Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #525 issued November 6, 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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Lost Labyrinth v3.5.2 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista/7
Lost Labyrinth is a Rogue-like "coffeebreak dungeon crawling" RPG (role playing game) for 1 to 4 players. It features short gameplay (10~40 minutes), high replayability because everything is created at random, many different skills to choose from, Zelda-like graphics, and more. This is a great little RPG that is extremely playable because basically no two games are the same. There is an enormous choice of character strengths from which to choose, and there are 28 sprites to select from. You can play on your own or against up to three friends. There is a huge number of spells you can use and no experience is gained for killing monsters (only for reaching new levels). We enjoyed playing Lost Labyrinth, though we did have some trouble (under Windows 7) when we tried to quit the game because there was no way we could see to close the program once we had entered our username for the highscore. It was quickly closed using the Windows Task Manager (accessed with the Ctrl-Alt-Del key combo) but this should not have to be used. That aside, Lost Labyrinth is a fabulous "short" game, suitable for those times when you don't want to play an RPG that lasts many hours or days. We loved! Access this 4.79MB download from: Win95 General Games

XdN Tweaker v0.9.2.1 – WinXP/VIsta/7
XdN Tweaker is a Windows "tweaker" to make changes to the desktop and operating system that are either hidden or not apparent. It features over 20 tweaks (including some specific to Win7), access to 4 important Windows tools (IE Settings, MSCONFIG, Sound Mixer & Performance Options), and more. This is a great way to start modifying your operating system to ensure that it is running as you require it – lean & mean, with your choice of eye candy, etc. While XP is relatively easy to modify, Microsoft has been making it progressively harder to tweak the OS so that you cannot run it as you want to run it. We reviewed XdN Tweaker under Windows 7, notoriously unkind to tweakers, and were pleased at some of the basic tweaks it allowed – like being able to disable hibernation, to "take ownership" of a file you wish to modify (Windows often says that you need "permission" to carry out a command), and a folder fix so that you can modify individual folders irrespective of other folders of the same type. Neat. It offers reasonably concise assistance for each tweak, though some are flagged as being potential problems. Specially valuable for both Vista and Windows 7 users, XdN Tweaker is a "must have" for your toolbox. Get it now! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 379kB download from: WinXP Windows Enhancements

Quadrigital v2.3 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista/7
Quadrigital is a tool used for creating comic books or frames out of scanned drawings & photos. It features the organization of pages, the creation & editing of panels & balloons, exporting to images, printing, creating an HTML page, the most common tasks are automated, it has an HTML-based Helpfile, and more. This is an awesome tool for anyone looking to create comic frames – either single or strip. It can even help create full comic books! Add your scanned drawings or digital photos, add a background if that is applicable, add balloons with text, and then export to your desired format. Simple. You can use a handwriting-type font for the text and even apply simple formatting to improve its appearance. With its simplified approach to comic frame creation, Quadrigital (The Comic Edit) is a fun way to create your own comics. If you are just becoming involved in comic frame creation, or are a professional cartoonist, then Quadrigital is the tool you should have. We liked. Access this 984kB download from: Win95 General Programs

DVD Clipper and Joiner v1.1 – WinXP/Vista/7
DVD Clipper and Joiner is an easy-to-use video cutter & joiner that supports VOB, MPG/MPEG & DAT video formats (saves in MPG only). It features the creation of unlimited clips from a movie, rips DVDs, creates remixes of videos, and more. If you wish to extract music videos from a DVD, or capture favorite scenes from a movie, or simply just cut up your clips from your videocam so that each file represents an event, then you need DVD Clipper and Joiner.It has a limited number of supported video formats, and this is a major problem with this program. Of course, you can convert your movie formats to one of the formats supported by DVD Clipper and Joiner using one of the many freeware video format converters, and even convert them back from MPG to another format if you require something other than MPG videos, but this is cumbersome and, in our opinion, should be unnecessary. However, it does an excellent job of grabbing video clips from DVDs (VOB files) or from MPG/MPEG and DAT movie files. It is very easy to use, just "Open" or load the movie and start playing. Where you want to start your clip simply press the "Set Start" button and, when you want it to finish, press the "Set End" button. Clicking on the "Save" button saves that clip with the name you decide and in the location you decide. Similarly it will join two clips by loading each of them using the "Join Video" tab, and then clicking on the "Join now" button. You will be prompted for a name and location for the new file. Simple. For quick and simple video editing, check out DVD Clipper and Joiner. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 631kB download from: WinXP Multimedia Programs

