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The Completely Free E-mail Update #47
Issued June 16, 1998
Welcome to the forty-seventh edition of the 'Completely Free Software E-mail Update'. This is a selection of the programs we've added over the past week.
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 functionable. If you know any that aren't exactly as specified, please let us know and they will be removed immediately.
COMPLETELY FREE SOFTWARE
MIDIART Live – W31 (suitable W95)
Even if you are using Win95 don't let the fact that MIDIART Live is designed for Win 3.1 deter you from looking at this sensational program. It converts your standard MIDI files into graphically colorful animated displays. While not specifically designed as a screensaver (though one is provided in the download package), when MIDIART Live starts to 'animate' your MIDI files you just might want to leave it on the screen while you're doing other things. The program has 24 built-in – and very different – basic patterns which can be applied to any MIDI file, each one transforming the program into a different visual event. The program can be set to replay the same file and all you have to do is hit the 'q' key for the music to stop and the program to close, or either ESC or F1 to return you to the dialog box for a further selection. There are dozens of keyboard commands and the hardest part is remembering them all. Other configuration items include deciding on which, if not all, the MIDI channels you want enabled. There are 16 to choose from. If that was all there was to MIDIART Live we would still rave about this program, but there's more. You can create a MIDIWork with your files and then play them back later on the MIDIWorks Player, or pass them over to your friends with a copy of the Player. They can even be put on your webpage, like RealAudio, or Macropedia, but visitors would need the Player which is only available to Windows' users, our Apple munching mates wouldn't get to see your Web masterpiece. Take our word for it, downloading MIDIART Live might be the smartest thing you do today – or even this week. Access this 664kB download from: W31 General Programs
Transparent – W95
If you use wallpaper on your Windows' desktop you will have noticed that the area surrounding the icon title is usually black with the text being white (or vice versa). This looks terrible and very cheap. Transparent is a tiny utility which hides that background color by making it transparent. You can also use Transparent to change the text from white to black (and also hide the white background) if your wallpaper is a very light color. With automatic re-sampling of the desktop in case it is re-loaded, Transparent is a very handy utility to help keep your desktop looking as pristine as you want. Access this 19kB download from: W95 Desktop Utilities
Cripton's Library Master – W95
Library Master is a terrific database program (using Borland's BDE which is included in the download) which will help you catalog your books. Fields cover most areas (title, author, publishdate, publisher, hard cover/soft cover, ISBN, condition, first release?, fiction/non-fiction, etc. There's even a section where you can write comments about the book – sort of like a mini-review. Once you've entered the data into the correct fields for each book, you can search for books using a variety of criteria (even on the ISBN number) or publish the database as an HTML document. Excellent! Formerly known as Book Store, Library Master is a very impressive single purpose database. Oh, and you don't just have to limit yourself to books either. You can catalog newspapers and magazines by using the category field. If you have a library of books at home and want to catalog them, grab this 2.39MB download from: W95 General Programs
Vinnie's Tomb (chapters 1 & 2) – W95
Vinnie's Tomb is a terrific and very amusing role playing game (RPG) where you have to follow the Yellow Brick Road (so to speak) and solve puzzles, etc along the way. Combining a great overall 'plot', good graphics, sound and dialog, and a lot of humor to keep you smiling, you will thoroughly enjoy Vinnie's Tomb. Initially presented in two chapters (a third is currently being written), the first chapter is tentatively titled "The Road To Vinnie's Tomb" and is a 7.41MB download. The second part is titled "Shine and Glow Vinnie" and this is a 6.03MB download. Even if you don't like other role playing games, give Vinnie's Tomb a try. "A splendid time is guaranteed for all." The link below will take you to the 'Chapter One' listing where you can access both versions: W95 General Games
Ranish Partition Manager – DOS (suitable for W31 & W95)
If you've ever wanted to add a partition to your hard drive, resize or even delete one then Ranish Partition Manager is a handy tool to have at your disposal. However, this great utility does more than that, much more. Not only is it a boot manager which allows you to select an operating system on boot-up (and not just one which resides on the C:\ drive, either!) but it will also format and resize both FAT-16 and FAT-32 file systems. Allowing you to boot from up to 31 primary partitions on a single hard drive, it can also be used to detect boot viruses which infect a system before the operating system loads (and therefore before other virus detectors can even start their work!). The author's website also links to a utility, packaged as crvt16-32.zip, which provides a one-way conversion from FAT-16 to FAT-32 formats. Documentation with this utility suggests that it could be a Microsoft program though the author couldn't find reference to it on the MS site. This conversion utility is a 61kB download. The main program, Ranish Partition Manager, is a 141kB download. Both can be accessed from: W31 Desktop Utilities
