StudioLine Photo Basic is a versatile image management tool that makes it easy to organise, retouch and share your digital photos.

Drag your images into the program and you'll immediately be able to explore them using its thumbnail browser, rate individual photos, or search for the pictures you need using image metadata (title, author, description, date and more).

If you find a shot that isn't quite up to your usual standards, then there are a wide range of correction tools that should be able to help. You get options to crop and rotate a photo, remove red-eye, despeckle, fix colour balance and contrast issues, sharpen an image, and more.

Or, if you're just looking to make an ordinary photo stand out from the crowd, then applying one or two of the program's special effects might be more useful. The selection is fairly standard - Emboss, Sepia, RGB Mixer, Negative and so on - but you do get plenty of control over the final image, and so it's usually easy to achieve the results you need.

Once you've polished up your collection then it's time to share the best shots with the world.

Our favourite option here is the Web Gallery module, which comes with many different templates and will quickly create HTML pages with an attractive thumbnail gallery of your selected pictures (and can then upload them, too).

If your images are geotagged then you export them as a KML file, complete with thumbnails, ready to display in tools like Google Earth. (If they're not geotagged then you can always add positioning information manually.)

But if that's not convenient then the program can alternatively send your photos by email, export them to CD or DVD, or just print them out in a variety of formats.

Please note that StudioLine Photo Basic requires an activation code, which you can obtain here.

What's new in v4.2.43 (refer to the changelog for more info)?

- TBC

StudioLine Photo Basic is a versatile image management tool that makes it easy to organise, retouch and share your digital photos.

Drag your images into the program and you'll immediately be able to explore them using its thumbnail browser, rate individual photos, or search for the pictures you need using image metadata (title, author, description, date and more).

If you find a shot that isn't quite up to your usual standards, then there are a wide range of correction tools that should be able to help. You get options to crop and rotate a photo, remove red-eye, despeckle, fix colour balance and contrast issues, sharpen an image, and more.

Or, if you're just looking to make an ordinary photo stand out from the crowd, then applying one or two of the program's special effects might be more useful. The selection is fairly standard - Emboss, Sepia, RGB Mixer, Negative and so on - but you do get plenty of control over the final image, and so it's usually easy to achieve the results you need.

Once you've polished up your collection then it's time to share the best shots with the world.

Our favourite option here is the Web Gallery module, which comes with many different templates and will quickly create HTML pages with an attractive thumbnail gallery of your selected pictures (and can then upload them, too).

If your images are geotagged then you export them as a KML file, complete with thumbnails, ready to display in tools like Google Earth. (If they're not geotagged then you can always add positioning information manually.)

But if that's not convenient then the program can alternatively send your photos by email, export them to CD or DVD, or just print them out in a variety of formats.

Please note that StudioLine Photo Basic requires an activation code, which you can obtain here.

What's new in v4.2.43 (refer to the changelog for more info)?

- TBC

It may not enjoy the same level of attention as other heavyweight web browsers, but there’s still a lot to like about Opera. Rebooted in June 2013 as a Chromium-based variant, the new Opera’s early history was a troubled one, with many long-established features absent. Even now, some aren’t coming back – specifically Opera’s old built-in mail client, which is available on its own as Opera Mail.

The reboot was prompted by Opera’s decision to abandon its own proprietary web rendering engine (Presto) in favour of Google’s open-source Chromium engine. This left Opera room to focus more on the user interface, and while it’s taken a while to get all the key functionality back, Opera is now starting to fire on all cylinders, particularly now bookmark support has been restored after various failed attempts to move to a different way of storing favourites.

The redesigned Start page gives you a choice of three views: Speed Dial lets you place key favourites front and centre via a series of tiles, which includes the ability to group related sites together. The Discover tab can be customised to show you news and updates from a variety of topics focused on your chosen location.

And finally, the restored bookmarks can be displayed as a list or as a grid containing thumbnail preview images (or site icon). What was stored in the now-defunct Stash can be found here. It’s very flashy, but the key thing is it’s logical, and it works.

