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June 2003
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Tim Hoke is the Sr. Pastor at Faith Presbyterian Church, a long-time member of Alamo PC and an avid computer user who loves to try out new programs, especially shareware and freeware. He gets excited about a good deal. More than that, he enjoys sharing good deals with others. Why not send him a note about your favorite shareware or freeware programs. |
| Well, it is that time again. I've been riding down the information super highway looking for some good shareware and freeware for you to consider. I am constantly amazed at how much stuff there is out there. Unfortunately, sometimes the shareware is more expensive than commercial offerings you can find on the shelf (usually with a whopping rebate); but by and large, the shareware is cheaper, and sometimes better. Often it is at least as good as software you take home in a box from the store. Surprisingly the freeware is as good as it gets, while costing you only the time it takes to download and install it. Well, here's hoping at least one of these programs proves useful for you.
Internet Download Manager 3.14 is a tool to increase download speeds by up to 500 percent and to resume and schedule downloads. The program features an adaptive download logic accelerator, dynamic file segmentation, and multipart downloading technology to accelerate the download process. It also reuses available connections without additional connect and login stages to improve download performance. Comprehensive error recovery and resume capability will restart broken or interrupted downloads due to lost connections, network problems, computer shutdowns, or unexpected power outages. Internet Download Manager can connect to the Internet at a set time, download the files you want, then disconnect or even shut down your computer when it's done. Smart in-speed technology dynamically adopts all settings to your particular connection type in order to maximize your download speed. Internet Download Manager supports firewalls, proxy and mirror servers, FTP, HTTP and HTTPS protocols, redirects, cookies, download queues, directories with authorization, MP3 audio and MPEG video content processing, and a large number of different server platforms. The program integrates seamlessly into Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape, MSN Explorer, Opera, and Mozilla browsers to automatically handle your downloads. Version 3.14 adds many features, including sounds, HTTPS support, an improved scheduler pro, pipelining for FTP commands, an optimized library and executable file, built-in download accelerator, enhanced virus protection on download completion, HTML help and tutorial, progressive downloading with quotas, new command-line parameters, and a wealth of other improvements and bug fixes. It's free to try for 60 days. Any Password 1.3 is an easy-to-use tool that lets you store and arrange all your passwords, user IDs, and related information in a tree form. The program saves this information in encrypted files, which can be protected by a password. So the only thing you need to remember is the password for the file. Any Password can also generate random passwords with specified parameters (length, used characters, and so on). You can find any stored information using the incremental search feature. SongsToCD 2.0C is an MP3/WAV audio CD burner that includes a built-in MP3/WAV ripper for extracting songs from Audio CDs and an MP3/WAV player for previewing your playlist. It supports Burn-Proof and CD-Text on capable burners. The ripper works in the background while you arrange your playlist. Rename files and tracks from within the program and edit your play/burn lists with full drag-and-drop. The ripper incorporates track name look-up via the Web from Freedb.org. It loads and saves standard PLS playlists. This version adds support for many new burners, including several DVD/CD-RW combo units, and features a revised user interface and improved detection of incompatible audio files. Naviscope 8.69 achieves acceleration through five advanced techniques prefetching DNS resolution caching, persistent connections, MTU/RWIN optimizations and advertisement blocking. In addition to blocking ads, Naviscope can also block cookies, backgrounds, blinking text, Javascript, and sounds. Furthermore, Naviscope has a popular SiteMapper that allows you to navigate a Web page before your browser even displays it. Naviscope shows Web activity as you browse, in a display that allows you to perform Internet diagnostics, obtain Website registration information, and even stop individual objects from loading. While you browse, Naviscope can keep your computer clock adjusted to the NIST atomic clock and shows you how fast your Internet connection really is. Advanced users find the HTTP monitor useful, as well as the complete logging and analysis capabilities provided. A fully configurable toolbar puts all of these, and many other features, within easy reach. Best of all, as a limited time offer, The Google Toolbar increases your ability to find information from anywhere on the Web and takes only seconds to install. When the Google Toolbar is installed, it automatically appears along with the Internet Explorer toolbar. This means you can quickly and easily use Google to search from any Website location, without returning to the Google home page to begin another search. The Google Toolbar is available free of charge and includes these great features:
Use the Toolbar Options page to customize the layout of your toolbar to include features such as the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, and Google Groups and Image Search buttons. If you are still not convinced, take a look at the Google Toolbar help page for a complete rundown of what the Google Toolbar can do for you. |
Alamo PC Organization, Inc.
San Antonio, TX USA