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Freeware Reviews - Nov. 1999 |
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epAssist v1.0 [1.4M] W9x/NT FREE http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/GoldenCrater/epAssist1-0.exe 'Help' is not a four-letter word. Should the opportunity ever arise for me to get a personal assistant, I wouldn't think twice. There's so much going on around here that it's tough to rely on a select group of people (who may be busy when I need them). Say, I need a file, video capture, or even audio recording of what's going on at home. Enter epAssist; data can be requested remotely and sent via e-mail. 'Get Coffee' option not available in all areas. DOS Navigator v1.51 [767k] DOS FREE http://www.slf.dhs.org/dn/files/dn151.zip "DOS Navigator handles all standard file management operations -- plus advanced file searches, file undeletion, archive handling, advanced disk formatting, low level disk editing, along with text and spreadsheet editing. As a desktop manager it has: a phonebook, terminal program, calculator, ASCII table, screen grabber, memory and system info, CD player, print manager, and even a Tetris game!" Remind! v3.22 [1.1M] W9x/NT FREE http://members.xoom.com/dzolotov/remind.zip Ring! My mother called the other week to let me know of an upcoming family event. "Mom," I said, "e-mail it to me." Ring! My wife called yesterday to read aloud this week's shopping list. "Gretchen," I said, "e-mail it to me." If I don't get an electronic reminder of an event, I'll forget about it. With Remind! on hand, I can set the automatic launching of programs, Web pages, e-mail messages, documents, alarms, etc.. Here's a reminder: download it. EmptyDrive v3.10 [88k] W9x/NT FREE http://home.t-online.de/home/a_haupt/edrvstpe.exe "This little program does its job when you shut down Windows; it'll notify you should there be a floppy disk, CD-ROM, or any another piece of removable media in its respective drive. You can also change the message text that is displayed at windows shutdown, as well as choose which drives are checked for content. By default, all drives are checked." FireTalk v1.0r18 [1.9M] W9x/NT FREE http://multitude-svca.www.conxion.com/FTSetup.exe Shove a few hot peppers into your sound card's microphone jack and see what happens. It burns. Need to talk to another person online? There are numerous applications for that job. Wanna talk to several people at once, or to your Web page visitors during their stay? I've been waiting for someone to come up with a way to set my Internet connection ablaze. We're talking totally on fire -- with Firetalk. If you've already got a voice, then you can be heard. 24Link v1.02 [85k] W9x/NT FREE http://www.24link.com/binaries/24link102.zip I hear all this talk about how there are millions of Web pages out there today. This may be the case, but I'd be willing to bet that most of them see less than a hundred visitors per day. With that amount of traffic, why bother hosting it remotely -- especially if you can have the site sitting on your own machine. The 24Link software will allow you to do this immediately (without a major hassle). Your burning questions can be answered on their site. Regdel v4.0 [8k] W9x/NT FREE ftp://ftp.mountpoint.ch/pub/users/flo/regdel.zip "Regdel is a Win32 tool to delete registry entries specified as command line parameters. This can be useful for continuous registry clean-up or even for simple software uninstalling batch files. There is also a great feedback from numerous system-administrators who have found a way to use Regdel. Regdelw is a separate version of Regdel with a more comfortable user-interface." geOShell v3.94 [130k] W9x/NT FREE http://www.geoshell.com/zip_files/daily/geodaily.zip The Windows Explorer had been driving too slow; a crash was inevitable. Before I knew it, my applications were shut down and I no longer had access to my Taskbar. What a downer! LiteStep makes an excellent shell replacement, but it's truly more for power users. If you're looking for a small, stable, and effective Explorer shell replacement, load geOShell. Yes, it's faster -- and you can still run all your favorite programs on it (including Explorer). FileBox eXtender v0.97b7 [370k] W9x FREE http://members.aol.com/wincorder/FbxSetup.exe Clicks can add up, especially if you can't click quick. There's now a way to save on redundant clicking time when you're trying to get to a particular folder on your computer via an 'Open' or 'Save As' dialog box. Is there a folder you always seem to be accessing? Wouldn't you love to have a 'recently accessed' folders