Without a doubt, video games are one of the most popular entertainments of our time. Many games have fanatic users, but probably few of them have done it like Mario games.

The amazing Mario games

Created in 1983, Mario games started with Mario Bros based on an existing character of the game Donkey Kong. However, it was not until 1985 with the release of Super Mario Bros that this game reached the success that nowadays, still has it. After that, for different consoles have released different sequels that all together make up the universe of Mario games.

Since its release, Super Mario Bros has sold 40 million copies and is responsible for making popular “platforms” video games. Due to its global success, Nintendo has released several sequels that are part of the huge catalogue of Mario games.

The phenomenon of Mario games has revolutionized the world of videogames. TV shows, movies and comics, with varying success. In 2006, Super Mario Bros was listed by Japan´s government as one of the 100 most representative artistic media of this country. In 2010, in an unusual tribute to Mario games, Zaragoza opened an avenue under the name of Super Mario Bros, which also has a statue of the character.

Mario games have gone beyond time. Almost 30 years later still new versions are released that suits the new technologies. A survey made in Japan has shown that Mario game´s fans are expecting that Nintendo will soon release a 3D version of the game. Until this happens, you can enjoy one of the many Mario games: Super Mario Blue Twilight DX.

Speed up your browsing with Google Toolbar

When Internet became massively used, user’s didn´t had many browsers available. As the network grew, these started to grow, too. At the same time, due to the wild competition between them, they are constantly updated. This implies changes in their interface that many times confuse users. A good tip to avoid this problem is to add to your browser Google Toolbar.

Thanks to this bar, we can keep the same interface, while enjoying all the features it offers. What`s more, Google Toolbar allows searching from any site we are, without needing to use the site engine itself. On the other hand, Google Toolbar allows you to search words even within the same site. It also includes a direct link to its translator as well as an application that makes Google bar complete forms for us.

What´s more, Google Toolbar lets you add custom buttons from a gallery so we can visit our favorite sites with just one click. Another thing we can do with just a click is sharing links on social networks.

Without a doubt, Google Toolbar is very convenient, to users, advance or beginners. The many advantages it offers as well as the customization possibilities make of this, a convenient tool to enhance any browser. You can download Google Toolbar from here.

One of the possibilities internet offer us with the improvement in the connectivity is the possibility of accessing all kinds of multimedia content almost simultaneously with its official launch. This way, we can watch the latest Hollywood premiere online, even before it´s released in the cinema. However, online streaming services, either for being free or has a basic infrastructure or because sometimes are overloaded with users, they do not usually provide the necessary fluidity to watch free movies from our PC.

Watch online movies for free thanks to the internet

The solution is to download the movies to our pc, once these are saved on the hard disk, we will be able to watch them without cuts. To do so, we need to find on the web, sites where films are available and use a program such as uTorrent, if this is under P2P protocol, or a download manager like Internet Download Manager or jDownloader, if this is in a “direct download “.

Once we´ve downloaded with the help of some of these applications, we have to play them on our PC. There are many media players, all them quite effective, among the most popular we can mention Windows Media Player, VLC or RealPlayer. However, it is possible that even if we have a good player we cannot watch free movies uncut as we wanted since we do not have the necessary codec’s to do so. Some of the most complete codec packs that will avoid any difficulties are Elisoft Codec Pack or CCCP

This way, by having these tools, we can finally seat comfortably in our couch and watch our favorite movie without cuts.

Adobe has finally released the new version of Reader, X or 10, which solves many security problems that had in the past. Besides this and the usual tools of the PDF reader by downloading Adobe Reader X 10.0 you can also check a new panel that allow to share a document in a few steps.

Adobe Reader X is renewed and offers security and new options to share

Safety new options added to Adobe Reader X are given by using sandboxing technology. This type of programming allows the contents of the PDF document to be loaded into a parceled memory space and under control. This way, risks that come from exploits and are around the internet can be minimized.

Besides the “Protected Mode”, Adobe Reader X includes other new features. As we mentioned before, these are related to the possibility of sending a document via e-mail through its own service, as well as the existing publishing service.

To these remarkable changes, we can add its renewed interface, which makes it easier. With regards to usability, it keeps having the traditional tools of highlighting, zooming, and labeling besides others that allow you to review a PDF document as best as possible. Therefore, if you’re interested in the safety of your computer or you often share documents online, you should download Adobe Reader X on your computer as soon as possible.

