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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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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
Cult II: Federal Crime v1.0 – Win9x/ME
Cult II: Federal Crime is an RPG (role playing game) maze-game where diplomacy and negotiation are more important than firepower. In this game, undercover cop, Zack Bon, must infiltrate a party run by Jonathan "Nathan" West, believed to be plotting to overthrow the US government using an underground militia. This is a sensational RPG which encourages the concept that diplomacy and negotiation is better than brawn. In this game, Officer Zack must infiltrate the party using a forged invitation, and question guests, etc to learn the secret plans of Nathan West. While this might be "just" a standard RPG, in fact it is extremely well crafted and offers a degree of detail not found in most similar games. The role playing is intelligently thought out and the solutions believable (well, to a degree anyway). With a good strong storyline, well crafted puzzles and solutions, and good characters, Cult II: Federal Crime is one of the better RPGs around and is well worth grabbing. Access this 3.73MB download from: Win9x General Games
Title Bar Reader v0.2 – Win9x/ME
Title Bar Reader is a utility which subtlety displays scrolling text (from any one of 10 categories), or the time/date, in the title bar of the active window. It features easy editing of displayed text through any ASCII text editor (ie NotePad), adjustable scrolling speed, and more. The categories supplied are Jokes, Celebrity Quotes, Redundant Words, Proverbs, Poems, Song Lyrics, Witty Quips, Dumb Questions, and Insulting Words. Because the text is displayed in the title bar of the active window, it is not immediately obvious to someone who is not using your computer and you can enjoy the quips, etc without anyone necessarily knowing they are there. Many of the jokes, etc are a little borderline (specially the "blonde jokes") and you may wish to edit them before allowing any younger person to use the computer or if you are easily offended. The program is clearly designed to be run at Windows startup, and there's an option to do this within the program, but unfortunately it uses about 4% of valuable system resources and should therefore only be loaded if you know you have plenty of resources spare. While Title Bar Reader might appear just to be a fun utility and to have few redeeming qualities, in fact it can act as a valuable addition to your work by providing a mental break whenever you glance up at the title bar. Worth a look! Access this 430kB download from: Win9x Desktop Utilities
Zoom Player v2.80 – Win9x/ME
Zoom Player is a skinnable media player (can play any file supported by DirectShow, ie any file which plays in MediaPlayer like MP3 & WAV) and a DVD Front-End player (uses pre-installed DirectShow DVD filters to play DVD content). It features: auto-play media CDs on insert; 10 manual presets for use with video positioning; dual context menus (media & DVD); and much more. This is one of the most customizable and best presented media players we have seen. It offers an enormous range of control over almost every aspect of its display and it puts the power back into the hands of the user. It also uses a whopping 31% of valuable system resources which means that you cannot use it as a background player and you can have only a minimum number of programs open at the same time as Zoom Player (does not apply to XP users). The sound quality is suburb and the program allows you to include an excellent range of outside add-ins (filters, enhancements, etc). The DVD aspect of the program is of less value to the user because it is a front end and not a player. However, it does offer a frame editing function (not reviewed). Overall, Zoom Player is an excellent media player which suffers badly from using an excess of system resources. Even most major programs do not consume 31% of system resources! We liked the extensive customization offered, and the 7 skins supplied with the program. If you are not wanting a background media player then Zoom Player should be near the top of your list. Access this 607kB download from: Win9x Multimedia Programs
TrayPad v1.1 – Win9x/ME
TrayPad is an text editor application which can be 'hidden' in the desktray (next to the clock) and which is designed for use as a memo pad. It includes all major RTF editing functions (colored text, bold, italics, font size/style, etc), you can save your information as an RTF or TXT file, and more. This is a nice little memo pad program which can store your various notes. It can be minimized to the desktray so it is out of the way and then brought up when you want to make some notes. It offers all of the major functions of a program like NotePad (but without the filesize restriction) and also of a basic RTF editor (colored text, etc). Neat. Unfortunately, it uses about 5% is system resources so care should be taken when leaving it idling in the desktray while you open and close other programs. We would have preferred it to have used less than 2% of these unreplaceable resources to allow plenty for more major programs (Web browsers, etc). As long as your overall system resources are not too depleted, TrayPad makes a valuable addition to your desktop environment. Try it! Access this 3.16MB download from: Win9x Text Programs
Quiz Master v1.0 – Win9x/ME
Quiz Master is a stylish game which offers over 300 multi-choice questions in 6 categories (Astronomy, Biology, General, Geography, Information Technology, and Plants & Animals). It features an editor to build your own quiz database, you can add new databases from the Internet, etc. This a terrific game. Most questions are reasonably hard and they stretch your knowledge in the categories you try. Even though the questions might not be suitable, there is a provision to create just the right questions (and answers) to suit you. We envisage that educators will love Quiz Master because they can tailor questions (and categories) to suit their students. Databases can be shared with others through the author's Website. The only criticism that we had was that it got "lost" if another program was opened over it – there is no desktray icon and it isn't in the Alt-Tab list of open programs. Aaarrgghhh!!! That aside, Quiz Master is a fabulous educational game which, in its original form, will exercise the brain of most adults. Grab it! Access this 201kB download from: Win9x General Games
