Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #520 issued September 18, 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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

A Case of the Crabs v1.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
A Case of the Crabs is a point 'n click, mini-mystery adventure where you play Nick Bounty. It features 4 separate locations (Nick's office, shipping docks, Blue Crab Cafe & Jim's Shack 'O Crabs), lots of items to collect, challenging puzzles to solve, walkthrough available, and more. This is an interesting little point 'n click adventure game which is presented in black and white as an homage to the old movies, from which it gets its inspiration. Nick Bounty is a wannabe private investigator, who has yet to have a paying client. Therefore, the mystery of the crab salesman, who dies at the threshold of his office with a knife in his back, is sure to pique Nick's sleuthing abilities. A Case of the Crabs has an unusual interface at times, but it is quick to master and it won't take long before you are sleuthing with the best of them. Some of the puzzles are reasonably tough, though there is a walkthrough if you really feel that you need a hand. The graphics are, at times, a little bit too basic but they are carried by the black and white screen which adds a 1930's touch to the game. Expect this game to keep you amused for about an hour. We loved A Case of the Crabs so much we have not only hosted it on the CFS server, but made it available to everybody to download and share (membership is not required). A fabulous little time waster. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Get this 7.09MB download from: Win98 General Games

Ext2 Installable File System v1.11a – WinXP/VIsta
Ext2 Installable File System is a tool that offers full access to Linux Ext2 volumes (read & write) using Windows Explorer. It features command-line support for Ext3 partitions, UTF-8 encoded file names are supported, supports GPT disks if the Windows version used also does, and more. Unfortunately CFS was unable to review this program. The author says: "Ext2 Installable File System provides Windows NT4.0/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008 with full access to Linux Ext2 volumes (read access and write access). This may be useful if you have installed both Windows and Linux as a dual boot environment on your computer. If you currently have Windows running and you realize that you need some files for your work which you have stored on an Ext2 volume of your Linux installation, you no longer have to shut down Windows and boot Linux! Furthermore, Windows will now be able to handle floppy disks which have been formatted with an Ext2 file system. Linux Ext3 volumes can also be accessed. It installs a pure kernel mode file system driver Ext2fs.sys, which actually extends the Windows operating system to include the Ext2 file system. Since it is executed on the same software layer at the Windows NT operating system core like all of the native file system drivers of Windows (for instance NTFS, FASTFAT, or CDFS for Joliet/ISO CD-ROMs), all applications can access directly to Ext2 volumes. Ext2 volumes get drive letters (for instance O:). Files, and directories of an Ext2 volume appear in file dialogs of all applications. There is no need to copy files from or to Ext2 volumes in order to work with them." You can access Ext2 Installable File System through the Windows' Control Panel. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 1.39MB download from: WinXP Desktop Utilities

Bart's PE Builder v3.1.10a – WinXP
Bart's PE Builder is a tool that builds a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-ROM. It features a complete Win32 environment with network support, graphical user interface (800x600), FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support, and more. This is not the command-line PE tool supplied by Microsoft (you can get a copy if you qualify – most don't!) but a graphical user interface (GUI) version that requires (for legal reasons) your original Windows XP install disk. It can either create an ISO file so you can burn a bootable CD at a later time, or it can directly burn a bootable CD or DVD for you. With that BartPE disk in your computer you can boot into a Win32 environment that is separate from your hard drive (even though it uses your hard drive when it is booting up). You can then access your computer without using the standard C:\Windows files and you still are able to access NTFS drives (which is not easy to do if you boot from a DOS-based floppy disk!). This means that admins can carry out hardware burn-ins without having an operating system on the computer's hard drive, a user can repair damage caused by viruses or rescue files to another computer on the network, and more. Bart's PE Builder is simply the tool that uses the existing Windows XP install disk files to create the stand-alone, and bootable, BartPE disk. It has optional network support and includes a small selection of tools and programs. The most valuable is probably the A43 file manager, which is very similar to Windows Explorer. We were most impressed with Bart's PE Builder and the subsequent BartPE disk. As expected, it did take a little longer to bootup than simply using the existing OS on the hard drive, but that is a small payment for being able to easily access the computer when everything goes wrong. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is suitable only for Windows XP. Access this 3.15MB download from: WinXP General Programs

