Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #534 issued January 29, 2010

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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Crystal Gunner v1.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista/7
Crystal Gunner is a classic match-3 puzzle. It features 3 levels of difficulty, indicates next 5 crystals, volume/sound controls, canon location control, high scores, and more. This is a game where you fire crystals at a slowly descending wall of crystals and, if three of the same color crystals match, they will fall. Every few seconds a new row is added to the top of the screen and all crystals are lowered until the end of the game when the crystals reach the bottom of the window. Crystals are fired using the mouse – place the mouse pointer where you want the crystal to go and click the left mouse button to fire. The minimum playing time is three minutes, but theoretically a single game could be played for hours. Playing Crystal Gunner is not rocket science, it does not overly stress the gray matter, but it is fun to play and quite colorful. In fact, it is quite addictive! We liked. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 2.47MB download from: Win98 General Games

Sofonica Folder Soldier v1.0 – WinXP/Vista/7
Sofonica Folder Soldier is a tool which locks folders and protects them from unauthorized access. It features passwords to protect settings (separate passwords to open the program & uninstall it), optionally locks nested folders, can lock an unlimited number of folders, resides as a tray icon, and more. If you have sensitive information on your computer, like banking information, password lists, etc, Sofonica Folder Soldier can lock those folders so that no-one can access them. They can be unlocked quickly by opening the program's window and unlocking the folders. Sofonica Folder Soldier itself cannot be unlocked without another password being entered. While a folder is locked there is a closed padlock icon on it, and the folder appears to be empty. Unfortunately its security is limited. The program itself can be easily identified and the process closed through the Windows Task Manager, and programs like RegRun (listed with CFS) can prevent Sofonica Folder Soldier from opening with Windows so the computer can be re-booted to "unlock" all folders. Whichever system is used (temporary with the Task Manager, or permanently by removing the auto-start link), the program cannot lock a folder unless it is running. While Sofonica Folder Soldier might prevent casual access to locked folders, it will not prevent anyone with any computer savvy from accessing your folders at will. We look forward to seeing a more secure version of Sofonica Folder Soldier. It could be, and it should be, a handy program to have around. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 1.29MB download from: WinXP Desktop Utilities

Astroburn Lite v1.1.0.0069 – WinXP/Vista/7
Astroburn Lite is a CD/DVD disk burner. It burns CD/DVD/Blu-ray media, burns image files, burns custom files, offers selectable burning speed, optionally verifies a burning process, erases discs quickly, the interface supports 34 languages, and more. This is an easy-to-use disk burning program that, combined with your CD and/or DVD burner drive, quickly burns data to disks. The Lite version does not create audio CDs (even though the on-line Helpfile indicates that it does!) and has limited burning options. Unless you wish to copy a disk, create an audio disk of your MP3s or create a video DVD, Astroburn Lite should satisfy most of your basic burning needs. The interface is intuitive, and the program fast in operation. While it may not replace a heavyweight disk burner suite (Nero, Roxio, et al) it is perfect for those little fast jobs that can often be completed before the heavyweights have loaded into Windows (well, maybe not, but Astroburn Lite is much, much faster in loading!). For all its limitations, Astroburn Lite is a great little disk burner that is great for getting data from your hard drive onto a disk without the bells, whistles and delays of the heavyweights. While we would have liked to have seen support for audio CDs and video DVDs, we were more disappointed that you could not easily make multiple copies – it makes a single copy only. That aside, we liked Astroburn Lite. Try it for yourself and see if it suits your requirements. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 4.98MB download from: WinXP General Programs

Auslogics Disk Defrag Screen Saver v1.1.0.40 – WinXP/Vista/7
Auslogics Disk Defrag Screen Saver is a disk defragmentation tool that is integrated into a screensaver so that it works when the screensaver mode is activated by Windows. It features selectable drives to defrag, optional animation after defrag, "hands free" automatic defrag (requires no additional user input), accepts normal screensaver controls, simple to use, and more. This is the easiest way to ensure that your computer's files are degragmentated regularly. Files that are fragmented can slow down Windows as each part of a file must be collected from across the hard drive before it can be used. Defragmenting files ensures that parts of a file are re-joined so they are not scattered. Auslogics Disk Defrag Screen Saver makes this task easy because every time your computer is idle (the default is 10 minutes, but this can be changed) the screensaver is activated and the hard drive is automatically defragged. Cool. Once the degragging has been completed (initially this might take some time but after the first defrag it will take only a few minutes) the image of the last drive defragged stays on the screen. There is minimal animation (and only over part of the screen) once the defrag is completed and this might worry some people who are concerned about image burn-in. However, this is not the problem it once was (back in the early 80s) and modern monitors are generally free of this old problem (ie, screensavers are normally not required, even when the computer is left unattended for some hours). We feel that Auslogics Disk Defrag Screen Saver would be more appreciated by the general public if it acted more like a "real" screensaver once the defrag was completed – even though this might not be technically necessary. An active animation over the whole screen would appease those people who still insist on running a "real" screensaver. We were particularly impressed with Auslogics Disk Defrag Screen Saver and consider it a "must have" for everybody who doesn't have a strict housekeeping regime for their computer (most of us?). Grab a copy now. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 1.73MB download from: WinXP Windows Enhancements

