Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #484 issued August 1, 2008

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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Muffy's Great Escape – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Muffy's Great Escape is a retro-inspired vertically-scrolling platform game. It features 3 levels of difficulty, 5 worlds with 3 levels each (15 levels in total), excellent retro graphics, challenging gameplay, and more. This is an interesting variation on the old platform genre. This game starts when the screen begins scrolling down and you have to keep ahead of it by jumping up the platforms until you ring the bell at the top. The game is made harder because the screen scrolls vertically and you quickly find yourself "over-run" by the screen unless you keep moving upwards. If you fall down, or touch the enemies, you'll lose a life. The main "secret" to this game is that you can jump higher when you are moving sideways. You move left or right using the arrow keys, and jump using the Spacebar. The game's music is somewhat repetitive and, as with many games, sanity demands that you turn off the music to enjoy the game. The three levels of difficulty are simply three scrolling speeds, with the Novice level the slowest (but still reasonably fast). We were most impressed with Muffy's Great Escape. It is just unusual enough so that you don't think you are playing "just another" platform game. You can expect to crash and burn a few times before you master the game but there are enough levels, and enough levels of difficulty, to keep you playing for a while. We loved! Access this 5.38MB download from: Win95 General Game

QuickPause v4.1.198 – WinXP/Vista
QuickPause is a keyboard break reminder to assist with the common problem of keyboard and mouse overuse. It features preventative & analysis modes, configurable micro pauses & pause breaks, resides as an icon in the desktray (next to the clock), and more. This is a great way of preventing RSI (repetitive strain injury) caused by overuse of the keyboard and mouse. By default QuickPause pops up a "micro pause" reminder every 20 minutes that lasts for 1 minute, and a "rest break" reminder of 5 minutes every 10 "micro pauses" (ie, every 3 hours 30 minutes). You can change these figures, prevent the warning message from being canceled, even change the displayed message. Like other tools for this type, QuickPause cannot make you take a break, it can only suggest that it is time for one. The ultimate decision (and responsibility) is up to the user. However, anyone who uses a computer for more than a few hours in a day often needs these types of reminders. Not only is RSI a major problem with computer users who don't take regular breaks, but so too are problems like deep vein thrombosis (DVT) which can be life threatening. QuickPause is a great tool – if you take the regular breaks when advised. We consider it a "must have" for all heavy computer users. Note: we have been advised that this version is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME but there is an older version suitable for Windows 98 and ME (4.66MB download). Access this 2.41MB download from: WinXP Desktop Utility

WinMagic Desktop Suite v7.0 – WinXP/Vista
WinMagic Desktop Suite is a suite of tools that can help the user customize Windows. It features 5 main tools (system customizing & speedup tools, Winmagic Tray, uninstaller, startup manager & security), access to 7 little known Windows tools, and more. This is an interesting collection of tools and functions. It gives the user quite a few options to customize the Windows desktop through a number of different applets, but it does have some negative aspects. First, there is virtually no documentation with this program so a novice user could be quite confused about what is advisable to change, and what isn't. Any programs like this should include detailed documentation to ensure that damage is not done to the system. Apart from the lack of documentation, some of the functions and links within the program do not work. For example, we could not get the interestingly named Winmagic Tray applet to work and, because there is no real explanation of what things do, we don't know what this applet was designed for! The limited Helpfile with the program simply says: "This Utility Added Icons To Tray You Can Acces (sic) Windows Featues (sic) More Quickly It's Also Include Cleanup Utility. And Task Schedular. Task Schedular Helps To You Scheduling Tasks In Your System." We have no idea what that means (usually you can use a program and, in doing so, understand what the author was trying to explain). Other functions in WinMagic Desktop Suite were worthwhile to access. Overall, we were a little disappointed in WinMagic Desktop Suite because, for a version 7.0 program, we felt it behaved too much like a beta. Advanced PC users should get some value from this suite but we do not recommend it for novices. Use it with caution! Note: we have been advised that this version is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 2.04MB download from: WinXP Windows Enhancement

Golden Video VHS to DVD Converter v1.01 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Golden Video VHS to DVD Converter is a tool that converts VHS tapes (or other streaming video) directly to DVD or the PC (AVI or MPEG formats). It features image restoration tools, simple Wizard interface, includes DVD burning software, supports PAL & NTSC formats, automatically detects the end of the video, optional captions, adjusts & corrects color, automatically correct defects in the video quality, optionally adds effects (sepia, black & white, etc), and more. Similar to its sister program, Debut (also listed with CFS), Golden Video VHS to DVD Converter is an amazing tool that takes streaming video and either burns it to DVD or saves it as a movie file on your PC. Specially designed to work with VHS tapes, it requires a capture card or USB capture device (like EasyCap) to convert the streaming analog video into a format that the computer can use. Golden Video VHS to DVD Converter makes the whole process "idiot proof" with an easy-to-use Wizard that will automatically download any codecs required to complete the conversion. It cleans up the video and allows the user to add captions or even correct the color. While capturing the video, it will detect the end of the tape and stop the recording process so you don't even have to sit and monitor it. Once you have captured your video, it will either burn it directly to a DVD (playable on any DVD player) or save it as either an AVI or MPEG file. If you have old VHS (yes, and Beta too!) video tapes and wish to convert them to DVD then Golden Video VHS to DVD Converter is a "must have" program. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 356kB download from: Win98 Multimedia Program