Wilbur v2.10 build 10 – Win9x/ME
Wilbur is a tool which catalogs the files on a PC and then provides an exhaustive search function to find text-within-files, just like an Internet search. It includes a scheduling utility and a note taker. This is one of the handiest tools we have seen for a PC. Acting like a search engine on the Internet, it catalogs your computer and then allows you to conduct searches through those files, matching filenames with the keyword(s) you are searching for, and also text-within-files which matches those keyword(s). The program must be told when to index all your files and you can use the scheduling tool to automate that indexing. It might be wise to auto-load the desktray icon launcher with Windows so it is always available for the updates. As the desktray icon launcher uses less than 1% of system resources it is not a problem to have it auto-load. Searches are accurate only up until the last time the PC was indexed so unless this is done regularly the information will not be complete. Terrific for doing a search for keywords like "mary" or "gas bill", for finding ZIP archive files, even for finding files which have been added or modified in the previous week, Wilbur is an essential utility for everyone who has a PC. Grab it now! Access this 1.72MB download from: Win9x Desktop Utilities
VIZup Optimizer v1.0 – Win98SE/ME
VIZup Optimizer is a VRML 3D optimization tool which reduces the polygon count while making practically no difference to the image's appearance. It offers a dramatic improvement in 3D rendering performance, reduces file size, needs no parameter tuning, and more. Unfortunately, this program was not reviewed by CFS. However, we did notice that VIZup Optimizer has a filesize limit (not mentioned by the author) and allowed the processing of a 114kB file but not of a 5.60MB file. We do not know the actual filesize limit. The archive includes a copy of the shareware "Pro" version (which apparantly does not have this filesize limit). VIZup Optimizer requires Windows 98 SE or later. Access this 529kB download from:Win9x Graphic Programs
She Dumped Me: The Video Game! v1 – Win9x/ME
She Dumped Me: The Video Game! is a very funny spoof on dating where you have to avoid being dumped by your girlfriend. Based on a Space Invaders theme, you have to shoot down the hearts falling all around you (or catch them) to avoid them hitting the ground (not easy to do!). You must also avoid the baby bottles (for obvious reasons) while shooting the rose to stop the biological clock. This game has no redeeming qualities (except that it is fun to play) and it has some questionable morality (the baby bottle says it all). Clearly for people with a warped sense of humor, She Dumped Me: The Video Game! requires no setting up – just grab the main file and start playing. With some good sound effects, quite reasonable graphics and an addictive gameplay, She Dumped Me: The Video Game! is worth grabbing if you can see the funny side of dating. Access this 2.33MB download from: Win9x General Games
Notepad And 1/2 v1.3.0 – Win9x/ME
Notepad And 1/2 is a small Windows text editor, like Notepad, but including many more features. It includes: RTF text formatting; no filesize limit; Most Recently Used (MRU) files list; find & replace text; covert case; character/word/line counts; and more. For such a tiny editor, Notepad And 1/2 packs in a lot of features. We particularly liked the case conversion and capitalization functions – you can select a piece of text and convert it into all uppercase, all lowercase, invert the case, or just capitalize the first letter of each word. Cool. Of course, like all good Notepad replacements it doesn't have the stupid filesize limit imposed by Microsoft and it adds the facility to be able to use RTF formatting (bold, italics, color, font change, etc) and to save your work as an RTF document. Notepad And 1/2 also allows you to save a selection of the text as its own file. Is there anything this little editor can't do? Alas for us, it doesn't include a spell checker... It is hard to fault Notepad And 1/2 because it does everything it is supposed to do, and does it well. Guess you can't ask for much more than that! Worth a look! Access this 87kB download from: Win9x Text Programs
UPDATE
Cult – an RPG maze-game where Officer Zack must investigate a religious cult – has been updated to version 2.04 with a new download of 2.50MB. The author advises that changes in this version include: four more languages added (Polish, Mandarin, Finnish & Swiss-German); Spanish & German versions were fixed for proofing mistakes; better memory management; some control fix-up; and the tips section was fully updated in ReadMe file. Grab this latest version from: Win9x General Games
PowerDesk – an excellent Windows Explorer replacement – has been updated to version 5.0.1.2 with a new download size of 1.58MB. The publisher advises that changes in this version include the ability to find files based on file type (search for a specific file type in File Finder), and you can get more information on files (the File InfoHELPID_File_Info column in Details View gives additional information about the contents of files). Grab this latest version from: Win9x Windows Enhancements
Pathfinders – a combination maze, RPG & action game – has been updated to version 2.0 with a new download size of 801kB. The author advises that changes in this version include: 20 new levels (making a total of over 30); small background changes; Save bug fixed; and fixed a couple levels that were technically impossible. Access this update from: Win9x General Games
TSW WebCoder International – an HTML source code editor – has been updated to version 3.00 with a new download size of 2.65MB. The author has not advised of the changes to this version. Get this update from: Win9x Internet Related
CD Catalogue – creates a searchable catalog of the files and folders on a CD or CDs – has been updated to version 1.1 with a new download size of 2.92MB. The author advises that changes in this version include: fixed bugs; new look (new buttons and colours for a more friendlier look & more options such as resizing & displaying); and more features (more disc details stored including disk usage, update Wizard, & option to delete CDs). This is one update to get! Grab this new version from: Win9x General 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