list pop up in those all-too-familiar dialogs? FileBox eXtender to the rescue! This is one slick add-on that you'll use every day. ICSConfig v2.00 [16k] W98 FREE http://lynx.neu.edu/a/amccombs/ICSC200.ZIP "This is to be used with Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). It's a utility to help change the common configurations. Since Microsoft forgot to add a GUI to allow users to easily tweak their settings, I was more then happy to fill in the blanks. I'd like feedback from people to find out what you'd like to have in future versions." Hook99 v1.0117 [23k] W9x/NT FREE http://www.50megs.com/lbrisar/hook99.zip Why on Earth did they use the Windows flag? I mean, I shouldn't have to 'salute' the Microsoft banner whenever I need to get into my Start Menu. Wouldn't a yellow smiley face be better? Or what about any other 16x16 icon creation? You can configure your Desktop wallpaper, so why not use a third-party toy to tweak the ever-handy Start button? What's the hook? You need to use your imagination. Before getting creative, I'd suggest backing up your system. EbayPAL v1.00 Build 207 [4.6M] W9x/NT FREE http://www.grol.com/products/downloads/EbayPAL-PR4SP1.exe Going once... going twice... your closet is full of junk just waiting to be sold. But don't set a price for it at your next garage sale; find the highest bidder via a reputable auction site. This tool will help you keep track of (just about) anything eBayish; get auction closing alerts, add and place bids on auctions with a click, e-mail an auction to a friend easily, create & save custom searches, track auction status, etc.. Don't sell that gavel. NetControl v1.0 [1.2M] W9x/NT FREE ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win95/network/netcv10.zip Any visual learners in the crowd? "With Netconrol, LANs can be sketched graphically. Prefabricated symbols for workstations, servers, hosts, routers, hubs, bridges, and printers can arranged in any particular configuration. An IP number can be assigned to each particular component (whereby one can let the operability display via PING). Sketches may also be printed." Audio Switch v1.4.4 [57k] W9x/NT FREE http://SOLAIR.EUnet.yu/~zvezdand/au_sw144.zip When I went shopping for a DVD player, it was difficult to hear any difference between the units. Some had "higher quality" audio and others were just run of the mill. To tell you the truth, they all sounded the same. Not being an audiophile, I opted for an above-average player (Toshiba 3109). If you're trying to compare the audio quality from two different sound sources on your PC, this utility can help. Listen to one, then immediately flip to another. GXExplorer v0.989 [1.6M] W9x/NT FREE http://www.gexperts.com/GXExplorer/GXExplorer.zip Directories turned into folders overnight; when Microsoft's 9x operating systems came along, the Windows Explorer kicked me out of DOS. I started pointing & clicking instead of clacking my keyboard. Some users, however, couldn't see past Explorer's shortcomings. Programmers from around the Windows world went into hiding and emerged months later with viable replacements. GXExplorer is one that looks and works well. NOTE: add-ons are available on the site. H_menu v2.2 [85k] W9x/NT FREE http://home.planet.nl/~vrloohdv/H_menu.zip Right-click on any program shortcut to access its options; change the 'starting' directory, create a shortcut key, and/or select the window's default position. Now, would you also like to change a program's color depth and resolution without lifting another finger? H_menu will help; its toolbars hide beyond the borders of your screen, waiting for you to access them. Think of it as a quicker way to get to your favorite programs, using your desired settings. Dink Smallwood v1.06 [25.0M] W9x FREE http://www.rtsoft.com/dink/dinksmallwood106.exe You shouldn't complain when it comes to getting free stuff. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and there are no money back guarantees. Every once in a while, there's a diamond in the rough. Just because there's no price tag on this puppy, don't pass it up. "It all began in a world where dragons roamed the land and knights fought with valor and honor." The graphics and gameplay in this engine put professional games to shame. Big download, bigger fun. AllChars v3.00 [256k] W9x/NT FREE http://allchars.polder.net/allchars300.zip Imagine having a keyboard with twice as many keys; it'd be half as easy to use. Sometimes I wish there were more available, especially when I need to use 'extended' characters. I can imagine this problem would be exacerbated if I used a language which