LibreOffice has long since moved on from being an offshoot of the OpenOffice project. It's now the go-to alternative to Microsoft Office, enjoying regular development and a constant tweaking to keep it up to date, stable and secure.

While LibreOffice lacks the slick presentation of rival Windows freebie Kingsoft Office Suite Free and its Office-inspired ribbon interface, it has the major advantage of offering a full set of office applications, including database, drawing package and mathematical tool on top of the requisite word processor, spreadsheet and presentation tool found in most free office suites.

Version 5 makes much of its user-interface improvements, but while it’s definitely more navigable than before thanks to better placement of tools and visual previews of styles direct from the main toolbar, it still looks a little dated, despite the refreshed icon sets. Nevertheless, this is still a powerful suite capable of meeting most people's needs, making this zero-cost alternative to Office a valuable tool to have in your armoury.

Ever-improving support for third-party file types (including both new and classic Office formats) means you're not cutting yourself off from industry standards while cross-platform support means you can run LibreOffice on Windows, Mac or Linux without having to retrain yourself to a new way of working each time.

Version 5 introduces a dedicated 64-bit build for Windows, and promises full compatibility with Windows 10.

What else is new in LibreOffice 5.4 (see changelog for more info)?

- A new standard colour palette has been included, based on the RYB colour model.
- File format compatibility has been improved, with better support for EMF vector images. This helps when you're importing detailed diagrams from other office software.
- Imported PDF files are rendered with much better quality, also when inserted into a document, while exported PDF files - from Writer and Impress - support embedded videos (and linked videos if opened with Acrobat Reader).
- LibreOffice 5.4 supports OpenPGP keys for signing ODF documents on Linux.

LibreOffice has long since moved on from being an offshoot of the OpenOffice project. It's now the go-to alternative to Microsoft Office, enjoying regular development and a constant tweaking to keep it up to date, stable and secure.

While LibreOffice lacks the slick presentation of rival Windows freebie Kingsoft Office Suite Free and its Office-inspired ribbon interface, it has the major advantage of offering a full set of office applications, including database, drawing package and mathematical tool on top of the requisite word processor, spreadsheet and presentation tool found in most free office suites.

Version 5 makes much of its user-interface improvements, but while it’s definitely more navigable than before thanks to better placement of tools and visual previews of styles direct from the main toolbar, it still looks a little dated, despite the refreshed icon sets. Nevertheless, this is still a powerful suite capable of meeting most people's needs, making this zero-cost alternative to Office a valuable tool to have in your armoury.

Ever-improving support for third-party file types (including both new and classic Office formats) means you're not cutting yourself off from industry standards while cross-platform support means you can run LibreOffice on Windows, Mac or Linux without having to retrain yourself to a new way of working each time.

Version 5 introduces a dedicated 64-bit build for Windows, and promises full compatibility with Windows 10.

What else is new in LibreOffice 5.4 (see changelog for more info)?

- A new standard colour palette has been included, based on the RYB colour model.
- File format compatibility has been improved, with better support for EMF vector images. This helps when you're importing detailed diagrams from other office software.
- Imported PDF files are rendered with much better quality, also when inserted into a document, while exported PDF files - from Writer and Impress - support embedded videos (and linked videos if opened with Acrobat Reader).
- LibreOffice 5.4 supports OpenPGP keys for signing ODF documents on Linux.

Malwarebytes 3 is the next generation of the popular malware killer, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

The product is a combination of every Malwarebytes technology, including anti-malware, anti-exploit, anti-ransomware, web protection and more.

The interface is straightforward and familiar. A dashboard displays your current status, you can launch a scan with a click, and most of the time there's nothing else to do at all.

This doesn't mean you won't notice any changes. Despite all the extra technologies, for instance, Malwarebytes says system scans are now 3x to 4x faster.

Experienced users will also find an array of options, switches and settings to help tweak the program.

To take a single example, you don't just have an option to turn the anti-exploit on or off. You can also configure 6 separate six component technologies (DEP, anti-heapspraying, ASLR, more), eight memory protection methods, five application behaviour checks, five Java technologies, and individually define the types of apps where each of these will be used (browsers, Office, PDF readers, media players, more).

Please note, this version willl automatically update any existing Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, Anti-Exploit and Anti-Ransomware installations to a 14-day trial of Malwarebytes 3.0.

What's new in 3.1 (see changelog for more)?

- Multiple enhancements result in reduction of memory usage
- Faster load time and responsiveness of third-party applications
- Improved performance of Web Protection
- Faster Malwarebytes 3 program startup time and responsiveness of user interface
- New detection and protection layer with machine learning based anomaly detection (to be deployed gradually even if it shows "enabled" under Settings)
- Improved Self-Protection by requiring escalated privileges to disable protections or deactivate a license
- Enhanced malware protection techniques and remediation capabilities
- Added an automatic monthly scheduled scan in Free mode

Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is an unusually straightforward malware hunter which keeps all complexities to the absolute minimum.

