Try these great Christian links – you won’t regret it!
The Completely Free E-mail Update #28
Issued Jan 20, 1998
Welcome to the twenty-eighth edition of the 'Completely Free Software E-mail Update'. Over the past week we've added many new programs, including the ones listed below. Check out all the recent additions (from the past 30 days) at: CFS New Additions
The programs listed are completely free for non-commercial use, even though they may be shareware or commercial products. None are time-limited and all are fully functionable. If you know any that aren't exactly as specified, please let us know and they will be removed immediately.
|
Please Note: This site will not be updated between January 23rd and February 9th, 1998, due to vacations. There will be no Completely Free E-mail Update on Tuesday January 27 and Tuesday February 3. The next (issue #29) will be mailed out on February 10.
|
COMPLETELY FREE PROGRAMS
Expresso – W95
Expresso is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor with a swag of features which will please most ardent HTML junkies. A cut-down version of Microsoft's FrontPage, users will find that Expresso will do almost all that big brother FrontPage will do but with a smaller 'footprint'. Wizards assist with creating a new homepage, creating a form's page, etc and the toolbar has a terrific array of buttons for adding things like, well, buttons (talking here about the radio-type and the 'Submit' buttons used on forms). It doesn't like editing a page created with another HTML editor (but we've yet to find a WYSIWYG one that does!) but if you create it from scratch you will end up with a thing of beauty (all children are beautiful – ask their mothers!). If you are in the market for a freeware WYSIWYG HTML editor, or you were all set to purchase Microsoft's FrontPage, then check out Expresso first. Anyone for sugar? Access this 1.46MB download from: W95 Internet Related
ContactBook –W95
There are address books and address books and most are very ho hum in what they offer. ContactBook stands head and shoulder above most of the others with its vast array of fields, each of which is easily configurable. Columns of information can be drag 'n dropped into a new location and address book information can be imported and exported. Snazzy! Overall ContactBook is a remarkable little program which does what it's supposed to do with ease. Interface is easy, if somewhat plain, and the whole package reeks of professionalism. Access this 824kB download from: W95 General Programs
Capture – W95
Ever needed to capture the screen, or a part of it, and save it as an image file? Capture does just that, easily and without fuss or trouble. Using the BMP format, you can save a portion of the screen (just marquee out the section you want), the active window, or the whole screen. There is even a delay factor so you can set it to capture the screen in, say, five seconds so you have a chance to set up something you need to show (like the mouse cursor at a particular point, or a popup screen). Neat, impressive, remarkably simple. Access this 168kB download from: W95 Desktop Utilities
Kids Web – W95
Crimpton's Kids Web is a small footprint web browser which has been designed for children up to teenage level. The look and feel of this browser lends itself to children and is an ideal tool for them to surf the web. Not only does it have inbuilt icons for popular children's sites, it also takes up the full screen and hides the desktray, Start button, etc so children won't be tempted to start exploring other programs on their own. Displaying tables and frames like other browsers, it also plays music and is, in fact, a 'normal' browser as far as the user is concerned. Kids Web requires that you have Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3.x loaded on your system as it uses the DLLs, etc from that program. As a way of introducing young children to the Internet, Kids Web is really the way to go. Access this 833kB download from: W95 Internet Related
CatFish – W31 (very suitable for W95!)
