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CFS Weekly Newsletter #530: issued December 11, 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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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
Christmas Eve Crisis v1.00 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista/7
Christmas Eve Crisis is an arcade game where you help Santa retrieve the dropped presents and deliver them. It features 10 world-wide levels, 10 types of Christmas items to collect, secret areas to explore, map view, excellent graphics & gameplay, original Christmas-themed music, save game, in-game help, optional in-game cheat keys, Internet high scores, windowed of fullscreen (only supports 4:3 screen format), and more. This is a surprisingly good Christmas-themed arcade game where you must collect the dropped presents and deliver them to the correct houses. There are five hazard types in the game – slippery slopes, thorns, mud pits, chasms & frozen ground/ice. You also have to watch out for four different enemies – fireflies, owls, rodents & hedgehogs. There are four optional cheat keys – F5 (reveals the entire level map), F6 (somersault in mid air), F7 (invincibility against animals & environmental hazards), and F8 (automatically add a present to your delivered total). The scoring system is quite complex, but you can replay a level a number of times to improve your score. Graphics are extremely well drawn, the challenges minor but still fun, and the whole game has a terrific look 'n feel. Unfortunately it does not support widescreen monitors, even though it still looks good in fullscreen using a widescreen monitor, and it finishes with a series of nag screens for the publisher's other (not-so-free) games. However, that is a minor irritation and anyone who plays Christmas Eve Crisis will enjoy the game itself and not focus on the nag screens. Playable any time of the year, Christmas Eve Crisis is a great way to kill an hour or so. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 12.4MB download from: Win98 General Games
Ultimate Windows Tweaker v2.0 – Vista/Win7
Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a tool for tweaking and optimizing Windows 7 & Windows Vista (32-bit & 64-bit). It features more than 130 tweaks in 7 categories, offer quick access to creating a Windows Restore Point, requires no installation, and more. This is a great way to tweak your copy of the Windows operating system (notoriously poorly setup using default settings). It offers lots of great tweaks, and some that are not so great (do you really want to disable the pagefile – the virtual memory?). Ultimate Windows Tweaker gives you good control over many otherwise-hidden aspects of the operating system though it offers almost no help or advice and is therefore suitable only for quite experienced PC users. Some of the tweaks, like the aforementioned disabling of the pagefile, can cause disastrous consequences to how Windows operates but there are no warnings or other devices to add a layer of caution. That aside, if used judiciously by an experienced PC user, Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a powerful little tool that can really help to improve how Windows works and runs. We liked. Note: we have been advised that this program is only suitable for Windows Vista and 7. Access this 138kB download from: Windows Vista Enhancements
GINternet Explorer v7.0.2.0 – WinXP/Vista/7
GINternet Explorer is a fast, Internet Explorer-based Web browser. It features tabs, a built-in music player with playlist support, AutoComplete, a built-in draw-on-screen function, an effective pop-up blocker, a spell checker, and more. This is a nice little IE-based Web browser with a couple of unique features, but lacking many of the tools and features found in IE8. It has a built-in music player (why?) and an on-screen draw tool that allows you to temporarily draw over the top of a Webpage. This drawing function might be good for corporate use when a Webpage is displayed on an overhead and the speaker can highlight various aspects by drawing on the page. Once the special drawing tab is closed then the image disappears, forever lost for perpetuity. Unfortunately there are many, many features available in Internet Explorer 8 that are not available in GINternet Explorer – like parental control (even though that is weak in IE), most of the Internet options, etc. We also were a little annoyed because it didn't want to change the homepage away from Google (the default) though we did eventually get it changed. That aside, GINternet Explorer is a good, fast Web browser with an odd drawing function and a built-in music player. If you are looking for a change, or don't like the current options in IE, then check out GINternet Explorer. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 5.99MB download from: WinXP Internet Related
NotepadTabs v2.5.8 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista/7
NotepadTabs is a tabbed and themed (skinnable) ASCII text editor & Notepad replacement. It features word wrap, unlimited filesize, multiple levels of undo/redo, find/replace, zoom, Explorer-style file index, groups, 6 built-in themes, always-on-top mode, transparency mode, font selection, print preview, save-all-tabs option, and more. This is a nice little Notepad replacement that offers much more than the editor provided with Windows. It has a lot of great features and you can even change its appearance with the themes. It opened out 10MB test file, with 470,000 lines of text, in under 2 seconds. Excellent! Unfortunately the find and replace command does not operate across all open tabs (globally), it just works with the current active tab. This limits the value of the tabbed interface. It also lacks a spell checker, though there are quite a few free stand-alone spell checkers that you could use with NotepadTabs. Overall, this is a neat little Notepad replacement that offers lots of great features. NotepadTabs is worth checking out if you are looking for an ASCII text editor. We liked! Access this 1.10MB download from: Win95 Text Programs
