The Adobe Flash Player is software for viewing animations and movies using computer programs such as a web browser. Flash Player is a widely distributed proprietary multimedia and application player created by Macromedia and now developed and distributed by Adobe Systems after its acquisition. Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, by Adobe Flex or by a number of other Macromedia and third party tools.

Adobe Flash, or simply Flash, refers to both a multimedia authoring program and the Adobe Flash Player, written and distributed by Adobe, that uses vector and raster graphics, a native scripting language called ActionScript and bidirectional streaming of video and audio. Strictly speaking, Adobe Flash is the authoring environment and Flash Player is the virtual machine used to run the Flash files, but in colloquial language these have become mixed: “Flash” can mean either the authoring environment, the player, or the application files.

Flash Player has support for an embedded scripting language called ActionScript (AS), which is based on ECMAScript. Since its inception, ActionScript has matured from a script syntax without variables to one that supports object-oriented code, and may now be compared in capability to JavaScript (another ECMAScript-based scripting language).

The Flash Player was originally designed to display 2-dimensional vector animation, but has since become suitable for creating rich Internet applications and streaming video and audio. It uses vector graphics to minimize file size and create files that save bandwidth and loading time. Flash is a common format for games, animations, and GUIs embedded into web pages.

The Flash Player is available as a plugin for recent versions of web browsers (such as Mozilla Firefox, SeaMonkey, Opera, and Safari) on selected platforms. The plugin is not required for Google Chrome anymore since Google integrated Flash support into the Chrome browser. Adobe states that each version of the plugin is backwards-compatible, with the exception of security changes introduced in Version 10.

Size : 5.7 MB

Opera Software ASA (OSE: OPERA) is a Norwegian software company, primarily known for its Opera family of web browsers. Opera Software is also involved in promoting Web standards through participation in the W3C. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway and is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange. The company also has offices in Sweden, Poland, the People’s Republic of China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Czech Republic and the United States. Opera’s stated vision is “to deliver the best Internet experience on any device.

Size : 7.2 MB

When it originally debuted, Panda Cloud Antivirus was notable as a free security solution for two reasons: Panda traded on its reputation as a solid security suite vendor making its first foray into the realm of freeware, and the program attained its goal of freeing up system resources by putting much of the program’s heavy lifting in the cloud. Now we can add a third reason to the list: it’s now known as an effective alternative to the security powerhouses.

When you open Cloud Antivirus, the main window lets you know whether you’re safe or not with a big red or green icon. Cloud Antivirus works as other antivirus solutions do, offering a Quick Scan and a Custom scan for specific folder, files, and drives, but its ancillary features are exceptionally light. You can opt out of contributing anonymous data to the cloud, but that also opts you out of automatic threat management. There’s a network connection proxy option should you need it, and a reporting feature that will show you what kind of threats have been detected and removed from your computer. You can filter the report by All, Last 24 hours, Last Week, or Last Month, and there’s a Recycle Bin pane from which you can recover a false positive, should you need it. The modest level of tweaks and customizations have been hidden behind an obnoxious “flipping” screen that cheesily rotates when you need to access it, but they do provide choices in a clean UI that weren’t available before.

Size : 302 KB

Mozilla Firefox 4 is an upcoming version of the Mozilla Firefox web browser. The first beta was made available on July 6, 2010, and the final release is tentatively scheduled for November 2010.

The primary goals for this version include major improvements in performance, standards support, and the user interface; with a focus on “putting users in full control of their browser”. (this is Beta version)

Size : 10.8 MB