Here’s a round-up of the best mobile apps we tested on Softonic this week. Check them out now!

Virtual Villagers: Origins

If we’re honest, we’ve all spent hours in front of a mirror pretending to be the leader of a village. Now you don’t need to daydream anymore, because this iOS app puts you in the hotseat of your own settlement. The idea of Virtual Villagers: Origins, based on a popular PC game, is to take a group of villagers and motivate and train them to build up the village. Your little pueblo will keep growing even when you’re not playing the game!

iOS

Here’s a round-up of the best mobile apps we tested on Softonic this week. Check them out now!

UEFA Euro 2012 official app

Europe’s biggest soccer tournament doesn’t kick off until June, but already the official app of the championships is available. The application brings you all the latest news in the build-up to Euro 2012, as well as team profiles, stats and schedule details. You’ll be able to follow matches live during the tournament itself. Note that the Euro 2012 app is only available in Europe at the moment.

iOS, Android, BlackBerry

It's only February, and already we have a contender for game of the year: Mass Effect 3. The PC demo really shows off the drama and action of the game well. We'll have to wait until March to see whether BioWare has created a game that fittingly ends the trilogy, but it certainly starts off well. You can choose to be a male or female Commander Shepard, and also choose the type of gameplay you want.

Nick took a look at a browser add-on called Do Not Track Plus, which allows you to stop websites tracking your behavior and giving you targeted advertising etcetera. If you've ever wondered why you keep seeing that pair of shoes you were looking at in advertising while you are browsing, try this out! Do Not Track Plus is compatible with Mac or PC for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer, which should just about cover all bases!

One of the best security suites around, you can now try out the beta version of avast! 7. Niamh put it through its paces. Read more in her post and see what changes are being introduced, from the new interface to cloud services and remote access. Maybe the biggest change is the avast application market - will it be the iTunes Store of security?

This week has seen the lazy summer days come to an end with three massive releases of rival soccer games FIFA 11 and PES 2010, along with Microsoft's hyped IE 9 beta release.

Windows

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 features a series of significant, much-needed improvements to PES 2010. Gameplay has been tweaked to improve control, more game modes have been added, and the graphics and overall presentation of Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 are breathtaking. After years of disappointing releases, this represents a new beginning for Konami's iconic series.

Having been blown away by the previous version of FIFA, we found it hard to imagine how EA could possibly improve its slick soccer sim. However, FIFA 11 has enough improvements and new features to make it the quintessential soccer sim. The new Personality+ system means that players move and act as they do in real life, and refined modeling means they look much more like themselves too.

Internet Explorer 9 is the new edition of Microsoft's hugely popular web browser. Building on the success of previous editions of IE with new features and a new look, Microsoft has high hopes for Internet Explorer 9.  It's got a new minimal design for improved screen space, and it's faster and more efficient making it a much more attractive browser choice.

Mobile

RemoteDroid is a free app for your Android that will allow you to control your Mac or PC remotely. It takes a bit of time to set up and learn, but after that you'll have a really useful tool. Relax while watching TV series, knowing you don't have to get up and click for the next episode. RemoteDroid takes us one step closer to having a personal device that does everything!

Spider-Man: Total Mayhem is a very impressive action game, starring your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in his full 3D glory. The fantastic graphics make this a showcase for the iPhone's capabilities. If you love playing 3D action games on your console, thisis probably the closest thing you'll get to that experience on your iPhone.

Mac

Vitamin-R is a Menu Bar tool for managing your attention and maintaining motivation. It blocks other apps while you set a specific time period to complete a task. It's a great way to combat all the distractions of today's computing and stay focused on the task in hand. Set up 'slices' of time with specific objectives and watch your productivity boom!

So it's all over for another year. 2007 has gone, and the New Year is upon us. 2008 offers much to look forward to, including the advent of 'Web 3', a new Indiana Jones movie, updates to Microsoft's Vista operating system and lots more. Nick has the low-down on forthcoming software developments along with an explanation of just what 'Web 3' is and how it's going to revolutionize your Internet experience in 2008. James, on the other hand, is keen to point out just how silly predictions can sometimes be. Check out his post examining the worst tech predictions of all time.