Light Downloader v1.0 – WinXP/Vista/7
Light Downloader is a powerful, easy-to-use download manager. It features multi-part downloads, simultaneous downloading from several mirrors, it resumes broken downloads, offers drag 'n drop (including a drop box), browser integration, automatic antivirus checking, supports FTP/HTTP/HTTPS, is a file manager & scheduler, and more. This is one of the best downloader programs we have seen. It can work with secure downloads (like from CFS) because it not only allows you to add a username and password, but it offers to "remember" them for the next time you visit that site. Light Downloader (there's nothing lightweight about this downloader!) has an optional drop box so you can simply drag the hyperlink of a download to that box and it will prompt to start downloading it. While it will download a page from the Net, unlike using the Ctrl-S function in a Web browser, it will not create a linked page (with all images) for you – you get the basic HTML and that's all. It will also not download entire Websites. These are not omissions because that is not what Light Downloader is designed for. It is simply a download manager for files of all types (programs, music, videos, HTML pages, etc). If a server supports "resume" it will break up a download into multiple parts and download them concurrently, and it will also resume a broken download. Light Downloader offers a huge number of settings for both appearance and functionality, though most users will simply accept the defaults. As we always download to a specific folder so that we can find our downloads, we made sure that this folder was listed as the "default download folder" (under Options/New Download). So easy! We could not fault Light Downloader. It does everything a download manager should be able to do, and it does it with aplomb. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 1.59MB download from: WinXP Internet Related

Sorax Reader v2.0 – Win98/ME/XP/Vista/7
Sorax Reader is a small, fast, full-featured PDF reader. It features printing, zooming, displays document bookmarks & page thumbnails, copies selected text to Clipboard, document searching, support for the PDF 1.7 standard, there is a portable version available, and more. This is a superb replacement for the bloated Adobe Reader, with virtually all its features. Sorax Reader can zoom in and out of opened PDF documents, rotate the document either clockwise or counter-clockwise, e-mail the document as an attachment, and more. Unlike many of the other non-Adobe PDF readers, Sorax Reader holds true to the original document and displays it correctly. There is even a portable version available that requires no installation and can be run from a USB stick. This is a 4.44MB download. We fell in love with Sorax Reader. If you must work with PDF documents then this is one of the best readers we have seen. Grab a copy now! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 4.95MB download from: Win98 Text Programs

SuperEasy Codec Checker v1.08 – WinXP/Vista/7
SuperEasy Codec Checker is a tool that can analyzes audio & video files, and displays information about important attributes (bit rate, resolution, file format, etc). It supports most major audio/video formats, can change the identification of a video file in order to compensate for possible compatibility problems, shows whether the file is protected with digital rights management (DRM), and more. Offering quite detailed information about an audio or video file, SuperEasy Codec Checker helps sort out compatibility problems and missing codex. It can also change the codec and/or the format ID of an Xvid- or other video to DIVX should this be required because of incompatibility problems. Our major issues with SuperEasy Codec Checker lie in its limited support of major file formats. For example, it does not support FLV or MOV files, two very popular formats. It also requires free on-line registration to use. This is a handy program if you are having codex problems, or if you are having compatibility problems (specially with DIVX). If you are working with multimedia files and have experienced problems, SuperEasy Codec Checker might be able to help. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 7.17MB download from: WinXP Multimedia Programs

Spider Solitaire (1 suit) v3.21 – Win9x/ME/XP/Vista/7
Spider Solitaire (1 suit) is a solitaire cardgame using a single suit. It features "graying" out inactive cards, high score, auto save, addictive gameplay, does not require installation (just download and play), and more. This is an ordinary version of a popular cardgame. There are no options and cardfaces are plain. Spider Solitaire (1 suit) has the same rules as the Windows' version, though the author has not chosen to share these rules with the users. This is a handy game to have if you don't have the version which is included with the later versions of Windows. This Spider Solitaire (1 suit) is not a game we liked. Access this 2.40MB download from: Win95 General Games
COMMENTS
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