Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #434 issued June 8, 2007

Home > CFS Weekly Newsletter #434: issued June 8, 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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Arkout 3D v2.1 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Arkout 3D is a top-down 3D Arkanoid/Breakout clone which is played inside a cube. It features 2 modes (Classic & Modern), 3 levels of difficulty, 155 levels, 3 brick skins, lots of powerups, excellent animated graphics, good music & sound effects, challenging gameplay, and more. This is a great variation on the popular Arkanoid/Breakout games where you must break bricks that are at the bottom of a well (a cube) by moving a large rectangular paddle across the top of the cube and bouncing a ball down into it. Similar to many top-down 3D Tetris games, Arkout 3D is a challenging game that just gets harder and harder as you complete each level. While there are lots of powerups, most are hard to grab because the ball bounces back quickly and you must position the paddle where you think the ball will be when it is at the top of the cube. Arkanoid/Breakout fans will love this version, and even players who haven't been bitten by the Arkanoid bug will enjoy Arkout 3D. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 6.59MB download from: Win98 General Games

PB Media Player v1.0.152 – WinXP/Vista
PB Media Player is a single file YouTube video downloader and off-line player that supports FLV and SWF file formats. It requires no installation (runs from all portable media), saves window dimensions, saves recent browsed folders, and more. This is a cool way to watch and share YouTube videos when you are off-line. Tell PB Media Player the YouTube Web address of the clip you want and it will download it and then play the clip any time you like. It is simple to use and highly effective. We did have one small issue with PB Media Player – when we downloaded a test video it did not add the file extension (FLV) which we had to do manually so that the program, and the computer, knew it was a Flash Video file. However, once that was done it was able to open the file and play the video (with full audio). PB Media Player is a terrific little player that has the advantage of being fully portable - you could even make up a self contained CD or DVD of clips downloaded from YouTube. Neat. If you enjoy watching YouTube videos, PB Media Player is a "must have". Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 998kB download from: WinXP Multimedia Programs

Tintin Au Tibet v�0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Tintin Au Tibet is a Sega adventure game, based off the popular series of children's books by Belgian writer Herge Moulinsart, where Tintin must find the legendary Abominable Snowman in Tibet. It features fun gameplay, good graphics, windowed or fullscreen modes, multi-lingual interface, and more. This is a fun little game that should bring back memories of a great series of children's books with the indomitable character, Tintin, and his faithful dog, Snowy. Tintin is a Belgian reporter with yellow hair that spikes upwards in the front. He is an almost colorless character, even though the series in which he starred was very funny. In this adventure he must find the Abominable Snowman. Taken straight from a Sega game (usually described as "abandonware"), Tintin Au Tibet has a few challenges but generally it is not an "impossible" game to complete. Controls include the Spacebar and the arrow keys but, as part of the game is discovering for yourself, we won't say more. Not just for the nostalgiacs, Tintin Au Tibet is a great little adventure game with a hint of humor to help keep it flowing. We liked. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 1.39MB download from: Win98 General Games

Text File Workshop v1.3.0 – Win9x/ME/XP
Text File Workshop is a tool that can store notes, ideas, plans, contacts, to-do lists, etc in a single file. It removes duplicate text strings, writes lines of text in inverse order, splits files, combines files, conducts text searches, sorts lines of text in various ways, is accessible from an icon in the desktray (next to the clock), and more. This is an unusual program that allows you to easily work with text files in ways not commonly seen. It does not modify the original file but writes the amended data to another file. While some of the operations available might not seem important or valuable, when dealing with raw text it is often helpful to manipulate the text in uncommon ways. While Text File Workshop is potentially very valuable for writers, programmers and other users of ASCII text files, it suffers because English is clearly not the author's first language as it is poorly described within the program and there are numerous spelling mistakes. There is no Helpfile, or even a simple Readme file, to guide the new user. The combination of poor descriptions within the program, spelling errors and no real assistance for the user means that trial and error is the best way to learn the value of Text File Workshop. Even with the above criticism, this is still a valuable tool for people working with text files. Worth a look! Access this 1.82MB download from: Win95 Text Programs