Ambereh v1.5 – WinXP/Vista/7
Ambereh is an on-line/off-line Open Source drawing tool in which a drawing can be jointly edited over the Internet, or it can be created/edited off-line. It features a good selection of brushes (including anti-alias & custom bitmap brushes), opacity control, smudge & blur, co-operative drawing, integrated chat, you can record & replay the whole artistic process, it has a simple-to-use interface, offers multi-lingual support, and more. This is an interesting drawing program because you can draw co-operatively over the Internet using a decentralized network, where any user can connect to any other user already in the party, and everybody will see and interact with everybody's drawings. Unfortunately, it has relatively few drawing tools and lacks an undo/redo feature so mistakes mean that the drawing must be started again (we advise regularly saving as you work so you can revert to a previously saved version). While it can be used off-line, there is no doubt that its strength lies in its ability to be used across the Net. As an off-line drawing tool, Ambereh lacks the features to be a real contender in the drawing stakes. However, its ability to be used co-operatively across vast distances does make it worthwhile for anyone requiring that function. Worth checking out. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 745kB download from: WinXP Graphic Programs
Companions Of Jesus v1.1.0 – WinXP/Vista/7
Companions Of Jesus is a church administration and membership database. It can maintain membership data, attendance data, stewardship data, property data, reports, has a First Run Assistant, and more. If you are running a church you will need to keep track of your members, your property, etc. Companions Of Jesus gives you the tools to carry out this task. Acting as a front-end to the Firebird database, it gives you an easy way to keep all your information on hand. We found Companions Of Jesus to be somewhat awkward to use and feel that a re-look at how it handles information is warranted. This is more about ease-of-use than a lack of features. A Helpfile would also be of some assistance to get people started. If you are the administrator of a church then Companions Of Jesus is worth checking out. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 14.3MB download from: WinXP General Programs
Xion Audio Player v1.0.125 – WinXP/Vista/7
Xion Audio Player is a skinnable audio player that supports almost all major audio formats. It features SHOUTcast radio, has a 10 band equalizer with presets, playlist support, supports drag 'n drop, seamless playback, crossfading support, customizable global hotkeys, component plugin system, and more. It can play AAC, AC3, ADX, AIX, AIFF, APE, ASF, CDA (CD audio), FLAC, LT, MID, MOD, MO3, MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4, M4A, OGG, WAV, WMA, etc audio formats. It also supports M3U, PLS & WPL playlists. On paper this is a tremendous audio player that supports a huge number of audio formats. It ticks nearly every box we could wish and the audio quality is excellent. Alas, it is in the detail that Xion Audio Player seems to struggle. For example, even though it puts an icon in the tray (next to the clock) it does not minimize to that icon and remains in the main taskbar area with the other programs, even when minimized. If you want to play your pre-prepared M3U, etc playlists you will jump through hoops to open it through this program – unless you have told windows that Xion Audio Player is your default player. Likewise, if you want to play an audio CD you will have to drag 'n drop from your CD drive to the program using Explorer, unless Xion Audio Player is your default CD player. It supports SHOUTcast radio but offers no easy access to the Internet radio stations – all it does is ask for the URL to a station you want to hear. Aaarrrggghhh!!! All these little irritations spoil what is, basically, a superb audio player. Some more work on the menus to give the user a chance to access the CD drive, and the playlists, would go a long way to turn this wannabe into a "must have". Even though we were a little critical of some aspects of Xion Audio Player, it really has buckets of potential and is already an excellent audio player. Worth checking out. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 2.66MB download from: WinXP Multimedia Programs
Atic Atac v1.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista/7
Atic Atac is a haunted castle adventure game where you, as a knight, wizard or serf, must find the golden key to escape from the castle. It features secret passages (different for each character), different weapons/attributes for each character, lots of scary enemies, good top-down graphics, and more. This is a fun adventure style game where you must navigate around a haunted castle, find the golden key, and escape through the main doors. All the time you must avoid the ghoulish enemies who are trying to stop you. There are five floors, including the 'Atic' and the caverns, which contain countless rooms. You are advised to eat and drink sparingly so that you do not deplete your food supply. Based of the old ZX Spectrum video game of the same name, developed and released by Ultimate in 1983, this version of Atic Atac retains the charm of the old but with modern graphics. Not as easy as it first looks, Atic Atac will gives you lots and lots of fun gameplay as you battle to escape the clutches of the castle's occupants. We loved! Access this 3.45MB download from: Win95 General Games
UPDATE
AllMyNotes Organizer – an hierarchical information manager – has been updated to version 1.16 with a download size of 2.43MB. The author has advised that changes in this version include: added bullets in Rich Text edit control, the attachment file can be launched by double-click or right-click, plus numerous improvements in the RTF file parser, export & Clipboard support. This version also has some bug fixes. Get this latest version from: WinXP Text Programs
COMMENTS
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