relied heavily on them. AllChars will make the entry of accented and special characters a cinch (in most programs). Upon activation, it'll translate the next two keystrokes into a single extended character! TextCalc v1.0 [229k] W9x/NT FREE http://www.atomixbuttons.com/textcalc/txtcalc2.zip Children are always trying to do many things at one time -- like whistle while trying to eat candy (I suppose that's why the whistle pop was invented). Ever the non-efficient multitasker, I'm always on the lookout for quicker and better ways to get things done around here. Look at any given downloadable calculator -- is one line really enough? Just as peanut butter and chocolate taste great together, text editors and calculators can compliment each other. LiveCon! v1.17 [371k] W9x/NT FREE ftp://ftp.remotetek.com/livecon/lcsetup117.exe "LiveCon! is a simple Windows status tray utility which records and analyzes the status of an Internet/network connection over a given period of time. The produced analysis can be used, for example, to determine when connection difficulties have occurred which, in turn, can be submitted to request credit compensation (i.e. from an ISP) during an outage." Includes continuous log analysis utilities (analyze last minute, hour, day, week, and year), connection statistics & percentages, packet loss period logging. It also outputs analyzed data (including percentages and times) as plain text for use in other applications or e-mail." Flyswat v10.1.99 [300k] W9x/NT FREE http://www.flyswat.com/download.html Having a three-season porch is nice. My pooch seems to agree; he's already chewed up three screens. Just when I was ready to retire my flyswatter! Luckily, flying insects have disappeared for the winter. So what will this virtual swatter do for you? It'll connect you to relevant info like never before. As you're perusing a Web page, this nifty tool will automatically hyperlink certain words; click the 'flycons' to view detailed information about the links. Ultimate Boot Disk v1.2 [1.0M] W9x FREE http://home.dn.net/~jsjr/Web2/files/Boot98.exe "[This is] the power user's choice for the best small footprint tools. This single disk offers: Virus Scan Option, Restoration of System Files, Rapid Windows Installs, Identification of PC Hardware, Extraction of Windows CD files, Year 2000 Readiness Check, Full Hard Drive Test, and PC Memory Optimization. CAUTION: The Ultimate Boot Disk is optimized for modern PCs running Windows 9x. If you have less than 32MB of RAM or a CD-ROM drive that's slower than 4X, it is not recommended you use these disks." NOTE: there is a separate download for Windows 95 users available on the site. ArjFolder v3.10 [452k] W9x/NT FREE http://home.worldnet.fr/mounierr/Download/ArjL310U.exe What's up with all these ZIP files? Think of them as folders, containing several sheets of paper. The best way to transfer multiple files across a network (like the Internet) is to compress and cram them into a single file. ArjFolder will allow you to 'unstuff' ARJ, ZIP, GZIP, TAR, CAB, RAR, and Z archives within the all-too-familiar Windows Explorer interface. With shell integration, property sheets, and drag & drop support, ARJ you glad you found this? ShellTelnet v1.0b [472k] W9x/NT FREE http://www.rudenko.com/download/shellnet.exe "This is a Windows Telnet client specialized for use with Unix shell that shows Unix files and folders in Windows Explorer like style. Allows to navigate through folders by double-clicking their icons. Allows to copy file or folder to clipboard and then paste it in other directory. Allows to visually change file permissions. And many other useful features." This is a rather ingenious way to explore a shell account. If you're looking for the best of both CLI and GUI worlds, this (very early) beta will fit the bill. Don't understand what I just said? This utility isn't for you. Ultimate Directory Synchronizer v1.0
[331k] W9x/NT FREE http://209.15.43.184/ftp/files/SynchronX/SynchronX_English.exe Inevitably, your folders will become filled with data and programs which may need to be duplicated on other PCs. For instance, I need to transfer stuff between Mr. Bigglesworth and Manny III when I leave town. But the Windows Briefcase isn't that intuitive. Along comes this "ultimate" power toy, making folder synchronization a relatively painless process... especially for those who need to coordinate a large amount of files between machines. Get in sync! DirectParallel Connection Monitor v2.11b [1.0M] W9x FREE ftp://ftp.lpt.com/parallel/DPM211b.exe "DirectParallel Connection Monitor (DPM) is a utility for troubleshooting and