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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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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
Logical Crossroads v1.2 – Win9x/ME
Logical Crossroads contains three logical puzzle games. It includes Free Renju (Connect-type puzzle), Bulls and Cows (MasterMind-type puzzle) and Hanoi Tower (a moving brick puzzle). This advertiser supported game suite offers simple versions of three popular logical puzzles. With Free Renju you have to connect 5 balls in a row, diagonally, horizontally or vertically. It features three levels of difficulty, high scores, good CPU opponent, demo mode, and more. Bulls and Cows is a number-based MasterMind clone where you have to not only guess the four digits in a sequence, but you have to put them in order. To do this you receive clues regarding the total number of correct digits (Cows), and the number of correctly placed numbers (Bulls). The third game, Hanoi Tower, is more simple but it can be extremely hard to play. You can choose between 3 and 7 bricks which are stacked from smallest to largest. You must transfer them, one at a time without putting a large brick on a smaller brick, from Stack #1 to Stack #3, using the middle stack position as an intermediatory stopover. The three brick- stack is fairly easy and you are simply racing the clock. As you add more bricks it gets progressively harder and harder. Seven bricks is not for the impatient! Once you have completed the task you are told the number of moves you took, the number of unnecessary moves, and the time. Check out Logical Crossroads if you like games of logic. Access this 906kB download from: Win9x General Games
Roman Numeral Converter v1.0 – DOS
Roman Numeral Converter is a tool which converts Roman numerals into numbers (eg MMI = 2001) which is handy for dating books, etc. The program opens a DOS box if used under Windows (suitable for Windows 3.x, 9x & ME) where you type in the Roman numeral and press the Enter key. The answer pops up below. The main drawback for using a DOS program like this under Windows is that you cannot copy and paste information into the DOS box which means that you can't easily transfer information to or from a document. The program doesn't have an install routine, you simply unzip the main program archive and run the executionable file from there. Unless you are an antiquarian book collector (who probably knows all the Roman numerals anyway), you may not use this program very often. However, when you do wish to convert Roman numerals (eg MMI) into Arabic numerals (ie 2001) this is what you need. Small enough to keep in your utility toolbox, we thought that Roman Numeral Converter was a great little tool to have around. Access this 29kB download from: DOS Desktop Utilities
Bible Companion XM v4 – Win9x/ME
Bible Companion XM is a Bible companion offering six tools utilizing HTML & XML programming. These are the KJV New Testament, "A Harmony of the Gospels", "Romans" by H.A. Ironside, "What the Bible Teaches" by William MacDonald, "A Daily Bible Reading Plan", and "How to Have a Happy and Meaningful Life". Its features include a good indexing system, multi-windows so that information from various sources can be easily compared side-by-side, hyperlinks between different books, Bible search, passage highlighting, and more. With the amount of information on hand through this Bible study tool, a 1024x768 screen is almost essential to try and fit everything you need on to the screen. Even then you sometimes have to resize the window to see all of the information. We liked Bible Companion XM but were a little disappointed that only the New Testament was included with this free version and felt that the full King James Version of the Bible could have been included. We particularly liked all of the additional study tools included in the download and felt that it was an excellent package. If you are interested in the Christian Bible (specially the New Testament) then this is a worthwhile suite to get. Access this 8.29MB download from: Win9x General Programs
PokerDice v1.1.5 – Win9x/ME
PokerDice is a fun dice game with realistic dice sounds and automatic scoring so it is easy to learn. The game is like poker but uses dice instead of cards. You can get a Straight (Large or Small), 3-of-a-kind, 4-of-a-kind, Full House, etc. You get three rolls of the dice for each turn with up to 5 dice, though you can hold some of the dice after a turn so that you can build on an existing run. For example, if you roll 2, 3, 4 & 5 in the first of your three rolls you can hold those four dice and just roll the fifth dice, looking for either a 1 or a 6 to make it into a "Large Straight". It has terrific animated graphics and a good looking interface. As well, PokerDice has two things going for it – it is fun to play and highly addictive, even if you don't normally play either dice or poker. Well worth grabbing, PokerDice is a terrific game. Access this 1.46MB download from: Win9x General Games
WebFoil v1.1 – Win9x/ME