Xero v1.2 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Xero is a vertically scrolling space shooter. It features 9 levels, 3 enemy drones to fight (plus Boss), powerups, smooth animations, fast gameplay, brilliant graphics, cool special-effects, suitable for playing on a portable Java-based device, and more. This is a fun little game that can be played on any Java-based device (PC, phone, PDA, etc). The game file is a tiny, 4kB JAR file that requires Java 1.4 or later. Xero is a relatively standard shooter with enemy space ships attacking from the top of the screen. You move your ship with the arrow keys and the Spacebar is used for firing (just hold it down for continuous firing). Xero lacks sound effects, and this does detract from the game. Of course, to keep the game size so small there must be some sacrifices, and this is its sacrifice. Xero is a great little game that doesn't seem so small when you are playing. The gameplay is frenetic, and it is not an easy game to beat. If you like traditional space shooters then this would have to be one to get. We are still amazed at how small Xero is... Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 4kB download from: Win98 General Game

ManicTime v1.0.0.47 – WinXP/Vista
ManicTime is a time management program that helps accurately track how time on the computer is spent. It features automatic data collection which is stored locally, simple graphic presentation of daily activities, time tagging, shows how much time was spent on different tasks, and more. Unfortunately, CFS was unable to review this program. The author says: "ManicTime is a time tracking software which automatically collects data on your computer usage. It records active and away time, as well as which applications you used and for how long you used them. The data ManicTime collects is stored in a local database on your computer. Once data is collected you can use our simple click and drag feature to accurately tag how you spent your time. Time tagging allows you to see how you spent your time based on your own time tags and gives you accurate information on how efficient you really are. Because there is so much data available about your computer usage, you are able to tag spent time for days in the past. Based on this data you are able to generate various statistics. You can easily find out how much time you spend behind a computer or how much time you spend browsing the web." Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 2.68MB download from: WinXP General Program

ThunderSite Free Web Editor v2.1 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
ThunderSite Free Web Editor is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HTML editor & Website builder. It features over 130 editable Website structures in 21 categories with a choice of 3 templates per structure, template customization, source code insertion, single level undo/redo, built-in FTP client, good Helpfile, and more. This is an excellent tool for anyone without HTML coding experience who wishes to create a Website and publish it. Using WYSIWYG (the same as a word processor), ThunderSite Free Web Editor made the task relatively easy and the user can concentrate on getting the design right rather than having to learn coding. Of course, this has its own downside and there is less control over the look 'n feel of a site using this type of tool. ThunderSite Free Web Editor is limited in the number of templates available in the free version (more can be purchased) and the free templates include the ThunderSite logo. We were disappointed in the single level undo/redo – multi-level undo/redo is now popular because most users require this function. ThunderSite Free Web Editor will create an attractive Website for you but the number of free templates is very restrictive (your site could end up looking like a hundred, or a thousand, other sites!). We were pleased with the professionalism of this tool, and the number of features included. If you are looking for a template-based site, and you don't know (or don't want to know) HTML coding, then ThunderSite Free Web Editor is worth checking out. We liked! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Get this 25.4MB download from: Win98 Internet Related

700 Flash Games v1.01 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
700 Flash Games is a collection of 700 free Flash games from various authors. It features 14 separate databases, facility to add games to any database, individual games can be deleted, Favorites list, popularity indicator (requires an Internet connection), and more. This is an amazing collection of SWF (Flash) games. The author states that over "98% of flash games from these archives are freeware applications and the rest are demo games". The program itself is simply a database of collected games. These games vary in quality from "terrific" to "terrible" and you must decide which games are suitable for you. Of course, if you find one that really grabs you it can be saved to the favorites and, likewise, if you find one that is terrible or inappropriate then it can be deleted. If you find a SWF Flash game that isn't in one of the databases, you can always add it. We were most impressed with the games we looked at. Some are really outstanding and you could find yourself playing them often. We were less impressed with some games that we could not stop. The Esc key did not work for them and the only way to stop the games (that we could find) was to either open another game or close the whole database collection. Neither option is acceptable as far as we are concerned. The whole concept of 700 Flash Games is awesome and, if you like smaller games, you will love this massive collection. If you can handle the size of 700 Flash Games then it is worth getting. Grab a copy now! Access this 93.6MB download from: Win95 General Game
COMMENTS
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