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This electronic newsletter is registered – ISSN 1441-6840
Welcome to 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.
We remind our visitors that they can obtain all the newly listed software from this site on the Completely Free Software “Master Software Collection” monthly CD-ROMs plus get bonus software, graphics, icons, fonts, etc.
COMPLETELY FREE SOFTWARE
GravityBox WorldView v1.0 – Win9x
This is a fascinating look at the statistics of the world. Prepared by the CIA (http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/), this data is available for over 260 countries and outlines geography, people, government, economy, transportation, military, and transnational issues. The CIA FactBook is dated 1998 but GravityBox's version isn't so forthcoming and we couldn't find a data date anywhere. We were also a little disappointed that information didn't wrap at the edge of the GravityBox WorldView screen, with some descriptions trailing off into the nether regions. You can't scroll across either! Still, if you place the cursor over the listing name, the data appears as a floating box (like flyover help) and can be read that way. It seems to us it would have been much easier just to add word wrap... You don't need to be a school student to find lots of interesting stuff in this program. We went looking for the percentage of Gross National Product (GNP) countries spend on their military and were amazed at the variety – from around 50% to zero (typically between 2.5% to 3.5%). Other stats were just as interesting. If you want information at your fingertips grab GravityBox WorldView. Access this 2.58MB download from: Win9x General Programs
“Phantom” screensaver v2.0 – Win9x
Interest in the Star Wars® movie, 'Episode 1, The Phantom Menace' has been phenomenal and if you're a Star Wars fan then you won't want to miss this fabulous slide show screensaver. Featuring 20 images from the movie, you can control the length of time each image stays on screen (default is eight seconds), add audio from a CD, make the images fullscreen, etc. Images are crisp and clear (for the 75 dpi limitation of a screen) and are professionally presented with drop shadows, etc. With this screensaver active on your desktop you will think that you have the movie right there in your home. Access this 1.71MB download from: Win9x Windows Extras
Bookmark Manager v0.66 – Win9x
This is a terrific program which does so much more than just act as a Bookmark/Favorites' manager. Working in the background, it automatically checks every bookmark and lets you know if they are valid. It even tells Netscape users when they last visited that bookmarked site and if it has been updated since. Impressive! But wait, there's more. The webmaster of a bookmarked site can leave a message so that every person who uses this program (with that site bookmarked) can receive the message via Bookmark Manager. No more annoying e-mail announcements, just click on to the bookmark (if you wish) to receive the message. El neato! We like lots. Access this 234kB download from: Win9x Internet Related
Stats 99 v1.3 – Win9x
A great little program which offers a huge array of disk stats from your computer in an animated 3D format. The charts offered on such things as the sizes of files on your hard disk(s), or how often they have been accessed, etc can be altered quite a lot, with Gantt or pie chart formats the most common. Stats 99 will probably offer you more information about your disks than you could ever want (or need) but, like most information, it is better to be offered too much than too little. At least you can choose what to look at. Access this 724kB download from: Win9x Desktop Utilities
InoculateIT Personal Edition v4.5 – Win9x
One of the biggest problems with anti-virus software is that, unless you keep on getting new virus definitions on a regular basis, very soon your software won't be able to recognize the newer viruses (like Melissa). There are a few commercial products – like Norton Anti-Virus – which offer free Internet upgrades so you can keep your anti-virus software always up-to-date. Now there's InoculateIT Personal Edition which has a few really big plusses for computer users. First, it is a full featured program – it checks for every sort of virus (including the newer macro viruses), it automatically scans boot records, etc on system start and then checks every program when it is accessed, either as a download or by executing it. The program can also be set to scan every file on your hard drive(s), etc. Secondly, this anti-virus heavy weight (from Computer Associates no less) is free! Thirdly, there are regular, and free, software and virus definition upgrades. Fourthly, you can get on-line support both via an online FAQ and from a human technician! Is there a downside to this fabulous offer? We couldn't find one. CA wants you to register the product (via the internet and free) before downloading it and also before getting upgrades and support. They give you a customer number and you have to quote that before you can get support or updates. If your current anti-virus software doesn't offer free on-line upgrades then delete it from your computer and use InoculateIT Personal Edition. No argument. If you don't already run anti-virus software then don't hesitate, grab this bargain of the year NOW! Access this 2.19MB download from: Win9x General Programs
Joxer Invaders v1.0 – Win9x