Free Mahjong Planet v2.2 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Free Mahjong Planet is a fresh implementation of the classic Chinese boardgame. It features 4 game styles & 4 background styles, 4 levels of skill, 18 levels, 2 playing modes, timed gameplay, time-based scoring, pause button, hint button (costs points), tile reshuffle (costs points), and more. This is a nice, if somewhat traditional, version of this classic game where you must remove tiles in pairs until all are gone. The four gamestyles and their matching backgrounds are Classic, Flash, Kids and Erotic, though the last one is not as quite offensive as its name suggests. However it seems strange to have both a Kids style and an Erotic style in the same game! Even though it has four different tilesets they are very similar and all have a Chinese feel about them. While some Mahjong players prefer the more traditional Chinese character tileset, many non-Chinese players find that a more neutral tileface is preferable (road signs, etc) because the Chinese characters are not as easily recognizable as, say, road signs. The game features scoring, which varies depending on the length of time between the removal of tile pairs – the faster you can remove them the higher your points. If you get stuck you can "pay" 300 points and get a hint, or 1,000 points and have the remaining tiles reshuffled. Levels can either be played sequentially, with no access to higher levels not yet completed, or you can simply select the level (the board layout) you wish to play. Free Mahjong Planet contains the MeMe! advertising cube which you are supposed to download and install. However, this can be prevented from loading (or can be uninstalled later) and this does not affect the game. We suggest that MeMe! is not downloaded and you use your firewall to permanently block MeMe! from ever being downloaded to your computer. Free Mahjong Planet has great graphics, good background images, and lots of alternative board layouts (levels). We did not like the MeMe! advertising or the "Erotic" tileset and background. However, Free Mahjong Planet is worth grabbing if you like boardgames. Access this 5.07MB download from: Win95 General Games

Remote Booting v1.3 – WinXP/Vista
Remote Booting is a tool that remotely reboots a server or PC from any Web browser across a network, using a password protected interface. It performs a forced reboot (even if applications not responding), can stop or restart any currently running service, permit only certain IP addresses, and more. Unfortunately, CFS was unable to review this program. The author says it "performs, once authenticated, a service stop/restart or reboot of the computer it is installed on. Users can connect to the Remote Booting software using a web browser or a mobile device supporting the HTTP protocol. Once connected a user can either perform a forced reboot or a service start/stop/restart." The author also says that it "is not only username/password protected using Basic Authentication but you can also define authorized IP's so that only the authorized users may access the system". Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 1.81MB download from: WinXP Internet Related

Aba Daba v1.31 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Aba Daba is a Gomoku-style, turn-based, five-in-a-row logical puzzle where you compete against the computer to create a line of 5 balls (horizontally, vertically or diagonally). It features powerful artificial intelligence (AI), 8 skins, 5 grid sizes (5x5 to 25x25), 3 levels of difficulty, good music, sound effects, hotkeys, mouse-controlled, and more. The concept behind this type of puzzle is simple, but it is not a simple game to win. Drop your guard for just a second and the computer will put you in a position where it cannot lose. Graphics are excellent, and Aba Daba is highly addictive. The only aspect of the game which we didn't like (as much) was the nag screen that appears at the start and end of every game. It is benign (does not do anything without being clicked) but still mildly annoying. That aside, Aba Daba is a great little game that will stretch your gray matter. We loved! Access this 734kB download from: Win95 General Games

A Ruler for Windows v1.0.5 – WinXP/Vista
A Ruler for Windows is a desktop or virtual ruler that measures objects in pixels. It features vertical or horizontal measuring, resizable, see-thru or woodgrain ruler, screen magnifier for more accurate measurements, always-on-top, and more. This is potentially a great tool, that seems to miss the mark. On paper it is terrific – it offers an excellent range of features that should make it the best desktop ruler around. It isn't. From its cumbersome, and very small, controls points, to its huge size and awkward resizing feature, A Ruler for Windows just doesn't quite work as well as we would like. However, it does work, and it does everything that it claims to do, but its interface is not to our liking and its appearance cumbersome. We liked the see-thru "plastic" mode so you can accurately position it over objects to be measured, and we loved the built-in magnifier so you can really get accurate measurements. These are features we would like to see on all desktop rulers. A Ruler for Windows is a handy utility, but it is not one we would use ourselves – not because of its features, but because of its interface. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 797kB download from: WinXP Desktop Utilities