Other handy features include Opera Turbo – technology also found on its mobile browser that compresses data while you browse to speed up website loading. It’s designed primarily for slower networks, but will work on any network you choose. Also look out for Tab Previews (simply roll your mouse over any tab for a pop-up preview of its contents, which are dynamically updated along with the page itself).

Opera is still a work in progress, but it’s come a long way in the 15 months since we reviewed the first release of this new reboot. It’s now starting to feel like a genuine alternative to the better known browsers out there.

Note this is the portable version of Opera 57.

The VirtualBox Extension Pack adds useful new features to this popular virtualisation package.

It includes a USB (EHCI) controller, for instance, which should allow you to get better performance from your USB devices. You'll probably need to enable the controller manually, though, as well as add filters for the USB devices you'd like to use (the VirtualBox manual has more details).

You also get VirtualBox Remote Desktop Protocol (VDRP) support. Essentially this allows you to run a virtual machine on one PC, while you view and control it from another: again, the manual has the full story.

And there's also support for remote booting a computer through emulation of the Intel PXE boot ROM with support for the E1000 network card.

None of this requires separate installation, as the extension pack has a "vbox-extpack" file extension that's handled by VirtualBox. So close down VirtualBox, download and double-click on the extension pack, and VirtualBox will launch and install it for you, upgrading any earlier version you might have.

TeamViewer 14 is the latest portable version of the popular remote access/control program.

We handle support for novice computer users and you’ll be surprised how many of these customers do not understand the basics of computing. Sell them security software and many can’t install the new suite as they’ve never fully removed the previous suite. So frustrating.

The easiest solution is to employ TeamViewer and remotely advise the user via their computer than either over the phone or by email. It’s quicker to perform a task yourself than guide, which has made the likes of TeamViewer a godsend for any remote support facility.

As with previous editions, you can use it to access your own computer across the internet, maybe recovering some important document you've left at home. Or you can use it to remotely control another PC where TeamViewer is also installed; so if a friend's having technical troubles, you can log on to their system, even through most firewalls, and troubleshoot the computer as though you were sitting in front of it.

What's new in TeamViewer 14 (see the changelog for more)?

- Better Performance for Low Bandwidth
- Streamlined Server Infrastructure. For increased stability and uptime.
- Improved Connection Quality. Provides better connection speed globally.
- Optimized for Best Performance on macOS Mojave. TeamViewer uses the latest macOS Mojave technologies.
- TeamViewer Pilot. Solve problems beyond the screen using augmented reality.
- Custom Device Information. So that you have all the relevant information at your fingertips.
- Advanced Device Grouping. For easier device organization and quick reference.
- One-Click Script Execution. Perform repetitive processes with one click.
- Increased Customer Support Accessibility. Provide more efficient service to increase customer satisfaction.
- Dark Mode for Windows, Linux, and Mac
- New Design. Enjoy a cleaner, more efficient TeamViewer experience.
- New iOS Screen Sharing Workflow. The first solution for iOS remote support is now even better.
- Trusted Device Management. More management options for optimal protection.
- GDPR Compliant

The Software Updates Monitor (SUMo) is an easy-to-use tool that will quickly scan your PCs installed applications, and let you know if any have updates available.

To give the program a try, just run it and wait while SUMo builds a database of your software. Then click the Check button and it will go online, compare your installation with the latest version that's available, and highlight any programs that are out of date.

If you've a lot of software installed then this can make for a lengthy report, but fortunately SUMo makes good use of colour coding and icons to help make the relevant information stand out. And so anything with a green tick icon is up-to-date; programs highlighted with a yellow start have only a minor update available; and any software with an orange exclamation mark should really grab your attention, as that means you're at least one whole version out of date.

Once you've identified a program you'd like to upgrade, then, you should select it and click the Get Update button. This won't take you to the author's site, unfortunately, but you can search the web or various download sites for the program in just a few clicks, and so should be able to track down the update fairly quickly.

Please note that an increasing number of security tools regard SUMo as containing spyware as it ships with "Relevant Knowledge". See http://www.kcsoftwares.com/?rk for more info.