testing Direct Cable Connection (DCC) feature in Windows 95 and Windows 98. It has a built-in DCC Wizard for showing what is wrong with your DCC setup and recommending possible corrections. It also shows the data connection and data transfer speeds possible, as well as the parallel port type, I/O Modes, and cable type used for the connection." Also available from this site: DOS Parallel Port Test Utility (checks your standard parallel port addresses for parallel ports... then tests them to verify if they appear to be working). K-Lights 2000 v1.0 [400k] W9x/NT FREE http://pages.infinit.net/fouz/woa/klights/kl2000.zip By far, my favorite holiday decorations are 'Christmas' lights. My dorm room was lit up year round with white chasers and colored blinkies. When I turned all of them on simultaneously, you could see my room from ten miles away. That's the object of this digital diversion -- to light all squares on the game grid. Click one square, and the surrounding squares will toggle on or off. Get it? Once you start playing, you'll see how easy it is to win. Right! Accelerator & Shortcut Show v1.20 [1.5M] W9x/NT FREE http://www.thinkred.com/download/accss12c.zip No two applications were built alike. While we've come to accept similarities between program interfaces, advanced keyboard shortcuts are often proprietary. CTRL+ENTER in most e-mail programs will 'send' the current message, whereas the same command used in a text editor may start a new paragraph. Nobody expects you to memorize every possible key combination -- so 'ACCESS' will display them for you as you switch between apps. There's no better shortcut. CPULower v1.0 [164k] W9x/NT FREE http://village.flashnet.it/users/pa2059/cpulower.zip How many times have you said to yourself: "My computer is running too fast." Obviously, this is never the case when it comes to using the latest applications. But what about all those old toys that were designed to be run on an infinitely slower processor? "With CpuLower, you can incrementally slow down CPU velocity and run the old programs that you love! Need to test your applications with at a slower processor speed? Now you can!" NOTE: use this utility at your own risk. It should be relatively safe, and non-permanent (but you NEVER know what could happen). Dictionary 2000 v4.0 [2.9M] W9x/NT FREE http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/1778/dict2000.zip Since I had some free time the other day, I pulled my unabridged dictionary from the shelf and opened it to a 'random' page. I started at the top and worked my way down to see if the words as 'dotcoms' were taken. Sure enough, 90% of them were! As I've illustrated, dictionaries can be used for more than definitions. But, if you still need one in the traditional sense... don't be caught without a copy. Now you can look that up in your Funk & Wagnall's. Qcheck v1.0 [6.3M] W9x/NT FREE http://www.qcheck.net/download/eval/qcinst.exe Go beyond PING! "Test the response time of traffic on IP networks; send real application flows across the network to test connectivity and performance; test whether a network can support multimedia traffic; test a network link using the application flows generated by streaming multimedia applications; determine at what rate streaming traffic is received and how much packet loss occurs; test the network connectivity between your own computer and another computer; test network performance between any two workstations on your network, regardless of their location; view a workstation's physical memory, operating system levels and CPU utilization." Intricacy v1.0 [1.6M] W9x FREE http://www.winsite.com/cgi-bin/dload/68/win95/games/intricacy.zip Mazes are truly amazing. From start to finish, you'll need to navigate the labyrinth. Are you using intellectual skills, or is it just dumb luck through troubleshooting? The puzzle's intricacies aren't up for debate, but Intricacy is up for downloading. Adding to the established maze construct, this game spins in the same direction (but on a different axis). Keep your wits sharp for this challenge, or you'll get lost -- and nobody will be able to help. TimeLeft v1.0 [963k] W9x/NT FREE http://nestersoft.hypermart.net/timeleft/tl10.exe My brothers and I used to make paper chains when winter reared its snowy head, counting down the days until Santa would come. One year, I accidentally stapled my finger. OUCH! We're all grown up; our counting methods need a little more pizzazz (and a lot less staples). TimeLeft is a skinnable countdown clock, and you can use any one of your WinAmp skins. No new formats to download, and (more importantly) no