Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #432 issued May 18, 2007

Home > CFS Weekly Newsletter #432: issued May 18, 2007

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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Via Galactica v1.1 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Via Galactica is a space exploration and trading game where you start as a downtrodden merchant with a small ship and a minimum of equipment. It features 3 levels of difficulty, random attacks by pirates & confrontations by police, game save/load, good Helpfile, and more. This is an excellent trading game that gives you an opportunity to build your resources and conquer the universe (well, not quite but you can become the Bill Gates of Outer Space!). The game is played in quasi real time and the universe is re-aligned every time you start a new game. In fact, this "universe" is a cylinder or sphere and if you keep heading, say, west, you will eventually arrive where you started. It has lots of interesting aspects – including pirates that attack and passengers of dubious reputation that must be carried between planets at which time you must avoid being searched by the local police. You can also use the Star Gate between some worlds. We really enjoyed playing Via Galactica. While it is not an action game, it does include some action scenarios (with pirates, monsters, etc). Lots of good fun! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 1.63MB download from: Win98 General Games

DX Studio v1.31.4 – WinXP/Vista
DX Studio is a complete integrated development environment for creating interactive 3D graphics that includes both 2D & 3D layout editors, and allows full JavaScript control of everything from changing the background to editing meshes in real-time. Unfortunately, CFS was unable to review this program. The author says: "The system includes both 2D & 3D layout editors, and allows full JavaScript control of everything from changing the background to editing meshes in real-time. You can also command and control your documents from outside of the player using the powerful ActiveX/COM interface. Using DX Studio you can build complete real-time interactive applications, simulations or games, for standalone use or for embedding in other Microsoft Office/Visual Studio applications. The engine behind DX Studio uses DirectX 9.0c to make the most of 3D graphics hardware acceleration, and includes support for the latest pixel and vertex shader effects found on the more powerful 3D graphics cards. The playback engine in both EXE and ActiveX DLL forms can be redistributed without any further royalties." The total download for this program is a whopping 123MB, but that includes both the DirectX 9 and .NET Framework redistributables from Microsoft (which many users will already have). There is a small helper file (281kB) that will just download and install the components you need. The program requires a 2GHz Pentium IV PC with at least 1GB RAM, a DirectX 9 256MB graphics card, and a 1600x1200 hi color (32-bit) screen resolution. DX Studio also needs about 400MB of hard disk space. However, judging from the samples available on the author's site, it is well worth both the download and the learning curve. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 123MB download from: WinXP Graphic Programs

TeraCopy v1.0 – WinXP/Vista
TeraCopy is a Windows Explorer enhancement to copy/move files faster & more securely. It features seamless integration with Windows Explorer, calculates file CRC checksum on the fly, optionally tests file integrity to ensure an accurate copy, adjustable buffer size (default is 10MB), can resume broken file transfers, and more. This is a superb enhancement for the Windows file manager. By right-clicking on a file to copy or move it, you see the normal Windows "Copy Here" "Move Here" "Create Shortcuts Here" menu that now has two additional items, "TeraCopy here" and "TeraMove here". Select either of those new options and TeraCopy takes over. The resultant copy or move command is faster and, arguably, more accurate. If you are suspicious that an important file was not properly copied or moved (and it can happen!) then you can use the Test button to check on the integrity of the new file. Without doubt, the best part of this program is the file transfer speed. Copy a few large files and you quickly realize that the copying or moving is happening much faster than with Explorer, and this makes TeraCopy a "must have" file management tool. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 483kB download from: WinXP Windows Enhancements

VisualRoute Lite Edition v11.0e – WinXP/Vista
VisualRoute Lite Edition is a graphical traceroute & ping test, useful for pinpointing network connectivity problems and identifying IP address locations. It features instant analysis of the Internet/Intranet connection performance, identify delay points or general congestion delays, and more. This is an excellent tool for identifying network bottlenecks or simply to find out the IP of a server. While the free version lacks some of the bells and whistles of the paid-for versions, it does offer an easy way to check connectivity and you can soon see if there is a problem ISP in the path or if any delays are simply general Internet congestion. Because it uses a graphical interface you can see at a glance the source of problems, how many hops you are taking between servers, etc. VisualRoute Lite Edition offers a handy traceroute and ping tool for all Internet users. Worth grabbing. 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