Many of you will have made resolutions to change your ways in the New Year. Making resolutions is easy - you just say them and they're made. Sticking to them is much harder, though, so Elena has picked out the best software to help you stay the course and learn that language, shed those pounds or bin those cigarettes. We've also got a handy guide to creating your own snazzy calendar, a surefire way to brighten up your desk in 2008.

Nick is something of a clean-freak when it comes to his PC, so it's no surprise that he took the New Year as an opportunity to give his computer a thorough going over. Ring the changes this January with his selection of the best maintenance tools for Windows and it'll feel like you've got a brand new machine.

If you did receive a new computer for Christmas, there's a chance you got a Mac. If you were among the lucky ones, Cyril has got some great tips on getting the most out of your new Mac, starting with his 200 shortcuts for Leopard post. He has also put an interesting organization guide together, just what you need for unlocking your Mac's GTD capabilities.

Finally, next week marks one year of insideTonic and we're planning a little celebration. Keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming giveaway on the blog, as well as a round-up of our favorite stories from our first 12 months.

Until next week...

Dear Softonic users,

So, Yuletide is upon us once more and wherever you are, we at Softonic hope that you have a relaxing and peaceful holiday season. We've been covering a lot of Christmas and holiday software on our blog of late, so without further ado, here's our rundown of tips, advice and suggestions for this special time of year….

• Get yourself in the Christmas cooking mood
• Top 5 software for your Christmas/New Year party
• Use your puzzle-solving skills to help Santa
• How to: create a Christmas card in Photoshop
• 5 tools to keep track of your Christmas spending
• Track Santa using Google Earth
• Carry the Christmas spirit on your phone
• Put up the Christmas lights on your Mac
• Celebrate Christmas on your Mac
• 15 stunning Christmas wallpapers
• Top 10 Christmas PC games
• Do your Christmas shopping with your phone

And for the Scrooges out there: The ultimate anti-Christmas software pack

Happy Holidays!

P.S. There will be a reduced service on the blog over the next week or two, while our international team of writers visit friends and family around the world.

Dear Softonic users,

Nowadays, more and more people are using their computers to watch video. Sites like YouTube have become incredibly popular in the last couple of years, but people are also much more likely to watch full-length TV shows and movies than they were just a year ago. So with all this high-resolution content being watched on PCs around the world, we thought we'd give you our best tips when it comes to working with video on your computer.

Kicking things off, Cyril wrote an interesting post this week detailing the best DVD playing programs for Windows. If you thought that DVD playback should consist of sticking the disk in your PC and letting Windows Media Player handle everything, you should definitely have a look at this post - you may be missing out.

One of my favourite formats for video has got to be DivX. This revolutionary codec has completely change the way we watch TV on the net, offering very high quality image and sound but with small file-sizes. Nick's got the low-down on the five best programs to use in conjunction with DivX… personally, I recommend the VLC Player (our pick of the week), which is arguably the best media player available.

James and Nick are both into gadgets, and they've both come up with interesting ways to take your video content with you wherever you go. James has prepared a guide to converting video files for your mobile phone, while Nick covered portable video on your iPod. Now you can watch Heroes everywhere you go!

Finally, if you still haven't tried watching TV on your computer, it's really simple and, free and legal. Well, it's legal if you use authorised TV programs. Our favourites are Zattoo (for local TV in your country of residence) and Joost (for on-demand video including comedy, animation, news and more). Give them a go and let us know which is your favourite!

Until next week...

Dear Softonic users,

As the shadows lengthen and the leaves fall, the spookiest time of year is upon us yet again. That's right: it's Halloween this Wednesday so to celebrate, we've gathered the ghostliest, most terrifying and weirdest games, wallpapers and themes into one handy newsletter.

Elena got things rolling with her post covering the scariest games on Softonic. She selected eight games guaranteed to send shivers down your spine, including this week's game of the week, the terrifying Jericho. Meanwhile, James hunted down the best Halloween wallpapers, themes and screensavers. Reader Amelia felt that his selection wasn't very scary at all: what do you think?

If, like me, you're more of a murder mystery fan, you'll enjoy Nick's post about the best mystery-busting games. From classic Agatha Christie to the more modern Murder Death Kill, there's something for everyone. He also had time to take a look at the special Halloween version of PacMan, entitled PacDoom III. Filled with interesting new features and spooky settings, your mission is to help PacMan get to his Halloween party on time.

