Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #537 issued February 26, 2010

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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Doom: Fall of Mars v0.1.0.a – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista/7
Set in the Doom world, Doom: Fall of Mars is an RPG-style adventure with lots of cartoonish violence. It features 3 levels, a few Bosses, many items to collect, lots of ghoulish enemies to kill & avoid, good VGA-style graphics, fun gameplay, windowed & fullscreen modes, and more. Doom: Fall of Mars is a great little adventure game that can be called a "kill 'n collect" pseudo-RPG. Set on Mars, your battle the demons and ghouls, and finally face the Bosses. The controls are simple, left clicking the mouse button is Move/Pickup/Activate, the right mouse button is Attack/Use, the "I" key is for the inventory panel, the "C" key is for the character panel, and the Spacebar closes all panels. The game plays well, even though it is technically a proof of concept demo, and it offers some challenges to keep the player's interest. With lots of items to collect, and even more nasty enemies to destroy, Doom: Fall of Mars is a "must have" for anyone who enjoys Doom-style games. We do, and we loved! Note: since its release, the author's site has disappeared so CFS is hosting a copy of this game. Get this 5.98MB download from: Win95 General Games

LSMacro v1.0.1 – WinXP/Vista/7
LSMacro is a keyboard macro utility that can run multiple programs, open URLs, screen capture, and send key/mouse events to an other programs. It features an easy-to-use interface, it has definable hotkeys, you can export macros as a LIS file, and more. This is a terrific tool if you want to launch programs using hotkeys, access Websites using hotkeys, etc. Unfortunately it does not include any form of Helpfile, even a basic README file, and while the program itself is easy to use, having some information about setting it up would be an advantage. LSMacro also does not offer any options. When it is first installed you are asked if you want it to auto load with Windows but, like many users, we are reluctant to do this until we have tried out the program and decided that we wanted to keep it. However, having passed over that option during the install process, there is no easy way within LSMacro to re-instate the auto-load without manually creating a link to it in the Programs/Startup folder. These small, unnecessary annoyances spoil what is otherwise an excellent utility. In spite of those comments, LSMacro is an excellent hotkey program launcher. We liked. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 771kB download from: WinXP Desktop Utilities

Falco GIF Animator v1.6 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista/7
Falco GIF Animator is an image editor and GIF animator that supports JPG, GIF (animated), PNG, BMP, ICO, CUR, ANI, TGA, TIF & ICL formats. It features extensive image editing tools (rotates, flips, shifts, contrast, brightness, inverts colors, blurs, grayscale, sharpen, emboss, masks, etc), includes a Wizard to create animated GIF banners, it supports TWAIN devices, there is a file preview, it supports image printing, images up to 2048x2048 are supported, unlimited undo/redo, there is a good Helpfile, and more. We really looked forward to reviewing Falco GIF Animator, specially as it offered so many image editing tools not normally found on this type of program (images are usually edited in another program and then imported into the animation tool). Alas, we were disappointed. The image editing tools are excellent, and even the GIF animated banner Wizard did a credible job, but it seemed to fall apart in some areas. For example, you can only set image transparencies in 32-bit images (over 16.7 million colors), even though GIF images are only, by default, 256-color and it is usually necessary to use transparent colors in animations. Editing an existing animated GIF is awkward because you will find that the existing transparencies are ignored and, because it is not a 32-bit image, you cannot re-establish them. If you create a banner using the built-in Wizard, and then use the built-in GIF optimizing tool, the resultant banner becomes unusable because too few colors are used in the optimization. For some strange reason, the undo/redo functions are grayed out after an optimization! Falco GIF Animator has lots of great features, specially in the area of image editing, but as a GIF animator it is very limited in what it can do. Even with these limitations, it still offers a lot of image editing grunt. Access this 17.1MB download from: Win95 Graphic Programs

WinUtilities v9.41 – WinXP/Vista/7
WinUtilities is a collection of System utilities (modules). It features one-click System maintenance, there are 23 modules in 6 sections (Clean Up & Repair, Optimize & Improve, Privacy & Security, Files & Folders, Registry Tools & System Tools), and more. This is a multi-functional system performance and optimization suite. It includes an array of excellent modules covering a wide range of System functions. There is even a quick link to six System tools provided by Microsoft that you may not know about (or know where to find). The one-click maintenance tab offers 12 different functions – from cleaning your Internet tracks to analysing and removing junk data from your computer. We really liked WinUtilities. It is a functional suite of tools that every PC user will find of value. WinUtilities is a "must have" for your computer's toolbox. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 6.75MB download from: WinXP Windows Enhancements

