The best free parental control software 2017

It's hard to imagine anything less child-friendly than an uncensored internet. A rabid wolf, maybe, or a playground floored with broken glass and razor wire. The more connected we become the more we need everybody online - and that means trying to ensure that our children aren't exposed to the very worst content, ideas and behaviour that exist online.

Software can't do everything, of course, but it can help to make parents' lives much easier. These are our picks of the best parental control tools for Windows, macOS and mobile devices.

Most parental control software is aimed at Windows, but Qustodio (think 'custodian') is also available for Mac, Android, iOS, Kindle and (weirdly) Nook.

The free version is one of the most comprehensive parental control apps around, enabling you to set rules and time schedules, block pornography and other unsuitable content. If you go for the paid-for version, you'll also get SMS monitoring, social media features and per-app controls.

Its raft of features and support for a wide range of platforms make Qustodio the best free parental control software, but there are some other excellent free programs available, some of which may be better suited to your individual needs as a parent. Read on for the rest of our our top choices.

• Download Qustodio

FamilyShield is a free service from OpenDNS. Its parental control tools automatically block domains that OpenDNS has flagged under the headings "tasteless, proxy/anonymizer, sexuality, or pornography".

One of the big pluses here is that while FamilyShield can run on PCs and mobile devices, you can also apply it to your network router and filter all the traffic that passes through it – it's just a matter of changing the DNS server numbers in your control panel.

This has the happy benefit of improving DNS lookup speeds on some ISPs. By filtering everything at the router level, every device on your network benefits from the filters.

• Download OpenDNS Family Shield

Nothing gets past Kidlogger. This free parental control software not only tracks what your children type and which websites they visit – it also keeps a record of which programs they use and any screengrabs they take.

If you're concerned about who your kids might be talking to online, there's even a voice-activated sound recorder. If your children are a little older and more responsible, you can pick and choose which options to monitor and give them a little privacy.

The free software only covers one device and lacks some of the sneakier features of the premium editions (including silent monitoring of WhatsApp conversations and the ability to listen to Skype calls), but it's still a well-rounded tool if you're concerned about your kids' safety.

• Download Kidlogger

Keyloggers have something of a bad reputation online, as they're often used by crooks hoping to capture passwords and bank details, but they can be a force for good too, and Spyrix Free Keylogger enables you to see what your children have been up to.

Although it's dubbed parental control software, the free version of Spyrix really a monitoring program; it doesn't stop the kids getting up to no good, but it does let you see exactly what they've done.  If you want content blocking too, premium subscriptions start at US$59 (about £45, AU$75).

The absence of filtering means Spyrix might not be the best choice for younger kids' computers, but it may be useful for older children if you suspect online bullying or other unpleasantness.

• Download Spyrix Free Keylogger

The problem with many parental control apps is that they're most effective for older children: while filtering adult content and other unpleasantness is obviously a good thing, there's plenty of stuff that isn't adult that can still scare younger children silly.

Zoodles (nothing to do with zucchini noodles) addresses that by combining filtered browsing and a dedicated web browser to create a walled garden: everything in it is safe for kids and there's no risk of anything awful popping up.

In addition to Windows, Zoodles is also available for Mac, Android and iOS, and a brand new version is currently in development.

Download here: Zoodles

• Download Zoodles

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Get Apowersoft Video Converter Studio free – exclusively for TechRadar readers

Apowersoft Video Converter Studio is a powerful tool that makes it easy to convert videos into a wide range of different formats, with a built-in editor to trim, apply filters, create watermarks and even add captions.

That's not all, though – Video Converter Studio also includes a brilliant downloader for grabbing clips from YouTube and other popular video hosting sites (with permission, of course). You can download videos in batches, then send them straight to the conversion tool with a single click.

There's also a highly customizable screen recorder that can capture your whole desktop or a specific area, and a slideshow maker to transform your photos into stunning presentations.

As a TechRadar reader, you can get all this free for a whole year. The offer ends on November 1, so download Apowersoft Video Converter Studio and activate your subscription today.