Close Popup – W95
If you've ever landed on a Tripod or GeoCities site and been annoyed by those popup advertisements, be annoyed no longer. Our friends at Take A Hike Software have produced a tiny utility which automatically closes those annoying popup windows. Every time a window appears, Close Popup zaps it. If ever there was an 'essential utility' this is it! You can even set it up so that it doesn't even put an icon in the desktray – just use the switch "-no" when it loads. We have it set up with the 'no' switch and have it running from the Startup menu so it is always there but not "in our faces". Even if it's hidden (ie there's no icon in the desktray) you can always remove this program by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del, selecting 'Close Popup', and then clicking on 'End Task', but who'd want to??? As a nice bonus, Close Popup is only a 6kB download. Go grab your copy of this essential Web utility from: W95 Internet Related
QuickClean – W95
QuickClean is a great way of deleting those unwanted files from your hard drive. Set up the files you want deleted (or just accept the defaults) and you will find that your computer will suddenly be denuded of old BAK, $$$, OLD, etc files which do nothing but hog valuable hard disk real estate. With a huge variety of options, and an automatic feature (it can be set to run every time you load Windows, once per day, per week, per month, per year, whatever – you decide) with an easy interface, QuickClean is a great utility. We have listed QuickClean as a 1.93MB download, but this includes all the runtime files etc which the program needs. We suggest you go for the 70kB version if you think you will have these other common files. This version contains "just the exe's and other stuff" but is a far more sensible download for 95% of users. Access QuickClean from: W95 Desktop Utilities
Glooper – W31 (suitable for W95)
Glooper is your basic maze game a la PacMac, et al. Multiple levels, reasonable graphics, etc make this quite a playable version but you might find that your PC is too fast for it, certainly if you have the Turbo feature activated. Access this 45kB download from: W31 General Games
MiniNotes – W95
While MiniNotes is a small, simple program and easy to use, it has one terrific feature – it lets you associate a reminder note with a time/date. When the nominated time and date occurs, a window pops up with the message – eg "Call Mum", "Don't forget the wife's birthday", etc. You can also have the note/reminder appear hourly, daily, weekly or monthly. Notes can also be printed, saved to file, or copied to the Clipboard. The appearance of the note can be modified as well. The program can be relegated to the desktray (near the clock) where it will launch the main dilaog box on command. While simple in design, it is well thought out and very practical. Access this 47kB download from: W95 Text Programs
Pineapplehead Juicer – W95
Juicer creates screensavers. Why it's called Juicer we don't know except that it's produced by Pineapplehead (and one wonders why the company's called that too!). Anyway, Juicer creates screensavers from your 256-color BMP files – well, most 256-color BMP files. If you've created yours with Adobe Photoshop (and, we suspect, with a few other up-market graphics programs) then you might have to use something like Paintshop Pro to 'convert' it to a simpler version. We converted a GIF using Micrografx Picture Publisher 7 but the resultant BMP file had some color 'noise' along the top. We then loaded it into MS Paint and then saved it again and the 'noise' was gone. Another image we tried could not be 'repaired' with MS Paint. With the hassles of the 256-color BMP files behind us we ran Juicer through its paces and was very impressed with the final result. You can load a number of images which will then be cycled through the screensaver, and each one has the same options. You can set how the image will first appear (and for how long), what it will do when it has appeared (and for how long) and then how the image will disappear (again, indicating how long this will take). You can also set the position on the screen where you want the image to start. Having set the options, you can preview your screensaver. When you're happy with the final result (trial and error soon get things right) you can use the program to create the SCR file and optionally either load it into your Windows\System folder so it can be accessed though the Display program in Control Panel, or it can create a setup program and an uninstall program for distribution. Apart from the hassle with 256-color BMP files (and they must be in this format – no other format can be used), we were most impressed with Juicer. If you're a bromeliadhead, get Pineapplehead Juicer and make yourself some terrific screensavers. Access this 1.28MB download from: W95 General Programs
UPDATES
Clarion – a very good player for MIDI, WAV and AVI files – has been updated to version 0.9.5. This is a bug fix and current users are urged to grab this latest version. If you are not using Clarion, or haven't yet tried it, you might be in for a pleasant surprise. Grab yourself a copy from: W95 Multimedia Programs
QuickPage – the terrific (but tiny) HTML source code editor – has now been upgraded to version 1.2 with some added functionability and some minor bug fixes. Get you copy from: W95 Internet Related
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