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This electronic newsletter is registered – ISSN 1441-6840
Welcome to the CFS Weekly Newsletter.
The programs listed here are completely free for non-commercial use, even though some may be shareware or commercial products. None are time-limited and all are fully functional. If you know any that aren't exactly as specified, please let us know and they will be removed immediately.
If the link below does not work (does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid. Please use the CFS Site Search facility (above) to locate the program.
COMPLETELY FREE SOFTWARE
South Park Space Invaders v1.2 -- Win9x
South Park Space Invaders is yet another remake of the old "Space Invaders" classic, this time using the characters from South Park, the cult TV cartoon series (includes some typical language from the series which might not be suitable for younger children). It features good graphics, animation and sound effects plus, like the original, progressively harder levels as the game gets faster and faster. The author describes it like this: "South Park Space Invader featuring Kyle and other pals from South Park has a mission to save the planet while kicking a lot of alien butt! Think this game is a piece of cake? Think again, download now to see if you have what it takes to defend earth." Space Invaders has been one of the most popular games for the past 20 years and it would not be so popular (or so copied) if it didn't have an addictive element to it. South Park Space Invaders continues the tradition of the original and is highly addictive. The modern animation and graphics (not state-of-the-art but good) add an element to the gameplay not found with the original. Of course, you are a fan of the South Park series you will get it anyway but even non-fans will enjoy this one. Access this 1.21MB download from: Win9x General Games
CFS CDInfo v1.0 -- Win9x
CFS CDInfo is a utility to view all selected files on a CD, hard drive or folder. It features a variable file mask to determine which file types are to be scanned, it supports all ASCII text formats (TXT, HTML, DIZ, NFO, etc) plus GIF, JPG, PNG & BMP image files, and displays HTML files like a Web browser. The interface is quite straight forward -- simply select the filetype(s) you want, and the area where you want them scanned (drive or folder), and click on "Scan". This all-purpose viewer is only available through CFS having been created specially for this site by Igor Tabachuk, the author of GSet Explorer. CFS CDInfo is a handy utility which, while lacking a proper Helpfile, is extremely easy to use and very, very handy. Well worth grabbing. Access this 359kB download from: Win9x Desktop Utilities
Enigma Browser v2.5 -- Win9x
Enigma Browser is an Internet Explorer based Web browser. It features a 20-site search facility, you can allow or disallow pop-up windows, there are online and offline modes, it offers your current IP address, etc. This small program uses the basics of IE which is already part of the Win95 and Win98 operating systems to create an IE-like (or IE-based) browser. Enigma Browser really is an enigma. While quite fast compared to most other browsers, it does lack some features -- like an e-mail client -- which many people have come to be associated with Web browsers. The author also states that it is: "not affected by ActiveX Rendering Control issues (like the Internet Explorer)". This indicates to us that it will not process legitimate ActiveX controls on Websites. We found Enigma Browser to still be a little buggy in its operation. The 20-site search facility needs some bugs ironed out and the allow/disallow pop-up window feature brings up an error message if you are not allowing pop-up windows but a site has them. We also didn't like the lack of indication of a Web address -- both the site you are on or an indication of where a link will take you. The location window in the toolbar remains stuck on the author's Website unless you paste another address into that window. However, overall we were quite impressed with Enigma Browser and feel that it has a bright future as a cut-down -- and fast -- Web browser for people who don't want all the bells and whistles of the mainstream browsers. We are sure that the bugs will be ironed out quite quickly and we look forward to version 3.0 or version 4.0. Access this 281kB download from: Win9x Internet Related
BreakTime v1.01 -- Win9x