How to activate your free VIP subscription

To get your free subscription, download and install Apowersoft Video Converter Studio, then launch the program. Select an aspect ratio to start a new project and you’ll be prompted to log in. Select ‘Log in & sign up’, and either create a new account using your email address or log in using a social media account.

Once you've logged in, click the account icon (shaped like a person) in the upper right of the window, click your account name and click ‘Activate’. Enter the activation code 41A85-864D3-MCBIE-DC72F, then click ‘Confirm’.

That's it – enjoy your free VIP subscription.

Download Apowersoft Video Converter Studio

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The best free email client 2017

With webmail services like Gmail and Outlook offering easy email access and mobile apps for all your devices, does the humble free email client still warrant a place on you desktop?

If you use more than one email account - as most of us do - we say yes. This is particularly true if those accounts are with different providers, which would otherwise require you to have several browser tabs open at once. As well as aggregating all your messages in one convenient place, a good email client can add features like encryption and integration with calendars, RSS feeds and VoIP apps.

Desktop clients can also store your mail locally, giving you access to archived messages when you're offline and providing a valuable backup.

eM Client has been kicking around for nearly 10 years now, and its long development has enabled it to develop into the best email client for Windows.

The free version is limited to non-commercial use and two email accounts, but otherwise it's identical to the paid-for edition.

eM Client includes support for Gmail, Exchange, iCloud and Outlook.com, touch controls, fast searching and integrated calendaring and contacts. There's an integrated chat app too, with support for common standards such as Jabber and Google Chat, and it's a good alternative to heavyweight apps like Outlook.

• eM Client review
• Download eM Client

Mailbird Lite isn't just an email app – it's a whole communication platform to which you can add apps for scheduling, chatting, file syncing and teamworking.

Free users miss out on features such as speed reading, email snoozing and quick previews of attachments, but Mailbird Lite is still an excellent choice. The Lite version only lets you connect one email account but, it's optimized for speed, and looks great to boot.

Setup is simple; enter your email details and Mailbird Lite will find the necessary POP or IMAP settings automatically, then get to work importing your messages. It offers to connect with your Facebook account, so it can liven up your inbox with your contacts' profile photos, and can also link with Whatsapp, Google Calendar, free task manager Moo.do, and teamworking app Asana.

• Mailbird Lite review
• Download Mailbird Lite

Claws Mail isn't hard to use, but is best suited to more experienced users who need custom mail filtering and support for an unlimited number of email accounts.

Unlike the other free email clients here, Claws requires users to set up their POP3/IMAP settings manually. If you use Gmail, you may also need to adjust your Google account settings and grant access for potentially less safe applications - something you might well prefer to avoid.

Unusually for a modern email client there's no option to send HTML messages – Claws is plaintext-only - but by omitting potentially unnecessary features, Claws can run at lightning speeds. Its search function is particularly good, and it's expandable via plugins too.

It isn't the prettiest email app, but Claws is a great free choice if you value substance over style. It's also updated regularly, so bugs are stamped out quickly.

• Claws Mail review
• Download Claws Mail

The developers of Opera have always considered email to be a key feature of any good browser, and have poured a great deal of effort into developing free email client Opera Mail – now detached from the browser and available as a standalone program.

Opera Mail's features include message templates - particularly handy for business use – message filtering and sorting, message sorting by type and a wide range of customization options.

The client also imports RSS feeds, making it a good alternative to web apps like Feedly and the much-missed Google Reader.

• Opera Mail review
• Download Opera Mail

Like Firefox, free email client Mozilla Thunderbird was created by the Mozilla Foundation (though development of the two has since been uncoupled). Like the web browser, its features can be extended and enhanced with a huge range of third-party add-ons.

Some of its excellent built-in features include the ability to link files that are too big to email and the ability to read RSS news feeds alongside your email.

Setup is straightforward; as with most modern email clients, all you need are your usernames and passwords, and Thunderbird takes care of the rest.

