Misc' Freeware - Computronics UK

TransText - Do the small rectangles under your Windows' desktop spoil your wallpaper image? Then install this handy little freeware utility. TransText is a shell extension that lets you have a transparent background color in the icon caption area (a feature that isn't offered by Windows' own settings utility). 105 kilobytes. (For Windows 98/95/NT).

FreeMem Standard - Do your applications have the memory they need? This helpful freeware utility lets you easily free up the memory that your PC needs to run efficiently. Among other things, FreeMem lets you free up any amount of RAM with a simple mouse click. The commercial "Professional" version adds a couple of extra features. (For Windows 98/95/NT). 162 kilobytes.

MediaRing Talk 99 - Make free long distance and international calls from your computer with this "next generation" PC-to-PC voice communications software. There's no time-based charges or monthly subscription fees (it's all supported by advertisements). Requires a Pentium system, seven megabytes of hard disk space, a half-duplex sound card, a microphone and speakers. (For Windows 98/95). AOL version not available, but one is promised soon.

KillTimer (for AOL users) - As an AOL member, you know the drill: all these windows keep popping up, asking if you want to stay online. This handy freeware utility will answer those "You have been online for 46 minutes" and "You have been idle" messages for you automatically, keeping you online. 45 kilobytes. (For Windows 98/95 and NT).

Medved QuoteTracker - Want a helpful way to receive and use real-time stock quotes? Medved QuoteTracker is a free, ad-supported program that uses Web real-time data sources that you can use to track your portfolio. You may also plot real-time, self-updating intraday charts and much more. (For Windows 98/95 and NT).

NetStock - Get mutual fund and time-delayed stock quotes delivered to your desktop with this handy freeware stock ticker. Features export functionality for Quicken users. 61 kilobytes. (For Windows 98/95/3.1 and NT).

TurboTax offer - Get an early jump on your taxes with this offer. TurboTax, a leading tax preparation software program, has an offer that lets you try their product for 30 days for free. Offer requires a credit card. (Available for Windows and Macs).

YMark2000 - The much-feared year 2000 crisis is approaching. Is your computer ready? Be prepared with this popular free utility. YMark200 tests your computer's ability to read the year 2000 and will test your machine's BIOS and real-time clock functionality. This utility is for PCs only and must be run from DOS.

CallCenter - Need an answering machine? This wonderful free program gives your computer answering machine functionality and much more, as well. A voice telephony application, CallCenter provides support for, voice record and playback from a local telephone handset. It'll also allow you to send and receive faxes from any application. This version is free; a commercial version is available that offers advanced features. (For Windows 98/95 and NT).

StockQuest - Here's a powerful, free stock screening program for Windows 95/98 that's a must for investors. Using it, you can screen and do research on over 10,000 publicly traded companies. Features over 50 ratios, statistics, growth rates, and data items already pre-defined as screening variables and is highly customizable. Once you've downloaded this program, you can check return to this site each Monday to download updated data.

Internet Explorer, Version 5 - The beta release of Microsoft's free browser has been released. Features include faster download speeds for pages with dynamic content and drag and drop support through FTP connections. It also offers a redesigned E-mail client, and improved search capabilities.

Netscape Communicator 4.5 - The browser wars rage on and this latest release shows that Netscape isn't ready to concede defeat to Microsoft. Communicator 4.5 is a much-improved, stable, easy-to-use browser that offers an innovative "Smart Browsing" feature to make your navigation easier. 14.3 megabytes. (Available for Windows 95/98/NT; Mac PowerPC and Unix).

Alexa - This is a must-have free utility that can really enhance your Web travels. For starters, there's a helpful desktop reference, that allows you to research the Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam Webster's Dictionary & Thesaurus without leaving the page you're on. And if you're a Webmaster, you'll like Alexa's features. It allows you to determine all kinds of information about Web sites (not just your own). With Alexa, you can get information about a site's popularity and find out how often other people visit a site and how deep they click through it. You can also see how often a site is updated, how fast it loads, and the total number of pages within the site. (Available for Windows and Macs).

CU-See Me- A free videoconferencing program (the only one of its type) that allows you to videoconference with anyone with a Mac or Windows and a Net connection. Multiple users can participate in a group CU-See Me session. New version is available that features a "Contact List," that makes it easier to locate people online (all you need is the E-mail address of the person you're trying to locate).

Weather Station - This useful free utility makes it easy to keep tabs on the latest weather news. Weather Station resides in your Windows tray and automatically retrieves hourly weather reports, warnings and news from the National Weather Service. Can be configured to track the current weather for up to 10 U.S. cities.

