Rev up this week's 20 exciting software downloads

There are a number of worthy highlights this week, including the long awaited Opera 12 release, iTunes support for iOS 6 devices and a relatively major update to Skype for Windows and Mac.

Skype 5.10 is a relatively major update for the Windows edition, in spite of the version number. Leaving aside the debate about adverts in Skype-to-Skype audio calls, the new version brings a single contact list for your Facebook and Skype contacts, the ability to pin your favorite contacts to the top of your contacts list, plus upside down-compatible video rendering, for older PCs that do not support hardware acceleration. Skype 5.8 for Mac as well received a major upgrade with support for better handling of Skype calls from mobile phones, improved screen sharing, as then as a refined contacts list.

Security-wise, Norton Power Eraser 3.0.0.21 received a big update this week. This powerful portable tool can be used alongside your existing security software to find, seek and removal problematic malware. AppRemover 2.2.26.1 is a very different tool that will remove stubborn security software, whilst Kaspersky Security Scan 2.0 is a simple tool that will find and notify of potential security issues. Bitdefender Parental Control Beta is new software you can use, as a parent to restrict your children's access to the internet, plus monitor their behaviour. Note there's a separate Bitdefender Parentral Control Beta.

VMware Player 4.0.4 is free software you can use to host a virtual operation system. Ideal if you want to test the latest Linux distribution or Windows 8 Release Preview. You can't create a virtual host in Player, nevertheless you can within VMware Workstation 4.0.4, as well updated this week. If you're a Mac user, VMware Fusion 4.1.3 was updated and made available this week.

Apple announced the developer preview of their iOS 6 mobile operating system this week and an updated iTunes 10.6.3 and separate iTunes 10.6.3 to allow users to manage their iOS 6 devices. Free Studio 5.6.1 is a powerful 47-in-1 multimedia suite, with a host of conversion tools, whilst other DVDVideoSoft titles were updated, including Free Disc Burner 3.0.11, Free WebM Video Converter 5.0.13, Free AVI Video Converter 5.0.13 and Free Audio Converter 5.0.13.