God of Thunder v1.1 – DOS
God of Thunder is a puzzle/top-down adventure (like some old Amiga arcade games) where you play the mighty Thor. It features 3 parts, lots of puzzles to solve, lots of baddies to fight, good VGA graphics (plays fullscreen), has sound effects & background music, and more. This is a fun little game that carries lots of nostalgia with it. It has a reasonable storyline, excellent puzzles (many quite challenging) and some good action. As Thor, you are carrying the Enchanted hammer, Mjolnir, that returns to the thrower like a boomerang and you use this hammer to defeat the hordes of critters (some magical) that try and stop you. The game is played in three parts – Serpent Surprise, Non-stick Nognir, and Looking' for Loki. God of Thunder is controlled primarily through the arrow keys (movement), the Alt key (throwing the hammer), the Spacebar to select an item, and the Ctrl key to use an item. One tip that is worthwhile remembering is that if you hit the D key to die, you will restart that screen with the same health, etc you had when you entered it. This is handy if you are being beaten and want to try again. However, if you accidentally go to another screen, you take with you the poor health, etc of the previous screen. Eating apples restores health and you are advised to grab all jewels, etc that you find. While you can only carry 99 jewels, you will need some for purchases along the way so you need to keep your pockets full. Formerly a shareware game (shareware notices are still intact but can be ignored), it was created in 1993 by Ron Davis. One of the better DOS-based adventure games, God of Thunder should be able to be played on virtually all 16-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows without problems (from Windows 3.0 right through to Vista 32-bit), though it may not play well on the 64-bit versions of Windows (Vista-64 and later). A terrific little game that will give many hours of fun. We loved! Access this 1.00MB download from: DOS General Games

SecureFile! v1.32 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
SecureFile! is a program that password encrypts personal files, including Microsoft Word, Excel & PowerPoint documents, images, videos, and data files. It features full Windows Explorer integration (right-click context menu), automatically compresses files before encryption, has an easy-to-use interface, and more. This is a simple way to secure your files so that they cannot be accessed by anyone without the password. The author states that it employs an "encryption algorithm that make hacking or password picking impossible" but has not stated what method is used, or what strength the encryption is. He does say that it contains no backdoors or masterkeys so, if you lose the password, you have lost the file. Files can be encrypted by right clicking on them, selecting SecureFile! from the context menu, and inserting a password. The file then has a new icon, a padlock, to indicate that it is secure. To open the file, simply click on it, add the password to the SecureFile! dialog box that appears, and the file is restored. We do not suggest that you check the box that says "Save password for securing the next file" because anyone with access to your computer can use a password display program (like Caption-it!) to display the password you have been using as this password is automatically inserted in the fields. We are not sure about securing entire folders. The author claims that you can but, when we tried, the folder remained accessible but the file within it disappeared! Not so good... For preventing other people from accessing your private files, SecureFile! is both easy-to-use and, appears to be, quite secure. However, the problem with the folders worried us because our files could not be found, much less decrypted. We were also cautious about the security hole exposed when you save your password for next time. While that would be handy, it is too easily cracked so we strongly advise that this is not done. SecureFile! is a great program, but it must be used with caution (and don't lose your password!). Access this 780kB download from: Win95 Desktop Utilities

Avi Player v3.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Avi Player is a simple player of AVI video files that can also find and install the correct codec if required. It features simple-to-use controls (rewind, play, stop & forward), volume slider control, fullscreen option, and more. This is not a sensational program but it is a very effective one. What it lacks in eye candy it makes up for because it is not cluttered with useless gadgets and gizmos. It doesn't play MPEG files, it doesn't play MOV files, it just plays AVI files. This it does well. When you first load Avi Player it asks to download any missing codec but, unfortunately, it requires BitTorrent for this to work. As we do not use BitTorrent (a file sharing tool) we simply received an error message stating that it could not get an Internet connection. However, once we said "No" to downloading the missing codec it opened up and, surprise, surprise, worked without the "missing" codec. We did install the DivX codecs (a 20.6MB download) and, once installed, the opening message disappeared. Image quality is good and we found the volume slider control helpful. We normally do not bother with the fullscreen option because most small video clips look awful when displayed on a big screen but Avi Player did a credible job on our 22 inch widescreen monitor. Apart from the BitTorrent requirement, this is a good, if basic, player that should suit most users. Worth a look. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 926kB download from: Win98 Multimedia Programs

Unit Destruction v0.05 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Unit Destruction is a Japanese vertically scrolling space shooter that plays at a frenetic pace. It features excellent graphics & sound effects, challenging bosses, multiple weapons, powerups, and more. This is a fabulous space shooter for anyone who doesn't want to just sit back and enjoy the ride. You are ducking and weaving almost right from the start and, while you can simply hold down the firing button, unless you are prepared to ride the wave you will get dumped. Control keys are typically Japanese, and that means non standard. The Z key fires the main gun and is also the menu navigation acceptance key. The arrow keys are for movement (at least that is typical), the X key is another firing key, and the C key explodes a bomb. There are quite a few powerups, and you collect stars that appear when you destroy an enemy ship. Unit Destruction doesn't give you much time to reflect on your score or look around the screen but, as you learn to master the game, it gets easier to relax (truly!). This is a beta version and some of the menu items do not work (specially the Options section) but the game seems quite robust and few players should have trouble with it. Unit Destruction is a relatively standard shooter but is quite challenging to play and has great bosses. We were impressed. Note: the author's site is in Japanese so we have hosted a copy on the CFS server for our members. Get this 7.90MB download from: Win95 General Games
COMMENTS
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