Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #471 issued April 18, 2008

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This electronic newsletter is registered – ISSN 1441-6840
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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

Addams Family v1.0 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Addams Family is a retro run 'n jump game where you, as Gomez, must search for your lost family, battling mysterious monsters, evading traps, and eventually facing your nemesis, Tully Alford (a backstabbing attorney who has a court order evicting you from your home). Based off the movie (which was, in turn, based off the 1960s TV series of the same name), Addams Family is a fun game originally distributed by Sega. The author says: "An evil lawyer has thrown the Addams family out of their home and is planning to take their fortune. However, the family (except for the depressed Gomez) returns to the home to reason with the lawyer. When Gomez snaps out of his funk and finally arrives, his family is missing. You take control of the Addams' patriarch as he searches the house for his family and tries to save their fortune. He will have to run and jump through levels filled with enemies that will do whatever it takes to see that Gomez doesn't find his family. But thanks to his trusty bow and some arrows, disposing of any interference is a breeze. There are also several power-ups available that will help Gomez, including extra health and free lives. It's up to you to help Gomez save his family and their home." This is a typical run 'n jump style platform game with some shooter elements which should appeal to a wide audience – you don't even have had to watch the movie or the TV series to enjoy this light-hearted time waster. Some of the riddles are challenging, as are some of the enemies you will face along the way, but the end is achievable if you persevere. Addams Family is a great way to kill an hour or two. We liked! Access this 1.13MB download from: Win95 General Games

Formulator Mathml Weaver v3.8 – WinXP/Vista
Formulator Mathml Weaver is a mathematical expressions editor that allows the user to create, and print, mathematical equations through simple point-n-click techniques. It features extensive symbols (separated into Presentation & Content types), expressions also displayed as tree/text/XHTML, virtually unlimited undo/redo, 192-page PDF Helpfile, and more. This is not a calculator but a tool to accurately display mathematical equations so they can be printed or, in the case of XHTML, exported. Create your mathematical model and then print it out, turn it into a graphic or XML file, or share it with others as an XHTML file. The number of symbols offered through Formulator Mathml Weaver is excellent, and there is even a massive Helpfile if you are unsure what to do. We were most impressed with Formulator Mathml Weaver and are happy to recommend it. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 10.6MB download from: WinXP Text Programs

Photo! Editor v1.0 – WinXP/Vista
Photo! Editor is a powerful and easy-to-use image editing suite of tools. It features 7 editing plug-ins (Fix Red Eye, Lighting, Denoiser, Make Up, Caricature, Enhance Color & Framing), batch processing, supports all major image formats (JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF & TIF), virtually unlimited undo/redo, zoom, good Helpfile, and more. This is a superb set of digital photo editing tools that covers most of the important editing functions. Not only does it allow you to rotate and crop your image, but it helps you to adjust light levels, indulge in your cartoon impulses through the Caricature plug-in, or just remove red eye from your digital pics. Some of the tools are automatically applied (like the Enhance Color plug-in and the Denoise plug-in) but others give you an enormous amount of control so you can manually teak your precious images. Undoubtedly the best tool in this suite is the red eye plug-in that automatically finds the red-eye in an image and repairs it without any human interference. We have never before seen a tool that does this so well and, for this tool alone, Photo! Editor is a "must have" suite. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 7.03MB download from: WinXP Graphic Programs

Raid 2 Raid v1.0 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Raid 2 Raid is a tool to unlock & transfer RAID arrays between different chipsets. It can mount any Dynamic Disk on any version of Windows no matter whether or not it supports the Dynamic Disks, it supports all file formats (FAT, NTFS & Ext2), and more. Unfortunately CFS was unable to review this program as we do not use RAID arrays. The author says to "stop depending on the system board chipset to support your RAID configuration! Mount RAID arrays and Dynamic Disks created with all current Intel, nVidia or VIA chipsets on any other chipset and on all versions of Windows with free Raid 2 Raid software. Motherboard failed? Upgraded to a different chipset? Changed brand or manufacturer of a system board? Don't get locked into a single chipset! Raid 2 Raid will mount your RAID array no matter what chipset you were using then and no matter what you are using now. New motherboard does not have built-in RAID support? No problem! Raid 2 Raid will accommodate your existing RAID arrays on the new PC – whether or not it supports hardware RAID! Created a Dynamic Disk with Windows? Moving the software RAID onto another PC? Raid 2 Raid will mount any Dynamic Disk on any version of Windows no matter whether or not it supports the Dynamic Disks! Raid 2 Raid recognizes and fully supports the native RAID arrays of the following types: JBod (RAID 0), Stripe (RAID 0), Mirror (RAID 1), RAID 5 (data recovery mode if any single disk is missing or corrupted), and RAID 0+1 (RAID 10). Software-based RAID and Windows Dynamic Disks of the following types are supported: Simple, Span, Stripe, Mirror and RAID 5 arrays. Recognizing FAT, NTFS, and EXT2 file system and supporting Classic and GPT Partition Style introduced in Windows 2008 Server makes Raid 2 Raid a truly universal RAID adaptor." Access this 1.99MB download from: Win95 General Programs

