Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #455 issued November 30, 2007

Home > CFS Weekly Newsletter #455: issued November 30, 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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Ricochet Recharged v1 – WinXP/Vista
Ricochet Recharged is a Breakout game that is far from ordinary. It features 340 levels, 17 screensavers, superb animated graphics, a huge number of powerups (EMP balls, laser balls, ball generators, etc), gold rings to collect, and more. This is an awesome brick buster that combines unique gameplay with the conventional Breakout model. Bricks are rarely stationary and you must battle rotating blocks of bricks, falling bombs, and other obstacles. Each level has 5 gold rings to collect (often hidden until the right blocks are removed) and these offer extra points plus, when you have collected 35 of them, an extra "ion ball". The first time you access a new feature (a new powerup, etc) a screen will popup giving information about this. That screen is only shown once. Ricochet Recharged has a massive number of levels presented in three categories. Levels are locked for each category and you must work your way through a level to unlock the next one. Unfortunately, Ricochet Recharged (the free version from MostFun.com, there is a shareware version available from the publisher, Reflexive) is spoilt with a huge download and advertising. To download this game you must first get a small 670kB helper file that, when launched, downloads both the game browser or agent and the game. We are unsure of the size of these two programs, but the game itself claims to be 13.56MB, though we noticed over 58MB of traffic when this file was being downloaded and installed! The game browser (which you can use for other games from the same publisher) is a further 11MB. This makes Ricochet Recharged a massive download. The game browser installs itself in the Startup folder and loads every time Windows loads. We suggest that you delete the shortcut to this game browser so that it only loads when you want to play the game. The advertising is somewhat invasive but you get to view some television-style ads which, if you click on them, will take you to the advertiser's Website. Both the agent and the game are slow loaders, even with a fast computer, and this can be most annoying. Even with all the negative aspects (including the download size and the advertising), we thought Ricochet Recharged an excellent game – probably the best Breakout clone we have seen. If you have the patience (and a fast broadband connection) try it for yourself. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 13.5MB+ download from: WinXP General Games

Task Killer v2.30 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Task Killer is a desktray-based icon utility that allows the user to terminate frozen applications. It features an optional "Smart Kill" mode, it optionally auto starts with Windows, offers hotkey support, it highlights system processes (so you don't accidentally close them), has low memory requirements, customizable, and more. This is a great little tool to help you quickly close locked up or frozen programs. Left click on the desktray icon (next to the clock) and you see a list of open processes. At the top of that list is access to two menu boxes – one marked "Windows" (currently open applications) and the other marked "Services", system processes. As the author says: "It is not recommended to kill system processes"! Simpler than using the cumbersome Ctrl-Alt-Del Task Manager, Task Killer is one of those little programs you will be happy to leave running all the time. We loved! Access this 327kB download from: Win95 Desktop Utilities

Ants DVD Player v1.0 – WinXP/Vista
Ants DVD Player is a DVD movie player. It features low CPU usage, Vista optimization, D3D technology, multi-thread reading, digital audio amplifier, playing area zoom, image capturing, learning mode, supports Karaoke DVD, can display a secondary subtitle, audio amplification (200%, 300%, 400% or 500%), and more. This is a great little DVD player that is worthy replacement for the cumbersome and memory hungry players provided with many DVD drives. It is particularly suitable for laptop use because of its low CPU usage and also the built-in audio amplification. We really liked Ants DVD Player. It worked well under test and was easy to use. The only problem we had was finding the Options dialog box to change the default settings to English. That aside, Ants DVD Player is an excellent DVD player. We liked! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 1.80MB download from: WinXP General Programs

CSS Menu Generator v1.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
CSS Menu Generator is a WYSIWYG tool to generate CSS menus for a Website. It features a choice of horizontal/vertical/dropdown menus, customization of color & font settings, copy & paste code (HTML or XHTML) or save to file, and more. This is a good way to create basic menus for a Website. While the menus themselves are somewhat bland, they are easy to create, easy to modify, and easy to use. Installation is simply a matter of copy and pasting the code into your Webpages. It creates three different versions of your menu – horizontal, vertical or dropdown (combo box). The copy & paste HTML/CSS Code tab takes the last opened version so, if you want a horizontal menu, go directly from the horizontal tab to the code tab. We are looking forward to the promised templates which, we hope, will give more variety and mode ideas about how to get the best from CSS Menu Generator. This is a tool with lots of promise and we are looking forward to seeing those templates. We were a little disappointed that the preview window did not work for us (maybe it needs IE as the default browser?) but that is a minor irritation in what is, overall, a very good program. Worth a look! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 550kB download from: Win98 Internet Related