Internet Creator - Create your own online store with this E-Commerce Web site builder. For "a limited time," you can download a prerelease version of this excellent program for free. Powerful and relatively easy to use. Allows your site to feature E-mail ordering, shopping basket management and search capabilities. To see some examples of Web sites created with the help of Internet Creator, go here. (For Windows.)

NetLab - Awesome Swiss Army-knife-like, all-in-one free program that serves up a variety of TCP/IP utilities. Features include pinging, a finger utility, WhoIs service, traceroute, Time, clock synchronization, port scan, etc. There's even a "Quote of the Day" feature. We particularly like the DNS lookup feature, which can be used to look up the IP address of any DNS registered host to resolve a hostname or IP address. It also shows you possible aliases. Here's a screen shot. (For Windows 95/98).

FontPage - Do you have a bunch of fonts scattered all over your system? Bring order out of chaos, with this essential font utility. FontPage lets you easily examine and compare all the fonts on your computer. Lots of neat features, including a slick interface and the ability to print an image of any installed font on your PC. (For Windows: 390 kilobytes).

WebCam Enhancer - Are you a Web cam junkie? Then you've likely run into the annoying problem of not being able to see the current Web cam image, because it's being cached by your browser. This free service takes care of that problem, so you're assured of seeing the freshest images available. The only catch here is that the image must be from a free site.

PC Temp Clean - Have you got a lot of junk files clogging up your Windows "tempory" directory? Then install this little free gem. It'll automatically clean old files from the temp directory (such as old E-mail attachments) and can enhance your computer's performance, as a result. (For Windows 95/98 and NT.)

Rain: Keep your computer cool - This fascinating free program can make your computer run cooler. Using Rain, you can decrease your CPU's temperature by up to 30 degrees. Rain uses advanced instructions found in Intel, Cyrix, AMD and IDT CPUs (Pentium or later) to make them run much cooler. Before you replace your fan & heat sink, give this program a try.

WallMaster - Tired of looking at the same old wallpaper all the time? Install this cool free utility and liven up your Windows desktop. WallMaster is an excellent tool that makes it easy to change your wallpaper. You can even program it to automatically change your wallpaper at a specified time interval (such as every 30 minutes). It supports all kinds of images including JPG, GIF, PNG, PCX, TGA, PCD and ICO. For Windows. 895 kilobytes.

ePress - This handy free tool for Mac users lets you create quick standalone electronic business cards that provide information and images about you and/or your business. You can send eCards as an Email attachment to provide more information than your standard signature would provide. For Macs.

Hidden Finder Features - This excellent free control panel for Mac owners enables users of System 7.5.2 and above to access special hidden "secret" features of the operating system. There's some nifty things you can do with it, such as enabling and disabling zoon rectangles when opening & closing windows and much more. For Macs.

Webcelerator - Get a free beta copy of Webcelerator, software that is designed to speed up your Web surfing. Webcelerator optimizes your Internet connection for maximum speed.

Transparent - This free utility will turn your Windows 95 or NT desktop icon text backgrounds transparent; allowing your wallpaper to show through. You can also change the icon text color. It's completely free, with no splash, and is only 19k in size. It can optionally stay in memory to automatically fix the transparency if your desktop gets changed or reset.

Test2000 - You've likely heard something about the impending "Year 2000" computer problem (unless you've been living in a cave since 1970.) This free, easy-to-use utility will test your computer for potential Year 2000 problems. It'll give you plenty of useful information, such as if your computer can be made compliant by a BIOS or software fix.

Servant Salamander - Here's a free Norton Commander-like file manager for Window 95 and NT. Easy to use and speedy. Supports drag & drop, right-click menus and lets you browse network drives without mapping. Here's a screen shot.

Cacheman - This remarkable free utility can speed up your computer's performance. Cacheman configures the Win 95 cache to stop wasted memory usage. It also causes your computer to cut back on swap file usage. The result: fewer pauses and better system performance. (For Windows: 134K)

Formatta Filler - A helpful free tool for filling out forms. Formatta Filler allows you to download and fill out forms electronically as well as receive and send forms using E-mail. (3 meg download). Another freeware program here is the helpful Formatta Web Filler, which allows you to fill out forms on Web pages, using your browser. (2.6 megs).

AGNetTools: free IP utility for Macs - Here's an "everything but the kitchen sink" utility for the Mac. AGNetTools includes many helpful tools under a single graphical user interface, including Ping, TraceRoute, NameLookUp, Finger, WhoIs, ThroughPut and much more. Offers many features not available on other similar packages for the Mac.

