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E-mail Update Newsletter #55
Issued August 11, 1998
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Welcome to the fifty-fifth edition of the 'Completely Free Software' E-mail 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.
COMPLETELY FREE SOFTWARE
Pad – W95
Pad is one of the better NotePad replacements around. It is not just an excellent ASCII text editor with some HTML features, but it also incorporates an image viewer. The viewer supports ANI, BMP, GIF (including animated), ICO, JPG, WMF and EMF formats. Wow! Other features include a font option, support for Pad plug-ins, option to leave an icon in the desktray when the program is shut down, search & replace, etc. Combined with a file browser roll-down (à la CorelDraw) which can be 'rolled up' and parked out of the way, this great looking editor/viewer really does offer some things which you expect in only the top shelf commercial editors. Unfortunately, there are a few negatives too. Firstly, no spell checker (sigh), secondly, only one document per program, though you can open multiple copies of the program should you desire and, thirdly, a filesize limitation of about 50kB. A shame really, for us those negatives spoil a fabulous program which has so much potential. Oh well, the next full version (3.0) might not have them... If you can live with those limitations, if space is short and you don't want to run a separate image viewer, then go grab this 787kB download from: W95 Text Programs
Cult – W95
Cult is an interesting and very good role playing game (RPG) where you are Officer Zack, a policeman who must enter the compound of a religious (Waco-style?) cult unarmed and find out everything he can about them. They are rumored to be hoarding weapons and could be a threat. This is a non-violent game with an educational message (but don't let that put you off) and makes a pleasant change to the usual splattered-blood RPGs. Music/sounds are excellent and the graphics are quite good (certainly better than many offerings – and that includes some commercial ones too!). Gameplay is interesting and we feel that Cult will become somewhat of a cult game itself. Go grab this 1.64MB download from: W95 General Games
FastWAV – W95
This is a very good tool for searching through directories for MID and WAV files, collecting them, and then playing them through Media Player, DirectX5 or DirectSound (dependant on what's installed). Presented in three panes, the left houses an Explorer-like directory structure, the middle holds a list of all the MID and WAV files found in the selected directory or drive (there is optional directory recursing which means that you could include all directories on a drive or even all directories on all drives), and the right hand pane holds the controls plus the name and path of the selected sound file. Files can be looped but only one file at a time can be placed in the playlist. You can alter the volume and balance (between left and right speakers) in WAV files but not in MID files. Unfortunately it lacks the usual Start, Stop and Play buttons so common on music programs (a serious omission) and the coarseness of the language in the documentation does not add one bit to the program and justifies parent's concerns for their children about using information/programs from the Internet. A shame really, the program really is quite good. Access this 330kB download from: W95 Multimedia Programs
Regmon – W95
This is a Registry monitor which displays the calls on the Windows Registry in real time. With powerful filtering and search functions, it is a valuable tool for locating trouble spots in your Registry and for learning exactly what is happening in the Win95 "engine". Whether you like to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty, or whether you just like seeing how things tick, Regmon is a great 36kB download. Get you copy from: W95 Desktop Utilities
Mallsurfer Shop – W95
If you have a website and you also have something to sell then Mallsurfer Shop is well worth looking at. It is free for the first five items you want to sell but if you want to add more then you start paying. You fill in the blanks, adjust the colors you want, and hit the "Create" button. Easy. The program creates the necessary HTML-coded pages and JavaScript so you can end up with your own on-line shop. When you're happy with the page(s) you can use Mallsurfer Shop to upload them to your website, or post them on the Mallsurfer website where you can test them for free. Mallsurfer Shop uses the Borland Database Engine (BDE) as the 'power plant' behind the scenes. While quite simple to use, we found that the generated appearance of the pages was not to our liking and we fed the pages through our HTML source-code editor (Arachnophilia) and cleaned up the look of them. One thing we removed was the "Unregistered version..." comment which we felt was a little unfair as this is not just an evaluation copy but the 'real thing' for us five items-or-less users. If you want to take on Sears & Roebuck you can access this 4.79MB download from: W95 Internet Related
Screen Rip32 BETA – W95
This is a beta version of what will be a top drawer graphics utility when the final product is released. Screen Rip32 captures either a section of the screen (rectangle, active window, etc) or the whole screen. You can optionally include the cursor or even add a cursor should you be so inclined. Captured screens can be saved as BMP, GIF, JPG or ICO files with good control over the saved image (for example, in GIF format you can have it interlaced, in JPG you can set the compression ratio, etc). Being a beta there are a few negatives. For example the Print function doesn't work, and the author reports that sometimes the saved image can have a color change, but these minor irritations are nothing compared to how this terrific utility works. Access this 249kB download from: W95 Graphics Programs
WinDial – W31 (suitable for W95)
WinDial is a very neat, and quite small, address book program with a telephone dialer. If you want to telephone someone in your address book you can get the program to dial the number for you. When it answers your can just pick up the phone and answer. The names are in a list and when you highlight an entry the telephone number and a comment about that person appears in panels at the bottom of the window. Not a fancy looking program but very, very practical. Access this 76kB download form: W31 Desktop Utilities
Aladdin Expander – W95
Without doubt the easiest way of expanding (often called 'unzipping') files is with Aladdin Expander. With support for long file names (LFN), it will expand ZIP, ARJ, ARC, UUE, SIT, BIN, HQZ and GZ files, as well as expand ZIP, ARJ and Stuffit self-extracting archives. It is the only Windows program to handle Stuffit (SIT) files. Aladdin Expander extracts the files from an archive and will place them in a sub-directory of the same name as the archive either in the same directory or in a nominated directory. We had always liked the 16-bit version but this 32-bit one is much, much better with more control over the many aspects of extraction. If you don't need a program which creates zipped files (like PowerZip or WinZip) then this is the best and easiest expander around. Associate, say, the ZIP extension with Aladdin Expander and when you double-click on a ZIP file in Explorer it will automatically extract the archive for you. Simple. It also supports drag 'n drop too. You think we're excited about this program, try it for yourself and you will be too! The self-extracting download file even fits on a floppy for portability. Zip over and grab this 1.22MB download from: W95 General Programs
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