Our chief editor

Axel Gerken is chief editor for DownloadMix.com, DownloadMix.de, Download-Apps.de und GamesMix.de.

Since years he is in touch with the latest developements in software, freeware & games and has a major overview on all programs at DownloadMix and its partner sites.

Our Reviews

XnRetro (32bit)

Freeware (0,00 €) | 22 MB | Version 1.26

A journey in time for your photos

Vintage and retro effects send your photos on a journey in time. Vintage effects are added to present day images and give them the look of the good old days. A vintage look for present day photos is very popular at the moment and does not necessarily have to be done with professional applications. Now also free programs can add frames and artificially yellow photos or let clean graphics age a couple of decades. Therefore, I had a closer look at the current version of XnRetro. The program was developed by the well-known programmer Pierre Gougelet who also developed the image viewer XnView that was one of the first free programs allowing users to view photos on their computer. Read my review on XnRetro here.

Right after its download XnRetro comes up with something special. It does not have to be installed. You just unzip the file that was downloaded and start the application from the newly created folder. This enables you to copy the application to a USB portable drive and then take it anywhere you want.

XnRetro was designed very simple. After opening the selected photo file there are four main effects available at the bottom of the program window. All four effects can be easily selected with the tabs. If one of the effects such as the retro effect is selected, there are 20 preset aging options available. A special feature of this program is the miniature view that instantly shows the image with 20 different aging effects. With a click on one of the miniature views the image with the selected effect is being enlarged. This allows you to easily browse and try all options.

The light effect additionally adds different lighting effects to a photo. This allows you to set additional accents in your photos. As a matter of fact, all four main effects can be combined with each other perfectly. Vignetting is the third effect that XnRetro provides for free. With this effect you create a shade along the border and edges. Different varieties of shading can be applied. This kind of shading adds to setting a focus in the center of an image. I think that is very beautiful effect.

The fourth and last main effect is a frame feature. It allows you to add a virtual frame to your photos. XnRetro provides 30 different frames and borders. I have to admit that it is a lot of fun to add different effects to photos and therefore let them age artificially. Very often this adds new charm to pictures and gives them a fascinating look. If you do not like preset effects, you will also find more setting to customize options.

Main features of XnRetro:
* 20 color effects
* 15 light effects, e.g. bokeh, leak
* 28 frames and borders
* Adjustment of contrast, gamma and saturation
* Vignetting
* Noise
* Share or email photos

Summary:
XnRetro is a great application to add numerous aging effects to your photos. The new charm of the photos is really astonishing and many beautiful scenes become amazing pictures. The program is totally free and easy to use. XnRetro receives a “highly recommendable“ from me and is now available for you as a free download on Downloadmix. Axel Gerken
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Inpaint

Shareware (19,99 $) | 3.6 MB | Version 5.2

Easily remove unwanted objects from photos.
It often happens that when taking a picture there suddenly and unexpectedly are unwanted objects or persons on the photo. You found a great scene, the lighting conditions are perfect and just when you are pressing the shutter button, an unknown person appears in the middle of the scene. Very often only when doing the post processing, you realize that there is an ugly lamp post in the middle of a beautiful scene. However, there is a great way to edit this kind of photo afterwards and remove unwanted objects. The software program Inpaint has been well-known for years and is specialized in removing unwanted elements from photo easily. I had a closer look at the current version Inpaint 5.2 here.

When I was testing Inpaint, I selected a random picture from my collection that has grown to an impressive size up to now. The photo showed an unwanted part of a fence post. Inpaint opens the photo very quickly. All in all, the program offers four different tools for the selection of objects to be removed. One of them is a marker. This tool works like a virtual pen that allows you to just paint over unwanted parts of a photo. The line width can be customized individually. Then with a click on “Inpaint“ the area that was painted over looks like there has never been a fence post before. That is quite amazing. Another selection tool is the “magic wand”. With a click on an object to be deleted this function automatically selects the colors that are similar to the object that I selected on the photo.

Therefore the entire area with a similar color is being selected. This area can be removed in the same way as described above. Additionally a lasso function and a polygon are available to border the object to be deleted. All selection tools work on the principle that the object is always selected or rather marked in order to almost magically remove the selected area, as if it has never been there. Furthermore, Inpaint provides the option to enlarge the photo or rather the areas you want to remove. Thus there is no need to be close to the screen to precisely select the object. As quickly as you can zoom into a photo you can return to its original size. If a selection is not quite correct, you can of course undo the selection.

