Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #389 issued April 21, 2006

Home > CFS Weekly Newsletter #389: issued April 21, 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.
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COMPLETELY FREE SOFTWARE

Room War – WinXP
Room War is an awesome, award winning, 3D sci fi shooter where you must protect the Alienware computer in your room from enemy aliens. It features 6 levels, 3 levels of difficulty, sensational 3D graphics with excellent detail, HUD, and more. Awesome is the only adjective you could use for Room War. The detail in the 3D graphics is exceptional and the game itself is both easily played, yet challenging. The scenario is simple – you have an Alienware computer in your living room and some nasty aliens want to blow it up. You must lock on to an alien (right mouse button) and, when he gets in your crosshairs and the HUD tells you it is a shot, you can blast him (or is it a "her"?) to Kingdom Come. Arrow keys control your movement around the room, and you can zoom in and around the various obstacles (guitar, bookcase, coffee table, hi fi, orange juice container, etc) as you chase the baddies. Once you have locked in an enemy alien, a red diamond tracks it around the room so you can always find your target (except when they are passing behind an object, like a chair. Apart from the gray "bad" aliens, there are also two green ships floating around your room. These are the good guys and, if you die, you will move into one of them (get a new life). Even without the awesome graphics, this would be a top shooter – but the quality (and detail) of the graphics takes the game to another level. Room War received first prize in an Alienware Computer competition, and a few minutes with the game will show you why. We fell in love with Room War. It is almost the quintessential shooter, and the one that others should emulate. We have been led to believe that it requires at least Windows XP to run, and that is the OS we had on our test computer. However we did not try it with any other configuration. We also believe that it would need a reasonably good 3D graphics card (we used a 128MB GeForce FX 5200) to handle the detail of the room and those excellent 3D graphics. On the subject of system requirements, the author simply says: "don't know – try it and you will see..." Room War is a "must have" for anyone who enjoys a good shooter, or just someone who enjoys playing with some of the best 3D graphics around. Get it now! Download this 13.1MB game from: WinXP General Games

Microsys Launcher v1.5 – Win9x/ME/XP
Microsys Launcher is a program launcher (shortcut manager) that makes it easy to launch your favorite programs from an icon in the desktray (next to the clock). It features drag 'n drop, you can have an unlimited number of shortcuts, you can add files/folders/separators, it will auto-load with Windows, there is a basic Helpfile in HTML, and more. This is an excellent little program launcher that keeps itself out of the way until you right-click on its icon. You are then presented with a list of programs or files you can launch, or you can navigate to Launcher Kit/Manage Items and add new programs by simply dragging them from Explorer on to the tree view. While there is no actual limitation to the number of files or programs you can add (we successfully tested it with over 400 files and programs), once you exceed a full screen it gets much too cumbersome to handle – we consider the practical limitation for most users would be 50 or 60 files, depending on their screen resolution and the type of files included. The Helpfile is probably a little too basic and, while you can delete shortcuts from the list, you can only delete them singly – one file at a time! The only other aspect of Microsys Launcher that we would have liked to have seen fixed was the necessity to click on the Save button once you have made changes or you will find that they are not saved – and you are not prompted to save them! Those few minor irritations aside, Microsys Launcher is a fabulous program that could save you lots of time by giving you super fast access to just those files and programs you use regularly. This saves having to hunt for them in the Start/Programs list, and can be set to include associated files (like DOC files) which, when clicked, open that file in the program nominated (like Microsoft Word for DOC files). We liked! Access this 845kB download from: Win95 Desktop Utilities

