Top Black Friday and Cyber Monday software deals

Is it me or are the stores opening up for Black Friday shopping a lot earlier than ever before? I heard that one of the stores opened its doors at 5pm on Thanksgiving day with its "sweet door buster" deals, but is that really worth it? What are the extreme bargain hunters to do? Pick "deals" over friends and family on Thanksgiving?

Thankfully, I have rounded up some of the best deals out there as well as some exclusive deals just for Download.com users, so you don't have to choose deals over quality time with your loved ones. Some of these offers are good for Black Friday only while some of the other offers will last through Cyber Monday. Hope you find some nice stocking stuffers or that software you've been waiting to get at a special price. As always, these offers are subject to expire at any time by the merchant without notification.

• Nero 2014 Platinum: Nero 2014 Platinum is a unique suite of multimedia applications for all your media tasks be it photo, video or music. With its greatly enhanced focus on today's home media and devices as well as optimized interactivity of applications within the Suite, it is one of the best products for connecting all of your media to watch at home or on the go. Exclusively available on Download.com this Black Friday weekend only, save up to 73% off on Nero 2014 Platinum. This is the best offer out there and you might regret it if you don't grab this one today. Read more about the offer here.

• Avira: Exclusively available on Download.com only, save 50% on Avira Antivirus Suite this Black Friday. Avira Antivirus is one of the winners of the Download Pick award and comes highly recommended by the editors. Originally $44.99, it's yours today for $22.49. Read more about this exclusive offer here.

• LiteCam HD: Record your screen while playing your video games with LiteCam HD! Not only that, but you can record any streaming or non- streaming videos, movies, seminars, games, or music on your PC in Full HD, up to 100FPS. Exclusively available on Download.com only for this Black Friday weekend, save 65%. Originally $35, you can have your copy here for $9.99. Read more about LiteCam's offer here.

• TuneUp Media: Clean and organize your digital music library the easy and intelligent way. At launch, TuneUp scans your entire music library to determine which songs contain missing metadata, such as track, artist and album name, genre, year, and more. You simply review results, approve them and TuneUp automatically saves the correct information right to iTunes or Windows Media Player for you. Exclusively available on Download.com, save 50% and get it for just $24.98 (orig. $49.99) this Black Friday.

• FileStream pcPhotos: Save 90% and get this software for just $4.99 (orig.$49.95), exclusively on Download.com. With pcPhotos, you can process and resize your entire album easily with its 1-2-3 wizard. Easily organize and edit your photos to enjoy on your PC or on the go. The iPad photo app slideshow functionality allows you to drag and drop your photos to arrange them in the sequence you want, so your photos will never be out of order on your iPad again.

• HotSpot Shield Elite: Hotspot Shield is a popular Virtual Private Network (VPN) that secures your browsing session, detects and blocks malicious websites, makes you private and anonymous online, and allows you to access any blocked content. Exclusively on Download.com, save 50% today and get it for just $14.98 (orig.$29.99).

• Get It Free: Shop at your favorite stores and get a software for free with the purchase, including WinRAR, AVG Anti-Virus 2013, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, Avira Antivirus Premium 2013, Advanced SystemCare Pro, Ad-Aware Pro, Glary Utilities Pro, and Stuffit Deluxe for Windows.

• DVDFab Media Player: DVDFab Media Player is a Windows based media player software that not only plays Blu-ray & DVD discs, but also plays Blu-ray & DVD folders, ISO image files and other video files in different formats. Save 30% this Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals weekend.

• Ashampoo: Save 80% on WinOptimizer 10 or save 50% on all of Ashampoo's software products, including some of their most popular products like Burning Studio, Movie Studio Pro, and Photo Commander.

• DriverMax: Rated 5 stars by the editors, download and update all your Windows drivers, back them up and improve your PC's performance. Save 50% today - now just $9.95 (orig.$19.90)

• ManiacTools: Movienizer is a movie organizer that creates an illustrated catalog of movies and actors, including covers, photos, descriptions, filmographies, and more. The user can easily sort and search movies, export and print reports, play movies directly from the program (if they are available as video files). Save 50% on Movienizer - now $19.97 (orig. $39.95)

• DJ Music Mixer: Rock the party with this DJ software that is easy to use for professionals and novice DJs alike. Automated beat matching, real time effects, sampler, smart looping, pitch shifting, video mixing, plus many more great features are all at your finger tips. Save 30% on DJ Music Maker - now only $20.97 (orig. $29.95)

• Iolo: Save 50% on System Mechanic 12 Professional. Get yours today for only $34.98 (normally $69.95).

• Nuance: Get OmniPage for $79.99 (orig.$149.99), PaperPort for $79.99 (orig.$199.99), and PDF Converter Pro for $69.99 (orig.$99.99)

• Roxio: Save on Roxio Creator NXT 2, Easy VHS to DVD 3, Game Capture HD PRO, Easy LP to MP3, Toast 11 Pro, Toast 11 Titanium, Easy VHS to DVD for Mac, Toast Blu-ray Plug-in, and more.

• VMware: Need to run Windows software on Mac? VMware Fusion 6 is optimized for the latest Macs and ready for OS X Mavericks and Windows 8.1 to deliver the ultimate Windows on Mac experience. VMware Fusion 6 is recommended for home users who are looking for the easiest, fastest and most reliable way to run Windows programs on a Mac. Save 35% on VMware Fusion 6.

As I noted earlier, these Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals can change at anytime without notice, so make sure you grab the deal while they are still available. Happy shopping!