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iRunner Review

Leap over obstacles, avoid pits of death, and run like heck in iRunner, a fast-paced running platformer where your goal is to collect as many batteries as possible. The game features vibrant HD graphics, plenty of animations, and a fun soundtrack.

Gameplay In iRunner, you play a stuffed doll who speeds through various worlds to collect items and power-ups while getting progressively faster. Controls are simple: players tap the "jump" or "slide" buttons in response to oncoming obstacles such as pitfalls, spikes, and hanging light bulbs. Collecting four costume gift boxes triggers a short animation sequence … Read more

Ad-Aware 9 Pro review

The bottom line: One of the first applications built to find and remove malware and spyware, Ad-Aware 9 Pro's reputation is well-justified. The latest version continues the publisher's tradition of adroitly addressing user concerns, yet some annoyances remain.

Review:

Editors' note: Portions of this review are based on CNET's review for Ad-Aware 9 Free.

Ad-Aware 9 Pro continues the development progress that publisher Lavasoft began in the previous version. No longer content with offering only malware protection, Ad-Aware now includes antivirus protections licensed from Sunbelt, the makers of Vipre, as well as interesting in-house improvements.

Lavasoft first … Read more

Recover lost, damaged, or deleted files with free Recuva

The other day my awesome cousin Rachel and her equally awesome boyfriend Marc related an all-too-common tale of woe: several years' worth of home movies recorded on their hard-disk camcorder had suddenly and inexplicably disappeared. The sad part? They'd never taken the time to offload the videos from the camcorder to a PC.

If you've ever lost personal data--photos, documents, or whatever--you know how devastating this can be. (And take it from me: this is not the moment to say, "You should have made a backup!" You can't kick a person harder than he's … Read more

Free tools repartition Windows disks simply

One of the best ways to maximize your PC's storage capacity is to create drive partitions that separate Windows system files from your data and programs. Partitioning makes backups faster and simpler. It can also improve overall system performance on machines with little unused storage space.

Related links • Stay safe, save time by partitioning your hard drive • Ultimate Defrag maximizes your disk-management options

A serious limitation to the disk-partitioning utility built into Windows 7 is that you can't extend whichever partition is the farthest right. For some reason, partitions can only be extended to the right. Unfortunately, the … Read more

Simple time management the Pomodoro way

Technology is distracting, there's no doubt about it. Instead of allowing electronic gadgets to draw your attention away from more important activities in your workday, use them to sharpen your focus.

Many time management methods require a multiday symposium to master. A simple alternative is Francesco Cirillo's Pomodoro Technique, which is named after the 25-minute kitchen timer in the shape of a tomato Cirillo used to maintain his focus while studying in college in Rome.

In 25 minutes, you can learn most of what there is to know about the straightforward Pomodoro approach to time management. The free … Read more

uTorrent 3 ready for beta testing

uTorrent 3.0 (download) graduated to beta yesterday, combining some impressive new features with initiatives from parent company BitTorrent to encourage legal torrent usage.

The new beta can stream videos and music while the files are still downloading, using progressive and sequential download technology. The streaming feature can also be used to preview a file before committing to a full download. The preview feature can lend itself to the new basic socialization features in uTorrent, which serve as a passive reminder while downloading that you can interact with other people also seeding or leeching the torrent.

You can now rate … Read more

Free Employee Scheduler

These days, small businesses can use a break wherever they can find one. Free business software that performs as well as pricey packages seems a good place to start looking. We've found one: DRoster Freeware Standard from Kappix. It's a full-featured employee scheduling suite that happens to be free. It's highly flexible and almost completely customizable. It has the ability to create, schedule, and track assignments; create, print, and export reports; plan shifts and schedules; and back up data to an included Firebird database. It sounds like a lot, and it is, but DRoster is far from … Read more

Do you secure your PC for free?

With Avast 6 fresh out of the gate and CNET's opinion on record, it's time to ask you which of the many free security suites available is your favorite. The big three on Download.com are AVG, Avast, and Avira, although it will be interesting to see if the download counts are reflected in popularity. We aimed to have all the major players represented here, although we left out certain choices like ClamWin Antivirus, technically still in beta.

The poll will remain open until 11 p.m. PT March 3, and we'll look at the results March … Read more

Avast wants you playing in its sandbox

New security features designed to keep its more than 110 million users safe debut in Avast 6, released today exclusively from CNET Download.com. They also have the added benefit of raising the competitive bar in computer security by pushing more and better free options to users. Avast Free Antivirus 6, Avast Pro Antivirus 6, and Avast Internet Security 6 all feature the new AutoSandbox and the WebRep browser add-on. (Click the links to get to the download page.)

The debut of the AutoSandbox makes Avast the second antivirus to offer a sandboxing tool for free. Comodo introduced a sandboxing … Read more

Free VPN service helps keep public Wi-Fi safe

The last time you used a public Wi-Fi hot spot, did you get the feeling you were being watched? Good. You very well may have been.

Just last week the U.S. Federal Trade Commission published the Wise Up About Wi-Fi page that offers tips for safe use of public Wi-Fi. Among the tips is the familiar advice to use encryption at all times (look for "https:" in the address header and the lock icon in the address bar or it the bottom status bar, depending on your browser).

The FTC's public-Wi-Fi safety page recommends that you … Read more