CatFish is a disk catalog program which will save a snapshot of both fixed and removable drives in a File Manager-like structure and which allows you to launch programs from within it. Not only that, you get detailed information on total disk size and available space and, like File Manager, you can sort your files (ascending or descending order) by name, size or date! But wait, there's even more. For W95 users it will also recognize long file names and display them correctly (no 'filena~1.ext' garbage). With all these functions – and the ability to convert directory structures/files into text files for printing or saving off site – CatFish has instantly become one of our 'must have' apps! Save a snapshot of your hard drive and, if it crashes, you can easily rebuild the structure exactly like before. You can also use it to catalog CD-ROMs, etc. And, to top all of this off, it is very easy to use. Go get this fabulous 102kB download from: W31 Desktop Utilities
Go!Zilla – W95
Go!Zilla is an ftp client for grabbing those 'completely free software' files from the Net (both ftp and http sites). It has a great list of features which includes the ability to resume a download if disrupted (dependant on the server), gives estimated completion time, has the ability to categorize files, includes drag 'n drop, scheduled-start download and disconnection on completion (optional, of course) and, one of the best features of all, the ability to check links and download from the fastest of a number of links for the same file. Go!Zilla is advertizer supported (unless you choose to pay a registration fee) and has a very invasive survey form you are expected to fill in when you first load this program. Access this 964kB download from: W95 Internet Related
Defense Of The Squid Man – W95
In a galaxy far, far away... If you crave sci-fi shoot-em-ups then you'll love Defense Of The Squid Man. Abounding with humor and using great music, sound effects and animation, Defense is one of those rare games which is not just playable, but also enjoyable in the long term. The plot is simple, Squiggler Q Squidman (yes, he's a squid!) owns "the largest environmentally-friendly asteroid mining corporation in the galaxy" but he's under attack from pirates. His wife (galactically-renowned quantum physicist and catering chef, Judy Vanderbilt-Squidman) has made him a range of tools to help him defeat the pirates, but they all run off the same power pack... Well, we won't spoil the story any more because reading "The Story Thus Far" is one of the enjoyable aspects of this game. The game is played through three levels and gets progressively harder each time (Gee, what a surprise!). The 3D graphics are excellent, with good care for detail, and the sound effects, etc are also very good. This is one of those games which you will play over and over. You can access this 2.72MB download from: W95 General Games
QuickNotes –W95
Not just another 'sticky notes' app, QuickNotes allows you to make notes quickly (Doh!) with this desktray-parking program which can be made to be the top screen at all times if required. Click on the 'New' button to start a new note and the first 20 characters of the first line makes up the 'heading' which appears in a drop down dialog box. Notes can easily be added, deleted or printed (either the 'active' note or all notes) and is a really valuable program for web surfers (isn't there a better name than 'surfers'?) who want to copy URLs or on-line notes instead of just bookmarking. It will take full webpages (Ctrl-A to highlight the page, Ctrl-C to copy it, and Ctrl-V to paste it into something like QuickNotes) or other text documents up to 32kB, which is not bad for a notebook-type program. The 'always on top' button is very handy and allows you to leave a note on the screen which cannot be accidentally hidden. It might not make coffee, it might not be a new operating system, but what it is designed to do it does really well – simple but effective. More programs should strive for this type of excellence! Access this 0.99MB download from: W95 Desktop Utilities
PlanetView – W95
Rick's Planet PlanetView is the best W95 image viewer/converter we have yet seen. It will view GIF (including animated), JIF, JPG, BMP, TGA, DIB, RLE and PCX files and convert any of these to GIF, JPG or BMP formats. You can also acquire an image through any TWAIN device and save it in GIF, JPG or BMP formats. Where PlanetView differs from other image viewers (and converters) is that it allows you to extract individual image frames from a GIF animation, which is a big boon if you want to alter just one image in a sequence but had lost the original files (now doesn't THAT always happen!). It also displays any additional information stored within the GIF file, though you can't remove it. PlanetView will also tile a GIF file for you so you can see the effect that the GIF would give if used as a background image on a webpage. The background color can also be altered so you can see what a particular file looks like with the different color behind it. When you export an animated GIF it will compress the image file by up to a reported 20%, and an JPG image can be compressed to reduce its size too. We found PlanetView to be exceptionally fast in its execution and were pleased with the range of files it can view. However, we would have preferred that TIF files also be included in that list. Still, a minor complaint when you see everything else this marvelous program will do. Go grab this 1.04MB download from: W95 Graphics Programs