Allway Sync v9.4.5 – WinXP/Vista/7
Allway Sync is a tool that synchronizes data between desktop PCs, laptops, USB drives, etc. It supports network synchronization, bi-directional & uni-directional transfers, multiple-folder synchronization, offers optional automated synchronization, and more. This program rocks! It offers one the best file backup and synchronization systems we have seen and it is very easy to use. Not only can it be used to keep two computers synchronized (normally a laptop and a desktop PC) it can be used for one-way backups between your computer and a removable drive. Allway Sync is essentially the same tool that Microsoft offered as "Power Toy" for earlier versions of Windows, but this is a later version that is more sophisticated. You can set up a number of Jobs, each being a particular folder (with its sub-folders) which is copied or synchronized with a folder in another location. There appears no limit to the number of Jobs you can run, and you can quickly synchronize them by clicking on a single button, or each Job can be individually synchronized. CFS was so impressed with Allway Sync that we purchased a license for the Pro version (the free version must not be used in a commercial situation)! If you have a need to keep your files and/or folders synchronized or, like us, you just wish to backup up your critical files to a separate hard drive, then Allway Sync is the tool for you. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 5.76MB download from: WinXP General Programs

Keyboard Indicator v1.0.1.0 – WinXP/Vista/7
Keyboard Indicator is a set of 3 tray icons that indicate if the Caps Lock, Insert or Scroll Lock buttons are "on". It also includes a visual reminder that displays on the screen for about 1 second when one of those keys is depressed. That display can be positioned either bottom left or bottom right of the screen, and the colors (background and foreground) can be changed. This is a potentially handy little utility that is somewhat useless because the desktray icons, even though they slightly change appearance when their key is turned "on", are almost exactly the same as in the "off" position! It would have been easy to have changed the background color of an icon from the default blue to, say, red when a button was depressed so that the more impacting visual reminder remained on the screen. If that had been done we would have thought more highly of this little utility which, while needed, needs a revamp to make it really useful. We all forget that the Caps Lock key is "on" and go ahead and start typing something – an on-going visual reminder on the icon would be much more valuable than just a notice that pops up for a second and then disappears (this is only valuable if you have accidentally pressed the Caps Lock key, but not if you have deliberately turned it on and then forgotten to turn it off). Keyboard Indicator could have been a really valuable tool instead of almost a novelty tool. We look forward to the next version... Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 34kB download from: WinXP Desktop Utilities

AllMyNotes Organizer v1.10 – WinXP/Vista/7
AllMyNotes Organizer is a multi-functional hierarchical information manager. It stores all notes in virtual folders in one file, offers freedom of individualizing notes in a customizable tree structure, notes can be grouped into flexible virtual folders, notes can include RTF text formatting, includes 2 skins (Deep & Holy Crown) plus 7 language modules (English, Spanish, French, Swedish, Korean, Russian & Ukrainian), and more. This is an easy way to keep track of your notes. You can create folders and sub-folders to store your information in a way that you can easily find, and it is suitable for storing almost any type of textual information – from keeping Bible quotes to capturing random information (note taking, diary, thoughts, ideas, letters, links, projects, ideas, etc). You can use AllMyNotes Organizer to keep track of your DVDs and your Web addresses. It can even be used as a tool for storing passwords, though anyone with access to the main program could read them. We would have liked to have seen "live" HTML and e-mail links, and maybe even telephone numbers we could dial automatically from our computer, but as a static tool for storing snippets of information it is excellent. The author has chosen to use a semi-transparent look for the program, which we found to be harder to read than we would have liked. Overall, we were most impressed with AllMyNotes Organizer. It offers a great way to keep track of your information. Grab a copy and try it for yourself. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 2.20MB download from: WinXP Text Programs

Desert Strike v1.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista/7
Desert Strike is a top down, vertically scrolling helicopter shooter. It features lots of missions to fly, lots of power-ups to collect (health, extra weapons, bombs, shield, etc), both land & air based enemies, good graphics, and more. This is a fun way to kill an hour or two, and some enemies, in this classic shooter. The arrow keys move your helicopter around the sky, the spacebar fires your guns, and the Ctrl key drops bombs. Watch out for the enemies who attack from your rear and try to grab as many power-ups that you can. You are flying over desert so the graphics aren't challenging, but the whole game has a nice feel about it. The only problem we found was that every time we started a new mission it wanted to download music from a site that doesn't now exist! That aside, Desert Strike is a great little shooter that most fans of this genre will love. We did. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 3.66MB download from: Win98 General Games
COMMENTS
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