Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #491 issued October 3, 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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire v1.1 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire is a remake of an adventure/role playing game hybrid, originally published in 1990 by Sierra On-Line. It features all original dialogs/Easter eggs/action, there are 3 characters from which to choose (Fighter, Magic User & Thief), massive broad canvas interactive gameplay, point 'n click mouse-driven interface, 25-page manual in PDF format, 23-page FACS (Famous Adventurer's Correspondence School) booklet in PDF format, and more. This is a massive game which has been kept true to the original Sierra version except for updated graphics (now SVGA instead of 16-color EGA) and the mouse-driven interface. This brings it back more in line with later Sierra games. Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire, the second in the Quest for Glory series, is a fully interactive game with a huge variety of options within the game to achieve the goal of finding Arus al-Din and restoring his rank to that of Emir of Raseir. Each of the three character types approach this goal in different ways using their different strengths (and weaknesses). The game requires communication between the various characters in the story and not just fighting ability (which is also required at some points). It is played across a number of weeks, with 8 distinct time periods each day. Your character must sleep, drink and eat every day to survive. Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire is so much more than the ordinary adventure type RPG that it cannot be played in one or two sittings and judicious use of the Save key is essential to eventually complete the game. We were enthralled with Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire. It is an exceptional RPG, with the usual puzzles to solve and bad guys to kill, but painted onto such a broad canvas that it will challenge even the most experienced gamer. We loved! Access this 85.3MB download from: Win95 General Games

IE7pro v2.4 – WinXP/Vista
IE7pro is an add-on for IE 7 which adds lots of features and extras, and makes IE easier, more useful, secure and customizable. It features Close/Open tab by double left click, switch proxy, set agent identification, block ads & flash, open new tab from address bar, apply super drag-drop, refresh tab automatically, recover session crash, manage tab history, view page information, save image files quickly, spell check, Google/Alexa rankings, server info, and more. This is an awesome add-on for anyone using IE 7 or later (and, we presume, version 6 too). It offers a massive array of options and enhancements, including an effective ad blocker, a download manager, a variety of tab tweaks, the ability to increase or decrease the viewed page size (content can be zoomed in or out), a fast way of grabbing images from a site, and lots, lots more. The spell checker (if you don't have OpenOffice.org installed on your computer you will need the special spell checker/dictionary files – 16.8MB) works with multi-line forms so that if you are, say, sending a message to a site using a form, it will spell check it for you. Neat. Of course, there is always a downside somewhere and the "payment" for using IE7pro is that it will open a second tab when the program is opened that gives you a search tool (you can set it for almost any search engine you like). The author does get payment if you use this search tool. Apart from this second tab (which can be easily closed), IE7pro is a fantastic Internet Explorer add-on that all IE users will find valuable. A "must have" if you are still using IE as your Web browser. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 2.35MB download from: WinXP Internet Related

Nero InfoTool v5.3.3.0 – WinXP/Vista
Nero InfoTool is a tool that provides information about the most important features of installed CD/DVD drives, inserted disks (actual manufacturer, etc), Nero software (if installed), and more. This is an excellent reporting program for anyone who has a CD and/or DVD burner installed in their computer. It gives terrific information about each drive, about any disks inserted into those drives, about the Nero software installed (including all version numbers), the drivers installed, and more. Information is detailed and exhaustive. The information supplied about each of our CD/DVD drives, the disks we are using, and the software we have installed on our computer is excellent. Nero InfoTool does not test the drives but simply related what the drives say about themselves. Burn speeds are therefore susceptible to many factors, not the least being inaccurate specs. It was also interesting to check different brands of disks to see who their actual manufacturer really is (sometimes you can purchase identical disks, without the fancy brand name, but from the same manufacturer). If you have a CD or DVD burner then Nero InfoTool is a "must have". Grab a copy and see for yourself! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 1.65MB download from: WinXP General Programs

FocusViewer v2.1 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
FocusViewer is an image viewer and editor. It features 21 filter effects, supports common photo formats (BMP, JPG, GIF, TGA, PSD, PCX, PPM, WMF, ICO, etc), slideshow, red-eye removal, wallpaper with calendar, creates contact sheet, screen capture (timed & hot key), EXIF information, image cropping, image rotation, undo/redo, good Helpfile, and more. This is an excellent little image viewer, with some powerful editing functions, that also has some other nice features (like pre-formatting of images for printing). It is easy to use and highly functional, but it is the features that it didn't have which concerned us. For example, it does not support the very popular RAW image format, and it could not read our TIF format images (though it tried). It also could not read EMF files or EPS files, both of which are used in some areas of publishing. While it does offer undo and redo, it is limited to a single level so has more limited application than editors which offer unlimited undo/redo. FocusViewer really is an excellent tool that, in most instances, would satisfy casual happy-snap photographers. However, for serious digital photographers, its lack of RAW support is a major concern, as is the limited undo/redo. We loved the wallpaper with calendar function, and the excellent built-in editing filters and tools. Overall, FocusViewer is a great little image viewer and editor which should find a home on many desktops. Worth a look! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 1.43MB download from: Win98 Graphic Programs

