Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #519 issued September 4, 2009

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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Bermuda Escape – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Bermuda Escape is a point 'n click undersea adventure set in the Bermuda Triangle where you must discover its secret and devise a way to escape. It features excellent graphics & storyline, challenging gameplay, optional on-line walkthrough, and more. This is a superb adventure game with lots of clever puzzles to solve. There are lots of items required to finish this game and it is not a fast game to complete. You start in a boat in the Bermuda Triangle and, once you have gathered certain items, the boat sinks and you must don your scuba gear. We cannot say too much or it will spoil the game but, if you are really stuck, there is an on-line walkthrough available to keep you moving. However, the less this is used the better. Bermuda Escape is in the best traditions of the point 'n click genre (made famous with games like Sierra's Leisure Suit Larry). We loved! Access this 2.93MB download from: Win95 General Games

Directory Invade v1.0.1 – WinXP/Vista
Directory Invade is a semi-manual Website submitter. It features the ability to list to over 7,000 Web directories, it auto-inserts relevant data into submission forms, you can sort the listing by Google PR/Alexa/Type/Category/IP, it is simple to use, and more. The main Directory Invade window comprises a list of sites on the left, and an IE-based Web browser on the right. Click on a link and the appropriate site is displayed in the right hand part of the window. You can also add notes for any directory. This could have been a handy site submitter except that its relevance is questionable – most of the sites listed are highly specialized so there is a long, and somewhat painstaking search to find sites that (a) accept submissions, (b) are relevant to your site, and (c) are still in existence! As it is virtually valueless to submit your site to a directory with no Google Page Ranking (PR) of its own, and many of the PR rankings listed are not correct, Directory Invade is of limited value. Many directory sites have a submission page but Directory Invade rarely connects you to that page and you must look through the site to find it. In many cases, specially with the highly specialized sites, we could not even find a submission page! There is no automated submission, and the only automation with Directory Invade is the inclusion of your data in the submission form. We were disappointed in this program. While directory submitters have limited real value for Webmasters trying to improve their Google Page Ranking, Directory Invade adds a new layer of confusion and work for the person submitting. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 3.98MB download from: WinXP Internet Related

Easeus Todo Backup v1.0 – WinXP/Vista
Easeus Todo Backup is a program to backup and restore the System, partition and hard disk. It features a backup of the System to a disk image, the backup an entire hard drive (including the System) to a disk image, it can restore the System & disk with a bootable CD/DVD, it can clone a disk, mount backup image files as virtual drives, and more. This is an awesome backup tool that can backup or clone an entire disk, and then restore that backup or clone in the event of a failure or System crash. It can also create a bootable CD or DVD of your System to act as a recovery disk when there is a boot failure, but we had a problem with the bootable CD disk we created which crashed partway through the boot up (the disk was reported to be successfully created but failed to boot properly). Other backups were completely successful and the compression (we had selected "normal" but could have selected "high" or "maximum" for even higher compression) reduced a 105GB partition (using a sector-by-sector backup rather than file backup) into a series of six DVD sized files with a combined size of 21.9GB. We could have encrypted the backup, and had it password protected, or we could have split the image files into smaller sizes to fit a Zip drive (100MB) or a CD (either 650MB or 700MB). Apart from our problem with the bootable CD, we were highly impressed with Easeus Todo Backup. It is designed for backing up entire partitioned drives, or even entire hard disks, rather than backing up folders or individual files. The cloning feature only works on entire hard drives, and not on individual partitions like the backup, but it is clearly designed for replicating the data on one hard drive to another so you can change hard drives without manually reloading all the individual programs. It is hard not to be impressed with this fabulous tool and we gave Easeus Todo Backup 10 out of 10. Superb! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 35.3MB download from: WinXP General Programs

Fotografix v1.2 – WinXP/Vista
Fotografix is a portable, powerful, image editor for digital image enhancement, photo retouching and graphic design. It features painting tools (brush, clone, gradient, etc), support for custom brushes, selection tools (rectangular or elliptical selection, magic wand, etc), transformation tools (scale, rotate, flip, etc), layers & channels (including adjustment layers & masks), editable text layers, easy-to-use scripting language, excellent Helpfile, and more. It features support for a huge range of popular image formats, and can read and write to JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIF, TGA, RAW plus its own proprietary format, FGX, and can read PSD (Photoshop), XCF (GIMP), PCX, ICO and CUR images. This is an awesome and very powerful photo editor that is even more awesome because (a) it is fully portable (can be run from a USB drive), and (b) it is tiny. While it may not rival the likes of Photoshop or Corel Paint Shop Pro in features, it can carry out over 90% of the tasks these commercial goliaths are commonly used for! Fotografix has its own scripting language, it supports layers and masks, and has a fairly full compliment of popular filters and adjustments. There are four toolboxes (Colors, Layers, Tools & Scripts) which are controlled by hotkeys. It includes 25 brushes and seven scripts. It is hard to criticize Fotografix because, for its size, it is amazingly powerful and full featured. Best of all, you can put it on a USB stick and carry it around with you – there is no installation required, though it does write an INI file to its home folder once it has been used. If you are looking for an image editor then Fotografix should be very high on your list. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 368kB download from: WinXP Graphic Programs