• Mozilla Thunderbird review
• Download Mozilla Thunderbird

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The best free video converter 2017

There are many reasons why you might want a free video converter. You might want to play a particular video on a device that has limited storage and there need to reduce the size of the file. You might want to keep your entire video collection in the same format, but have a few rogue entries messing up your system. Or you might want to change a video recorded in a strange format on your phone into something that is more easily shared with others.

Converting video is nowhere near as complex a task as video editing, but many people will be put off doing it because of the mistaken belief that a complicated and expensive video editor is needed. In reality, you can do it for free; here is the best software you can use.

When it comes to the number of supported file formats, Any Video Converter Free certainly doesn't disappoint. It handles online as well as offline files, meaning that if you like the look of some videos on YouTube, you can quickly and easily convert them into a format suitable for offline viewing on your mobile without worrying about your data allowance. Incidentally, the same warning about unwanted software installations also applies.

More than just YouTube, you can also download and convert videos from Facebook, Vimeo, Metacafe and more, and Any Video Converter Free also features the option to rip audio from CDS and DVDs.

You'll find support for all of the video formats you can shake a stick at, including ready made profiles for different devices, and editing options such as trimming, cropping and rotating allow for basic cleanup tasks. If you want to get creative, you can experiment with video effects to achieve a unique look as well.

• Any Video Converter Free review
• Download Any Video Converter Free

Free HD Video Converter Factory prides itself on being so easy to use that its website features a 10-second guide to getting started. This might seem like an exaggeration, but it's actually true. You can drag and drop a video onto the program interface, or use the selection menu, select the format or destination device and hit the Run button. That really is all there is to it.

You'll be pleased to know that the software's convenience doesn't come at the expense of features. While you can start the conversion process in a matter of seconds, you may wish to spend a little more time customizing the output.

Cutting, cropping and impressive special effects are all on hand to give your videos the look you want, and the way destination formats are presented is highly intuitive.

Beginners can select a profile tailored to a specific playback device, while more advanced users can make a manual selection and customize things further.

• Free HD Video Converter Factory review
• Download Free HD Video Converter Factory

HandBrake is a free video converter that's well known to Mac users, but less famous in the world of Windows. It is worth noting that this is still something of an experimental program and it hasn't even reached version 1.0 in its Windows incarnation, but that doesn't mean it should be overlooked.

Available for Mac, Windows and Linux, Handbrake is a great choice for anyone who works on multiple platforms, but is also great for anyone who is dedicated to Windows. 

A slight word of warning: the other programs featured in this roundup have very approachable interfaces, but the same cannot really be said of HandBrake. The program is powerful, but utilitarian.

There are a lot of features that allow for precise control of video conversion, including cropping, advanced filtering and frame rate adjustment, as well as presets for those who just want quick results. Handbrake may take a while to get used to, but the output is worth it.

Earlier this year the Mac version of HandBrake was compromised with malware, but the software is now secure and safe to download.

• Download HandBrake

As we've seen, there are lots of great free video converters available to download, but MediaCoder stands out from the crowd thanks to its sheer speed and the number of audio and video formats it supports. No matter how old and obscure the format of that video you have lurking on an ancient hard drive, MediaCoder should be able to bring it bang up to date in next to no time.

The language used by the program ('transcoding' rather than 'converting', for instance) might be a little off-putting at first, but it's worth persevering. 

Like HandBrake, MediaCoder's interface is slightly intimidating, but the payoff includes a load of extra features such as video joining, sound syncing, aspect ratio adjustment, and much more.

It would be easy to become overwhelmed by what's on offer here, but MediaCoder should be approached as a learning experience. Start off using the wizards to guide you, but as your confidence grows, you can make use of more of the tools on offer to take greater control of each process.

Be aware that MediaCoder's website is tricky to navigate. It's easy to accidentally click the wrong link because so many ads on the page feature 'Download now!' buttons. Make sure you double-check links before clicking.

• Download MediaCoder

DVDVideoSoft is known for its superb free media software that performs exactly as advertised, and Free Video Converter is no exception. Its interface is clean and uncluttered, and it can convert batches of videos with ease.