more paper cuts. "Time is on my side. Yes, it is." Tail v1.0 [138k] W9x FREE http://www.rhazes.com/download/tail/tail.zip "Tail is a utility which provides similar functionality as the UNIX command of the same name. It's very useful when monitoring continuously growing log files. You can see changes taking place to the file on-the-fly. You can also use this program to view simple text files (if you like). Depends on your command line parameters. No installation procedures are required. It is recommended though to copy tail.exe in your windows/command directory, or make a special directory for the program and add this directory to your PATH." LiveUser v2.12 [364k] W9x FREE http://www.LiveUser.COM/LiveUser/Download/LiveUser212.exe And if there's one thing I can't stand, it's a dead user. I mean, if you're not going to be using the computer for the rest of eternity, you may as well log off and give someone else the opportunity. With Windows 98, you can set up profiles and have several accounts on the same computer. But if logging on and off and in and out is not feasible, you'll love LiveUser. There will be no need to shut down every time someone else wants to access their settings. Turbo Navigator v1.22b [498k] W9x/NT FREE http://turbonavigator.virtualave.net/Download/prerel/tn.exe When Windows 3.1 sat on my machine, I never touched the File Manager. Don't ask me why, but I felt the command line was a lot easier to use. The Windows Explorer shot onto the scene and pretty soon I was using 4DOS less and less. What if we put WINFILE and EXPLORER together in a paint mixer? Turbo Navigator would be born; its dialog boxes (for file operations) are stronger than any other I've seen. The interface is unique, yet familiar; a great alternative. RamBooster v1.6 [925k] W9x FREE http://www.sci.fi/~borg/rambooster/Rambooster.zip "As you know, Windows programs fill up your computer's memory little by little, until your system memory is filled with unnecessary remnants. Sooner or later you'll have to reboot your computer to regain speed and efficiency. With RamBooster, you can monitor the amount of RAM all the time; if the amount of usable memory is too low, RamBooster will kick in. RamBooster does NOT modify your system (physically) in any way, defragment RAM, double your RAM, or increase system resources." sDesk v1.2.0 [447k] W9x/NT FREE http://mujweb.cz/web/tomasek/sdesk/download/sdesk.zip Give me 21 inches, or give me death! After working on a large monitor (in an abnormally high resolution), it's difficult to work with anything smaller. ALT+TAB is a good keyboard shortcut to flip between open apps, but one desktop is not often enough. Probably suffering from some form of screen size envy, someone had the brilliant idea of creating virtual desktops. sDesk allows for an unlimited amount of 'screens' with sticky windows and hotkey assignments. 1on1Lite v3.00b [98k] W9x/NT FREE http://www.1on1mail.com/grabfile/gf1022.exe E-mail is an excellent avenue for communicating, but it's not the most secure. Who else sees your messages? Are you certain of that? Your e-mails are sent across the Internet -- through a series of networks you know virtually nothing about. 1on1Lite tracks and reports the delivery and opening of each message you send, on top of guaranteeing complete confidentiality, with 2048 bit encryption. There's even an auto-shredder function; time to cover your tracks? Squirlograph v2.0 [845k] W9x/NT FREE http://rhaebus.hypermart.net/squirlograph_install.exe All those lines criss-crossing and coming together to create a complete object; string art is an amazing thing. Take a small gear and poke a crayon through it (off center), then place the combination inside of an inverted gear. What will you have? Trigonomenetrically speaking, a recipe for making nifty-looking linear patterns. Plug in four numbers and let Squirlograph do the drawing. You'll finally be able to see what your IP looks like! I guess math can be fun. Zulu v1.50 [10k] W9x/NT FREE http://www.uninova.com/LoafieWare/files/zulu150.zip It is rumored that there is a 'primitive' tribe in western Canada which has been developing computer applications for over four thousand years. I don't know if that's true, but I'd love to meet 'em some day. Most of us live in different time zones, and that can sometimes cause chaos (due to miscommunication or misinterpretation). Is it later or earlier where you're living? Don't bother your friend with a question that Zulu can answer. Hone in on the zone master. PowerLeap CPU Control Panel v4.0.0.15