WebFoil is a tool which simultaneously queries a number of search engines for keywords and phrases using different categories. It includes 44 search engines in 7 categories (Auctions, Files, Lyrics, Mp3s, News, Newsgroups & Web pages) and more can be added using its built-in language. This is a terrific multi-engine search tool. It offers an excellent range of search engines in each category and the main category, Web pages, includes all of the engines we would pick. Advertiser supported, WebFoil simplifies the whole Web search nightmare and allows you to see more than just a list of sites in each category for any given keyword or phrase, but "fly over" site descriptions to help you refine your search. Sites can be listed by search engine, site title or URL. WebFoil even includes its own miniature ftp client for downloading program and MP3 files! Neat. An extremely impressive program, WebFoil is what a lot of other multi-engine search tools would like to be. Get it! Access this 1.00MB download from: Win9x Internet Related
Desktop Image v1.0.34 – Win9x/ME
Desktop Image allows you to change the picture on your desktop as often as you like, place it in any position you want, even add a caption. The program accepts BMP, GIF, JPG & TIF files, and these images can be exchanged with friends using a built-in e-mail client. This advertiser supported program offers much more control over your desktop wallpaper than the Windows version and you can even use it to leave a message to someone if you need to leave your computer. Using over 3% of system resources, we found the overhead a little too high for any potential benefits you might gain from using the program, unless you are a wallpaper junky who found the existing facility too limiting. If pretty desktop images are what you like – and you don't mind the ads and the system resource overhead – then grab a copy of Desktop Image and check it out yourself. Access this 2.77MB download from: Win9x General Programs
PacVenture: Pac's Oddysee v1.2 – Win9x/ME
Pac's Oddysee is a 3D quest-style arcade game where you have to find the beautiful Ms Pac who has been kidnapped by the Ghost King and taken to his far away castle. It features "seven mind blowing highly detailed graphic & sound 3D worlds". This is a terrific game which offers many of the usual elements of a Pacman game but with the added 3D aspect. The game is quite challenging (specially when you get into some of the higher levels) and has a high addictive element to it which brings you back for more and more. While this is an advertiser supported game, apart from placing a lottery shortcut on your desktop (very easy to remove if you don't want it), it offers to replace your homepage with a Web portal page, but this is entirely optional and if you decide not to use it there are no penalties. A pleasant change from most in-your-face adware programs! This is simply a fun arcade-style game. It demands very little of you except a desire to kill a few more hours than you had probably planned. Grab a copy of Pac's Oddysee (yes, the spelling of "Oddysee" is correct), we think that you'll enjoy it too. Access this 6.11MB download from: Win9x General Games
Startup Delayer v1.0.32 – Win9x/ME
Startup Delayer is a tool which delays the startup of programs which automatically load with Windows by a preset amount. It features a Wizard to make the selection of any programs which currently load with Windows much easier. One of the problems with Windows is that it tries to load all programs simultaneously, causing a traffic jam. Using Startup Delayer you can spread out the loading of programs which can significantly speed up the time it takes for Windows to load. You can also ensure that programs load in the order that you want by varying the delay times for each program. We were a little concerned that inexperienced users might delay the loading of programs which should be loaded early in the boot up sequence and therefore cause unnecessary delays. However, if you concentrate on programs in the "Registry (Current User Run)" and "Startup Group (Current User)" you shouldn't make any mistakes. We feel that any program labeled as "Registry (Machine Run)" is most likely not a suitable candidate for delaying. Startup Delayer is a terrific tool which carries out its task of delaying programs loading extremely well. A lack of Helpfile (even a simple Readme) detracts seriously from this program because it relies on the user to know what should load, and when. If you are a experienced user then grab a copy of Startup Delayer. It's a great little tool! Access this 740kB download from: Win9x Windows Enhancements
UPDATE
Scale – a tool which measures the distance between two points on the desktop – has been updated to version 2.0 with a new download size of 135kB. This version adds many new tools and functions, including a scientific calculator, a screen magnifier (up to 30X), an angle measurement tool, and a color picker (offers colors in RGB, VB, HTM, CMY, CMYK and HSL). There are tool buttons on each of the tools so that other functions can be quickly accessed, and you can minimize the program's main toolbar into an icon in the desktray (next to the clock). A simple little tool has grown many arms and legs to become a much more valuable desktop tool in the process. Well worth getting. Access this update from: Win9x Graphic 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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Win 9x/ME/XP
