Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #319 issued August 20, 2004

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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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

CosmoCoast v1.00 – Win9x/ME/XP
CosmoCoast is a shooting 3D strategy game where up to 12 countries battle it out, trying to destroy their opponent's space station while protecting their own. It features superb 3D rotatable graphics, auto & manual control of fighters, 5 different weapons (plasma gun, missile, small missile, barrage & laser), variable 3D camera angles, image zoom, and more. This is an interesting and sophisticated shooter which doesn't quite fit into any category but that provides an excellent gaming experience. As the author says: "It is unusual genre game, but if you play it once, you can understand it." CosmoCoast resembles a 3D graphics program as you can manipulate the camera angle, zoom in and out with the mouse scroll button, and generally highlight any part of the game to enhance your view. Press J and you get a closeup of your fighter, press H and your space station is highlighted. This quite small downloadable file expands many fold when unzipped so you'll need quite a few megabytes of hard disk space available. If you like classy, 3D games then CosmoCoast is one to get. Try it, we think you will be as impressed as we were. Access this 884kB download from: Win9x General Games

AudioCrusher v1.4 – Win9x/ME/XP
AudioCrusher is a deluxe CD ripper with ID3 tagging support that saves to RAW, MP3, WAV, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, Monkey's Audio Lossless Compression or WMA formats. It features freedb support, CD audio playback, automatic playlist generation, "cdparanoia" error correction, WAV file tagging, CD-Text, and more. This is an awesome CD ripper that can work with a wide range of CD devices. It rips an audio CD without using space-hogging intermediate files and gives you a wide option of formats in which it will save the ripped tracks. This includes automatically generating filenames for individual tracks based on a number of naming format conventions. AudioCrusher is one of the best CD rippers we have seen. It is extremely easy to use, supports a wide variety of file formats (some require additional encoders), offers a huge range of options for sound quality, etc, and incorporates "cdparanoia" error correction so that even scratched CDs can usually be successfully ripped. It even copies the filelist into the Windows' Clipboard. This is handy for adding information into a database of your CDs. We found AudioCrusher a terrific tool and one we can recommend without reservation. Note: ripping commercial audio CDs may be illegal. Access this 442kB download from: Win9x Multimedia Programs

Pong Solo v1.1 – Win9x/ME/XP
Pong Solo is a game for the eXtreme Pong enthusiast where you play against the computer. It features 10 powerups, a choice of 1, 2 or 3 computer opponents, variable ball speed, a huge choice of global & individual settings, and more. Not for wimps, Pong Solo combines good looks with fast paced, challenging gameplay. You can select the number of opponents you wish to play against (we found that 3 was best) and change their individual settings to assist or restrict each player's gameplay. This means that you can retard the computer opponents and enhance your own player to help you win a little more often. There are many great powerups included and these can individually be blocked from appearing. In the author's words: "Pong Solo is the end result of getting a little carried away building a simple Pong game." One strange aspect to the game is that it continues until all players are eliminated, even if only one player is still "alive". It is amusing to see the game playing against itself when there is only one player. We really enjoyed Pong Solo. It is a fun, if frenetic, game that should challenge even the best player (specially if they manipulate the settings to change the level of difficulty). Definitely worth a look. Access this 5.39MB download from: Win9x General Games

WinPad v1.04 – Win9x/ME/XP
WinPad is a lightweight ASCII & RTF text editor and Notepad replacement. It features full RTF text attribute settings (font, color, bullets, strike-through, etc), no 64kB filesize limit, quick date insert, you can change the case of selected text to all upper or all lower, and more. This is potentially a good little Notepad-style editor that also supports RTF (Rich Text Format) files. It does not have a 64kB ceiling on the filesize (as does Notepad) but, when loading a 10MB (490,000 line) test file it was quite slow and demanded all of the CPU processes (under Windows XP). While this is probably much larger than most people would want, we were disappointed that it was not faster and that is was so hungry for CPU processes (this file demanded 99% of the CPU processes!). The author claims that this editor supports Write (WRI) files but it cannot save in that format and WRI files opened with WinPad are generally unreadable. We also noticed that the undo facility was not working and this, too, was a disappointment to us. This little text editor has much potential and would probably suit many users. However, when stretched near to its limit it may not stand up as well as some other editors. If you don't have many big demands on a text editor, and you need a replacement for the horrid Notepad supplied with Windows, then grab a copy of WinPad. Access this 162kB download from: Win9x Text Programs

Egg Blaster v1.0 – Win9x/ME/XP
Egg Blaster is a 2D puzzle/arcade game where Cheeky Chick must navigate the various levels while avoiding the nasties, planting his exploding eggs to blast his way through each level. It features single & dual player modes, 10 levels, 6 powerups, funky music, cool sound effects, and more. This is a fun, light-hearted game where you must carefully place an exploding egg and then quickly get out of the way so you don't get caught in the explosion, blasting a path through the maze. Played in single or dual player modes, Egg Blaster is a terrific game that really does offer some serious challenges. We were disappointed that, having completed a level, you had to start at the beginning every time. An option to return to the last uncompleted level could give a player more incentive to complete all levels. Egg Blaster is bright, breezy, and a lot of fun. Get it! Access this 1.52MB download from: Win9x General Games

