Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #444 issued September 7, 2007

Home > CFS Weekly Newsletter #444: issued September 7, 2007

Any Word All Words Exact Phrase

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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Alien Abduction v1.3.0.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Alien Abduction is a side-scrolling 2D space shooter. It features 30 levels spread over 3 missions, 3 game modes (Points Battle, Time Attack & Sharp Shooter), 1- & 2-player modes, 6 powerups (4 are weapons), 2 play styles (Progression & Perfection), good tactical depth (attack, defense & resource management), on-screen radar, supports standard & widescreen monitors, HTML Helpscreen, optional on-line high scores, optional Mission Pak Editor, and more. This is an excellent game based off Eugene Jarvis' classic arcade shooter, Defender. The author says: "The aim of the game is to kill all aliens on a level to progress to the next one. Each level also contains a number of energy crystals that power the lightning barriers (the two beams of light at the top and bottom of the screen). 'Landing' aliens will attempt to transfer crystals to the opposite Lighting Barrier in an attempt to destablise it (eg transfer ones from the top to the bottom). If they succeed, the crystal is destroyed and the Lander transforms into a deadly Mutant alien – a crazed beast intent solely on hunting the player down." This is a fast paced shooter wrapped up with excellent graphics and responsive gameplay. It has a high "come back" index that means you won't just play Alien Abduction once but will want to keep on playing it. The optional Mission Pak Editor (an additional 313kB that requires .NET Framework 1.1) means that you can value add to the game by creating your own missions. We were most impressed with Alien Abduction, and specially its support for widescreen monitors. If you like SHMUPS then this is definitely one to get. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 3.57MB download from: Win98 General Games

PhraseExpress v4.1.13 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
PhraseExpress is a boilerplate utility that organizes frequently used text snippets and pastes them into any application. It features the expansion of abbreviations as you type, it launches applications by entering text shortcuts, offers Web shortcuts, macros, optionally adds the current time &/or date, optionally works across a network, has an excellent Helpfile, and more. This is a terrific tool if you find you are using the same phrases in numerous documents. Not only can you use it to add phrases, but it will correct common typos, provide fast access to specified Websites, launches specified programs, and so much more you will think it is Christmas all year 'round. It resides as an icon in the desktray (next to the clock) and optionally launches when Windows loads. It also has a Wizard to get your auto-correct entries from MS Word. Unfortunately, it conflicts with MS Word auto-correct and the author suggests that you turn off auto-correct in Word. We found it also conflicts with our Clipboard stacker program, Yankee Clipper III. PhraseExpress is one of those programs that, having used it, you will wonder how you ever worked without it! We loved this tool. Apart from the conflict with Yankee Clipper III (which is a major concern for us because we constantly rely on this Clipboard tool) we were extremely impressed with PhraseExpress. An excellent tool for anyone working with text. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 1.83MB download from: Win98 Text Programs

1888 Quick Flow Chart Creator v1 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
1888 Quick Flow Chart Creator is a user-friendly flow chart creator to draw customized flow charts quickly. It features over 30 symbols, supports JPG, GIF & BMP file formats, and more. Unfortunately, CFS was unable to review this program. The author says: "Free flow chart creator with all the symbols required in flow chart. Draw flow charts and diagrams quickly for your presentation, documents, etc. Just use ready-made symbols to help you create the flow chart professionally. Select the required symbol; insert text in symbols through text box. Set draw width, eraser width, font size, and colors of diagrams and text. Visualize and define your information, ideas and systems in just minutes." Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 365kB download from: Win98 General Programs

@icon sushi v1.21 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
@icon sushi is an image to icon converter that supports ICO, BMP, PNG & ICL icons. It features support for Vista large icons (converts large images with PNG compression), supports XP 32 bit icons, edits alpha channel & transparency-mask, supports multiple-icons opens 1 to 32 bit color images, it can copy & paste from Clipboard, offers icon capture to Clipboard or file, file renaming, zoom (100% to 500%), and more. @icon sushi can open ICO, BMP, PNG, PSD, EXE, DLL & ICL images. This is a great tool for anyone working with icons. It is a powerful editor and file converter that can extract icons from DLLs (like the moricons.dll in the Windows/System32 folder) or from EXE files. With its support for alpha channel editing and transparency masks, and its support for both Vista and XP icons, it is a terrific tool. We were impressed with @icon sushi. It offers basically everything we look for in an icon editor, plus more. Worth a look! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 661kB download from: Win98 Graphic Programs