You can now download CCleaner 3

Finally, you can now download CCleaner 3. This new version is probably the most popular application used for cleaning your computer that now offers a series of new tools and functions in this maintenance suite.

One of the main tools added by this new version is the option to clean units. This allows us to physically remove the files from a drive gaining free space, as well as disk fragmentation. On the other hand, another major improvement you will notice after downloading CCleaner 3 is the change in some of the icons and a minor change in its interface.

At the same time, the new version of CCleaner is optimized for it use on 64 bits. While previous versions allowed working on this environment for the first time, CCleaner creates an executable specifically prepared for this task.

To the news already mentioned we can add that CCleaner 3 is ready to work with Internet Explorer 9 and with the new web HTML5 standards, improving the performance of our applications. As in every update of the cleaner program, improvements have been made as well as in managing cookies.

This application is the most original and new when talking about maintenance of our computer. What are you waiting for? Download now CCleaner 3 so you can always enjoy your PC?

You can now download Windows Live Messenger 2011

A few weeks ago a new version of Windows Live Messenger has been release, showing lot of improvements in comparison with older versions. Perhaps the most important feature is the integration that Windows Live Messenger 2011 has with Facebook; this was anticipated earlier.

Now, from a unique interface we can access all the contacts we have in both social networks. This was solved easily; users that download Windows Live Messenger 2011 will realize that this integration is possible. From the application we will be able to see our “wall” from Facebook besides using the chat tool.

However, Windows Live Messenger 2011 is not only integrated with Facebook. In addition to this network, we have also available LinkedIn and MySpace. In other words, when you download the latest version of Messenger you will have a combo that will allow you to be in contact with all your friends.

Besides the integration with the social networks, the new version of Windows Live Messenger add new designs to its interface that had been already added to its complement in Plus! Version such as chatting by tab. In addition to this, the traditional emoticons have been redesigned, giving a new look to this new Messenger version.

Another new highlight feature, in addition to the mentioned before is that Windows Live Messenger 2011 lets you send video messages to your contacts even when they are offline. Those who are used to chat with their friends will appreciate the advantage of this new functionality.

Among the disadvantages that have been questioned in Windows Live Messenger 2011 by users is the inability to use nicknames. From now on, to change your nick you will also need to change the name under which you are registered. Without a doubt, a limitation that has been discussed by users and is expected to be revised by Microsoft. Finally, another point to consider is the restriction you will find to download Windows Live Messenger 2011. This is only supported by Windows Vista and Windows 7, leaving aside the most widely used version of Microsoft operating system: Windows XP.

Windows Live Essentials 2011 arrived with a strong foothold: what are waiting to download it?

Hotmail users may be the first ones to experience the new features Microsoft is releasing through Windows Live Essentials 2011 suite. In fact, many of them have already found, when accessing their accounts, Hotmail’s “new features”, which are basically related to being able to integrate to Microsoft’s free applications. However, there are other changes that affect all the programs, like Movie Maker, Photo Gallery, Writer, Messenger and Live Mail.

Among the main changes in Wave 4 we can mention the Ribbon bar that was added to all the products. It had already been included in Office’s latest versions, but its inclusion to Windows Live Essentials will be highly appreciated by Writer’s or Movie Maker’s users.

The changes in the menus greatly improve Microsoft’s blogs editor, which becomes one of the most powerful tools of its kind. Also, Movie Maker has a renewed effects gallery, with new possibilities like, for example, including a webcam to home video editing.

As regards Live Mail, Microsoft has made a great effort to simplify the process of sending photos. Now they can be shared through SkyDrive and the e-mail content becomes just a preview of the multimedia content. In this way, the task is much easier and we don’t need to attach the document, which takes up space.

In addition, the new Windows Live Messenger will be able to integrate with other social networks, like LinkedIn or Facebook, directly.

Other new features can be found in Photo Gallery. Windows Live Essentials’s new version provides useful tools like the face recognition tool, which will enable us to tag photos automatically, as well as Photo Fuse, which can fuse similar photos by taking what we like most of each of them.

Windows Live Essentials 2011 is already available for download. Now it’s up to you to test each of Microsoft’s free applications and services. Its new features are more than enough to raise our highest expectations.

Internet Explorer 9’s preview is already available for download

Microsoft has finally released Internet Explorer 9’s preview and it is already available for download. This preview of the platform is mainly intended for web developers and designers to test the most popular browser in the world up to now.