DHTML Menu Builder v1.0 – Win98/ME/XP
DHTML Menu Builder is a tool that creates interactive sliding menu trees with total customization. A good, easy-to-follow menu system is essential for a Website and this program does exactly that. You can create root items, sub items and sibling items, building up a tree so your visitors can easily navigate your site. DHTML Menu Builder allows you to customize the appearance of the finished menu, and even offers a preview function so you can instantly see how a change affects the overall appearance. However, we did have a couple of issues with this program. First, when it is installed it tries to get a program included with main download, ThirtyDayTimer.exe, to load with Windows. While this does not appear to cause the program to time out, the license clearly says that the program is shareware: "You are granted a *Shareware Trial* License to use this Software product by CoffeeCup Software." Irrespective of that, the program really is completely free though we are unsure of what this ThirtyDayTimer.exe program actually does. It is easy to prevent it from loading with Windows by using a free program like StartupMonitor (cf). There was one other aspect of the program which also should be mentioned, though this is more to do with using DTML to create a menu than the DHTML Menu Builder program. The code required to produce even a small menu is over 25kB in size so it adds that much "weight" to your pages. This makes them marginally slower to load, specially for visitors using a dialup connection. If you don't mind the huge size of the DTML code, and you don't mind the unknown ThirtyDayTimer.exe file executing every time you start Windows (unless you choose to block it), DHTML Menu Builder produces an excellent menu that visitors can easily use to access your site. After all of that, we still liked this program and are happy to recommend it to everyone as long as they understand these "problems". Note: this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 2.15MB download from: Win98 Internet Related

Synonyms and Antonyms v1.6 – Win9x/ME/XP
Synonyms and Antonyms is a word game where you guess, uncover or unscramble words that are synonyms or antonyms of other words. It features 75 separate puzzles, you can create your own puzzles with the level editor, it has a high score facility, and more. This excellent game will stretch your vocabulary while entertaining you with a series of word puzzles. You are offered a series of words, the first and last of which are shown. You must then establish the intermediatory words which can be either synonyms (in green) or antonyms (in red). Synonyms are words that are the same (like "sack" is to "fire") and antonyms are words that are opposites (like "fire" is to "fatigue"). There is a level editor so you can create your own puzzles and, if you wish, share them with others. You can also get a further 425 puzzles by joining the author's Website, either by making a small payment, or by doing one of a number of small tasks (reviewing 5 of their games, getting another site to link to them, etc). While Synonyms and Antonyms might sound like a game for eggheads or other "wordly" people, in fact most people will thoroughly enjoy solving these puzzles, even if they can't work out the solution (the game can be played like Hangman where you guess letters). Grab a copy and enjoy this word-based puzzle. Access this 235kB download from: Win9x General Games

BitrateCalc v1.0.0.2 – Win9x/ME/XP
BitrateCalc is a small program that determines the bitrate for encoding movies by accepting information about the media type, the duration of the movie & the audio bitrate. The program will then calculate the bitrate needed to fit the movie to the available disk space and offer that information in bits and kilobits. Multiple audio tracks and multiple disks may also be entered into the calculation. The program also includes 3 small DOS utilities. BitrateCalc is an essential program for anyone decoding movies on to their hard drive and is a worthwhile addition to your utilities' toolbox. Get it! Access this 929kB download from: Win9x Multimedia Programs

Pharaohs' Bubbles v1.0 – Win9x/ME/XP
Pharaohs' Bubbles is a fast-action bubble game for 1- or 2-players where you match 3 sticky bubbles for them to fall down, often bringing other bubbles with them. It features an "easy" mode where the path of the ball is indicated, a "next piece" indicator, excellent graphics, ancient Egyptian theme music, and more. This is a great game. Whether you are playing with a friend or against the computer it is always competitive – you don't compete against your own score but against another player. The screen is broken into 2 panes, one for each player (human/computer or human/human) and you must be quick to unload your bubbles or you will quickly fill the screen (which is nearly full before you start). Better in a human versus human game than against the computer, Pharaohs' Bubbles still has a high addictive factor that draws you back for more and more. We would have preferred to have seen a single pane, non-competitive 1-player version but still very much enjoyed the double pane version. Most players will use the human/computer mode for practice to give them a competitive edge when they go head-to-head with their friends. We liked Pharaohs' Bubbles but preferred it as a 2-player game. Access this 2.06MB download from: Win9x General Games

Advanced File Worker v1.4 – Win9x/ME/XP
Advanced File Worker is a powerful utility for batch files processing that can DELETE, COPY, MOVE, RENAME & BACKUP files by mask, and graphic files by filesize & by image size in pixels. It features scheduled file backups, full script language, file mask editor, script editor, multilingual support, and more. If you ever need to process batches of files then Advanced File Worker is probably exactly what you will need. You can control the files processed by an "include" mask, and by an "exclude" mask. It supports BMP, JPG, WMF & EMF image formats, and the scripting language even allows you to run an external program from the script. It is this scripting language that makes it stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately you cannot change file attributes, or dates, but this is a minor exclusion compared to all of the wonderful features included. As we all need to process batches of files at different times, Advanced File Worker is a "must have" utility for all Windows users. Get it! Access this 1.00MB download from: Win9x Desktop Utilities
UPDATES
CopyWriter – a lightweight, general purpose TXT and RTF (rich text format) editor – has been updated to version 3.00 with a new, slightly smaller download size of 604kB. The author advises that changes in this version include: utilities plugin system; multiple undo (36 levels); language support; show/hide control characters; save text with line breaks function; find backwards function; integrated hex viewer; and the use of INI files instead if the Windows Registry. Grab a copy of this update from: Win9x Text Programs
ClickTris – a classic Tetris game – has been updated to version 1.52 with a new, much larger download size of 566kB. The author has not advised us of the changes made to this version. Get this updated game from: Win9x General Games
COMMENTS
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