Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #470 issued April 11, 2008

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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.
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COMPLETELY FREE SOFTWARE

Illegal Communication – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Illegal Communication is an excellent puzzle/shooter where you must move through a number of rooms until you encounter the Boss. It features 16 rooms, quirky graphics, extremely challenging (but winnable) gameplay, is highly addictive, mouse driven, and more. This is a strange game where you must move a ball (an orb) through a number of rooms, solving some quite involved puzzles along the way. The graphics almost don't exist – just simple lines – and the ball features some unusual physics which adds greatly to the overall challenge. The author says: "A description would be going against the concept of this game. You have to figure everything out on your own, even the controls (although you only use the mouse). How to make progress is up to you to discover!" In that spirit we maybe should not mention that we have included a "when all else fails" folder with the downloadable archive that contains a full walk through of all 16 rooms. True gamers would not even be tempted to peek at this walk through text file, but lesser mortals, in a fit of absolute frustration, may decide on just a quick peek... Don't! Illegal Communication is a game that should not be judged by the screenshots because it is a game to be played, rather than simply admired. When (or if) you reach room 16 and can defeat the Boss, your feeling of satisfaction will be directly proportional to your ability to avoid checking out the walk through! Even if you do cheat, don't think that this will be an easy game to win. The dynamics of controlling the orb is a skill you will take some time to master. We have no idea what minimum requirements are needed to play Illegal Communication. We tested it on an XP computer and it ran well. Like with the rest of the game, you are on your own. If you can persevere to master controlling the orb, like us you will quickly learn to love Illegal Communication. Get a copy now! Download this 1.51MB archive from CFS at: Win95 General Games

Jpeg Exif Stamper v1.1 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Jpeg Exif Stamper is a watermarking tool that stamps the date & time information on a JPG image based off the EXIF information. It features customizable font specs, the stamp can be anywhere on an image, it can auto resize and/or rename the image, it supports batch processing, and more. This is an excellent way of embedding the time or date an image was taken into the image itself (similar to the old film cameras which could embed it into the negative). You simply drag 'n drop an image, or a group of images, onto the Batch Operation tabbed window and then just tell Jpeg Exif Stamper to Start. By default it creates a new date-created folder under the image's parent folder and places the stamped image there. However, there are a huge variety of options that you can select to make the program do whatever you want with the image. Likewise you can change the font, the font size, the font attributes (italics, bold, etc), and even the font color. You can also set the background color though, by default, this is a transparent color so it is not seen. We were not particularly impressed with the lack of Explorer-type file selection, primarily because the program auto-hides and does not appear in the system tray. This means that you must reduce the size of Explorer so that it is only about half the screen, and then close all programs before un-hiding Jpeg Exif Stamper and then displaying the reduced-size version of Explorer. Very messy. The program is supported by advertising but, when we clicked on an ad (we think they are house ads), we received an error message and the program crashed. That aside, Jpeg Exif Stamper did what it purported to do, and did it well. We were very impressed. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 5.13MB download from: Win98 Graphic Programs

HomeSentinel v1.27 – WinXP/Vista
HomeSentinel is a program that helps protect your home or business by continuously monitoring the video from up to four webcams and alerting you by e-mail and/or phone when it detects motion. Unfortunately CFS was unable to review this program. The author says: "HomeSentinel is software for Windows XP systems that you can use to help protect your home or business while you are away. It can continuously monitor the video from up to four webcams and alert you by email, phone, or both when it detects motion. Email alerts contain the video image that caused motion to be detected and four additional images spaced at three second intervals. HomeSentinel also allows you to view the webcam video live over the Internet from a remote computer, via Windows Media Player, a utility that is available on most Windows computers. It will also transmit audio on the device you have set up as your default audio input device. HomeSentinel employs Microsoft Windows Media Encoder as its broadcasting engine. Windows Media Encoder is a free download from Microsoft, and download instructions are included in the installation instructions." Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 5.13MB download from: WinXP General Programs

Xtreme Link Analyzer v1.20 – WinME/XP/Vista
Xtreme Link Analyzer is a program that checks the backlinks to a site through various search engines. It features results from 6 search engines, includes Google PageRank & Alexa Rank, shows the number of indexed pages in Google & Yahoo, results can be saved in a CSV format (suitable for Excel), and more. This is a great way to get statistics about how many sites are linking to your site, as well as how many are linking to your competitor's sites. You can make a list of as many sites as you like and then have Xtreme Link Analyzer check them all for you (ask for too many sites and it could take some time to gather all the information). Sites can be sorted using any of the data columns (except Yahoo Backlinks) and the information saved for a deeper analysis through a spreadsheet program, like Excel. Xtreme Link Analyzer is a "must have" program for anyone serious about their Website(s). We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95 or 98. Access this 2.11MB download from: WinME Internet Related

