Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #509 issued June 12, 2009

Home > CFS Weekly Newsletter #509: issued June 12, 2009

Enter your search termsSubmit search form

Search the CFS site Search the Web

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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Utopia City (demo) – WinXP/Vista
Utopia City is a futuristic 3D shooter set in a virtual world where you must free the enslaved humans by killing their virtual selves. It features over 12 different areas to explore (bank, city, club, police station, hotel, etc), 7 weapons (laser, bazooka, pistol, automatic rifle, etc), Boss, superb 3D animated graphics, excellent sound effects, save game function, and more. In the style of the Matrix movies, humans are enslaved in a virtual world and must be freed, even though they don't want to. To free them their virtual bodies must be killed and the resultant kernel captured. There are various security guards and destructors to prevent you from carrying out your mission. Utopia City is one of the best 3D corridor-style games we have seen. The gameplay is challenging, there are various puzzles to solve, and the eye candy spectacular. Even though this is a demo, it is playable and worth playing. The biggest problem with the game (apart from requiring a reasonably modern computer) is in its size. However, if that isn't a problem then Utopia City is a "must have" for all shooter fans. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Get this 239MB download from: WinXP General Games

Panopreter v3.0.8 – WinXP/Vista
Panopreter is a text-to-speech tool that reads a text-based file (TXT, RTF, HTML or DOC) or text copied into the program. It optionally saves the speech to WAV & MP3 audio formats, has a volume control, a reading speed control, and more. This is a simple but effective text-to-speech program that can read out loud a number of text-based file formats (including both HTML and Word DOC formats). The Windows XP default voice (Microsoft Sam) is not as clear as the Vista default voice (Microsoft Anna) but both are effective. The ability to save the spoken text to both WAV and MP3 formats is handy, should you wish to save them. While the author only says that the MP3 file is created, in fact it is first saved as a WAV file and then converted to MP3 so both are available. By default Panopreter saves these two files in the same folder as the text file they are based on. It carries Google advertising which, while it is not "spyware", is still an intrusion. Panopreter is an effective, if somewhat bland, text-to-speech tool. Worth a look. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Get this 3.57MB download from: WinXP Multimedia Programs

SVERDYSH v5.0 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
SVERDYSH is a small business accounting package that uses examples instead of tedious help screens. It features hundreds of bank accounts, cash book, petty cash book, bank reconciliation, VAT, invoicing, debtors control, creditors register, stock register, fixed assets register, depreciation calculator, balancing charges, disposal of fixed assets, final accounts, profit & loss account, balance sheet, general journal, aged debtors control, tax bill calculator, business notebook, income tax calculator, net profit for taxation calculator, accruals calculator, prepayments calculator, cash flow forecast, and more. This is an excellent accounting program which is targeted at non-accountants by using examples rather than help screens. Following the examples should give managers of small businesses the tools to control their own accounts. SVERDYSH is UK focused, with provision for VAT and with all examples in pounds sterling rather than dollars. While it is useful for users in other countries, British users will find it particularly helpful with everything targeted directly at them. SVERDYSH is not for someone who has no knowledge of basic accountancy theory but most users, with a small understanding of double bookkeeping practices, should find it relatively easy to use. Like most accountancy programs we have seen, SVERDYSH is utilitarian in appearance. If you have a small business and are looking for an accountancy program, check out SVERDYSH. It could be exactly what you are looking for! Access this 70.4MB download from: Win95 General Programs

TestDisk v6.11.3 – WinXP/Vista
TestDisk is a small tool that helps recover lost data, lost partitions and/or makes non-booting disks bootable again, when caused by human error or software failure (not mechanical failure). It can be used on partitions created for FAT16 (DOS & Windows), FAT32, NTFS, Linux (including RAID & LUKS), BeOS, Mac, BSD disklabel (FreeBSD, OpenBSD & NetBSD), Novel, Hierarchical File System (HFS, HFS+ and HFSX), IBM's Journaled File System (JFS), Compressed File System (CramFS), etc. It is bundled with a similar utility, PhotoRec, which recovers photos and videos. There are versions of this two-program bundle for DOS & Windows 95/98 (675kB download), Linux, Mac, etc. This is an amazing tool which runs in a DOS box under Windows XP or later. It has a DOS look 'n feel that is easy to use, even for people not conversant with DOS. However, it should be used judiciously because it has the potential to destroy all partitions and data on your hard drive. The interface is logical, using a system of DOS menus to squirrel down to the problem partition. It works equally with hard drives containing mixed partitions (typically Linux and Windows partitions sharing the same hard drive). The author says about PhotoRec that it is a "file data recovery software designed to recover lost files including video, documents and archives from Hard Disks and CDRom and lost pictures (thus, its 'Photo Recovery' name) from digital camera memory. PhotoRec ignores the filesystem and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even if your media's filesystem has been severely damaged or re-formatted." While we did not review PhotoRec, we were most impressed with TestDisk. It is an easy-to-use program that is extremely powerful. Possibly not for novices, TestDisk is a "must have" for all other PC users. Grab a copy now! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME (there is another version for these platforms). Get this 1.48MB download from: WinXP Desktop Utilities