2007 Backgammon v5.01 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
2007 Backgammon is a 3D version of this popular boardgame where you play against the computer or another person. It features 6 skill levels, on-line gameplay, excellent 3D graphics, neural networks based AI, and more. This is an excellent version of this ancient game. It has good AI (artificial intelligence) plus those six levels of difficulty. It also offers the facility to play against a friend or to play on-line. So far so good. Unfortunately it is advertiser supported – and those ads are highly intrusive. First you must (no option except to pay for the non-ad version) agree to the inclusion of the Rightdown Software SearchBar into your copy of Internet Explorer. This cannot be uninstalled unless you first remove the game. While this toolbar might not be the worse one we have seen, just the demand that it must be installed for the game to play makes it offensive to us (the toolbar is there all the time, not just when you are playing the game). It also has another ad that appears on your screen when you are playing the game. This is a popup window that remains always on top while the game is being played. Of course, you can hide the toolbar by using the View menu in IE and unchecking this SearchBar but it is still there, and that we don't like. This is a shame because the basic game is excellent, with good graphics and excellent gameplay. However we don't want that toolbar so we will be uninstalling 2007 Backgammon from our computer, and then getting rid of that intrusion. If you never use IE, or don't mind this SearchBar being there 24/7, then grab a copy of 2007 Backgammon and enjoy this excellent 3D version. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 1.72MB download from: Win98 General Games

YouTube to MP3 Converter v2.4.1.1 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
YouTube to MP3 Converter is a tool that extracts audio from YouTube (FLV) files and saves it to MP3 format. It features 4 preset audio qualities (High, Optimal, Standard & Economy – from 256kbs to 96kbs & 48000Hz to 22050Hz), it can access FLV files from a URL (eg directly from YouTube) or from the HDD, there is an option to add MP3 ID tag, language editor, and more. This is a superb tool for anyone who wants to extract audio from an FLV (Flash Video) movie file. It is simple to use and gives you ample preset quality control to ensure that the file you create has suitable quality but is not excessively large – our sample file in High Quality mode created an MP3 file that was 9.52MB, in Economy Quality it was a more modest 3.57MB. Generally, voice only can be saved at the most economical quality without a notable loss of sound quality. As most YouTube videos have relatively poor quality (to keep the overall file size small), the economy mode is probably suitable for the majority of FLV extractions. We liked the ability to be able to either insert a URL in the input box, or browse your hard drive and access an already-downloaded FLV file. The only negative was that when the program was closed a house ad appeared and you had to close that popup box before the program itself would close. If you want to get audio from an FLV file then grab a copy of YouTube to MP3 Converter. We liked! Access this 4.16MB download from: Win95 Multimedia Programs

SavageEd v1.3.5 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
SavageEd is a tiny ASCII text editor & Notepad replacement. It features no filesize limitations, no installation required, optional saving of settings to Registry, optional word wrap, customizable font & colors, find/replace, optional autosave on exit, time/date insertion, recent file list, and more. This is an awesome little Notepad replacement that, in some ways, looks too much like Notepad, though it doesn't carry its baggage. We opened a 10MB test file, with 470,000 lines of text, in one second! There is no filesize limit with this program, plus there are lots of other features not found in Notepad. To top it off, it is tiny in size and will operate quite happily from a USB pen drive. How cool is that! We loved SavageEd. If you don't need an ASCII text editor with more bells 'n whistles, this one is perfect! Access this 48kB download (yes, you read that right) from: Win95 Text Programs

RapidDrawing v1.0 – WinXP/Vista
RapidDrawing is an outline sketch program that enables the precise creation of a curved shape. It features 4 control points (instead of the more common 2), uses mouse control over the creation & shaping of a line (left & right mouse buttons, plus dragging), you can select line thickness from 0.1 pixel to 20 pixels, it offers repetition of the previous curve, full color control, and more. This is an interesting illustration tool that has an unusual mouse-based interface. Using a combination of left and right mouse buttons, plus being able to drag a line between two fixed points, RapidDrawing really does offer tremendous control over the positioning and curvature of a line. The help screen offers only the most basic instructions and leaves as much unsaid as said. However, once you get the feel for the program, it offers amazingly fine control over the lines you create. The menu system is "basic", and the lack of a good Help screen a shame, but even with these negatives RapidDrawing is an excellent little program. We liked! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 896kB download from: WinXP Graphic Programs

Word Scramble v1.1.0 – WinXP/Vista
Word Scramble is a classic word game where you must rearrange the letters to form the correct word. It features a hint mode (gives the definition of the word), high scores, it is suitable for all ages, and more. This is a simple game that is quite addictive. You get a series of jumbled letters and you must find the correct word to unjumble them. You will probably need to use the hint function when you first start but, hopefully, after a while you will be able to solve the puzzles without any assistance. The download installs a small program on your computer that requires an Internet connection to be able to access the game on-line. You can even put the game on your own Website for your visitors to play. In both cases it draws the actual game from the publisher's site. Word Scramble is a great little game that is worth playing more than once. It is specially suitable for students to help them with their English, though it is not listed as an educational game. Worth a look! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 343kB download from: WinXP General Games
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