Audio Converter Extractor Max v1.0.0.1 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Audio Converter Extractor Max is an audio file converter that converts between MP3, WMA, WAV & OGG formats. It features batch conversions, reads all popular formats (AAC, ALAC, FLAC, AC3, SPX, MPC, TTA, APE, OFR, MID, ADX, MOD, MO3, etc), rips audio CDs, rips audio from video files (supports WMV, ASF, AVI, MPG, MP2, MP4, MOV, etc), offers customizable output quality (format dependent), drag 'n drop, Helpfile, and more. This is a terrific audio file converter that reads a huge variety of audio formats though it can write to only four. It can also rip audio from CDs, though it cannot extract information about the CD from the Internet (like FreeDB) and insert information about the CD into the ripped files – information is saved as Track01.MP3, Track02.MP3, etc instead of the actual track name. Audio Converter Extractor Max can also extract the audio from video files and save it as one of the four main formats (MP3, WMA, WAV & OGG). With a pretty face and an easy-to-use interface, Audio Converter Extractor Max is one of the best all round audio converters we have seen. Grab a copy now! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 3.26MB download from: Win98 Multimedia Programs

Random Number List Generator v1.0 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Random Number List Generator is a small program that creates a list of random numbers based on your criteria. It features 3 list types (sequential, constant value & random), optionally saves list to a TXT file, and more. The author says that it has a "strong algorithm to generate [a] truly universal random number list". It is capable of creating a list of 5,000 random or serial numbers within one second. It works with positive and negative numbers and you can append a prefix and suffix to your numbers. This should be a great little tool for generating passwords, but it seems to have stumbled somewhere between concept and application. For a start, we could not get the Constant Value List to do anything – maybe it was us, but nothing was generated irrespective of what data we fed into it. Secondly the author talks about it having a "Generate and copy List" option but it does not copy numbers (or an entire list) to the Clipboard and the only option is to save the list as a text (TXT) file and then copy off that document the number(s) you want. Not good. We found that the actual number generation was excellent but Random Number List Generator appears to be incomplete. Maybe version 2.0 will solve these problems... Access this 940kB download from: Win95 Desktop Utilities

Cleanersoft Free Registry Fix v1.6 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Cleanersoft Free Registry Fix is a tool that scans and repairs Registry errors. It features the automatic creation of Registry backups, there is an option to restore backups, it increases System speed & stability, scans 21 sections of the Registry (files & folders, shared DLLs, software locations, Start menu section, obsolete software, file extensions, font section, startup programs, shortcuts, etc), it offers the optional creation of a Windows Restore point (XP, Vista, etc), and more. This is an easy-to-use Registry scanner and repairer that seems to cover most areas of the Registry which needs to be regularly cleaned out. It is not perfect (no cleaner is) but it does an excellent job in keeping your computer a lean, mean, computing machine. Even though there are 21 different sections it addresses, you can uncheck any sections you choose and it will not scan them. We had it do a complete scan of our test computer and it found an amazing 2,189 errors! Cleanersoft Free Registry Fix offers a one-click solution to Registry errors and, while it is not perfect, it does an excellent job of ridding your computer of unwanted and erroneous Registry entries. We liked! Access this 731kB download from: Win95 Windows Enhancements

Dark Tower – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Dark Tower is a run 'n jump platform game where you must climb a tower, with the player as a stick figure and randomly generated levels. It features minimalistic graphics, very challenging gameplay, optional map view, bats & scorpions kill (as does a high fall), items to collect for points, extra lives with enough points, and more. This is an interesting platformer with its random levels and minimalistic graphics. The instructions are scrolled across the screen and are quite hard to read. Just to help you out, here are the basic controls: left & right arrows to run; double tap to sprint; Z to jump; down arrow + Z to jump high; towards wall + Z to backflip; and P to view map. Until you master these basic controls you will not go far in Dark Tower. We aren't sure why the author did not provide this information in an easier format as it scrolls across the bottom of the screen at a fast pace and you have to watch it many times to get that information. So much easier to have it in a README file... Dark Tower is a much better game than first looks indicate. The graphics might turn off some people more used to the high end eye candy popular in modern games, but it is eminently playable and lots of fun. This is a game to try. We loved Dark Tower and think that you will too. Grab a copy now. Access this 697kB download from: Win95 General Games
UPDATES
Mobile Media Converter – a video & audio converter that uses FFmpeg to convert between popular desktop formats – has been updated to version 1.5.0 with a slightly larger download size of 3.97MB. The author advises that changes in this version include: added Trim/Crop functionality; added progressbar; added conversion to MOV & PSP; and bug fixes. Grab this excellent multimedia file converter from: Win98 Multimedia Programs
Freebie Notes – a sticky notes program that includes an alarm timer – has been updated to version 3.30 with a new download size of 1.64MB. The author advises that this version includes some minor bug fixes. Access 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.
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