Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #558 issued August 27, 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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Torque – Win98/ME/WinXP/Vista/Win7
Torque is a time-based abstract arena shooter. It features 10 levels (includes Boss & 3 tutorial levels), 6 special modes (Two Minutes, Waves, Double Fire, Bombs, Bullet Hell & Insane), fullscreen or windowed, optional music, it is highly addictive, and more. This is an excellent shooter which was inspired by Geometry Wars, but it only requires the arrow keys and the Z key to operate rather than the more complex key arrangement of Geometry Wars. Thi Japanese-style shooter uses abstract shapes rather than rendered space ships, etc. Even with the lack of spectacular eye candy, Torque is a game that will draw you in and keep you entertained for much longer than most other shooters – it seems to easy but is, in fact, very challenging. There is a large number of levels and modes to play with so it is not a game you will quickly tire from playing. If you like the old shoot-em-up style of game, with a good challenge and sufficient variation to keep you coming back for more and more, then grab a copy of Torque. We are sure, like us, you will quickly learn to love this game. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 9.14MB download from: Win98 General Games

Free Ringtone Maker Platinum v2.1.1.2 – WinXP/Vista/Win7
Free Ringtone Maker Platinum is an audio editor & cutter. It inputs most popular file formats (WAV, MP3, CDA, VOX, OGG, WMA, etc), offers numerous audio effects (fade-in, fade-out, reverb, file mixing, audio levels, etc), has zoom, multi-level undo & redo, variable output quality, and more. This is an amazing little tool that can do much more than simply create ringtones. It can take a piece of audio, either from a file or from an audio CD, and allow you to edit that audio in many different ways. You can cut sections of audio from it, add sections to it, add reverb (with a high level of control and a preview function to ensure you are happy with the result), adjust volume levels, etc. By being able to zoom in you can accurately set the start and finish of any portion you wish to retain, or remove. Having decided on what section of the audio you want, you can add fade-in and fade-out to tidy up the selection. You can undo changes and even redo those undone changes back many levels – handy if you aren't sure about how changes may affect the final sound bite. Once you have created your masterpiece the remaining audio (assuming you have trimmed it back to a manageable size) can then be saved in any of the four supported formats (WAV, MP3, OGG or WMA). However, you don't have to use the finished audio for a ringtone, Free Ringtone Maker Platinum can be used in any way you like. It can be used as a CD ripper or as an audio file converter. We loved Free Ringtone Maker Platinum. It really is a great program and one that we believe will prove popular with both audiophiles and ringtone lovers. A "must have" if you have a mobile cell phone. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 6.51MB download from: WinXP Multimedia Programs

Simnet Registry Defrag v2.3.1.5 – WinXP/Vista/Win7
Simnet Registry Defrag is a program that defragments the Windows Registry and optimizes it by removing gaps & fragments, fixing structural problems and making the system more stable. It features the automatic creation of a system restore point before optimizing, it has low memory & CPU usage, an easy-to-use interface, automatic product update, and more. Most PC users realize that they must regularly defragment their hard drive to ensure the continued efficient operation of their computer, but many don't realize that the Windows Registry can also get fragmented and it, too, needs to be optimized. Simnet Registry Defrag is an easy way to optimize and, in the process, help sort out any structural problems in the Registry. The end result should be a more stable computer that runs faster than before the defragmentation. Cool! Simnet Registry Defrag reduced our Registry size by about 3% – not a huge amount but the benefits in system speed, etc should be worthwhile. We liked! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 641kB download from: WinXP Windows Enhancements