Solo v1.03 – W95
Solo is a suite of sixty solitaire cardgames – yes, sixty! – with one very unique feature. You can edit those games to reflect rules which YOU want, or you can create your own games with simple visual programming! Complete with DLLs which give an excellent card face – with 21 different backs, different sized cards, etc – Solo is a sensational suite of games for every person who has ever played Klondike. Most of the games have the basic rules to get you started, though the help file for gameplay is rather limited. The author suggests that you read a good book on solitaire card games if you get stuck, though we're sure that most of the information you would need would be posted somewhere on the Net. The suite has provision for using a background color instead of the virgin white which is the default. We chose a green background which also helped highlight the cards and make it easier on the eyes. If you didn't think all that was amazing enough, here's the cruncher. It is only a 241kB download! Yes folks, all those games (60!), a powerful games 'engine', full instructions for modifying or creating your own games, etc all crammed into one tiny 241kB download. And you said there was no Santa! Access this sensational suite of solitaire games from: W95 General Games
QuickSeek – W95 & W31
InfoSeek's QuickSeek is a terrific way to add a search engine button to your browser. Type your request in the small window and click on the InfoSeek button and you've started a search directly from your browser, irrespective of where you are on the Net. The convenience aspect is obvious but there are a couple of down sides to this added feature. The first is that unless you're using 600x600 video mode (or larger) you will find that the QuickSeek button and window takes up too much of your location window because it grabs over 3 inches (8cm) in IE4 and just under 2 1/2 inches (6cm) in Netscape 4. The Win95 version (759kB download) can be used on Netscape 2.x to 4.x and MSIE 3.x and 4.x, but the Win 3.1 version (520kB download) can only be used on Netscape 2.x and 3.x. QuickSeek adds functionability to your browser with a direct link to the InfoSeek search engine which, we've found, to be one of the better ones. Access the Win95 version from: W95 Internet Related and the Win 3.1 version from: W31 Internet Related
Kewl Talker – W95
This is a fun utility which converts a text string into four separate novelty versions which can be pasted into any app which supports extended ASCII text. For example, type in the words 'completely free software' and you get the following outputs:
©ðmþ£êt꣥ f®êê §ðftWå®ê (ASCII)
ÇöMþ£ëT룥 F®ëë §öFTWª®ë (Elite)
COmpLEtELy frEE SOftwArE (Random Caps)
erawtfos eerf yletelpmoc (Backwards).
Used in the right place (maybe in IRC chat sessions, e-mail, notes to friends, etc) you will get a great response to this fun text output. Access this 131kB download from: W95 Desktop Utilities
InternetMeter Inlay – W95
From Starfish Software, InternetMeter Inlay is part of their Internet utilities and is released as a sort of teaser. The InternetMeter integrates into Netscape 2.x (up to 4.x) and MS IE 3.x (and 4.x) offering all sorts of information, like how long your browser has been active for (which is not necessarily how long you have been on-line in a session), the number of bytes uploaded and downloaded, what programs have called on your server, what your IP's address is and what your Home Address is, etc. All in all, a nice collection of stats and general information. This is actually the 'Lite' version of this utility and there is a meatier version if you choose to buy the full suite. Access this 753kB download from: W95 Internet Related
UPDATES
Microsoft has upgraded RegClean to version 4.1a with a new executionable file and new DLLs. We had heard that there was some conflict with IE4 though we didn't experience any trouble ourselves. The new download is 773kB and most of the extra is in the new DLLs (which you might not even need, we didn't). If you haven't been using RegClean then you really should as it removes many of the incorrect entries and conflicts within the Registry. We use it daily as we constantly add and delete programs, but most users would find weekly sufficient. Access this essential W95 enhancement from: W95 Windows Extras
COMMENTS
We'd like to thank the regular visitors to the CFS site who have told us about 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 and you would like it listed on these pages please write in with the program's URL. As a rule we do not host freeware on our servers due to a lack of space, and if you don't have a download site for your app then we suggest you contact WinSite and see if they will host it.
If you enjoy the Completely Free Software site please don't feel shy about letting others know.
ReturnTo E-mail Index
Member of the Software HyperBanner !
|
