm of your hand. You can use FOX News to check the latest headlines, stream live video of breaking news, listen to FOX News Radio, browse photo galleries, and watch FNC videos for free. It all comes packaged in a neat little interface - or rather two neat interfaces.

Mac: When editing, converting and even managing images on a Mac, the obvious choice can tend to be to use iPhoto, Aperture or Lightroom. GraphicConverter X (now updated to version 6.7.2) is not as much in the limelight even though it proves to be a more than worthy alternative. GraphicConverter X comes with two browsing views, which let you dig in deep into your folders and find your pictures.

In case you hadn't noticed, summer is on its way (at least, it is here in the Northern hemisphere). This means barbecues, beaches and burnt bits. Or at least, that's what we hope.

If you want to make the most of the good weather then you can turn your PC or laptop into a personal weather station so you know exactly when to plan your outdoor pursuits. There are scores of weather forecasting programs available for Windows, and some are more reliable than others. Here's our top five:

The Weather Channel Desktop is a comprehensive desktop weather station with a bevy of prediction tools. You can get hour-by-hour, weekend or 10-day forecasts, including information about ambient temperature, air pressure, humidity and wind direction. The Weather Channel Desktop minimizes to the taskbar, displaying just the current temperature. You can then open it by double-clicking, or right-clicking to navigate the menu.

Meteo Fusion is an altogether simpler weather forecasting tool. The widget-style application stays open on your desktop at all times, showing you the current conditions outside and giving you an up-to-date outlook for the coming days. You can pimp the app with different themes and change the transparency of the interface, so Meteo Fusion looks really cool even when it's baking outside.

YoWindow is by far the most attractive weather app on the block. YoWindow features a colorful, fully-animated window that displays jaw-dropping landscapes, and changes according to actual weather conditions. It displays the current situation, plus temperature, wind, pressure, and humidity. All these conditions are reflected in an customizable animated background – which you can replace with your own photos.

My Free Weather allows you to view the sky in any city in the world and track local weather. You can track a moving storm & weather patterns via satellite and radar. Naturally, you can also view daily and detailed forecasts, local time and date for any location worldwide, plus alerts for severe weather. It also shows other information such as wind speed and direction, humidity and visibility.

Global Weather 3D is the most scientific-feeling application out of the bunch. Instead of displaying the usual geographic map with weather symbols, the program makes use of an attractive, zoom-able, three-dimensional Earth to show the current position of clouds on our planet, marking their density with a color code. You can display geographical textures, day and night zones, and countries' names.

Windows: Microsoft has released a new trial version of its popular productivity suite, aimed at professionals. The new Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus includes all the Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access, Publisher, InfoPath, Communicator, SharePoint Workspace and Outlook), which you can try for 60 days.

iPhone: Looking for an iPhone game with a bit more depth than the norm? Dark Raider is a top-down action adventure game, where you play an outcast scientist searching a dangerous fantasy world for the key to immortality. The story may be clichéd, but Dark Raider is an enjoyable title, and unusually long for the iPhone, which has tons of casual and lightweight games. Mac: eBay is one of the best trading sites on the net but keeping track of items can be a full time job. AuctionSieve helps you rapidly filter through auctions in eBay searches or categories. AuctionSieve is ideal for collectors of a particular item or topic that needs to get past all the small worthless items and target items of major value. You can monitor as many search terms as you want and instantly organize them for a quick overview.

Windows: Do you miss the traditional 80s shooters? With Hero Core you now have the chance to play a retro shoot 'em up like the ones you played 30 years ago. Though the 8-bit graphics may not be everyone's cup of tea, a huge map with lots of screens and a varied collection of bosses are sure to provide great fun for all nostalgic gamers!

iPhone: FIFA World Cup is the official game of the World Cup in South Africa. The game challenges you to qualify then go on to the finals and attempt to win the greatest prize in soccer. FIFA World Cup is fully licensed by football's governing body, meaning that all of the teams and players are real. The format and schedule of the World Cup finals is set up exactly as it will be in real life, and all the stadiums have been realized in the game.

Mac: Creating useful, readable Help manuals and guides is an essential part of designing and authoring programs. HelpLogic allows you to do so easily in a logical and defined way. HelpLogic works via three tools - a Visual Table of Contents (TOC) Builder, Project Workshop, HTML Editor, and Link Manager to quickly generate Web-based Help, Apple Help, Microsoft HTML Help, UniHelp, and PDF files.

iPhone: PewPew is an arcade shooter that uses dual thumb controls to move and shoot around neon vector graphic arenas. There's no shortage of so-called dual-stick shooters like Geometry Wars on the iPhone, but PewPew manages to stick out from the crowd by being both free and featuring four varied game modes that require different skills to succeed.

Windows: From the creators of GOM Player, here comes GOM Encoder, a comprehensive video conversion tool. It helps you convert videos from and to a wide array of formats and devices, including many ready-made conversion profiles and support to create custom profiles as well. Conversions are surprisingly fast, even when you're working with HD videos.

Mac: After many months of anticipation, Steam for Mac is finally here. Like the Windows version, it allows you to buy and download any of Valve's games like Left 4 Dead 2, Steam also has a huge library of titles from other big developers, as well as free demos and videos. The list of games is ever increasing, and it also supports non-commercial things like game mods.

Windows: For those of use who need to take dozens of screenshots every day, SnagIt is a must have. This awesome screen capturing and editing tool includes everything you need to take screenshots in a variety of ways, annotate them, add effects and filters and share them online. The latest version, SnagIt 10, includes new capturing profiles and effects.

iPhone: Ever hear a song you like on the radio, on TV or at a party but don't know what it's called? Install Shazam on your iPhone and you can find out. Whenever you hear a tune you dig, simply hold your iPhone's microphone to the speaker. Shortly after, as if by magic details of the song will appear in the Shazam interface, including the name of the song, the singer, and the album it appears on.

Mac: Mac fans can now try the newly updated Google Chrome for themselves. After many months of developer releases, the fully functional beta version is finally here meaning extensions, bookmarking (including sync) and the Flash player are all fully working. However, note that it only works on Intel Macs and some applications or add-ons - such as 1Password for example - still don't work with it.