Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #518 issued August 28, 2009

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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Nexuiz v2.5.1 – WinXP/Vista
Nexuiz is a 3D deathmatch first person shooter with quick, lethal battles and balanced weaponry. It features single player & on-line multi-player modes, features 9 weapons, 24 official maps, 15 player models (an average of 2 skins each), realtime lighting & shadowing, new particle effects, advanced menu system, Quake3bsp support, Md3/Md2 model support, and more. This is an excellent 3D "corridor" shooter in the style of Quake and Woftenstein, with lots of fake blood and gore. It can be played as a single-player game but its real strength lies in its multi-player, on-line play where you can join a game or host one. Nexuiz places big demands on a computer and some players may wish to turn off some of the more esoteric special effects. This can also help because much of the eye candy, while great to look at, can detract from playing the game. As the author says "the flares and smoke caused by rockets, for example, can make spotting your target much more difficult in the heat of battle". It is full of eye candy to the point that it can seriously slow down your computer and reduce the frames-per-second (fps) rate. Nexuiz is not an original game and draws heavily on games like Quake. However, it does offer some awesome graphics and fabulous gameplay. We really enjoyed our time with Nexuiz. We didn't join an on-line community because we could see that we might spend the next week or two just playing the game instead of working. Maybe it should have a Surgeon General's health warning, like "Playing Nexuiz is highly addictive." You have been warned... Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 659MB download from: WinXP General Games

HWM BlackBox v1.1.6 – WinXP/Vista
HWM BlackBox is a computer information & benchmarking tool. It features in-depth information about hardware (processor, memory modules, mainboard, hard drives, videocard, etc), displays clock speeds & temperatures, offers speed benchmarking (except for Windows XP), and more. This is a great little tool that offers lots of relevant hardware information and, if you have Vista or later, will provide a series of benchmarks so you can see how fast your computer really it (also valuable for assessing tweaks to see if they make any real difference). Hardware information is excellent, with a good depth of information about installed components, plus realtime information about fan speeds, CPU and hard drive temperatures, etc. Information is well laid out and easy to read using a tabbed interface. We did discover a problem with the DDR2 RAM installed in our computer – it was all supposed to be 333MHz but HWM BlackBox showed us that only one of the two sticks of RAM installed was 333MHz, the other was 266MHz. We can now rectify that imbalance and ensure that both sticks are 333MHz. HWM BlackBox is one of those tools that is a "must have" for all PC users. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 916kB download from: WinXP Windows Enhancements

SoftwareMile Audio Editor v1.0.0.1 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
SoftwareMile Audio Editor is an easy-to-use digital audio editor and file converter. It features support for all major audio formats (reads & writes to MP3, WAV, VOX, OGG, G726, WMA & RAW), records audio, includes many filters & effects, edits ID3 tags, mixes audio files, and more. This is an excellent audio file editor that offers conversions between many popular audio file formats. In addition to the formats it can read and write, it can also read MP2, DSS, CDA, MPC, PCM, GSM, etc audio files. There is an abundance of various filters and effects, though highlighting portions of the audio for these tools to be applied is not as easy. This, however, is just a matter of learning the double-click method used to select regions of the file. We had to agree to Relevant Knowledge advertising being added before the program would install, though since it has been installed we cannot find it on our computer. We assume that Norton 360 simply trashed it before it was installed but, as we weren't asked if we wanted it kept or trashed, we are just as unimpressed with Norton 360 as we are with any program that insists on the mandatory installation of this type of offensive advertising. Oh for a program that actually asks first... Apart from the advertising that disappeared, it is hard to fault SoftwareMile Audio Editor. It is extremely powerful yet quite easy to use (apart from that highlighting issue!). It certainly supports a huge number of file formats. If you are looking for an audio editor and audio file converter then SoftwareMile Audio Editor should be high on your list. We loved! Access this 9.23MB download from: Win95 Multimedia Programs

Windows Command Line Ftp v9.08.14 – WinXP/Vista
Windows Command Line Ftp is a command-line FTP program for updating and downloading files. It features a small executable size, the ability to use either Passive or Active connection, it can read commands from text file, it can be called from any other program, and more. Command-line programs have diminished in popularity over the years but they often offer the best solution for a number of tasks – specially for "calling" an action from within another program or from within a DOS batch (BAT) file. DOS batch files can be used to automate a number of tasks, including launching a number of programs sequentially, and adding command-line syntax to programs like Windows Command Line Ftp. This program offers a huge number of switches to make it perform very powerful operations. It offers 26 commands, and 16 arguments which require parameters to be set. Using Windows Command Line Ftp requires some knowledge of DOS, but this is not hard to learn and the knowledge can be used in other areas (specially for the creation of BAT files). While not for everyone, Windows Command Line Ftp is a wonderfully powerful tool with a rich command-line structure. We liked. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 485kB download from: WinXP Internet Related

WinX DVD Ripper v4.1.1 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
WinX DVD Ripper is a DVD ripper that rips to video (AVI, WMV, FLV, MOV, MPG & MP4) or MP3 audio. It features fast ripping speed (up to 500% real time), supports NTSC & PAL, supports (S)VCD, screenshot grab, batch ripping, all video/audio output quality parameters are adjustable, automatic updates, and more. The author also says that it supports normal DVD, CSS protected DVD, region 1-6 and commercial DVD formats (copying commercial and CSS protected DVDs may be illegal). This is a terrific tool for ripping DVDs to a computer's hard disk and saving the video or audio in one of a number of formats – each of which can be adjusted for output quality. Ripping is reasonably fast, though we never achieved anything liked the claimed 500%, and the output quality is excellent. WinX DVD Ripper can retain the original aspect ratio, and even the original size, even adjust the output audio level. Neat. We were less impressed with the automatic updating tool which is supposed to ensure that you always have the latest version. In our case it crashed every time we loaded the program and we couldn't even turn off this "feature". We also had some initial instability problems with the main program until we closed most of our background apps and all our main apps. Even with these minor annoyances, we were most impressed with WinX DVD Ripper. We consider it a "must have" for anyone with a DVD player. Grab a copy now! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 6.49MB download from: Win98 General Programs