Free Video Converter has a small set of output options (MP4, AVI, MPEG and MP3 are available, plus an option optimized for iOS devices), but that might be plenty if you're not used to working with video files, and the likes of Handbrake or MediaCoder look excessively complicated.

There's a choice of quality settings, and you can merge several clips into a single file while they're converted.

It's a shame that videos converted with Free Video Converter are watermarked. The mark isn't terribly intrusive, but it prevents this otherwise excellent software ranking higher in this list.

• Download Free Video Converter

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The best free YouTube to MP3 converter 2017

YouTube is home to thousands of videos (such as vlogs and music videos) that would make perfect audio files for offline listening. You could use a standard downloader to save the videos and then use a separate tool to extract the audio, but why go to such lengths when a free YouTube to MP3 converter can perform both tasks with a single click?

There are lots of websites that can strip the audio from YouTube videos and send you the audio file to download, but here we've chosen to focus mainly on desktop software. These programs have several advantages: they're faster than browser-based tools, they don't require you to submit your email address (and therefore leave yourself open to spam), and they often allows you to rip the audio from multiple videos at once.

Here, we've rounded up the very best tools for extracting audio from YouTube videos and downloading it as an MP3 – or any other audio format you prefer.

If you need a new Bluetooth speaker or a pair of headphones to get more from your music, keep an eye on our guide to the best Black Friday deals.

You should only download content when you have the copyright owner's permission. YouTube's terms of service explicitly prohibit unauthorized downloading.

You would be forgiven for judging Any Video Converter Free by its name and believing it to be a tool for converting from one video format to another. While this is part of what it can do, it can also be used to download videos from YouTube and save them as MP3s – exactly what we’re looking for!

As downloading as MP3s is not the sole purpose of the program, it is rather larger than you might expect, but this should not put you off (but take care not to install the optional adware during setup).

It seems almost overkill to use what is a powerful and versatile piece of software for just one task, but downloading MP3s is as simple as pasting in the URL of a YouTube video and waiting for the download to complete. You can then select MP3 as the output format, and hit the Convert Now button. It's a shame there's no one-click option, but it's hardly a major hardship.

• Any Video Converter Free review
• Download Any Video Converter Free

aTube Catcher is another superb tool for ripping the audio from YouTube videos and converting it to MP3 format. 

The first time you install the software you'll be presented with a Windows 8-style menu showing you all the options available. There's a video to MP3 converter icon on the left, but this only works with files already on your PC. To download and convert a video to MP3 format in one step, select the YouTube downloader and paste its URL into the box labelled 'URL del video'. 

Next, take your pick from the dozens of possible output profiles. There are three MP3 quality options, so you can choose the right balance of file size and fidelity.

Your video will then be downloaded to your chosen folder and encoded, ready to watch on your desktop or mobile device, or burn to disc.

• aTube Catcher review
• Download aTube Catcher

Free YouTube to MP3 Converter does exactly what you'd expect, and it's perfectly safe to judge it by its name. Unfortunately, like Any Video Converter Free, there is bundled adware from ByteFence to avoid, so be watchful during the installation and uncheck any additional bits and pieces you don't want.

Once installed, however, you're in for a treat. There's no need to fiddle about with options, you can just get on with downloading the music you're interested in immediately. Use a simple drop-down menu to choose the quality and format you would like to save your audio file, paste the URL, and click Download. Files are saved and converted in one fell swoop.

The beauty of Free YouTube to MP3 Converter is that there's no messing about, nothing superfluous, and nothing confusing. It has one purpose in mind, and it has been designed to do it as efficiently as possible. Definitely worth a try – we're sure you'll love it!

• Free YouTube to MP3 Converter review
• Download Free YouTube to MP3 Converter

It might not be the most stylish software around, but 4K Video Downloader is brilliant. Just copy the URL of a video from your web browser (it supports YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Flickr and DailyMotion) or the address of a whole YouTube playlist and click 'Paste URL'. Select 'Extract audio' and pick MP3, OGG or M4A, then click 'Extract' and the audio will be converted and saved to the destination of your choice.