Inpaint - main functions / features
* Freehand selection (Lasso) for object selection
* Polygon for object selection
* Removes the selection of already marked areas. With InPaint 5 individual selections can be removed from objects
* The amazing reconstruction algorithm can reconstruct the background of deleted objects even more true to the original now
* Very precise cutting of objects to be removed
* Clearly structured user interface Summary: Although Inpaint can only remove unwanted objects from photos, it provides great quality and offers wonderful tools.

I have to admit that I was rarely so amazed by a program that has only one function that is to remove objects. The Handling of the program could not be easier. Now everyone can remove a fence post from a photo in no time. Inpaint receives a “Highly recommendable” from me and is a free trial is now available on Downloadmix. Axel Gerken
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Ashampoo Photo Commander 11

Shareware (49,99 $) | 158,3 MB | Version 11.0.2

Just everything for your pictures

The ever-increasing number of pictures as well as videos and the growing volume of data on your computer that needs to be saved according to different criteria make an optimum overview of your data more important than ever. The new Ashampoo Photo Commander 11 combines a perfect management with many useful tools for image editing. The all-in-one software solution has always guaranteed comfortable managing and optimization of complete picture and video collections. I had a look at what is new in this version. Read my review on Ashampoo Photo Commander 11 here.

As expected, the new Ashampoo Photo Commander 11 appears in a very elegant design. In the left area folders can be enabled with a check mark to add the photos in them to the management or image editing. After the import the pictures will be shown with a preview image sorted by date in the area on the right. The preset sorting by date and other features can be easily changed. In the middle you can find the new image viewer. Here you can apply changes and settings to a digital photo. All areas can be conveniently dragged with the mouse so that imported areas, e.g. the image viewer, get more space. A selected photo is instantly shown to the new image viewer. By scrolling with the mouse the photo is shown enlarged or made smaller. If the size of the image exceeds the frame of the viewer, a smaller image area will be displayed that shows the current detail in a dotted frame. This can be directly moved to a different position with your mouse. The large photo in the viewer then changes it detail accordingly. That is not only very convenient, but also a lot better than in many free software solutions.

You can display or hide additional image information such as EXIF (e.g. camera data) at the bottom edge. Furthermore, you can also add additional keywords to your photos to better organize them. This way you can search for those keywords in the photo management.

A double-click on the image viewer opens the image editing, another core feature of Ashampoo Photo Commander 11. One of the new features is the Tilt-shift effect. This new effect turns objects on photos into miniatures in a surreal landscape. Functions allow this effect to be precisely customized. With diagonal lines alongside image objects you can define which detail will appear focused and what will appear blurred. I think that is a very interesting effect.

If you are unsure about applying several changes on your photo, I can assure you that there is no need to worry. The new backup automatism creates a backup before saving each time so that you can restore the original photo any time. Furthermore, this version offers you four different modes to remove unwanted (text) objects and scratches on photos. This could for example be an unwanted date or time information on a photo.

More new features of Ashampoo Photo Commander 11:
* Newly integrated backup function to undo changes
* New and powerful image viewer with new optimizing technology
* Apply image effects with pixel precision
* New Tilt-shift tool to create amazing miniature scenes
* Remove unwanted objects or scratches
* Editing 3D images
* Load, save and process Adobe XMP meta information

Summary:
The new Ashampoo Photo Commander 11 offers everything that you will need for your pictures. The excellent photo management gives you the necessary overview and the feature-rich image editing provides many options to improve your pictures, apply effects or create an interesting slideshow. The new Ashampoo Photo Commander receives a “highly recommendable“ from me and a free trial is now available on Downloadmix for you. Axel Gerken
Show complete review | More info on this program | Software download | Purchase with 20% discount

PASSWORDfighter

Shareware (14,95 €) | 3 MB | Version 1.1.16

A universal password manager

Over the course of time many passwords, license keys and other sensitive information, which have to be kept save, accumulate. Furthermore, I like shopping online, but for safety reasons I use a different password in every shop. Recently Europe’s leading anti-spam software company, SPAMfighter, released PASSWORDfighter - a program to safely store passwords. I had a closer look at their program. Please read my review on the current version of PASSWORDfighter here.

Right after the installation I was asked to enter a universal password. From now on there is only one single password that I will have to remember, because when I enter the universal password, I have access to all passwords that I created. The PASSWORDfighter starts up and shows an overview with different kinds of information such as passwords for online user accounts, app accounts for programs, bookmarks for websites, business cards to automatically fill in online forms and create notes. At first, I was interested in the option to create web user accounts where I cannot only manage the passwords for online portals like Amazon and eBay, but also links for automatic login. Now I can directly out of you PASSWORDfighter login securely to a website with just one click. For this to work perfectly, it is necessary to also install plug-in programs for the Internet browsers that you are using. You can easily create new web accounts with PASSWORDfighter, by registering and then logging in to a website as usual. The PASSWORDfighter then directly asks me to save the login data in the database. Then the new access data will be available in the password manager at the next login to that website.