[775k] W9x/NT FREE http://www.powerleap.com/downloads/ccp4015.exe This may not work with your CPU. It's a "utility which features improved CPU Core speed detection accuracy; allows AMD K6-2 "write allocate" optimizations to be enabled on all K6-2 models/steppings; corrects BSOD system crash problem in Windows NT; removes need to run the "K6-2 Optimizer" supplement when using PL-ProMMX-333 and PL-ProMMX-400 K6-2 processor upgrades; features improved CPU cooling technology; works with Evergreen Spectra upgrades, Kingston Turbochip 233/333/366/400, and the PNY QuickChip 200/233/266." WinMorph v1.3 [496k] W9x/NT FREE http://redrival.com/skr/winmorph/wmfsetup.zip It's easy to turn a sunflower into an umbrella. No, nature hasn't taken a back seat to genetic engineering. Picture A and picture B can be smashed together with WinMorph. The term 'morphing' is not to be confused with 'marphing' (which, of course, is when you wake up from an all-night sugar bender). Do you need a bigger nose? Wish you had someone else's eyes? So be it. Turn digital water into wine without worrying about wasting money. NOTE: perfect for ugly pets. NetStock v1.46 [70k] W9x/NT FREE http://www.splitcycle.com/ftp/netstock32.zip Junior Achievement came to my senior Economics class to help us run through a business simulation. Our team eventually won (only because I refused to involve myself beyond the 'spokesperson' role). Everybody was talking about stock options, and I was utterly lost. The market goes up, the market goes down. Taxes, bonds, CDs... I didn't even have a CD player yet. Well, if you watch the stock or mutual fund markets, this'll help you track and retrieve current quotes. DBXtract v1.0 [52k] W9x/NT FREE http://chattanooga.net/~scochran/DBXtract.exe "OE5 has a proprietary binary format that makes archiving individual messages difficult. A number of people have indicated that their message folders have become corrupted and OE can not read them. Consequently, they have lost all the messages in that folder. This extracts all mail and news messages from individual dbx files. Messages can be extracted with two different file naming procedures. The default (By Subject) names the files by the subject of the message." There is also a utility available for OE4. tkCamGrab v1.07a [1.0M] W9x/NT US$20 http://www.terrik.com/files/tkcamgrab.zip "Chris, I caught you taking your pulse." Yes, that was me. "Chris, I saw that you were holding onto a stack of Moxy Fruvous CDs." Yeppers, I wanted to listen to a great group. I may not have it on all the time, but my Webcam has recently snapped a few... strange images. You can save every new snapshot. But why bother, when tkCamGrab will do it for you automatically? Simply point it towards your favorite Webcam image URL, set some options, and it'll save the shots. Lupas Rename v0.8b [234k] W9x/NT FREE http://www.geocities.com/lupas2000/LupasRename.zip Much to my family's dismay, I'm thinking about having my name officially changed. Here are some that I brainstormed this afternoon: Surf Webb, Kit Click, Chris Cross, Johnny Bravo. Eh... maybe not. Luckily, its easier to rename files on your PC; just hit F2 and you're ready to do the deed. When it comes to renaming several files, however, you'll run into a brick wall without Lupas. It handles case changing, extension switching, and autonumbering. Super duper! Source Morph v1.0 [2.0M] W9x/NT FREE http://members.xoom.com/_XMCM/under_par/sm10054.zip "Source Morph is program that converts C, C++, Visual Basic, Q-Basic, Java, JavaScript, and Perl programs into HTML code. It converts hundreds of files at once, allows you save a configuration of selected files (making it easy to convert the same group of files frequently), enables the customization of comment formatting (with configurable color schemes), and it's fast." Label Creator 2000 b11 [1.2M] W9x/NT FREE http://www.multimania.com/survivor/label2000.zip Look in the right places and you're likely to find rebates for removable media; while I have an entire shelf filled with CD-Rs, I only "paid" for half of them. To keep the burned discs in order, I've slapped circular stickers on them. Being a non-creative type, you may have problems designing and printing those labels. So some French guy comes along and makes that task tremendously easy. You may be running out of discs soon, but you'll never run out of time. |
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Copyright 1998 - 2002 Mark Oberg, All rights reserved. |
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Techweenies.com and Top-Techsites.com are Copyright 1998-2007 Mark Oberg All Rights Reserved |
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