ChessBin Chess v0.0.3.1 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
ChessBin Chess is a classic chess boardgame where you play against the computer. It features 5 ply depth search, clock, full stats (number of moves so far, valid moves for nominated piece, etc), 2 modes (training & game), choice of chess pieces (default & enhanced), highlighting of legal moves, move history, save game, save last move, and more. This is an excellent single-player chess game, albeit without many options at this stage (it is a very early version). It offers most of the important features of a good chess game – powerful AI, full statistics, etc – though it does not offer variable AI (important if there are novice players) or multi-player networked games. In fact, you can only play against the computer in this version. Probably our biggest complaint against ChessBin Chess is that you download an installer which, in turn, downloads the main program (not even 700kB!!!). Why? All the author is doing is adding one third to his overall download by using an installer and making it hard for anyone to store a full copy of the non-installed game in case it needs to be re-installed later. You also cannot determine where you want the game to reside, annoying if, like us, you try and keep the C:\ drive just for Windows and a few other essential programs. That aside, ChessBin Chess is a superb little chess game that will, we hope, continue to get better and better. A "must have" for chess buffs. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 225kB download from: Win98 General Games

ATPad v1.0.108 – WinXP/Vista
ATPad is a tabbed ASCII text editor (Notepad replacement). It features lines numbering, word wrap, fully portable (no installation required, runs from USB drive), unlimited filesize, fully customizable (colors, fonts etc), 99 levels of undo/redo, search/replace, bookmarks, returns to "last open" state, it can show whitespace information (line breaks, tabs & spaces), send documents via e-mail (even unsaved documents), has a good Helpfile, and more. This is an excellent little Notepad replacement that has many enhancements over the Microsoft version. For starters, it has no filesize limit and loaded our 10MB, 470,000 line test document in under 2 seconds. It also offers 99 levels of undo and redo. ATPad is also fully portable – there is no installation required and it can run from any portable media (even a floppy disk!). Cool. There are some minor deficiencies within this program but, as the author has clearly stated, it is not trying to compete with other editors as each has its own strengths and weaknesses. We were disappointed that ATPad did not offer global search and replace – it will only replace text in the topmost "open" tab, not across all tabs. Also it does not offer syntax highlighting for programmers, it does not have a spell checker, and it does not offer "live" URLs or e-mail addresses. That aside, this is an excellent replacement for the aging Notepad and one that many, many users will find easy to use. In a word, excellent! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 105kB download from: WinXP Text Programs

Quick Player v1.4 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Quick Player is an audio player that supports MPG, MP1, MP2, MP3, OGG, WMA, ASF, WAV, MID, RMI, MOD, S3M, XM & IT formats. It features 6 built-in skins, optional always-on-top, variable transparency, playlist, minimizes to tray, repeat play, random play, make your own player, tags editor, and more. This is a nice little audio player that supports a good variety of popular audio formats. The CD player is a separate application but the desktop shortcut points at the C:\ drive, not the actual drive where the program is located! By amending the Properties of the desktop icon to reflect the actual location of the program we were able to access it. Unfortunately, it did not give us a choice of drives and the drive it chose to point to was one that does not have audio attached... Likewise the IE-based mini Web browser, included in the download, also had an incorrect desktop link, as did the Search tool. QuickPlayer lacks full playlist support – you can manually add files, but not a playlist file (M3U, etc). Finally, it is offered in the excellent, but not popular, 7-Zip format and you need to get a copy of the 7-Zip program (available through CFS) to open this 7Z archive. Yes, 7-Zip does create a smaller archive than standard ZIP but it is not the standard archive tool in the West. CFS has included a non-archived EXE version of the program on our server. This is an 8.45MB download. We had mixed feelings about Quick Player. We acknowledge the variety of audio formats supported, and it has some nice features, but playlist support would be beneficial, and a more universally accepted archived download file format. A nice player with some edges that need polishing. Access this 6.27MB download (in 7-Zip format) or get the 8.45MB CFS download (in EXE format) from: Win95 Multimedia Programs

Protozoa v20080912 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Protozoa is a frenetically paced, vertically scrolling shooter where you fight waves of genetically enhanced microbiological foes. It features excellent vector-based graphics, terrific special effects, addictive gameplay, mouse/keyboard control, windowed & fullscreen modes, and more. This is a fun game that came second under the category "Best Game on Intel Graphics" at the Intel 2008 Game Demo Contest. Rather than come from the home of vector-based shooters, Japan, Protozoa comes from Argentina. It is a stylish shooter that demands a lot from a player but also delivers lots. It is very fast paced, with lots of color and effects to enhance the gameplay. If like shooters (often called SHMUPS, an abbreviation for "shoot em ups") then you must grab a copy of Protozoa. It is an awesome game! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Get this 6.53MB download from: Win98 General Games
UPDATE
MailDominion – a tool that removes junk mail directly from a pop3 mail server – has been updated to version 1.1 with a download size of 15.0MB. The author advises that this version includes a few bug fixes and it now runs in the desktray (next to the clock) with right-key click activation (as suggested by CFS in the original Review of this program). It still includes the full Java Redistributable (which accounts for its large size) and the author told us that including it is: "just easier than performing checks and download[ing] the right version if it's not available". He said that it is: "just a downside of developing with Java... until Sun decides to make it modular and allow developers to just include the parts they use instead of the whole thing". Grab this new, improved version from: Win9x Internet Related
COMMENTS
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