Jigsaw Winner v1.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Jigsaw Winner is a hi tech jigsaw puzzle. It features 21 high quality images to choose from, 3 levels of difficulty (images split into 35 pieces, 48 pieces or 165 pieces), optional display of full image, excellent 3D graphics, saves up to 9 games, simple mouse operation, one-click puzzle solve, and more. This is an awesome jigsaw puzzle that will give hours and hours of enjoyment for lovers of jigsaws. The Easy level of difficulty (35 pieces) can still take some time to solve because of the complexity of some images, but the real challenge is when you hit the 165-piece Hard level. This might not seem much to people used to working on 5,000 piece puzzles but, when playing on a computer with limited time available, this is still a complex puzzle to solve. There is provision for saving up to 9 separate games in progress, and the whole package looks professional. We found Jigsaw Winner to be a real winner for jigsaw aficionados who wish to move from a horizontal board to a vertical computer screen. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 19.7MB download from: Win98 General Games

Extra Video to Audio MP3 Converter Free v5.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Extra Video to Audio MP3 Converter Free is a program for the fast conversion of video to MP3, OGG, WMV or WMA audio format. It features support for major video formats (AVI, DIVx, xVID, MPG, WMV, ASF, RM, RMVB, DAT, MOV, SWF, FLV, VOB & NSV), set the start position and end position of source file to convert, batch files conversion, and more. This is a handy way of extracting audio from a movie file. It supports all popular movie formats and is extremely fast, taking about one-eighth of the time of the original file to extract the audio (an 8 minute movie takes about 1 minute, a 60 minute movie takes about 8 minutes). Sound quality, when compared to the original, is good but we did experience some trouble in selecting a portion of a VOB file to extract the audio from – it would accept the entire VOB file but crashed every time we tried to extract only part of it. This might have been a conflict within our computer (it happens) but this is something you may have to watch. That aside, Extra Video to Audio MP3 Converter Free (what a mouthful!) did an excellent job in rendering audio from video files. We liked! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 3.61MB download from: Win98 Multimedia Programs

Sherrod FTP Client v1.1.0.0 – WinXP/Vista
Sherrod FTP Client is an FTP client. It features multiple connections, scheduled jobs, command line options, quick history connect, log viewer, optional automatic PGP encryption/decryption, secure FTP connections, and more. It has a standard twin pane display, with the local computer in the left hand pane and the remote computer in the right hand pane. This is not just a neat looking FTP client, but one that works quite well within its own limitations. While it does lack some of the high end features of the Deluxe version (which costs around $20), the basic version is suitable for most users. We were a little disappointed that there is no (apparent) disconnect button, you have to close the right hand pane to close the connection. We also could not see any way of pre-configuring which directories we started from, either locally or remotely. This means that every time you log onto a site you have to manually navigate to the correct folders. There is a provision to set a local folder as your download folder, which is OK for downloading from some public sites, but is of no help when you are trying to transfer files to a server (post your homepage on-line). That aside, Sherrod FTP Client should serve most users adequately. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 8.28MB download from: WinXP Internet Related

DayAdder v2.13 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
DayAdder is a simple utility that allows the user to add (or subtract) a specific number of days from a starting date and then calculates the resultant date. This is a neat little tool that tells you what the date is when you specify a number of days (positive or negative) from a starting date. It has two calendar windows and you highlight the starting date in the left hand window, insert the number of days (place a minus sign before it for negative numbers) and press the Enter key on the keyboard. The right hand date will reflect the difference between the two dates. We believe that this little utility would have more value if you could specify the two dates and have it tell you the number of days between them. As it is, you must specify the number of days and it will calculate the date. If you need to be able to find out what date it is after a specific number of days then grab a copy of DayAdder. It works like magic. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 379kB download from: Win98 Desktop Utilities

Micro Submarine v1.0 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Micro Submarine is a side-scrolling, underwater arcade game where you, as a little submarine, must avoid enemies and collect bonuses (additional points, health & speed up). This is a surprisingly addictive little game where you must control the submarine (hands up if you guessed it was a yellow submarine!). It travels through a undersea world of enemies and powerups as you try to achieve the best score you can. The submarine is controlled by using the arrow keys and you must grab as many powerups as you can while avoiding the enemies. Micro Submarine doesn't pretend to be anything but a short term time waster, but it is a time waster that will bring you back for more and more as you try and beat your own best score. We loved! Access this 2.68MB download from: Win95 General Games
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