Time Sphere v1.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Time Sphere is a game where you must fight against a variety of powerful enemies that get stronger the further you advance. Not just another "space shooter" but a game where you must command time and space itself to annihilate the opposition. The author says: "This isn't just a straight-forward shooter. Since you only have your abilities at your disposal you must think and act quickly in order to keep the enemy at bay." Time Sphere uses the W, A, S & D keys for movement, and the I, J, K & L keys to activate your various defenses (Launch / Detonate Time Slow grenade, Launch / Detonate Time Stop grenade, Toggle space attract ability, and Toggle space repulse ability). We found the key commands to be cumbersome and hard to use, and the game is so fast that it makes it much harder to master the controls (many games are over within a few seconds if you can't use the key commands properly). In time you get used to the keys, but we wonder how many people will give this game the time it requires so it can be mastered. There is an on-line version as well as the off-line version we reviewed, and we assume the on-line version has the same cumbersome controls... Time Sphere is a challenging game for anyone who likes to play "outside the square". There is no doubt that it will bring you back for more and more, even if just to see if you can master the key commands. If you can't master them reasonably quickly you will probably not play it again. That would be a shame because it really is a terrific little game. If you have a little time to waste, give Time Sphere a chance. It could be the best, or worst, game you've played this month! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 1.03MB download from: Win98 General Games
UPDATES
Chrysalis A – a slow-paced evolution game in a test tube – has been updated to version 1.02 with a new download of 5.93MB. The author advises that changes in this version include: fixes the issue with saving the game; adds a Reminder feature; and a new splash page. We also noted that there is now a version which will run with Internet Explorer 6, and this version has a download size of 2.13MB (we do not know what other differences there may be between the two versions). Access this latest version from: Win95 General Games
Pandora Recovery – an effective way to attempt recovery of permanently deleted files – has been updated to version 1.1.20 with a new download size of 1.87MB. The author advises that this is the first official post-beta release. It introduces one major new feature, several improvements of the existing functionality and a set of bugfixes. These are: surface (cluster) scan implemented for JPG, BMP, GIF & PNG; Wizard updated to help users review the content of the recycle bin ; embedded image viewer; in-software feedback form added; GUI revamped; dbghelp.dll error fixed; and more. Grab a copy of this superb tool from: Win95 Desktop Utilities
GlobalSpellChecker – checks the spelling of any word pasted in the Clipboard – has been updated to version 1.1 with a new download size of 87kB. The author advises that changes in this version include adding a setup, where the number of seconds to display the suggestions or meanings can be specified or can be made to not close unless user closes it (this is in response to the CFS Program Review of version 1.0). Another change is when spelling suggestions are displayed, the number corresponding to the correct suggestion can be pressed to have it copied to Clipboard. Get this updated version from: Win95 Text Programs
Dedaulus System Cleaner – helps clean the PC from temporary files, incorrect shortcuts, Internet cookies & history, Registry errors, unwanted autoload programs, etc – has been updated to version 1.6.25 with a new download size of 568kB. The author advises that changes in this version include: added link to edit MRU file; added new MRU (EmEditor, WinDjView, Dreamweaver 8, ReGet Deluxe WEB & FTP, NetLimiter 1.30, Agnitum Outpost Pro, FAR commands history, FAR folder history, etc); added optional startup tips; and bug fixes. Note: the author's site is currently only in Russian so we have added a direct download link to the program from the CFS site. Update to the new version at: Win95 Windows Enhancements
BugHunter – a DOS antispyware tool to assist in finding and removing malicious software – has been updated to version 2.2c with a much larger download size of 209kB. The author advises that changes in this version include: documentation updates; several bugs fixed; more information is available on screen; scans for many more files now; naming identification system has been improved; the logfile layout has been changed for improved readability; and additional software & instructions are now provided for dealing with stubborn memory resident malware. Grab this latest version (suitable for Windows up to and including XP) from: DOS Desktop Utilities
COMMENTS
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