PowerDraw v30 – Win9x/ME/XP
PowerDraw is a powerful 2D vector drawing program. It features a Block Manager with 198 pre-prepared blocks, a Macro Manager with 7 pre-prepared macros, a Plugin Manager with 3 pre-prepared plugins, it imports AutoCAD DXF files, inserts editable WMF & EMF images, exports to WMF, BMP & DXF formats, has unlimited undos, multiple layers, layer ordering, trace guides, scaling/rotating/mirroring/skewing/flipping bitmaps, makes polar & rectangular figure arrays, groups/ungroups objects, and more. This is a fabulous vector drawing program that has strong integration with AutoCAD (import/export). It offers a huge array of excellent features – including working with all colors available, and it can draw a line, polyline, rectangle, polygon, bezier, circle, ellipse, arc, pie, chord and text on the Designer Canvas. Fortunately most functions within PowerDraw are obvious because there is precious little help from the Helpfile included with the program – most sections are empty! Likewise, information at the author's site has some glaring errors (totally wrong sections of text inserted, clearly with the idea that some time in the future it will be repaired) but even that does not detract from this excellent program. PowerDraw is a "must have" drawing program for anyone who requires 2D vector-based drawings. Get it now! Access this 7.32MB download from: Win95 Graphic Programs

ZS4 Video Editor v0.952 – Win9x/ME/XP
ZS4 Video Editor is an advanced video editor and compositor with over 150 built-in video effects. It features unlimited audio/video/picture tracks, unlimited video/audio effects for every track, cross integration of audio & video, up to 16 audio channels per track, sox audio processing, and more. The author says that it "can be used like an object oriented photo-manipulation program with a timeline: things that can be manipulated in a photo (workshop) program can be manipulated in ZS4 using parameters which alter over time." He also says that it "aims to provide media experts with a facility to combine a variety of media types (currently photos, videos and audio files) into one (or more) output file(s)." This is a very powerful video editor though is not as user-friendly as it may be. The interface is clumsy compared to most Windows-based programs, which is not surprising when it is realized that it has a Linux heritage. However, the final results are exceptionally good in the hands of someone who has learnt the art of video editing. There are a number of samples of finished work available from the author's site, plus extensive tutorials and Helpfiles. The author only states that it should have a 1GHz computer with at least 512MB of RAM (though it will work on less, albeit more slowly) but there is no mention of the platform required. We ran it under Windows XP with a 2.2GHz AMD CPU and 1GB of RAM. We felt that it ran slowly though it did run adequately. We are assuming that it will run on an earlier platform (even Windows 95) but have not checked it with this configuration. In the hands of an experienced user, ZS4 Video Editor is clearly an excellent tool. Unfortunately, the learning curve is very steep and this is not a tool for the casual user. Access this 2.21MB download from: Win95 Multimedia Programs

Blip & Blop – Win98/ME/XP
Blip & Blop is a platform/action game where you blast the Smurfs, Lemmings, and more than 40 other kinds of baddies. It features 1- & 2-player modes, 5 levels, 2 bonus stages, 6 available weapons, excellent animated graphics, and more. The author says: "Meet a new breed of heroes in this free, fast paced action game. Learn the subtle art of 'shotgun negotiation' and 'flame thrower investigation'!" With its adult-only warnings due to the explicit violence in the game, this is not for younger players, even though it includes popular childrens' characters, like Smurfs and Lemmings. Blip & Blop features two armed and dangerous characters which are ball bearings, hence the tag "Balls of Steel". They must work their way through the game, blasting everything in sight in a "kill fest" of splattered blood. While this could be seen as being gratuitous violence (and in many ways it is), the blood splatter is corny and the whole game is one big laugh. The animated graphics really are excellent, which gives the game a "wanna play" feel. While we do not support gratuitous violence at any time, we enjoyed our time with Blip & Blop and feel that, in adult hands, the violence is more fun than gratuitous. However, we strongly suggest that it be kept away from children. If you are and adult, and are looking for a good platform-style shooter, then grab a copy of Blip & Blop. You won't be disappointed. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 43.4MB download from: Win98 General Games

Ping Plotter Freeware v1.10 – Win9x/ME/XP
Ping Plotter Freeware is a Ping/TraceRoute utility with a graphical interface that uses multiple threads to trace all hops at once. It features continuous tracing (it can be set from "1" to "unlimited") with any interval from 60 minutes down to 1 second (default is 15 seconds), it shows the number of hops, works with domain names or IP addresses, has a "copy as image" capability, and more. This is a great little tool for the home trouble-shooter. It visually displays the TraceRoute, and the use of multiple threads should give more accurate results than single thread TraceRoute utilities. This free version lacks many of the bells and whistles of the Standard or Pro versions (both of which require payment) but it should be sufficient for most home users. If you wish to keep track of your connection between two points over a period of time, you can use the "copy as image" capability to take a snapshot of the data and then save it as an image. Ping Plotter Freeware is a handy little application that most PC users will find of value. Access this 425kB download from: Win95 Internet Related