This is quite an amusing Space Invaders clone using characters from the "Xena: Warrior Princess" TV show. The author describes it like this: "Aliens, out to conquer the world, have cloned Joxer! Arming this clone with deadly missile launchers the aliens have unleashed him upon the citizens of Greece! Only Xena and her Chakram can hope to stop the wave of attacking Joxers!" Whatever, the fancy face, this is simply another Space Invaders clone – albeit quite a good one! The animation, graphics and sound are very good and the way the game has been produced makes it very addictive. Well worth the look even if you aren't a Xena fan (could anyone not be?). Access this 1.14MB download from: Win9x General Games
XNview v1.07 – Win9x
This is a fabulous image viewer and converter which can read 70 image formats and write to 25. Once loaded, it can apply special filters to images to change their appearance in many ways – fisheye, emboss, posterize, etc. It can also change the color saturation of the image, resize it, rotate and flip it, etc. This really is a mighty tool. Unfortunately, amongst all those 70 file formats it can't handle WMF files and nor can it show animated GIFs (it just reads the first frame in the animation). It is almost a complete image toolkit in one program and people without expensive photo-editing software will find that this does nearly everything anyway. It does lack the ability to apply text to an image – which is a serious omission. The author's website also has versions for Linux, Atari, DOS, etc. Access this 526kB download from: Win9x Graphics Programs
Super System Info v1.0 – Win9x
Keeping track of your computer's hardware and operating system is important. Super System Info offers basic hardware and OS information in a simple to use format. It offers information on: Operating System; Processor; Memory; Drives; and Miscellaneous. There is a varying number of listings in each section. The interface is clean and easy to follow and the information, while basic, is handy to know. We were disappointed that you have to scroll through the list of icons representing each of the sections. If the program's window was just a little bit larger you could see all icons at once and have no need to scroll. We were also a little disappointed that, in the section titled Processor, the program could not tell that we had a genuine Pentium chip (CPU identifier and vendor were both listed as "unknown") and under "Processor Type" it was described as a 586. While a Pentium could be called a 586 CPU, in fact that name was 'stolen' by non-Intel chip manufacturers and refers to something less than what we know as a Pentium. A mute point but still highly confusing if you've just rejected a motherboard with an AMD 586 chip in it an opted for a "genuine" Intel Pentium. We can see some irate customers going back to their innocent retailer and demanding to know is going on. With that in mind it is still a good utility. Access this 240kB download from: Win9x Desktop Utilities
McFrend v1.51 – Win9x
McFrend is a front end for Microsoft Media Player with both playlist and database functions (but no Big Macs!). Requiring version 6 or better of Media Player, McFrend presents full drag 'n drop functionality and even supports streaming audio from the Net. Once a playlist has been created, it can be converted into a database with the addition of genre, title and artist information. The program also has a CD creation facility but this was not tested. The author says: "With the Create CD option you can create a couple of files to make a media cd with autorun options. If you copy those files to the root of a cd, the cd will autostart McFrend with a database with all the files on that cd. If you also copy the uninstalled McFrend files to that cd, then you can play that mediafiles on almost every PC with Microsoft Mediaplayer 6.0 or higher installed." The interface is a little confusing and there could be some work done to simplify that. A very basic Helpfile (in HTML format) only partially helps. This program needs Microsoft Media Player v6 or better pre-installed and it also requires a minimum 800 x 600 screen resolution. Access this 1.43MB download from: Win9x Multimedia Programs
Pick-a-Tag v1.40 – Win9x
This is an easy to use e-mail tag tool which can automatically add a tag to your e-mail signature (sig) if it is a textfile type (as are most e-mail clients). It comes with a list of quite good tags but you can edit that list to add/subtract/alter tags as much as you like. There is a limitation that tags must be a single line and less than 80 characters long. There are excellent instructions for adding this program to your existing e-mail client (Netscape Messenger 3 & 4, Outlook Express 4 & 5, and Eudora Pro & Light) and it has an "add to startup" facility so it is always available when you go on-line. Tags can be automatically changed at regular intervals (say, every 10 minutes) so that your e-mails have different tags. If you like to have witty (?) tags on your e-mail messages ("Very funny Scotty ... now beam down my clothes!" or "Work is for people who don't know how to fish") then grab this fun addition to your e-mail client. Access this 156kB download from: Win9x Internet Related
UPDATE
Martin Vogel's Symbols – a handy TrueType symbol font with office and engineering symbols – has been upgraded with new symbols and with a slightly larger download size of 75kB. Access this Win 3.x/9x font from: Win 3.1 Windows Extras
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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