The password for applications that are installed on the computer can be managed in the app accounts. At the same time PASSWORDfighter is so smart that it provides a list of programs that were already installed on the computer. I find that very convenient.

Furthermore, if you are unsure about choosing a password, you can create a very secure password with the integrated password generator. You do not have to remember that password yourself, but you can very conveniently manage it with this program.

If you also want to access your passwords on the go, you can easily and without any problems save them on a USB flash drive. It is very convenient that with the export of your passwords also a portable version of the PASSWORDfighter is installed on the USB flash drive. Thus all passwords are also available on the go, but still only after entering the universal password.

Functions and advantages of the PASSWORDfighter:
* Automatic logins – Recognizes password protected websites and logs in automatically
* Fill in forms – Fill in online forms safely and accurately with just one click
* Strong passwords – Create and save passwords in an encrypted database
* Safe notes – Keep your credit card data and other sensitive information
* Manages passwords – Groups passwords for a better management
* Encrypts all information – Data is being kept in an AES encrypted database
* Portable – Take your passwords anywhere on a USB flash drive
* Import/export – Import your passwords from Internet browsers and export them to text files or spreadsheets

Summary:
In addition to password management, the new PASSWORDfighter provides the option to save complete login data including links. Thus securely logging in has never been easier. All your account data will by saved securely in a database. The program is convenient as well as easy to use and therefore receives a “highly recommendable” from me. The PASSWORdfigther can be tested for free in a 30-day period and is available in many languages. Axel Gerken
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DateiCommander

Vollversion (19,99 $) | 17.8 MB | Version 14.1

File manager being a tool all-rounder

The days when a file manager only specialized on managing files and folders are long gone. An up-to-date example of a modern file manager is the current version of DateiCommander 14 that is not only customized for Windows 8, but it also offers an extensive tool package and many new functions. I would like to present you the new multi-purpose software by the programmer Christian Lütgens. Read my review on DateiCommander 14 here.

The first impression very often remains. That is not only true for humans, but also for software. The DateiCommander welcomes me with a clearly structured interface that allows me to switch between a classic explorer style, a two-window-interface and a professional search by the means of three tabs. I like that a lot, especially because that is extremely convenient. The currently active window is slightly highlighted and therefore it is easier to navigate on the interface.

Among many handy tools the new DateiCommander also contains a new function to synchronize files and folders. I tested this function today. For the test a connected my external hard drive and selected the folders to be synchronized from the drives on the left. After the selection of a source and target folder, I started the synchronizing function in the toolbar at the top. The newly opened window conveniently copied the source and target folder and then provided extensive options to compare and select. As I tested the synchronization for the first time, I skipped the option to synchronize only new or changed files. In the settings menu I also ticked the box for subdirectories so that those would also be synchronized. With a final click on one-click-synchronization the DateiCommander starts the copying process, as expected. Assuming that you would also have to pay for a synchronization program alone, it is very convenient that this function is already integrated in the DateiCommander.

Another function that I would like to show you is the new ClipboardViewer. The tool saves selected images, texts and file lists on the clipboard. Those are saved and can be later on included in any Windows application or opened via a hotkey. With the ClipboardViewer you can even create and manage several clipboard list. This is a convenient way to use, for example, frequently needed text blocks or even images system wide.

I also like the new quick preview. With a mouse click the DateiCommander you can view a file. That makes it incredibly easy to take a quick look at texts or images, play audio and video files or open an archive.

DateiCommander – New features:
* Clipboard Viewer: Manages your clipboard
* Synchronizing Tool: This tool synchronizes files and folders
* Packer: The Packer supports the formats ZIP, RAR, CAB, ACE and 7-Zip
* Slideshow: Photos can be integrated in a slideshow out of the DateiCommander
* Quick preview: The DateiCommander provides a preview for different file formats at a click of the mouse
* Multi-Renamer tool: Rename multiple files in one go

Summary:
At the second glance I’m still in favour of the DateiCommander and the great first impression still remains. You get a real multi-purpose tool with extensive tools that is very far from a usual file manager. The handling is very easy and convenient and therefore the all-round talent receives an “absolutely recommendable” from me. The current version is available for download and can be tested free for up to 60 days. Enjoy your own trial of the DateiCommander. Axel Gerken.
Show complete review | More info on this program | Software download