For those who aren't big fans of Halloween or scary stuff in general, have no fear! James kindly picked out the loveliest, cutest and most cuddly games for people who'd rather snuggle up by the fireplace than dress up as a zombie with shower curtain for a cape. Check out his post and you'll cheer up in no time.

Until next week - don't have nightmares!

A year or two ago, hardly anyone was really aware of VoIP (Voice over IP) telephone calls and the technology was very much the preserve of geeks. The revolution that Skype unleashed on an aging and overly self-satisfied telecoms industry was a long time coming and this little program truly has ushered in a new era of cheap global communication. The sign of a great program is its universal appeal, and Skype has that in spades.

But time waits for no software, and while Skype is certainly the market leader it is facing some stiff competition from feature-packed newcomers. So if you've had annoying disconnect issues with Skype, or you'd just like to try an alternative, be sure to take a look at Nick's post on the topic.

On the games front, this week has been a particularly exciting one for fans of the Call of Duty series. The demo for Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare was released and we loved it. Check out the review, give the demo a spin and let us know what you think! If you're of a more historical inclination, you may have dreamt of ruling a kingdom from a great castle. Who hasn't? Well if that sounds like your idea of fun, Tony put together a list of the very best castle simulation games on Softonic.

If you're something of a Photoshop addict, don't miss Cyril's latest post in our Photoshop tips series. It's a collection of the best online sources for tips and tricks in the #1 graphics application, so if a tip's worth knowing, you'll find it there. Finally, if you're sick of windows, why not give Ubuntu a go? They've just upgraded to their best looking, most user-friendly version yet… and with every new version, the reasons for staying with a non-free OS become fewer.

Stay tuned for next week's Halloween Special!

We often find that the most popular posts on insideTonic involve tips and recommendations for either optimizing Windows PCs, or customizing them with new themes and visual styles. This week has been no different and it's not hard to see why: there's no doubt that we all want to have the fastest, best looking PC on the block.

With this in mind, Nick continued searching for perfect performance by putting together his Top 10 list of the best optimization tools for Windows XP. From complex RAM managers to all-in-one wizard apps, this list is certain to get your PC up to tip-top performance. He's pretty insatiable, though, so he also tested out the most popular disk defrag tools - if you haven't done a defrag for a while, you'll find it improves your system stability and speed.

One of the most popular topics for debate since the launch of Windows Vista is how to get your XP computer to look like Vista without forking-out $400. While some critics have argued that Vista doesn't offer many new features, elements like the new Start Menu have proven popular with XP users. If this sounds interesting, check out my post discussing the pros and cons of installing the Vista Start Menu in XP.

World of Warcraft now has over 9 million subscribers! If you're one of them, you should probably take a look at Elena's latest WoW post, which covers the best add-ons for the virtual world. Finally, our favourite Internet TV application, Joost, has finally launched to the general public. If you still haven't tried it, now's your chance: this is the future of television.

It's been a really fun week on insideTonic, for one reason alone: Games! Yes, perhaps as an antidote to the falling leaves and temperatures, we've been getting really stuck into gaming again... and loving it!

While the biggest games story of the week is undoubtedly Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (see our Game of the Week, below), we've been experimenting with a huge variety of game-styles to find the best in each genre for you, the user. Check out Cyril's analysis of the best restaurant and bar management games - genres you probably didn't even know existed!

Tony took some time out to put together a list of the craziest animal-related games for mobile phones and PDAs (compatible with most operating systems), before setting off for Egypt to try his hand at archaeology in Atlantis Redux. Continuing the Egypt theme, I had a look at A Tale In The Desert, a multiplayer online game set in the age of the Pharaohs (and that was while I wasn't tinkering with Shadow President, an amazing Abandonware classic).

If you're not a gaming nut like us, we've still got loads of great free software to try. Take a look at Elena's analysis of the latest free office suite, from computing giant IBM. Could Microsoft be in big trouble? And finally, Nick continues in his quest for optimal internet connectivity: check out his compendium of the 10 best internet accelerators on Softonic.

The big news of the week for us at Softonic surely is the launch of Softonic France. The site offers downloads for the French speaking public with the same editorial independence and critical analysis as you've come to expect from Softonic.