Happy Mongoose Pyramid v1.0.0.3 – WinXP/Vista
Happy Mongoose Pyramid is a solitaire cardgame where you must remove pairs of cards that total 13 (5 & 8, 3 & 10, 2 & Jack, etc) until all cards have been paired. It features 2 modes of play (timed & untimed), unlimited undo (20 point penalty if used), good Helpfile, and more. This is a good, if not exciting, version of this very popular cardgame. The player is faced with a pyramid of 28 cards, and a stock pile of 24 cards. By pairing exposed cards so that their total is 13, the pairs disappear. The King is a special card because it has a numerical value of 13 so it does not need to be paired up. Unfortunately, Happy Mongoose Pyramid lacks the most common options (you can't change the cardbacks, you can't change the number of times you can work through the stock, etc). That aside, Happy Mongoose Pyramid is a highly addictive game. We liked. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 176kB download from: WinXP General Games

Ultimate CD/DVD Burner v3.0 – WinXP/Vista
Ultimate CD/DVD Burner is a program that burns data to CDs & DVDs. It features support for most major disk types (CD-R, CD-RW DVD+R/RW & DVD-R/RW), creates & burns from ISO file, supports a wide range of internal & external (USB 2.0 & FireWire) CD & DVD writers, creates bootable disks, optionally tests data integrity, buffer overrun control, variable cache size, and more. This is an excellent program for burning data to CDs and DVDs. It is easy to use and offers most required functions. Unfortunately, it cannot create audio CDs so it is limited for use only with data. We liked the ability of Ultimate CD/DVD Burner to easily burn to, and from, ISO files, and also to be able to create a bootable disk. While it may lack some of the more esoteric bells 'n whistles – and the ability to create audio CDs – it is still one of the best burning programs we have seen. If you are looking at just burning data, Ultimate CD/DVD Burner should be high on your list as programs to try. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 505kB download from: WinXP General Programs

Reganam Video Player v1.2 – WinME/XP/Vista
Reganam Video Player is a video player. It features support for the major video formats (AVI, MPEG, QuickTime, MP4, 3GP, FLV, etc), no additional video or sound codecs required, hotkey controls (fullscreen toggle, brightness, contrast, pause, step backwards/forwards, volume, etc), and more. There are few video players that can play a wide variety of video formats commonly found on a computer but Reganam Video Player (also known as Video Player 2008) is one that has a wide repertoire of supported formats. Unfortunately, it does not fully support DVDs, though it can play VOB files. It does carry some house ads but these were not intrusive so we discounted the negative aspect of this program being, technically, advertiser supported. We were most impressed with Reganam Video Player. It is a worthwhile addition to any desktop. Grab a copy now! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95 or 98. Get this 7.16MB download from CFS at: WinME Multimedia Programs

AlfaMini v1.80 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
AlfaMini is a desktop digital clock with built-in stopwatch & countdown functions. It features a choice of color schemes, a choice of indicator style (thin, normal & thick), optional auto-start with Windows, a seconds-to-New-Year indicator, an always-on-top function, and more. This is an attractive desktop clock that also acts as a stopwatch, and can show you how many seconds remaining before New Year (we all needed to know that, didn't we!). You can change the style of the clock by changing its color scheme, and the thickness of the digital display. Schemes can be saved for later use if required. If you are looking for a digital desktop clock then check out AlfaMini. It could be exactly what you are looking for. Get this 628kB download from CFS at: Win95 Desktop Utilities

ProtoType – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
ProtoType is a classic side-scrolling 2D space shooter. It features 3 levels of difficulty, lots of powerups to collect, challenging Boss, superb 2D graphics, good sound effects, joystick support, and more. This is a standard shoot-em-up but with such a nice look 'n feel you will think you are playing a much more high spec game. It took 1st place in the shmup-dev competition which gives some indication of its quality. However, it doesn't matter what the specifications say, it is how the game plays that is important and ProtoType ticks all of the boxes. We have no idea about the minimum OS requirements but we reviewed it using XP and it ran flawlessly. We assume that it will also run in all 32-bit versions of Windows. Fun to play, with a high "play again" index, ProtoType is a "must have" if you enjoy space-type shooters. We do, and we loved! Access this 19.1MB download from: Win95 General Games
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