Satellite Antenna Alignment v2.36.1 – Win9x/ME/XP
Satellite Antenna Alignment is a program that calculates the angles necessary for installing satellite dishes anywhere in the world. It features data for about 160 satellites, it calculates the position for all satellites at once (so you can see what satellites can be accessed from your location), it calculates the azimuth of the sun (no compass required), and more. This is a "must have" for anyone who wishes to install their own satellite dish. By entering the co-ordinates of your location (latitude and longitude) it instantly shows which satellites you can "see" from that location and, if you enter the timezone information (the actual date and time is taken from your computer) it will show you the sun's azimuth to assist you in aligning the dish. Other data included is the angle of obstacles (you need to input the distance from your dish and the height above the dish) so you can see what satellites will be visible above the obstacle. To help you find the location of your dish in latitude and longitude, it provides a link to two sites which provide worldwide co-ordinates. Satellite Antenna Alignment is extremely easy to use and has a minimal learning curve. However, setting up a satellite dish may require some basic mathematics and construction skills. If you ever wondered about accessing satellite communications from your town and needed somewhere to start, Satellite Antenna Alignment will prove to be invaluable. Grab a copy now! Access this 845kB download from: Win95 General Programs

Two Notes v1.5 – Win9x/ME/XP
Two Notes is a desktop sticky notes utility with a user-friendly interface. It features the optional creation of new note templates, it is fully customizable (you can change the color of notes, font, size, signature, style, etc), and more. This is a neat little program that resides as an icon in the desktray (next to the clock) and gives you the option of placing sticky notes on your desktop which, while visible, will not prevent you working with other programs. Acting as a visual reminder only, unfortunately it does not include an alarm function as an audible reminder too. If you are looking for a sticky notes utility for your desktop, Two Notes is worth putting on your short list. Access this 251kB download from: Win95 Text Programs

Street Bike Fury v1.0 – Win9x/ME/XP
Street Bike Fury is a motorcycle arcade action game that will challenge your skills as you try to escape from the drug lords. It features 14 waves of enemies, 10 different enemy types, more than 15 randomized level parts, multiple weapons, triggered events, and more. This is simply a chase game where you must avoid the clutches of the enemies as you blast across town on your powerful motorcycle, wielding a shotgun, chaingun, rocket launcher, and sometimes a flamethrower. There is no finesse in this game, just great graphics and heart pumping action. There are powerups (tokens) to collect along the way as you somersault your bike over obstacles and blast at everything that moves (and many things that don't). It doesn't matter how good you are, eventually you'll die – the trick is to avoid dying for as long as possible. There are no socially redeemable aspects to Street Bike Fury – it is pure action from start to finish. Fortunately, it is wrapped in excellent graphics and fun gameplay. If action is where you're at then this is the game for you. Street Bike Fury is fun and gives an adrenalin rush every time you play it. Why don't you try it now? Access this 12.6MB download from: Win95 General Games
UPDATES
Rendera – an art program for retouching (rendering) digital images – has been updated to version 1.22 with a download size of 129kB. The author advises that changes in this version include: fixes a crash related to the airbrush tool when using the filled area stroke type; the pen tool now features 4x oversampling; and other bug fixes. Grab this latest version from: WinXP Graphic Programs
Ultimate Racer – a slotcar race management system & track layout editor – has been updated to version 3.0.23 with a new, much larger download size of 13.4MB. The author advises that changes in this version include: display track delimiters in colored view; allow lap deletion and change; interactive navigation between race manager views; restart automatically segments in a staggered race; show race, lap and circuit from top 50 view; and a complete rewriting of the track layout editor. Get this much updated program from: Win98 General Programs
COMMENTS
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