The program doesn't require any configuration, for instance. There's no desktop gadget to manage, and you won't be hassled with security alerts. Instead, the program simply checks files as you access them, runs occasional system scans when your PC is idle, and cleans up any infections all on its own. You can also scan files and folders on demand by right-clicking them and choosing "Scan with Bitdefender", but that's about it.

Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition does have a basic interface available, if you need it - but we do mean "basic". Click its system tray icon and you'll find you can turn the real-time protection or automatic scanning system off, while other buttons display system logs or help you access your "My Bitdefender" account (if you have one). But, again, there's nothing complicated or difficult, and perhaps 30 seconds of browsing will show you everything there is to see.

We have one or two small concerns about the program. It protested about being installed alongside an "incompatible" product (Norton Internet Security), for example. Everything still seemed to work just fine, but we'd expect Bitdefender Antivirus Free to be installed as a second line of defence, not a primary antivirus tool, so it really needs to run happily alongside just about everything else around.

And, for some reason, we found the program's status was displayed as "Updating..." almost all the time. Maybe it was just taking its time, being careful to use minimal bandwidth, but this still became a little worrying after a while.

At its core, though, Bitdefender Antivirus Free looks very promising: the program provides a good basic level of protection, yet remains exceptionally easy to use.

TeamViewer 12 is the latest version of the popular remote access/control program.

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.

TeamViewer 12 is mostly about speed improvements.

Smarter image rendering means better image quality at any given bandwidth.

The package is now available as a Chrome OS app, or can be run in your browser, and there are new options for unattended access to Android devices, or connecting directly to the Linux console (no GUI required).

The TeamViewer toolbar and client interface have been redesigned, bringing a host of usability enhancements.

Business users will appreciate additions like automatic customer satisfaction surveys, an SOS button which customers can use to launch sessions with a click, and a host of new channel, group and device management options.

It's a very impressive upgrade, especially as the program remains entirely free for personal and non-commercial use. Business users, however, will need to purchase a licence.

What's in v12 (see full changelog for more)?

- Faster File Transfer. Transfer files up to 20 times faster, with transfer speeds up to (up to 200 MB/s).
- High Frame Rate Connections. Remote session framerates of up to 60 fps.
- Windows Phone Support. Remotely support Windows Phone from any computer – an industry first.
- Remote Sticky Note. Leave a message behind for a more personal customer relationship.
- Smoother Remote Sessions. Improved feedback times from touch, keyboard, and mouse.
- Code Base Re-write for Performance. Performance-optimized code for tech that keeps up with you.
- Intelligent Connections Setup. Automatic intelligent system adjustments, based on your network conditions.
- Service Case Notifications. Take swift action on pop-up and email notifications.
- Service Case Chat. Let your customers contact you via chat even before they receive support.
- Remote QuickSteps. One-click shortcuts for your most-used remote support actions.
- Remote Device Dashboard. New remote device dashboard.
- OneDrive for Business. Quickly access the files you need from your OneDrive for Business cloud storage.
- Simplified Client Interface. Lots of UI improvements.

The speed at which some programs update can be frightening. While some may alert you every time an update becomes available, quickly and (relatively) effortlessly installing the new version for you, others remain stubbornly outdated. Who knows what bug fixes, performance improvements and new features you might be missing out on?

You can, of course, stay up to date by regularly trawling this very site for your favourite software, but why put yourself through all that hassle when this app exists to make the task of updating your software that much easier?

The Downloadcrew UpdateScanner – as its name implies – will scan all of the software installed on your PC and compare it with our database. If there’s an updated version of your software on the site, you’ll be alerted to the fact.

You can either review updates manually, click “Download them now” to view them all in a single, convenient window or report unrecognised applications to us for further investigation. You can then update the ones that interest you and, hey presto, job done.

The app will then continue to monitor your system, alerting you to new updates as well as free software giveaways on the site, so you’ll never miss out on a full, free commercial app giveaway again.

You’ll need a free Downloadcrew account to use the service – click here to register.

Version 2 of the UpdateScanner features an "App Store" (name change forthcoming), alerting you to the latest and most popular downloads on the site, news and tips from sister site Softwarecrew and a selection of great savings to be made on software purchases.

Important: note that the UpdateScanner does not support betas and unreleased versions. If you install an alpha, beta or newer version than we have on Downloadcrew, then you'll receive a notification than the installed version is newer than the latest version! Also, if a developer gives their software an obscure version number (Paragon Software products are good examples), then these are also unsupported.

Build 2.1.1.0 is a minor maintenance release which includes these improvements/fixes:

- Now uses https with a secure connection to the update service
- Removed XP and Vista support