Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #379 issued January 27, 2006

Home > CFS Weekly Newsletter #379: issued January 27, 2006

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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

The Encryption – Win9x/ME/XP
The Encryption is a fast-paced, vertically scrolling space shooter with some RPG aspects and the ability to slow down time. It features 3 levels of difficulty, the ability to shop for upgrades with points earned, a mission system for extra replay value, gamepad support, and more. This is a predicable space shooter with reasonable, but not sensational, graphics and sound. Once you have played a level (or part of a level) you will have started to acquire credits and these can be used to purchase extra ammunition, repairs, etc. At times there is a lot of information flashed on to the screen but you rarely have time to read this information (specially in view of the hard-to-read font selected to present it) so you can be left wondering what you missed. However, the fast pace and the RPG elements do make The Encryption a better-than-average space shooter, and we liked the time slowdown capability. The storyline is good (the game is set in 2115), the RPG aspects interesting, and the pace fast. The Encryption is a worthy addition to any gamer's portfolio. Access this 1.65MB download from: Win95 General Games

Advanced Audio Extractor v2.0.0.0 – Win9x/ME/XP
Advanced Audio Extractor is a program that extracts audio from AVI, MPG, WMA, WMV, ASF, MOV & QT video files. It features support for MP3, WAV, OGG & WMA audio formats, batch processing of files, adjustable bitrate, choice of mono or stereo, choice of encoder quality, 11 preset quality adjustments (CD, HiFi, FM, voice, phone, etc, or manually set the output sound quality), bandpass filtering, choice of VBR coding method, and more. On paper this has all the features that a user would like to see in a sound extractor, but we found it somewhat lacking in actual use. In most cases the audio was not well presented – the pitch was too high, the sound playback speed was too slow, etc – and we could not find an AVI file amongst our collection that it could read. Apart from that it was "infected" with WhenU advertising – an insidious and sometimes hard to remove form of advertising that uses your Internet Explorer Web browser. Fortunately it can be removed using Microsoft's AntiSpyware program. Advertising that does not integrate into the host program has the advantage that it can be removed without affecting the operation of the host program (which we did) but it has the downside that it is not removed when the host program is uninstalled. We consider all non-integrated advertising programs, like WhenU, to be highly intrusive. If you have a program that can remove them (like the aforementioned Microsoft program, or the latest Norton AntiVirus program) their hosts are sometimes worth grabbing if they are good enough in their own right. Advanced Audio Extractor has the potential to be an excellent program, but it is not there yet. Access this 12.7MB download from: Win95 Multimedia Programs

Room Arranger v3.26 – Win9x/ME/XP
Room Arranger is a program that allows the easy creation of floor plans, with objects (TV, bed, table, etc) capable of being moved around at will. It features an extensive library of objects in 9 categories (or create your own objects), it can work with layers, it is suitable for indoors or outdoors, the finished result can be displayed in a 3D VRML viewer, it can be printed or exported to PNG or BMP formats, it supports metric & imperial measurements, has no practical size limitation (a measurement can be in inches, centimeters, miles, kilometers, etc), has an excellent Helpfile, is multi-lingual, and more. This is a truly awesome tool. You can use it to plan the contents of a room, a house, a yard – even a football field! It can be a house designer, a landscaping tool, a factory planner, an apartment block designer, or simply a tool to help you plan the furniture arrangements in a room. While it has a simple menuing system, there are many levels of menus that aren't always apparent at first glance. Fortunately it has an excellent Helpfile (in HTML format) to assist you to get the best from this program. It also includes three sample projects (a single room, a library and an multi-room apartment). We have added an additional 4 projects as a separate download (26kB). The version we have reviewed is the last freeware version and we are hosting a copy of it on the CFS server. Later versions are not free. It is not easy to find the limitations to Room Arranger. It is a program that can be used in so many ways to design floor layouts, or to just display furniture in different parts of the room. Each object can be highlighted and then dragged to a new location, objects can be rotated, walls can be added or edited (you can even change the wall thickness and height), and objects can be layered. There are so many aspects to this program we can only mention a few! Even if you aren't into rearranging furniture, or designing new houses, Room Arranger is lots of fun to play with. We loved! Get this 709kB download from: Win95 Graphic Programs