Free Audio Editor v6.9.1 – WinXP/Vista/7
Free Audio Editor is an audio recording & editing suite. It allows you to visually edit audio files, record audio from any input device (microphone, line-in jack, etc), apply various effects (echo, vibrato, amplify, fade, speed change, etc), burn audio CDs (from MP3, WMA, WAV or OGG audio files), download YouTube videos, extract audio from video files, and more. This is an excellent audio editor that includes a suite of associated tools. You can visually edit your audio files – add silence, amplify sections, fade in or fade out, etc – download a YouTube video, convert that video to another format or rip the audio from it, burn your audio files to an audio CD, and lots more. The audio editing tasks are comprehensive, but still lack some of the high end functions, but the overall package is exceptional as Free Audio Editor does so much more than most audio editors. The interface is easy to use, with an unusual tabbed menu arrangement that works really well. Unfortunately, there are a few things that you cannot do with the free version – you cannot rip audio CDs, you can only save your work as a WAV file, it does not offer batch merging or conversion, and it does not offer text-to-speech (all of which are available in the Deluxe version). The author says that the free version will not burn audio CDs, but we had no trouble using this function. We were really impressed with Free Audio Editor. Possibly there are better editors, better audio CD burners, better YouTube downloaders, etc but, as a package, this is a superb suite and one that is worth grabbing. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 19.3MB download from: WinXP Multimedia Programs

CSVed v2.0.1 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista/7
CSVed is a powerful CSV file editor that can manipulate any CSV file, separated with any separator. It features edit/add/insert/delete items, import, change separator, add or delete columns, rearrange column order, save selection of rows & columns, filter items, save with double quotes, search & replace, remove duplicates, append & merge files, add prefix & suffix, split & join columns, export (to HTML, Excel, Word, XML, etc), proper words & strings, column search, column & global sort, and more. Unfortunately, CFS was unable to review this program. The author says that: "The listview is running in virtual mode, that means the data is displayed on demand (not the entire CSV file is loaded in the listview) so CSVed can handle big files and is very fast. In other words, you can do everything with a CSV file you wanted." He also says that the cell edit has problems, and has been disabled in Vista and Windows 7. Access this 1.38MB download from: Win95 Text Programs

Free Disc Burner v2.2.3.57 – WinXP/Vista/7
Free Disc Burner is a program that writes any files, folders (data) to any disk (BD-R/BD-RE, DVD-R Double & Dual Layer, DVD+R/DVD+RW, DVD-R/DVD-RW, DVD-RAM & CD-R/CD-RW). It supports buffer protection, advanced speed detection, automatic selection of write modes, optional disk erase, writes multi-session or disc-at-once to all disks (including Blue-Ray), burns ISO disk images, optionally imports the last session, and more. This is a handy CD/DVD burner for those times when you don't want to wait an hour while Roxio or Nero boots up. It can handle virtually every type of writable disk, including Blue-Ray, and it can recognize the disk in your drive and select the correct write mode. Free Disc Burner can burn ISO disk images, as well as any data file (including MP3, VOB, etc). However, it cannot burn CD audio (CDA) music disks, it cannot copy between disks, and it can only burn a single copy at a time. While it can burn VOB files, it cannot create a video disk except through an ISO disk image file. These limitations somewhat take away from what is otherwise an excellent tool. If these limitations do not affect you, then Free Disc Burner is an ideal replacement for the humongous burning tools provided with most CD and DVD burners. For quick burns, when the limitations are not a problem, Free Disc Burner is a great tool to have around. We liked. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 6.74MB download from: WinXP General Programs

Astro Dog v1.0 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista/7
Astro Dog is a shooting-style arcade game where you help Astro Dog to leave the planet, traveling from planet to planet. It features 15 levels, lots of items to collect, lots of enemies to kill, a fun storyline, good animated graphics, addictive gameplay, and more. This is a fun little Flash game that is just challenging enough to make it playable. In this game you must help Astro Dog to leave the planet by collecting spaceship parts, and getting fuel and provision (bone and milk). You must avoid enemies flying UFO, crabs and asteroids, shooting at them to score points. Astro Dog is played with the arrow keys for movement and the Spacebar for shooting. While it won't tax the gray matter, Astro Dog is a fun way to kill a few minutes between meetings. Grab a copy and check it out yourself! Access this 3.33MB download from: Win95 General Games
COMMENTS
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