Dirlot v0.9.3 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Dirlot is a small utility that shows the relative size of both files and sub-folders within a folder or drive, and displays how space is distributed amongst the folder's elements. It allows for the selection of sort order (by size & by name), selection of scale (linear, logarithmic & root scale of diagram columns), you can view a files' metadata (creation date, etc), view the folder/file size (in bytes, kilobytes or megabytes), and more. This is a handy tool for displaying the relative sizes of files or folders on your hard drive. You can even have it display the entire contents of a drive. Dirlot shows the relative size of each folder/file displayed with the largest shown in red and marked as "100" (percent) and each of the others relative to that largest folder/file. You can get the basic metadata information about a file and sort the order of each column of information. Unfortunately it does not give you the actual sizes of drives, just folders and files, but is valuable just for that information. We would like to have seen more control over basic elements of the program, like the font size, so we could present the information in a way we preferred it, but with its tiny size, customization is out of the question without making this a much larger program. Dirlot requires no installation and can be run from a USB pen drive or floppy disk. We still cannot understand why the Windows Explorer file manager does not offer information that is available only through programs like this. Until it does, Dirlot is a great way to see folder sizes. Worth a look! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 26kB download from: Win98 Desktop Utilities

Fly Free Photo Editing & Viewer v2.16.3 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Fly Free Photo Editing & Viewer is a tool to view, edit, enhance and manipulate digital photos. It features an Apple style interface, has a multiple tab viewer, includes basic image editing (resizing, brightness & color adjustment, adding text, cropping, red eye removal, rotation, grayscale, etc), it can batch export photos to a PowerPoint file, prints photos, can convert a HTML page to a JPG image, it can share photos (send photos via MSN or upload them to Google space, Flickr or Facebook), and more. This is a good, if rather basic, photo editor with some nice additional features. These include the ability to convert a Webpage into a JPG image file, and to export photos to a PowerPoint file. It can also create a slideshow from the images in any folder. The Apple style interface is a little strange to Windows-only users, but you soon get used to it. As we prefer the Windows interface, we did not find this feature a "plus". Fly Free Photo Editing & Viewer is a little lightweight in the editing department and we would have preferred to see better editing functions (more filters and enhancements). In many ways, this is a good viewer with some editing functions, rather than a serious image editor. Overall, Fly Free Photo Editing & Viewer is a good program that will suit many users who do not want a dedicated image editor. We liked. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 11.4MB download from: Win98 Graphic Programs

Mini-Putt v1 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
Mini-Putt is an 18-hole golf game which you must complete with the least number of strokes. It features normal golf scoring, challenging holes, each hole has its own par, high score, excellent graphics, and more. This is a fun little game that is much more addictive than first look might indicate. To direct your golf ball, move the mouse away from the direction you want to hit the ball. The further back you move the more power you will hit the ball with. The aim is to beat the 48-stroke par for all 18 holes. Mini-Putt is a Flash game that is played through your Web browser. Even though it is hosted on the CFS server, it is freely available to everybody to download and share. Even if you don't play golf you will love Mini-Putt. We did! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Get this 406kB download from: Win98 General Games
UPDATES
Auslogics Disk Defrag – a fast optimizer for modern hard disks that gives maximum performance by optimizing defragmented files – has been updated to version 2.1.2.45 with a new, larger download size of 2.09MB. The author advises that changes in recent versions include: added background autodefragmentation; added an option to minimize the program into system tray; added Windows Explorer integration; added numerous new options and possibilities; added an option to change disk map color; added an option to include only problem files in the report; added a new option to the console version of the program; added a real-time file defragmentation counter; added a total defragmentation progress; plus many minor improvements and some bug fixes. Get this latest version from: WinXP Windows Enhancements
PNotes – a light-weight, flexible, skinnable manager of virtual "sticky" notes – has been updated to vesrion 5.0.112 with a download size of 323kB. The author advises that changes in this version include: changed internal way the notes are kept; added option to alert about overdue notes on program start; added option to print note's contents; added preview pane to Control Panel; added option to create new note from clipboard contents; hot keys can now be assigned to both main menu & single note menu commands; added note's high priority flag (allows setting of note's priority); added option to lock note's contents against accidental changing; and much more. Get this much improved program from: Win98 Text Programs
TreePad Lite – an Explorer-like information tree which stores all notes, e-mails, texts, hyperlinks, etc – has been updated to version 4.2 with a new download size of 1.19MB. The author advises that changes in this version include: improved compatibility with Windows DEP; an automatic uninstaller; improved printing; nicer looking skins; re-arranged menus; a quick start dialog; new options in the settings screen; and more. Access this handy program from: Win95 General Programs
COMMENTS
We would like to thank the regular visitors to the CFS site who have told us their favorite freeware. If you have a favorite program which isn't listed on the CFS pages we invite you to share that information with everyone through this site and this newsletter. If you are an author of a freeware app (or would just like to suggest a program) and would like it listed on these pages, please fill in the Submit Software form.
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