Mario StarCatcher 2 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Mario StarCatcher 2 is a "Super Mario" platform game, in SWF format, that runs in a Web browser. It features 20 interactive levels, huge diversity between worlds (levels), powerups to collect, in-game hints, good graphics, no installation required (just unzip & play), and more. This is a great little platformer that gives just enough challenge to make it worthwhile playing again and again. Graphics are good without being spectacular, but gameplay is addictive, and the diversity of worlds gives you a new look for each level. Mario StarCatcher 2 runs from a Web browser and uses the Macromedia Flash Player plug-in. The copy on CFS can be freely downloaded and shared (membership is not required for this download). We enjoyed playing Mario StarCatcher 2 and think you will too. Grab a copy and see for yourself. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Get this 3.16MB download from: Win98 General Games

PolyEdit Lite v5.2 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
PolyEdit Lite is a word processor that can open & save documents in RTF, MS Word 95-2007, Unicode (UTF-8 & UTF-16) and other formats. It features export to HTML & PDF, spell checker (dictionaries are required – approx 550kB each), tabbed interface, text formatting tools, search & replace, support for images & objects, and more. This is an excellent word processor than replaces Notepad and Wordpad, and could even replace major word processors, like MS Word and WordPerfect. While PolyEdit Lite can read MS Word 2007 documents, it can only save to MS Word 6 (also known as Word 95) format, and this might mean that some formatting is lost. However, the majority of the users would not be able to tell the difference between Word 6 and Word 2007 unless a high level of formatting was used when the document was saved. PolyEdit Lite offers a spell check function, but dictionaries (in English, French, Portuguese, German and Spanish) are not included and these are about 550kB in size each as an additional download. It includes a find & replace tool, but this only works across the active (topmost) document and not in all the tabbed documents opened within the program. PolyEdit Lite is an excellent tool for 99% of average word processor requirements. Even though it cannot write to the Word 2000 to 2007 formats, it can read them, and that is a fabulous feature on its own. We really liked this word processor and, after having used it, we wonder why anyone would bother with a cumbersome heavyweight like Word 2007, or any of the other modern commercial word processors, when this is available. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than Notepad or Wordpad, able to leap tall poppies in a single bound, PolyEdit Lite is the word processor for the average person. We loved! Access this 2.48MB download (don't forget the dictionary too) from: Win95 Text Programs

Free Launch Bar v2.0 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Free Launch Bar is a replacement for the standard Quick Launch bar that allows the combination of shortcuts into groups (like popup menus). It features integration with Windows shell, low resource usage, the use of hotkeys, you can use PNG files for icons, add separators & titles, it supports drag 'n drop, offers fast toolbar switching, and more. This is a great enhancement to the much underrated Windows Quick Launch bar. It allows you to add menu groups, with separators and titles, and to also improve the look of the desktop. While fully compatible to the standard Quick Launch bar, it adds many more features and is a true enhancement. If you want to really get your Quick Launch bar to perform at a much higher level than grab a copy of Free Launch Bar – and be prepared to be impressed! We were. Access this 1.68MB download from: Win95 Windows Enhancements

Crazy Lunch v1.1 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Crazy Lunch is a fun "shooter", for children of all ages, where you must stop the monsters from stealing your lunch. It features 3 game modes, lots of tasty bonuses & surprises, excellent animated graphics, light-hearted novelty gameplay, tutorial, and more. This really is a fun game that is enhanced with great graphics overlayed on real photos. In Mode 1 you must click on the monsters to stop them from stealing your food, and also grab the food they drop. In Mode 2 you must find the same food, and in Mode 3 you type words while the monsters eat (850 word list). While specifically targeted at children, adults of any age will enjoy the fun aspects of Crazy Lunch and will find it a great way to kill an hour or so when the boss isn't looking. We had fun playing Crazy Lunch – light-hearted nonsense with just enough challenge to encourage you to play again. Don't miss this one! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 9.83MB download from: Win98 General Games
UPDATE
PNotes – a light-weight, flexible, skinnable manager of virtual "sticky" notes – has been updated to version 4.7.102 with a slightly larger download size of 274kB. The author advises that the main changes in this version were bug fixes. Grab this latest version from: Win98 Text Programs
COMMENTS
We would like to thank the regular visitors to the CFS site who have told us their favorite freeware. If you have a favorite program which isn't listed on the CFS pages we invite you to share that information with everyone through this site and this newsletter. If you are an author of a freeware app (or would just like to suggest a program) and would like it listed on these pages, please fill in the Submit Software form.
If you enjoy the Completely FREE Software site please don't feel shy about letting others know.

Click Here to share this page with your friends, website visitors, ezine readers, social followers and other online contacts.
The Link-To Tool is a gift from:
Website software that works
120 Florida Nature Videos
Completely FREE Software