Eusing YouTube Video Download v2.0 – Win9x/ME/WinXP/Vista/Win7
Eusing YouTube Video Download is an easy-to-use tool to download videos from YouTube. It features 4 levels of video quality (Normal, HQ, HD & Best Available), it offers optional batch downloading, and more. This really is an easy to use YouTube downloader. Open the program and, if you already have the address of the video in the Windows Clipboard, it will appear in the download window. Set the download quality (we suggest "Best Available"), the location where you want your video, and click on the Start button. Within a few minutes the video will be downloaded to your specified location. You have a choice of a non-install version (456kB) or the version that includes a setup (our choice). There is an update link within the program to ensure that you always have the latest version. This is important because every month or two YouTube changes the way its pages work and most downloaders cease to work. Hopefully the author will continue to ensure that Eusing YouTube Video Download has been updated to include the latest YouTube file access. We really liked Eusing YouTube Video Download. It has no frills or fancy eye candy to bloat out the program which works exactly as you would expect. Brilliantly. If you want to grab some YouTube videos then Eusing YouTube Video Download is one of the best ways to do this. Access this 628kB download from: Win95 Internet Related

Balabolka v1.33.0.471 – WinXP/Vista/Win7
Balabolka (means "chatterer" in Russian) is a text-to-speech text editor that can read from DOC, RTF, PDF, ODT, FB2 & HTML files and save to TXT. It can alter a voice's parameters (including rate & pitch), uses SAPI 4 or 5, saves the synchronized text in external LRC files or in MP3 tags inside the audio files, optionally improves the quality of the voice's articulation, includes a screen magnifier, and more. Balabolka can saved the spoken text as a WAV, MP3, OGG or WMA file. It is also reported to include a spell checker: "Balabolka implements the spell checking engine Common Speller API (CSAPI) for spell checking. The CSAPI is designed for use with all Microsoft applications that include spell-checking. CSAPI is currently provided by many vendors and used by the Microsoft Office 97/2000 and many other applications. The CSAPI engine is not shipped as a part of Balabolka installation package, but if you have Microsoft Office installed, Balabolka will automatically detect the presence of CSAPI and uses it." We have Microsoft Office 2000 installed on our test computer but could not use the spell checker function as it was grayed out in the menu. That small glitch aside, Balabolka is an awesome text-to-speech text editor. It will allow you to use any "voice" already installed on your computer (additional voices can be downloaded from Microsoft), and it even offers SAPI 4 voices if you have that version of SAPI (Microsoft Speech API) on your computer. If you are looking for a text-to-speech text editor that can read from multiple document formats and save the audio as a separate file, then grab a copy of Balabolka. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 3.33MB download from: WinXP Text Programs

Kingsoft Free Antivirus v2010.08.17.230 – WinXP/Vista/Win7
Kingsoft Free Antivirus is a cloud-based antivirus & spyware remover. It detects all types of viruses & threats with multiple guards, USB device protection, disk cleaner, History cleaner, process supervisor, LSP repair tools, System repair, optional backup virus definitions (31.9MB download), and more. Unfortunately CFS was unable to review this award winning antivirus program. The author says: "Kingsoft Free Antivirus provides effective and efficient protection solution with faster operation and lower CPU utilization. As an advanced anti-virus tool, it detects emerging threats and remove hidden threats from your computer. The comprehensive defender ensures your computer be secure from any potential risks. It also provides you with several convenient tools, such as USB Device Protection, IM Protection, Disk Cleaner, History Cleaner, LSP Repair and so on." The author also says that it protects against: viruses, trojans, worms & other malware, spyware & adware; rootkits, bootkits & other complex threats, identity theft by key loggers; botnets & various illegal methods of hijacking your PC; and zero-day attacks & unknown threats, drive-by download infections. While cloud-based tools, like Kingsoft Free Antivirus, require an active Internet connection, you can download the virus definitions for offline protection. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 16.8MB download from: WinXP General Programs