With this preview of the new version, Microsoft wants to re-position its browser in the increasingly competitive market. After losing users worldwide, Internet Explorer 9 seeks to regain them with its new functionalities.

Internet Explorer 9’s preview is just an engine of the browser. It does not include the user interface nor the security options. As far as we can see, this new version enables us to test the improvements in the rendering engine. In Internet Explorer 9’s preview we can test the support for CSS, SVG2, HTML5 and XHTML parsing standards, video and audio tag, for speeding up audio and text.

Before downloading Internet Explorer 9’s preview, it is worth noting that it is only compatible with Vista and 7 operating systems and not with Windows XP.

Windows Live Essentials 2011 is already available. Download it for free!

Little by Little, Microsoft has started to update its popular Windows Live Essentials suite to its Wave 4 or 2011 version, which is already available for download. As everybody knows, Microsoft’s free programs pack includes text and video editors (Live Writer and Live Movie Maker), messaging client (Live Messenger), e-mail client (Live Mail), album manager (Live Photo Gallery), among others.

It is evident that Microsoft suite offers a varied range of products. This is partly due to the fact that Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 is aimed to different, varied targets. Also, there are programs like SkyDrive, which was previously used for supporting the “sharing” characteristic.

On the one hand, Redmond’s giant is trying to get into the fashion of social networks. Thus, Live Mail’s and Live Messenger

On the other hand, Microsoft is not willing to give in to Google. Therefore, it changed Live Writer’s, Live Photo Gallery’s and Live Movie Maker’s interfaces so that Windows Live Essentials 2011 can compete against Google Docs. However, the changes not only renewed the utilities but also improved their performances.

Microsoft also features improvements in Live Mail and in its calendar in order to achieve its ultimate goal: get over the image of a company aimed for young users and focus on a professional public.

All the free products of Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 or 2011 suite pursue the same goals and each of them, depending on what kind of tool it is, focuses on one task in particular. Even so, they are completely integrated towards the overall goals.

Internet Download Manager

Are you tired of connection disconnects when downloading files? Slow download speed? We introduce you to Internet Download Manager, the perfect to resume and take full advantage of your internet connection by boosting your download up to four times.

If you´re used to downloading large files such as games and movies, Internet Download Manager will become an essential tool since it enables you to manage your downloads by categories as well as boosting their speed, resuming them, providing additional like automatic shutdown.

Quick and easy installation program will make necessary settings for you, and check your connection at the end to ensure trouble free installation of Internet Download Manager. When you click on a download link in a browser, IDM will take over the download and accelerate it. You don’t need to do anything special, just browse the Internet as you usually do. IDM will catch your downloads and accelerate them. IDM supports HTTP, FTP, HTTPS and MMS protocols.

Its Antivirus checking makes your downloads free from viruses and Trojans. IDM can automatically run a scanner on download completion, like AdAware, Avast, Spybot, AVG Anti-Virus, McAfee, SpywareBlaster, CCleaner and others to protect users from harmful downloaded files.

Internet Download Manager can record and download FLV videos from popular sites like YouTube, MySpaceTV, and Google Video. The best way of downloading webpage embedded videos from the Internet is here. After installing IDM, “Download This Video” button pops up whenever you are watching a video anywhere in the Internet.

Internet Download Manager interface lets you choose the order, buttons, and columns to appear on the main IDM window. There are several different skins for the toolbar with different button styles. All skins can be downloaded from IDM home site. Also users can design their own skins. Internet Download Manager can be used to organize downloads automatically using defined download categories.

Internet Download Manager features advanced browser integration with most popular web browsers including Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Maxthon, Avant Browser, AOL and Opera. When enabled, the feature can be used to catch any download from any application. None other download managers have this feature.

However, there a small issue with one-click-hosters such as Megaupload, RapidShare among others, requiring specific set up for some of them. For RapidShare for instance, you´ll have to enable the “Direct download” option on your premium account settings. For Megaupload it´s a bit more complicated and it´s a shame it´s not simpler since the use of such one-click-hosters is notoriously increasing.

All in all, Internet Download Manager is currently considered one of the best download managers. It features all the basic tools of a download manager as well as a handful of additional features.
Despite some shortcomings, its features are more than enough to start using Internet Download Manager as your default download manager. Give it a try, and you´ll notice an incredible boost in your download speed.