BreakTime places a bar across the top of the screen to remind you to take breaks while working on your computer. It features full control over the message, how often it appears & for how long, background color/image, etc. The concept behind this utility is simple, but never-the-less most important. It is easy to stay seated in front of the computer without taking sufficient breaks and this little desktray program gives you a visual -- and musical -- reminder that it's time to stretch those legs. The desktray icon even changes from a picture of someone sitting in front of a computer to one doing stretch exercises when the program is activated. Neat. The bar which slowly descends down over the top part of the screen (it hides the titlebar of the active program, the menu bar and the top part of the toolbar) can also include the time. The default text is "Time to stretch. Take a break!" but it could be set to read almost anything... The possibilities are endless! Overall BreakTime is a handy utility but it does take about 3% of your system resources so you will have to weigh up the benefits to see if it is a worthwhile addition to your desktop. We thought it great! Access this 693kB download from: Win9x Desktop Utilities
Duck Shot 2: Hunting Season v1 -- Win9x
Duck Shot 2 is a sequel to, but not a replacement for, the game "Duck Shot". The scenario is much the same: you have to blast the ducks as they swim past and you have 90 seconds to get as many ducks as you can. When you hit a duck it explodes with a satisfying bang, though the explosion graphics are not particularly spectacular. Still, you don't have time to watch the pyrotechnics, there's another duck hot on its heels (well, tail feathers!). It is disappointing that there are only three levels to this game ("Quack Attack", "Night Quack" & "The Last Quack") because you have soon played it out and have to start again at zero. The lack of high scores means that there is nothing to compare or nothing to brag about. The author has improved the graphics and animation from its prequel, "Duck Shot", but the addictive element has remained so this should be a better game. For some reason it isn't. Maybe the change of tactics from firing a slower moving missile to firing a faster, exploding shell has something to do with it because there is less of a challenge. If you want to wile away a pleasant few minutes with a game that you can keep on coming back to then Duck Shot 2 is for you. Access this 977kB download from: Win9x General Games
Cascading Menus v1.0 beta -- Win9x
This program adds cascading menus to the Windows Start menu. You can select up to 12 menus, including Control Panel, My Computer, Recycle Bin, Briefcase, DialUp Networking, Fonts, Inbox, Network Neighborhood, Printers, and URL History. These extra menus appear in the section above the "Programs" in the Start menu and give you quick access to any of the items you select. We suggest that you don't add all 12 but just select the ones which you can use. To us, Cascading Menus is a great idea which, at this stage, does not quite work. We found quite a few errors when we tried to add the extra menus and most ended up being blank (the menu heading was there but the contents didn't display). Maybe this was just a glitch with our computer but the author is careful to tell everyone to only load the program into the default directory on the C:\ drive or it might not work. We put it in the default directory... The setup interface is pure DOS -- you select from a menu to move to the next screen. Any inactivity for 30 seconds after a screen has been opened reverts you back to the previous screen, or to the Exit command. Once you've installed some menus you can uninstall them easily by selecting "B" from the first screen and then either select the individual menu to delete or press "M" to delete all the menus you've installed. After the bugs are ironed out this might be a handy little program to have around. Access this 197kB download from: Win9x Windows Enhancements
Justin's WallpaperKing v2 -- Win9x
WallpaperKing is a wallpaper changer and manager. It randomizes your selection of wallpaper, renames, refreshes, deletes, even counts the number of wallpaper files. It also allows you to change the wallpaper from the desktray icon, and supports BMP, GIF & JPG formats. WallpaperKing is an easy-to-use utility which lives happily in the desktray using minimum system resources (about 1%). It offers enormous control over the display of wallpaper on your computer and is one of the better wallpaper managers we have seen. Place all your wallpapers in one folder, aim WallpaperKing in that direction, and you can have a cycling, random or static wallpaper display. It will stretch an image to fit, tile it or just center it. Simple. If you enjoy colorful wallpapers on your desktop then this is a great way of managing them. Access this 210kB download from: Win9x Desktop Utilities
FreePlay v1.5 -- Win9x
FreePlay is a basic audio CD player. It features large digits and elapsed time/remaining time/total time for the current track. This program offers a large, somewhat garish display with a display counting in thousands of a second! Which begs the question of why. For what purpose does an audio CD player (remember, this is not an editor) offer such detail? The relatively large program window does not minimize to an icon in the desktray so continues to take up valuable real estate in the system tray with the main programs. Utility programs like this one should have better manners and get out of the way when they are running in the background. We were also disappointed that it used about 3% of system resources -- not as much as some players but still quite a lot for a background tool. FreePlay doesn't offer a lot of options or features but it does play audio CDs, and that is all it ever claims to do. Access this 778kB download from: Win9x Multimedia Programs