K/oS Zoomer - Having trouble reading the small print on your screen? With this free utility, you can easily magnify the area around your cursor 2 or 4 times. The movable, resizable Zoomer window does not take up unnecessary space, because it has no title bar or menu bar. An excellent utility for the vision impaired or the heavy-duty user interface designer.

Cookie Cruncher - This is another freeware Internet cookie tool. The latest version works with AOL, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Netscape Navigator. It gives you the power to select which cookies to keep or delete at boot-up. You can also view the content of the cookies and edit Explorer and AOL cookies.

Trayer - Do you ever have a program that you'd like to be displayed in the Windows tray, rather than the taskbar? Then snag this freeware program. Perfect for any background-processing programs that you'd like to keep running without taking up the taskbar space. (For Windows: 139K).

Start Menu Cleaner - This helpful free program will clean your Windows "Start" menu by removing unneeded shortcuts and folders. Many applications tend to leave such debris on your Start menu---clutter that stays there even after you remove the program. Using this utility will give you a smaller, cleaner, more efficient menu.

WorldFlash News Ticker - This useful free program delivers lots of information to your desktop, including news headlines, stock quotes, and weather data. It can also check for your incoming E-mail (POP3 compatible only) and display E-mail headers in a scrolling window. (The install program is 1.2 megs in size and is for Win 95 and NT only).

WebTurbo - This freeware program (supported by ads) works within your browser to speed up your Web travels and make it easier for you to search the Net. It also automatically organizes the sites you find. The program's "Web Previewer" feature lets you quickly view an outline of the contents and links on a page without having to download the page itself. Useful!

Calmira: give Win 3.1 a Win 95 interface - If you're running Window 3.1, but would like to have Windows 95-style features, then check out this freeware. Designed to run on low-end computers. This file is 1.5 megs and the source code is included. (Does not work with Win NT).

Free Bible program - This awesome freeware program contains the King James Bible, with over 12,000 topics to select from in both the Old and New Testaments. Also included in this hefty (11 meg) package are parables, Easton's Bible Dictionary, Matthew Henry Commentary, a bookmark feature, scripture search, maps and much more. Note: when you go to this site, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the Bible program. (For Windows)

TrayMenu - The more time I spend with Win 95, the more useful I find it to launch stuff from the tray. TrayMenu lets you access your favorite shortcuts from the tray. You can also organize shortcuts in menus and navigate folders through cascaded menus. A useful free toy.

Driver Detective - Do you ever wonder if your computer's hardware drivers are up-to-date? Hardware drivers are hidden from you by Windows95, making them hard to find and even harder to get information on. To solve this problem, check out this cool free utility, which will not only show you ALL the hardware drivers used by Windows on your system, but it will also make getting all the vital information on them as easy as clicking on that driver.

Mini Clipboard - Are you a clipboard addict? Check out this free little Win 95 utility. It's a small clipboard that sits in the tray. It has three different cut/paste sections, and a section showing you what currently resides in the clipboard. Also, it has an internet URL section, an E-mail section and a Telnet section that you can paste to. A nice surfing tool.

AlphaCONNECT StockVue - This is a useful, well-done program that'll let you track your financial information on the Internet. Using it, you can receive unlimited free quotes for stocks and mutual funds and much more.

Start 2 Finish - Looking for a project manager? This program offers lot of features: job costing, unit cost, time tracking, employee productivity, alarms, multiple projects and more. Also features stunning U.S. space program photos that liven up your desktop as you work Described as "free" shareware, but registering will get the advanced features turned on. For Win 95/NT.

Hide It - Here's a cool freeware Windows program that allows you to hide any application window and its button in the taskbar. The application is also removed from the Alt-Tab chain, so it won't disturb your task switching, it is just as if it wasn't there. Useful!

WebMarks - A free Win 95 and NT application that catalogs and stores your favorite sites. Its capabilities far surpass the bookmarking features found in Netscape and IE. It solves a problem that many of us have: the need to use both browsers. It also stores all your bookmarks in a single file that makes it easy to move your bookmarks from system to system.

WebFerret - A great search utility. It's easy to use: You can find Web pages by simply entering a keyword, and clicking "Find Now." It's also unbelievably fast and finds results almost immediately. The whole process from launching WebFerret to receiving results takes just a few seconds.

Servers Alive - This is a freeware network monitor tool. This program will check a host to see of a particular service/deamon is still running. It can check HTTP, FTP, SMTP, POP3, NNTP, Echo server, DNS, IMAP4, Gopher, Telnet or it can just ping the server. For Windows 95 or NT.

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