Completely FREE Software - CFS Weekly Newsletter #554 issued July 23, 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(does not take you directly to the program listing) it is probably because the site has been upgraded and the link is no longer valid.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

Confectionary v2.3 – WinXP/Vista/Win7
Confectionary is a huge multi-type puzzle where you inherit an old deserted confectionery plant which you must get back into production. It features various types of reasonably challenging puzzles (hidden objects, falling bricks, jigsaw, etc), recipes to collect & keep, excellent storyline, excellent graphics, and more. Confectionary (yes, the spelling is deliberately incorrect) incorporates a number of different types of puzzles into the one monster game. You must cross town, collecting elements to re-establish this once-flourishing business. To do this you find hidden items (and they are often very well hidden!) until you have accumulated enough items to re-build the factory, which is a challenging jigsaw puzzle. Occasionally you are given permission to go to cookery school where you can learn some recipes. While the puzzles used are generally considered to be for slightly younger people, there is sufficient challenge in them to appeal to a more mature player, and Confectionary is therefore suitable for all ages. Graphics are truly excellent, as is the overall storyline of the game. There is an ad displayed when the game is loading but it is not intrusive and disappears once the game is fully loaded. Confectionary brings together a number of different puzzles into a masive conglomerate which is fun to play and which will keep you busy for many hours. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 79.4MB download from: WinXP General Games

EyeLine Video Surveillance v1.042 – WinXP/Vista/Win7
EyeLine Video Surveillance is a program that captures & stores video camera or Webcam output. It features a motion detection mode, it can auto-backup to LAN or server, offers e-mail & SMS movement notifications, the frames are time stamped, it is simple to use, has a good Helpfile, and more. This is an excellent way of monitoring and capturing the output from a video camera or Webcam. While originally designed for business use (the professional version can monitor up to 100 cameras, the free version just a single camera), EyeLine Video Surveillance can be used to monitor a location within the home. For example, it can monitor the front door, the computer room, the baby's room, etc. If used in motion detection mode, it will just capture periods when there is movement within the range of the camera lens rather than continually capture. Movement alerts can be sent by e-mail, or even by SMS if an SMS Gateway host is used. Captured video can be streamed to a central computer via a LAN, uploaded to the Internet via FTP, or stored in a local computer. Frames are date and time stamped so you can quickly find specific events. EyeLine Video Surveillance is very easy to use, but even includes a good Helpfile in HTML format should you require more information. Unfortunately, both the on-line information at the author's site, and the Helpfile, give information about the multi-camera Professional version and not specifically about the free, single camera version. However, assistance should rarely be required as the software is not hard to use. We were very impressed with EyeLine Video Surveillance. Its simplicity belies the effective power of the program and, if you need to set up a surveillance camera, this would be a good program to check out. Try it for yourself. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 309kB download from: WinXP Multimedia Programs

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware v1.46 – WinXP/Vista/Win7
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is an anti-malware tool that detects and removes malicious programs from the computer. It features fast or full scanning, database updates released daily, quarantine to hold threats, integration with Windows Explorer, and more. Even though you should already have a good anti-virus program, even the better commercial ones do not necessarily find every piece of malware (malicious software) on your computer. This malware can include viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, dialers, and spyware. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is a scanner that examines files to ensure that they are not malicious, and is kept up-to-date with daily database downloads. This version does not offer real-time protection – you cannot simply install it and have it operate in the background protecting you. It requires a scan to be instigated. When first installed, it updates your database and, in our case, this meant a 5.03MB additional download. There are two types of scans available, a "quick scan" and a "full scan", and the latter can scan selected drives. We tried a quick scan but were surprised to see that it still took over one hour to complete – we wonder how long a full scan would take! As Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware found no problems on our computer we could not test it any further than to state that, because of the time it took, it seemed to be thorough. Even though you cannot have too much protection against malware, a "quick" scan of over one hour is not something we would carry out daily. This is a shame because daily scans should the aim (even more often if downloading lots of questionable programs). That aside, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware has an awesome reputation and should be considered high on your list as additional protection against on-line nasties. Worth checking out. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 5.86MB download from: WinXP General Programs

Serna Free XML Editor v4.2.0 – WinXP/Vista/Win7
Serna Free XML Editor is a Java-based WYSIWYG XML editor. It supports all popular document types (DITA, Docbook, XHTML, TEI P4, NITF, etc), offers on-the-fly document validation against XML Schemas, multilingual spell checking, Entity & XInclude in-place editing, drag 'n drop with on-the-fly validation, context-sensitive element help, and more. Unfortunately CFS was unable to review this program. We were told that: "Authors with virtually no XML experience can start working with structured content in a familiar environment that looks much like a conventional word processor. Serna Free XML Editor employs XSLT and XSL-FO to render documents in print-like appearance. This approach gives a lot of opportunities for document rendering, such as localized generated content, profiled views, composition of a document from multiple chunks, in-line attribute editing, and others. Serna Free XML Editor offers exceptional DITA 1.1 support and comes with integrated DITA Open Toolkit. Flexible visualization of DITA maps and topics with the ability to resolve referred content and in-place editing of local conrefs greatly simplify DITA authoring." Serna Free is intended for personal use at home, documenting open-source projects, education, and other non-commercial uses. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 77.4MB download from: WinXP Text Programs