SilentNight Radio v2.0 – Win9x/ME/XP
SilentNight Radio is an online radio station player & recorder. It features a total of 260 stations, displays author & title as a song is played (if available), has recording & editing options, an MP3 player, a tag editor, an audio burner, it minimizes to the desktray, has a volume control, a stop/play button, a mute button, and more. This is an excellent front end for online radio stations. It offers a good selection of categories (Blues, Classical, Comedy, Country, Default, Gospel, Hits, Norwegian, Rock & Swedish) with a choice of 26 stations in each category. Of course, not all are 24-hour stations but the choice at any one time is quite extensive. Audio quality depends on the quality of your Internet connection (ideally it requires a fast broadband connection) and, because it uses about 1MB every minute, connection costs could be a factor for people with download limits. It has a single click recording button so you can grab a copy of what the active station is playing. This is saved as an MP3 file. You can also burn your downloaded content but you should look at the legality of recording or burning copyright material. Without specific information about suitable operating systems from the author, we assume that you would need Windows XP or later to use the burner. We liked the fact that it minimizes to the desktray (next to the clock). However, SilentNight Radio has a couple of annoying features. First, while it keeps a total of the bandwidth being used (the number of megabytes downloaded), that total is reset if you stop playing or change stations – there is no aggregate of the bandwidth used. Ideally we would like to see a running aggregate for the current session, and an aggregate for everything downloaded (certainly for the last calendar month) so users could monitor the total bandwidth the program is consuming. There is nothing worse than being hit with a huge excess bandwidth bill at the end of the month! We were also disappointed that we could not (a) get updated radio station lists so that "dead" stations could be replaced with new ones, and (b) add our own stations to the list (maybe to an additional "User" or "Favorites" category). That aside, SilentNight Radio is one of the best thought out, and presented, online radio station player we have seen. If you enjoy listening to radio stations while online then this is definitely a program to get. Excellent, 9.8 out of 10! Access this 5.99MB download from: Win95 Internet Related

Puzzle Shuffle v1.1 – Win9x/ME/XP
Puzzle Shuffle is a '15-puzzle' style game where you must align 15 tiles in a 4x4 grid (one blank square). It features a choice of any JPG, WMF, BMP or EMF image (square format looks best), image preview, and more. This is a fun game that can be played using the supplied numbered image (like the original 15-puzzle) or you can use any supported image. If it is not square it will be distorted to fit the 400x400 pixel image format. Obviously, smaller images are stretched to fit and look pixelated. This style of puzzle is relatively challenging using numbered tiles, but when an image is used it becomes very hard to win (sort the picture back to the original). The more complex the image used, the harder it is to shuffled it back. Puzzle Shuffle is a good time waster and one we are happy to recommend. Try it for yourself. Access this 732kB download from: Win95 General Games

JetStart Free v3.17 – Win9x/ME/XP
JetStart Free is a program launcher that allows the user to place the program shortcuts in a category, and which resides in the desktray for faster launching of programs. It features 5 categories (Tools, Internet, Office, Games & Other), includes a Start Menu import tool, has various system controls (shutdown, restart, hibernate, etc), and more. This is an easy-to-use program launcher that allows you to categorize your Start Menu links so you can find them faster. To assist you to find them it searches your Start menu and presents all program links for you to choose from. You can even place the same link in multiple categories should you so desire. Designed to be launched with Windows and reside in the desktray (next to the clock), JetStart Free is a handy little program that really does make life on a PC easier. There is a Pro version of this program which offers a few more bells and whistles (being able to add categories, etc) but most users will find the free version to be suitable. JetStart Free is worth checking out. Access this 669kB download from: Win95 Desktop Utilities