IE Surfgear v1.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
IE Surfgear is a useful Internet Explorer add-on that places 3 buttons on the toolbar. These buttons allow the user to override the specified settings used by the a site's author, and makes small text more readable (uses default size), rectifies poor text & background colors (uses default colors), and removes background images. Restoring text sizes can be valuable if you have a large monitor and the nominated size (specially size 1 text) can be too small to be clearly read. It is also valuable if the Web author has used H1 sized text for the entire page (yes, we've seen that!). Rectifying the Web author's concept of "good" design by restoring the default black text on a white background can help the user escape from the more hideous color combinations used on some sites (eg cyan text on a magenta background!). Finally, the background removing button can get rid of some of the more garish background images that seriously detract from the readability of a site. As a tool, IE Surfgear is extremely valuable for all Internet Explorer users, but we had a small problem with the program. Every time we activated one of the buttons on the CFS site we received a warning message that said "Component Error – System reports: Access is denied." But it wasn't. While the message appeared three times whenever we activated the button on the CFS site, it still worked. Most strange. Even more strange because it did not do this on every site so there must be a command on some servers, or within the HTML, that does not like IE Surfgear. That aside, this is a fantastic little tool for those sites that are next to impossible to read. It does not make every bad site readable, but it helps with most of them. If you still use Internet Explorer you will probably find the IE Surfgear add-on to be extremely valuable. Grab a copy now! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 125kB download from: Win98 Internet Related

SolveigMM AVI Trimmer v1.6.901.20 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista
SolveigMM AVI Trimmer is a video editor for fast and lossless AVI editing that involves no encoding/decoding processes. It can trim multiple portions from a video, allows trimming AVI files containing VBR audio without synchronization loss, supports AVI files larger than 4GB, supports the OpenDML AVI file format extension, K frame/GOP accuracy, and more. This is a terrific editor for trimming or cutting AVI video files. It can remove ads from a video clip by the user selecting portions of the clip which are required. You can then stitch them back together, minus those unwanted sections. Segments can be selected either by using flags to denote the start and finish of a segment, or you can use the Scene Detection tool to select the scenes you wish to keep. It has a built-in player so you can see exactly what you are selecting, and what you are trimming. We really impressed with SolveigMM AVI Trimmer and found it both easy to use and extremely fast. The finished result is superb and the stitched together segments are seamless. However, we were disappointed in the lack of built-in help. There is good help available from the author's Website, but nothing with the program itself. You can download a user manual in PDF format (266kB download), even though it is probably not the best set of instructions we have seen. The on-line help is much better (and more up-to-date) than the PDF file. Simply stated, you select the first segment using the start and finish flags to nominate the start and finish of a segment, and then click on the "Add" button. You can then select another segment, then a third, etc until you have selected as many as you want. The timeline at the bottom of the screen shows your segments. Click on the "Run" button to create a new AVI file. The author claims that SolveigMM AVI Trimmer supports "any" video content (DV, XviD, DivX, 3ivX, MPEG-4, etc) but we could only get it to recognize AVI videos. It also only saves to the AVI format. Fortunately there are lots of free video file converters (we use "Any Video Converter" which is listed with CFS) to change your clip into an AVI, and then from an AVI into whatever format you choose. Overall, SolveigMM AVI Trimmer is a superb AVI video editor that can split a video into segments, and then stitch them together into a single, seamless video. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 3.36MB download from: Win98 Multimedia Programs