Fast Watermark v1.2 – Win98/ME/WinXP/Vista/Win7
Fast Watermark is a program that adds a watermark to an image (JPG, BMP or PNG) to protect it from being mis-used. It features control over the look 'n feel of text (font, size, color, opacity, rotation, etc), you can optionally save an image as a PDF, it offers control over the text position, there is batch watermarking, and more. Adding a watermark to your images, specially if they are being posted on-line (for example, in your blog), is a good idea because people do copy many images for their own purposes. A watermark gives you an ownership of an image that is otherwise almost impossible to achieve. That said, we found that Fast Watermark was neither easy nor fast. It is a fiddly program to use and we could not get some of the advertised features to work. For example, we could not use an image as a watermark and, while this is most likely possible, there is no obvious way to do this using the program and there is no Helpfile to show you how to do it. Theoretically you can use the mouse to position the watermark text but, again, this did not work at all well for us. The best feature of this program was its ability to save your image (with or without a watermark) as a PDF file. Overall, we found that Fast Watermark was a good idea that lacked full functionality. If you want to add some text to your images, and you don't mind spending some time to get it exactly right, then give Fast Watermark a look. We might wait until version 2.x comes out... Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 309kB download from: Win98 Graphic Programs

Virtual Villagers: A New Home – WinXP/Vista/Win7
Virtual Villagers: A New Home is a village (civilization) simulation where you assist a group of refugees build a village on an island. It features hundreds of villagers (it starts with just 6), runs 24/7 (even when the computer is off), has unique & unpredictable "Island Events" to keep you on your toes, you breed your villagers & raise your own tribe, and more. The publisher describes the game this way: "Care for and nurture a tribe of little people by teaching them the basics of survival. They need to become farmers, builders, scientists, parents and make decisions about unpredictable island events. Guide their day-to-day lives and help them explore and restore their new home. As your village grows and prospers, your villagers become curious about their mysterious new island home and the secrets it holds." This is an excellent civilization sim which runs all the time, even when the game is not loaded and the computer is off. Every time you open the game, events on the island have progressed and you must learn where they are at. Like most sims, you must play "god" with your people, teaching them the basics of living and helping them grow. You can also pair up people and, if they like each other, will go to a discrete location and "make a baby". All-in-all, Virtual Villagers: A New Home is an excellent simulation and one that will brings many hours of enjoyment to the player. Alas, the game is spoilt by greed – advertising dominates this game, almost to the point where it is almost unplayable. Windows popup, advertisements interrupt your game, and there is heavy handed advertising on both the top and the right-hand side of the screen. These aren't subtle little ads, these are "in your face" ads that are most annoying. Apart from that, if you want to play this game you must first download the 7MB Free Ride Games Player so you can then download the main game. There is a small starter file (720kB), the 7MB player, and then another 19MB for the game itself. Unless you are on a fast broadband connection, there is enough time to go have a coffee while it all downloads! Even with all of these negatives, Virtual Villagers: A New Home is a wonderful simulation that is worth playing. In spite of our dislike for this type of advertising, we loved this game. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 720kB+ download from: WinXP General Games
UPDATES
PNotes – a light-weight, flexible, skinnable manager of virtual "sticky" notes – has been updated to version 6.5.110 with a download size of 860kB. The author advises that changes in this version include: support for pictures & smilies, tags, "diary" notes group, and other enhancements and fixes. Access this updated version from: WinXP Text Programs
Registry Life –improves System performance by fixing errors, defragmenting, and compressing the Registry – has been updated to version 1.22 with a download size of 5.51MB. The author advises that changes in this version include the ignore list of the Registry Cleanup function has been updated. Grab this latest version from: WinXP Windows Enhancements
AllMyNotes Organizer – an hierarchical information manager – has been updated to version 2.17 with a download size of 3.82MB. The author advises that changes in this version include: adding background coloring in hierarchy tree; improved folder view (now it displays icons and colors same as in hierarchy tree); added dialing by clicking on phone number anywhere in the text; added keyboard shortcut to turn global search filtering off, and keep selection active; improved automatic URL recognition to recognize IP4 addresses; and fixed some bugs. Access this latest version from: WinXP Text Programs
COMMENTS
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