Free 3D Photo Maker v2.0.2.0 – WinXP/Vista/Win7
Free 3D Photo Maker is a program that creates 3D "stereo" photos from two slightly offset still images. It features a choice of 3D algorithms (optimized, red/cyan, dark, gray & yellow/blue), it supports 11 different input image formats (RAW, PICT, BMP, JPG, RLE, ICO, EMF, WMF, PNG, TGA & GIF), it saves the 3D stereo image to the JPG format, it is simple to use, and more. If you want to create 3D stereo images then this is probably the simplest way of getting them. The secret is to take two photos of the same scene, with an offset of about two to three inches to the right (best to move your whole body rather than just twist a little). The two photos are then opened in Free 3D Photo Maker, keeping the left hand image on the left, and the right hand image on the right. Select the algorithm you want to use (you can save the same images in different algorithms and see which is best for you), and click on the "Make 3D!" button. The resultant 3D image can be viewed in stereo anaglyph glasses. We tried the sample images provided with the program and used the paper glasses included with a movie we had previously purchased. We selected the red/cyan algorithm to produce a 3D image we could view using those glasses. The result was excellent. If you are taking photos in the field, you may want to take a series of digital photos with varying offsets until you learn the optimal distance between them. Free 3D Photo Maker is an impressive tool for anyone looking to create 3D stereo type images. If you have a few pairs of stereo anaglyph glasses around you could even make up a sequence of images to play on your TV for your family and friends. It could liven up those holiday slideshows... If you are want to create 3D stereo images then Free 3D Photo Maker should be high on your list as possible tools. We loved! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 16.6MB download from: WinXP Graphic Programs

RadioSure v2.1.969 – WinXP/Vista/Win7
RadioSure is a skinnable on-line radio station player. It features over 13,000 stations worldwide, supports most Internet radio formats (MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC+, etc), records individual tracks or continuous station content, simultaneously records multiple stations, station sort (name, country, genre or language), station favorites, optionally shows an image related to the current song, additional skins to download, minimizes to the tray, and more. RadioSure rocks, and not just because of the music you can play. This is the simplest, easiest way of both listening to many thousands of on-line radio stations, and also recording their output – and it will even record music tracks individually. Cool! Whatever genre of music you like, in whatever language, and from virtually every country that includes an Internet-transmitting radio station, you can listen through RadioSure. Sound quality is generally superb, though this can vary depending on your bandwidth and on the network conditions. RadioSure can record, and play back, the content from multiple radio stations so you can be away from your computer and still listen to your favorite music or talk station. It can also be dressed up with downloadable skins. For Internet radio, RadioSure is the program to get! Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95, 98 or ME. Access this 3.26MB download from: WinXP Internet Related

Keyboard Leds v1.0 – Win9x/ME/WinXP/Vista/Win7
Keyboard Leds is a small utility that displays the status of the Num Lock, Caps Lock & Scroll Lock keys on a small icon in the system tray and/or on a floating OSD window. It features a fully configurable display (colors, etc), the OSD display can be hidden when all keys are off, it optionally starts with Windows, and more. Keyboard Leds is a simple little tool which is particularly valuable for computers (mainly notebooks and laptops) that do not have indicators for the three "Lock" keys. It indicates if a key is turned "on" or "off", therefore minimizing errors caused by accidentally switched on keys. If you want, or need, an indicator for the keyboard "lock" keys then get a copy of Keyboard Leds. Access this 394kB download from: Win95 Desktop Utilities

Yukon Solitaire 2 Suit v3.2 – Win98/ME/WinXP/Vista/Win7
Yukon Solitaire 2 Suit is an easier version of Yukon Solitaire, using two suits and not four. This is a card game that combines Spider Solitaire with Klondike Solitaire (or "traditional solitaire") where you build up foundations from Ace to King. Because it uses only two suits instead of four (though still using 52 cards), there are two sets of cards for each suit. This should assist in completing the game. Even with just two suits, Yukon Solitaire 2 Suit is a hard game to win, and this is not assisted by the lack of "New Game" or reset button to start a new game. The downloadable version requires that you must close the game and re-open it to start again – and expect to be re-starting often. We felt that more work could have been put into making the card faces look more attractive, and more like regular playing cards. The downloadable version of the game also lacks any assistance or Helpfile, and even the on-line assistance is not extensive. If you like challenging card games then grab a copy of Yukon Solitaire 2 Suit. You might not win very often but, when you do, you will be celebrating all day. Note: we have been advised that this program is not suitable for Windows 95. Access this 2.69MB download from: Win98 General Games
UPDATES
Easy Text To HTML Converter – converts TXT & RTF documents into HTML – has been updated to version 3.0.0.057 with a new, much smaller download of 254kB. The author advises that changes adds HTML templates support, table to HTML tool, and XHTML output. Access this new version from: Win95 Internet Related
X2USBP – prints the DOS command screen outputs to USB and parallel port Windows 32-bit printers – has been updated to version 3.1 with a new download size of 53kB. The author advises that this version now allows use of any available Windows printer on a PC. Get this new version from: Win95 Desktop Utilities
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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