DefragDrives v4.2.01 – WinXP/Vista
DefragDrives is a small tool that overcomes the limitations of the defrag tool supplied with Windows by allowing up to 10 drives to be flagged for defragmentating. It offers a choice of normal or in-depth modes, you can use optional batch defragging (start multiple drive defrags with a single click), it uses Windows Disk Defragmenter so the performance is guaranteed, and more. This is a simple, and tiny, utility that overcomes one of the main problems with the disk defragmenter supplied with Windows. Windows Disk Defragmenter can only defrag a single drive so, if you have multiple drives, you must manually set it to start each drive after the previous one has finished. By being able to tell DefragDrives to defrag multiple drives, you can walk away from your computer while it processes all the requested drives. Neat. There are currently two versions of this tool, one for XP users and one for Vista users. We found that DefragDrives does exactly what it says it does – act as a front-end for the Windows Disk Defragmenter engine to overcome the one-drive-at-a-time limitation of XP. It also defrags files larger than 64MB in Vista (a deliberate limitation built into Vista). Regularly defragging a hard drive is essential for the fastest possible computing, and DefragDrives makes that much easier when there are multiple drives on a computer, or if you have files over 64MB. Grab a copy now! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 51kB download from: WinXP Windows Enhancements

Hornil StylePix v1.0.0.967 – WinXP/Vista
Hornil StylePix is a multi-layer graphic's editor with an intuitive interface. It features support for 6 popular image formats (PNG, JPG, BMP, TIF, GIF & TGA), multiple files can be opened simultaneously, multi-level undo/redo, huge selection of filters & effects, correction & enhancement tools, on-line Helpfile, and more. This is an excellent graphic's editor that has been primarily designed for working with digital photos. However, it does add some other tools, including the ability to resize and move added items, like text and lines, after they have been inserted. There are about 30 different image filters, and about 30 kinds of blending modes and transparencies for each layer. Hornil StylePix is considered a mid-range graphic's editor – not quite on par with the big commercial programs, but much more than just the simple image editing tools we usually see. We were disappointed that help was only available on-line, it wouldn't have taken much to have added a Helpfile to the download. We also noticed that if you select a filter or effect from the top menu bar it will often not make any difference to your image. this is because it uses whatever are the default values and you have to access the filters, etc from the toolbar on the side of the program's window (called Tool Options) to modify their settings. That aside, the interface is quite intuitive and most users should require little assistance to use Hornil StylePix. However, that does not mean that they are getting the best from the program and, for that, a good Helpfile is essential. We fell in love with Hornil StylePix while we were reviewing it. The program is fun to use and the results can be quite spectacular. Worth grabbing! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 2.21MB download from: WinXP Graphic Programs

Beaned v1.0 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista
Beaned is a light weight dodgeball "shooter" where you must protect Camp Kidney from the aliens by throwing dodgeballs at them, the winner being the one who wins the dodgeball game. This is an amusing little time waster. The author says: "Aliens have landed at leaky lake! Lazlo, Raj & Clam must protect Camp Kidney from the space invaders the only way they know how: with dodgeballs. Beaned is a dodge ball type game. Protect your camp from aliens by winning a game of dodgeball." This is not a brain stretching game – just aim at the aliens with your mouse and fire using the left mouse button. You can jump using the Spacebar. Watch out for bombs and spinballs. If you want to kill 5 or 10 minutes then Beaned is for you. Check it out for yourself. Access this 1.63MB download from: Win95 General Games
UPDATE
Lunascape – a tabbed Web browser compatible with Internet Explorer & Firefox – has been updated to version 5.1.5 with a download size of 8.43MB (the full installer, which includes both browser engines, is a 32MB download). In this version the author advises that they have: "updated both Gecko and Webkit engines to the latest versions.(Gecko 1.9.1.3 and Webkit 532.0). Webkit achieves 20% faster JavaScript speed compared to the one in our previous version and Gecko includes various vulnerability fixes. Furthermore, we have included some new features such as tab activation option using mouse wheel. We have fixed lots of bugs this time including default browser setting, title bar, IE history, highlighting functions, and install and uninstall options." Grab this latest version from: WinXP Internet Related
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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