The free version of 4K Video Downloader lets you download up to 24 videos in a playlists, which is particularly useful for grabbing several songs by a particular artist. You can download and convert longer playlists to MP3 format if you buy a license key, but the software's free features are very impressive.

• 4K Video Downloader review
• Download 4K Video Downloader

An utter delight of a program, ClipGrab keeps things nice and simple – aside from the bundling of the Opera browser, which is easy to skip if you'd rather avoid it.

The wonderfully simple interface gives you a pleasing hint of just how easy things are going to be, right from the word go. Copy a YouTube URL to the clipboard and ClipGrab will spring into action, offering to download the related video for you.

Even if this doesn’t happen – you might not yet have the program running, for instance – a quick paste into the relevant field is all it takes. You can then indicate that you are interested in downloading the audio as an MP3 before you click the 'Grab this clip!' button to do just that. The MP3 you seek will be yours in next to no time.

• ClipGrab review
• Download ClipGrab

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The best free registry cleaner 2017

The best free software for writers 2017

Writers tend to make a very big deal of their tools, whether those tools are delicate pens or ancient typewriters. Increasingly, though, they'll talk about their software. Even the most genteel literary event can soon devolve into a fist-fight between fans of Scrivener and Ulysses (both of which cost around £27, US$40, AU$50).

Microsoft Word is the default tool for many writers, but a subscription to Office 365 costs £59.99, US$69.99, AU$89 per year for one user – pretty steep if you only need the word processing element.

There's often a better option for those of us starving in garrets: free software. Come with us as we discover the best free apps to turn your writing talent into something tangible.

Available for Linux, Windows and macOS, FocusWriter is designed to eliminate distractions so you can actually get on with the job of writing. To that effect it enables you to hide other apps, customize the way your text appears on screen and keep track of your progress. If you're feeling particularly old-school you can even add typewriter sound effects.

FocusWriter isn't for everyone – it's not the right tool for going back through and editing your work – but it's a lovely little app with a very modest footprint that stops you keeping an eye on Twitter all day.

• FocusWriter review
• Download FocusWriter

We're big fans of Markdown, the text-editing language that enables you to format, annotate, classify and link as you type with the minimum of fuss, and the superb WriteMonkey makes good use of it.

This free program delivers an incredibly stripped-down user interface that's considerably more powerful than it looks. There's an excellent outliner, automatic syntax highlighting and file organisation, and although markdown takes a bit of getting used to, you'll be very glad you made the effort.

Once you've mastered WriteMonkey, you can use it to create blog posts, print publications and anything else that needs words in it.

• WriteMonkey review
• Download WriteMonkey

LibreOffice is a free, open source alternative to Microsoft Office, and that means its word processing app, Writer, has many of the power features of Word without the accompanying price tag.

One of its most useful features is the LibreOffice Template Center, where you'll find templates for all kinds of content.

If you're interested in more full office suites, see our guide to the best free office software.

• LibreOffice review
• Download LibreOffice

If your words' appearance is as important as their meaning, give Scribus a go: it's a free, highly-rated desktop publishing application for Linux, OS X and Windows that's suitable for producing entire magazines.

It's been kicking around – and regularly updated – since 2001, and while it's a little tricky to use at first, it offers professional-grade publishing with layered, multi-page documents and good colour management support. If you've ever used Adobe InDesign, you'll find the similarity striking. If you can use one, you'll pick up the other in seconds.

We wouldn't want to lay out a 400-page book in it (though that's quite possible), but for shorter works it's ideal.

• Scribus review
• Download Scribus

Here's another app for writers that isn't strictly for putting your words on the screen: Freemind is all about mind mapping, and it enables you to record all the leaps and bounds your imagination makes whether you're plotting a potboiler or trying to organize complex threads of an investigation.

Freemind isn't something we'd necessarily recommend for mind mapping beginners – it looks a bit like a desktop publishing app having some kind of breakdown – but if you're an experienced intellectual explorer it's a lot tidier than a wall full of index cards and sticky notes.

• Freemind review
• Download Freemind

• We’ve uncovered the best cheap laptops you can buy on a writer’s budget

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