Penguin Family v1.1.0 – WinXP/Vista
Penguin Family is a Flash puzzle where you must move 3 pairs of father & son penguins from one shore to another using an iceberg for transport. The instructions say: "Click on the penguins to move them to and from the floating ice, the floating ice can hold at most two penguins. Click the ice to move to the opposite shore, the ice can move only when there are penguins on it." However, watch out that a young penguin doesn't get scared and fly (???) away. This is a standard puzzle that, once having solved it, you will rarely want to play again (except to prove how smart you are to your friends). The solution, which we suggest you do not see, can be found on the author's Website. Penguin Family has excellent graphics but finishes with a nag screen to add this game, and others, to your Website. It requires an active Internet connection which, we presume, just grabs the game from the author's site. We don't believe that any other information is being transmitted. Penguin Family is fun, until you solve it. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 342kB download from: WinXP General Games

Free CSS Toolbox v1.02 – WinXP/Vista
Free CSS Toolbox is a productivity suite for Web developers who work with CSS code. It features a simple CSS editor, a CSS formatter & beautifier, a CSS checker, a CSS compressor, integration with W3C CSS Validator, and more. This is a handy, if somewhat lightweight, suite of tools for anyone working with CSS. It is not designed to be a complete CSS solution but rather an assistance for anyone already working with these files. The built-in CSS editor lacks sophistication but is adequate for most use. There is a link within the program to a specialized CSS editor (shareware $19.95) which the author clearly wants you to purchase. Free CSS Toolbox is worth grabbing if you are using CSS on your site. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 1.34MB download from: WinXP Internet Related

Domino Player v1.0 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Domino Player is an audio player supporting the most popular formats (MP3, audio CD, WAV & OGG). It features playlist printing, CD ripping with Internet lookup, transitions between songs, playlist sorting (title, time, genre, album & year), tag ID editor (supports multiple files tagging), advanced tag playlist file format, mouse wheel support for playlist & volume change, audio equalizer, repeat/shuffle/mix functions, and more. This is an excellent audio player that offers most of the wanted features for this type of software. It is easy to use but still very powerful in its operation. It can be "stored" as an icon in the desktray though it doesn't minimize to that icon while in use (which is a shame). It has 8 preset equalization settings for Pop, Rock, Dance, Techno, Metal, Live, Classic and Voice. There is also a custom control so you set the slide controls on an equalizer to warp the sound to suit yourself. Cool. There is a CD ripping function but, in XP, this needs the WNASPI32.DLL file placed in the Windows/System32 folder. You can get this file from ftp://ftp6.nero.com/wnaspi32.dll (161kB). Domino Player is not the "perfect" audio player, but it is very close. We loved! Grab this 1.57MB download from: Win95 Multimedia Programs

CarbonFolder v1.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
CarbonFolder is a small utility that provides fast & simple data synchronization (copying entire folders) within a local network. It features a Wizard-style interface, multidirectional synchronization modes (bidirectional or unidirectional), optionally includes sub-folders, and more. This has to be the simplest way of keeping two folders synchronized, and is perfect for maintaining the same data on a laptop and a desktop PC. You can save your copying data (locations, filemasks, etc) as a project and simply implement that project when you want to synchronize that data. Because it works across a local network (LAN) it can be used to keep laptops up-to-date, or you can use it to maintain folders on the one PC where there are multiple drives. Data is not encrypted, or zipped, so it is easily accessed without decrypting or unzipping. The CarbonFolder interface lacks any eye candy or bells & whistles, but it is easy to use, and very fast. We were impressed with CarbonFolder and can see a backup application where critical data (mail folders, documents, etc) is copied to a USB pen drive for storage away from the main computer. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 554kB download from: Win98 Desktop Utilities

Ringed Racing Fun v2.0 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Ringed Racing Fun is a top-down 2D circuit racing game. It features 3 levels of difficulty, 2 game modes (Tournament & Free Race), 4 cars (each with a choice of 15 colors), 4 tracks, lots of powerups, on-line high scores, and more. This is a fun game where you race other cars around a circular track, avoiding obstacles and grabbing what powerups you can. The game is played with the arrow keys, which we found to be somewhat challenging. It takes a while before you can master the controls and get the best from your little race car. As you win, you get a choice of more cars and more tracks. Graphics are good, and the game itself is fun, but Ringed Racing Fun suffers from the same annoyances as other games from this publisher – when the game is exited, your Web browser is opened to the game's Webpage (assuming you are connected to the Internet). We have provided a link to the publisher's Website but we have also posted a copy of the game on the CFS server. This version is ad-free because we have noticed that sometimes, after a game is listed from that site, it suddenly gets ads. Therefore we have posted a copy of the ad-free version we reviewed so CFS members have a choice. At the time of writing the publisher's site said that the game required Windows XP or later plus Direct X 5.0. However, other documentation says that it only requires Windows 95 (or later) and Direct X 8.1. We believe the information on the publisher's site is incorrect, though we did review the game using XP. Ringed Racing Fun is a good game to play for anyone who likes circuit racing (with a light-hearted approach). Worth a look! Access this 3.22MB download from: Win95 General Games
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