Speed Demon: JetSki v1.2 -- Win9x
The free version of this high-speed jetski racer features 3 difficulty levels, 6 tracks, keyboard or joystick, music, sound effects, good graphics, etc. The publisher says that you: "go over jumps, fall down waterfalls, go under bridges, and bounce off of other racers as you go for the gold cup and the high score". The presentation of this BeiberSoft game is extremely good but we found the jetski very hard to control with a joystick -- it was much easier with the keyboard. The lack of instructions (of any sort) meant that we had to play around with the game as we discovered how to do things and we felt that even a simple Readme would have been very helpful. Overall this is a very playable game with good graphics, animation and sound. With 6 tracks and 3 levels to play with, you shouldn't get tired of Speed Demon: JetSki for a while. Definitely worth a look! Access this 3.83MB download from: Win9x General Games
CleanUp! v2.0.0 -- Win9x
CleanUp! is a handy little utility which allows you to recover disk space and remove evidence from a hard drive of where you've been Net surfing, particular removing the cache, history and any cookies that Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and even Windows leaves behind. The author advises that it: empties the Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator caches; empties the IE and Netscape History file/folder (which lists places you've visited recently); empties the Internet Mail and News, Outlook Express and Netscape newsgroup caches; empties the Recent Documents folder (the one which appears under the Win9x Start menu); removes all files from the temporary directories; removes temporary files sometimes created when running ScanDisk; and cleans up various registry settings storing some of the above information. Phew! Whether of not you really wish to hide your surfing trail, CleanUp! is fabulous for simply reclaiming hard disk space. For example, we set it to simply remove the basics, but to leave cookies behind (they are helpful when you have to log in to sites) and found that it removed over 12,000 files and recovered over 110MB of disk space! The interface is easy to use and, if you leave it on default, or default less cookie removal as we did, you will quickly recover a lot of disk space and get rid of a lot of unwanted files. We don't advise that you remove any more than the default items unless you are passing your computer on to someone else and don't want your list of Favorites, etc left on the computer for anyone else to see. Overall we consider CleanUp! to be a "must have" and will be using it regularly on our test computer. Access this 752kB download from: Win9x Windows Enhancements
UPDATE
Xteq X-Setup -- a superb utility offering over 500 painless Windows' Registry tweaks -- has been updated to version 5.7 with a new download size of 2.75MB. The author advises of "just a few of the latest features: Office 97 and Office 2000 tweaks, IE 1.x through 5.x tweaks, video card tweaks for popular boards such the Riva TNT/TNT2/128/GeForce 256 series, Voodoo Banshee series, ATI Rage series and more, excellent security options/tweaks, major performance boost tweaks, extensive customization abilities, and much more. There are hundreds of tweaks for the Win9x/Millennium/NT/2000 operating systems. Highly recommended for power users, gamers, system admins, and anyone looking to maximize their performance and speed." This is a most amazing Registry "hacking" tool and an absolute "must have" for all serious Windows users. Get this update from: Win9x Windows Enhancements
Text Tally -- a utility to count the number of words and characters in any text -- has been updated to version 1.2 with a new, larger download size of 595kB. The author advises that he has added the ability to count lines as well as words & characters, and it now has an enlarged text window. Program is now advertiser supported through your Web browser. Get this update from: Win9x Text Programs
COMMENTS
We would like to thank the regular visitors to the CFS site who have told us their favorite freeware. If you have a favorite program which isn't listed on the CFS pages we invite you to share that information with everyone through this site and this newsletter. If you are an author of a freeware app (or would just like to suggest a program) and would like it listed on these pages, please fill in the Submit Software form.
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Win 9x/ME/XP