AVS DVD Player v1.3.1.82 – WinXP
AVS DVD Player is a compact DVD player that supports a wide variety of video formats. It features inbuilt surround-sound effect, fast navigation between scenes, support for various video sources (HDD, portable media, LAN, etc), automatically adjusted aspect ratio, full-screen mode, menu options, supports 3.1, 5.1 & 7.1 speaker configurations, and more. The video formats it supports includes regular DVD formats (PAL, NTSC, VCD & SVCD), the entire range of MPEG4 (including DivX, XviD, etc), MPEG1, MPEG2, AVI, Real Media video, Quick Time files, WMV files (including WMV-HD), H.263, H.264, and mobile video formats (3GP, 3GP2, MP4). This is a superb DVD player. Not only does it support a huge range of video formats but it can play movies from sources other than a DVD player. Even though the regular AVS DVD Player movie screen is only 590x370 (compared to PowerDVD's 770x440) you can set it to fullscreen if that display is too small for you. It offers all the regular controls in a neat package that really is quite easy to use. A button on the front panel to "Rip" a DVD can only work with a companion program, and there is a display of "house ads" which appears when the program is opened. These ads require an Internet connection if you wish to use them. The program also checks "something" over the Internet when first loaded, and then when first opened each day. It is probably just checking for an updated version but there is nothing to indicate this. If this worries you, tell your firewall not to grant access, it doesn't prevent the program from working. We were very impressed with AVS DVD Player and consider it a serious challenge to the supremacy of PowerDVD as the default player for DVDs on PCs. The enormous number of supported video formats make this a universal player. A "must have" for all PC-based movie watchers. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 14.7MB download from: WinXP General Programs

ScreenSaver Commander v1.0 – Win9x/ME/XP
ScreenSaver Commander is a screensaver manager that offers more control over screensavers than the standard Windows applet. It features an easy way to control all aspects of the screensaver, allows the user to test/view the information & change settings, controls when a screensaver can become active, and more. This is one of the better screensaver managers. It really does add more control over when screensavers become active, and allows the user to control many of the aspects of the screensaver without having to delve into the many menu layers required to change them through Windows itself. One feature we really was the ability to set controls over when a screensaver can activate, and you can prevent the start of a screensaver if any specified windows are present. While much of the advantage of ScreenSaver Commander is cosmetic, it adds more control over screensavers and is also easier to access (assuming you don't bury the program and have trouble finding it). Most people would leave a shortcut icon on their desktop so they can quickly access this handy little program. ScreenSaver Commander is worth grabbing if you enjoy playing with screensavers. Access this 300kB download from: Win95 Windows Enhancements

Crush! – Win9x/ME/XP
Crush! is a smashing game where you literally take on a city, using your mighty giant to crush, stomp, smash and burn your way through the city, demolishing buildings, killing policemen and soldiers, smashing tanks and generally making yourself quite unwelcome in that fair city. In a Godzilla-style rampage you must destroy the city, smashing and burning helicopters, police cars and, of course, their occupants. This bloodbath has no redeeming social value – but it is lots of fun! If it wasn't presented in such an amusing way it could easily be seen as a game that promoted violence, but it is way too much fun to be violent in any true sense of the word. The men killed (albeit they are probably good people simply defending their city) are just stick figures and the game is too cartoonish for it to be a role model for anyone who is psychotic (and clever) enough to use it as a role model to build a 300 foot monster with the intention of ravishing their local precinct. As you play, more and more resources are thrown against you, and you must be increasingly violent to avoid the inevitable fate of all evil monsters. Controls are somewhat awkward, with a combination of arrow keys, spacebar and regular keys (Q, W, E, A, S, D, F & G – there is an error in the help screen that doesn't mention the D key). Control is limited until you master juggling all keys. The laser eyes cannot be used too much or you will have to wait while it replenishes, and you will find that tanks can only be crushed when they are hit with a building. Crush! is not a game that will provide hundreds of hours of gameplay, it has too limited a scope for that, but when you've had a bad day and don't want to tell the boss what you think of him or her, and the cat is conveniently hiding, it is a fun way to get rid of some aggression. We liked! Access this 4.15MB download from: Win95 General Games
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