Not a week goes by without another extravagance from Google. This time the Mountain View company has launched the Lunar X Prize, a race to land a privately funded craft on Earth's satellite. Our Neil Armstrong of the downloads, Tony, took the opportunity to reveal updated images in Google Moon.

From Moon light to strobe lights, James reviewed all the best dance applications, from entertaining tutorials to dancing competitions where you'll need the best moves to become king (or queen) of the dance floor. If instead you're looking to make it big on the markets, why not try your hand at a tycoon simulation game? There's more than one way to become rich, whether by selling lemonade, building malls or opening up a safari park in Africa.

We also focused quite a lot on tips this week, with posts on how to get more from Firefox and how to block unwanted callers. XP users will also be glad to find 5 alternative themes to give a face lift to their OS. If you want to inject more power into Outlook, take a look at the best add-ons for your PC's default mail client.

After adding super-powers to your email client, why not check out all the best superhero downloads, as we round up all the Marvel and DC comic book-related goodies for the PC.

Enjoy the weekend!

September's here, so it's back to work for the software developers, and this week has seen some of the big guns offer up some significant updates and new releases. Of course, insideTonic has been on hand to deliver our expert analysis of the new products. We brought you news of how the new beta version of Opera is sending web browsing into warp speed, plus details of the tasty Del.icio.us 2.0 and Microsoft's 'Flash killer,' Silverlight. The full release of Google Web Toolkit and the latest instalment of FIFA also got the once over by our team of software buffs.

This week's tips took on something a musical theme, as Elena demonstrated how to find the lyrics to those songs you've been humming for the last few days, and I paid homage to the late Pavarotti by explaining how to write and produce classic music (using software). There was also a memorable guide to adding paint effects in Photoshop and a collection of useful pointers for proper email-forwarding etiquette.

Our resident social commentator Tom was on hand to give his views on the latest frightening/cool application to be produced for the all-seeing Facebook service, while Tony simply spent the whole week playing dominoes with old men over the Internet. We'll be back next week with the more of the world's best software but for now, it's time to party!

Yes, it's that time of year again: as summer draws to a close (in the Northern Hemisphere, at least), millions of students prepare for their return to full-time education. I'll admit that I never looked forward to the arrival of September - but then I didn't have Nick's excellent blog post about the best software to take to college. He's packed a lot in there, from geography and math apps to the essential CollegeBAR - probably the best cocktail software in the world.

One of the things I noticed most about my college days was just how much free time I suddenly had. Naturally, this vacuum had to be filled with something other than sleep so like most students, I turned to computer games. One game in particular, actually: SimGolf. Cyril thoughtfully included this colossus in his post about the best golf games ever - and rightly so.

For those not quite so into pitch 'n' putt, Elena reviewed the demo for the latest edition of the massive Medal of Honor franchise, 'Airborne'. It's a visually stunning game, with levels of realism and adrenaline pretty much unrivalled. This is guaranteed to be one of the games of the year, so get some practice in early!

For mobile phone owners, we've got good news. James and Tony had a look at a few applications which can help you secure your phone from viruses, and even deactivate it if stolen. Don't leave home without it.

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend - and to those of you about to start college: good luck! Those of you returning, please take it easy on the newbies.

We computer users can be a very trusting bunch, and many of us put our complete faith in the software we use, the web sites we visit and anything that comes out of Steve Jobs's mouth. However, it's important to stay paranoid, as Cyril found out when he investigated the disturbing phenomenon of software awards scams. He also blew the lid on online identity theft, revealing how you can protect yourself from having your very being cloned.

Meanwhile, our resident tipster, Elena has been busy imparting some truly reliable advice for using Google in new ways, making cool text effects in Photoshop and opening up more tabs in Firefox. She even found time to give the slick new download manager in Firefox 3 the once over.

If you're at a loose end this weekend then check out some of the weird and wonderful ways we've been using software over the last week. Armed with nothing more than our PCs, I became a masterchef and wrote my own cookbook, Tom discovered the secrets of the Universe using the new Sky feature in Google Earth, and Tony pondered his imminent death after installing some health checking apps. Trust insideTonic to brighten up your weekend.