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If this is your first visit, please take the time to browse my site, with about 100 pages it's bigger than it looks! All the freeware has been tested and reviewed by myself.

Latest reviews and articles.

How fast is your computer.
29/Aug/11

This web site tests your computer (without installing anything), to see how many floating-point operations it can perform in one second (a billion is a Gigaflop). You are then given a speed score out of one hundred and a computer speed in Gigaflops.
I had a speed score of 4 and a computer speed of 0.94 Gf and was rated a snail.

You can compare your speed with others around the world, or your friends on Facebook. Or if your score is like mine, quietly slip away and never mention it again.

http://whohasthefastestcomputer.com/flopsmeter/

Flash game -- Run from the sun.
29/Aug/11

The sun is exploding and you must escape in your space craft, by flitting from planet, to planet. Your range is limited, by the available oxygen supply, which is replenished with each landing.

It is possible, (but risky) to use gravity to alter course, but whatever you do, you have to be quick, as the sun appears to expand more quickly, as time progresses.
There are flaming asteroids to avoid and aliens appear later in the game. As you progress, other ships are unlocked, which is why I'm flying a vintage space shuttle.
Run from the sun is a simple, but quite addictive game. My best score so far, is 10,325.

Loading time is approximately fourteen minutes on a 56K connection.

http://armorgames.com/play/12015/run-from-the-sun

Ubuntu to the rescue.
15/Feb/11

A friend recently asked me to mend her laptop, which wouldn't start Vista. I have fixed it a few times, as files seem to become corrupted very easily, making Vista unstable.
This time I couldn't access Vista at all, the Vista Recovery Disc wouldn't perform a repair and nothing I tried worked. I couldn't even access the drive from Puppy Linux, to save her emails (later recovered from the ISP server). I had previously created a backup of Vista, using Acronis, but had saved it to a separate partition, which Acronis reported as corrupt. I should have saved the backup to a DVD .

Finally I decided to reinstall Vista from the recovery partition (no Vista DVD), but the computer refused to start the process and subsequent investigation showed the partition to contain an image of just 180Mb, not large enough to be Vista. From what I read on the Toshiba web site, I believe the file to be drivers for the computer.

So with a totally useless laptop, I decided to look at other options. My friend only uses the laptop for emailing and a bit of surfing, she doesn't install software at all (I don't think she knows how). So I thought a Linux distribution might be a good choice. I haven't tried any of the big Linux distros for quite a while, as my computer isn't really powerful enough. I do like Puppy Linux (a lightweight disto), however it is a little quirky, for anyone who likes their computers to be completely well behaved.
So after some investigation on the internet, I decided to try Ubuntu v10.10, the fact that I already had a live Ubuntu CD helped sway my choice.

I first tried running it as a live CD, which went very well, everything seemed to work, so I clicked install.
Installation was quite straightforward, with a few questions about my location and keyboard and how I wanted Ubuntu to be installed. You can install alongside Windows, but as Vista was broken, I allowed Ubuntu to use the whole drive. I was asked for a user name and password and installation began, with a slide show of Ubuntu features. Installation took less than thirty minutes and I was presented with the Ubuntu desktop.

As my friend was used to Windows, I played around with the Ubuntu desktop, altering the toolbars and themes, until it looked more like Windows.

As you can see from the screenshot, with a bit of tweaking Ubuntu can look a lot better than the rather drab default. There is a good help manual in the System menu and for more help an independent manual can be found at http://ubuntu-manual.org/

Ubuntu comes with a pretty good selection of software pre-installed. Firefox for web browsing. Evolution is the email program, which is very similar to Outlook Express in Windows. There is a firewall, but you need to turn it on (follow the steps in the manual), which is a surprising lapse in security.
Before I could use the internet, via a Vodafone mobile USB dongle (slowest connection I have ever used), I did have to do a fair bit of Googling, to find the correct settings, but it was fine once set up.

You will need to install some restricted extras, to get things like DVD playback and Flash working. But it is all explained in the manual and is usually a one click affair. Films, music and internet radio all worked well once set up.

Images can be viewed and edited using the Shotwell Photo Manager, which is useful, if rather basic.
Printer installation was very impressive, much better than Windows. Just plug the printer in and turn it on, Ubuntu recognizes it a few seconds later. I tried this with my HP psc1215 and my friends Epson and both were identified immediately and worked perfectly. So much easier than the long winded driver and software installation most printers require nowadays.
Scanning is performed with the Simple Scan application, which again worked very well.

The Software Center allows you to install new software with one click and the selection is quite large. Although personally I prefer the Windows system. I did try quite a few items of software and all installed without a problem, but most of the action games I tried wouldn't run properly on the laptop, although it does come with a very nice game of Sudoku.

Overall I was quite impressed with Ubuntu, it's reliable, starts quickly and is easy to use. Some of the software is rather basic compared to Windows and it can't match Windows for games, but for everyday tasks it is better than Windows. My friend is delighted with it, as it zooms along in comparison to Vista and she has had no problems adapting to Ubuntu.

I did try Ubuntu on my desktop, it installed with no problems, alongside XP and my cable broadband worked immediately. But it needs more ram than my meager 512MB and ran a little erratically, giving problems with the Software Center and performing slowly at times.
I intend to remove it from my computer after I finish this review. But don't let that put you off trying it, test the live CD first, to see if it runs okay.

Free -- Open Source -- 693MB

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Freeware game -- Attack of the ooze.
07/Dec/10

Attack of the ooze is a retro styled game, with a intro screen like a scfi comic book cover, from when I was a lad. The menu follows the theme, by looking and sounding like an old wireless.

The game itself is quite simple, shoot the aliens and save the day.
You control a gun turret, and use the arrow keys to set the firing angle and space to set the power and release the shot. Esc will return you to the menu during play.
The game steadily introduces new weapons and aliens as it progresses through fortyfour levels. It isn't particularly hard and you get unlimited attempts at each level, but I did get stuck on level fortyone and didn't complete the game.
A nice game, that isn't going to send the world on fire, but has a certain charm to it. It reminds me of the sort of games you played on the Spectrum.


Freeware -- Download size 6.24MB -- Win XP/Vista/7

http://www.yoyogames.com/games/121773-attack-of-the-ooze

Note: The Play Now button on YoYo Games will install an activeX and play the game in your browser. for a normal download, use the link to the right of the page.

Wow an update!
05/Oct/10

I've finally written an update, the last was in February, how time flys! I have been busy working and got out of the habit of posting, but a few days of rain has got me back at the keyboard, trying to correct the many broken freeware links, sites come and go so quickly.
I have also sorted out the homepage size problem, with this size being the best compromise I can come up with, to suit both people with high res monitors and those like myself, still running at 800*600.
I have also added a new review (see below), starting with something easy, as I'm still trying to remember how to make a web page.

Moffsoft FreeCalc v1.2.0.6
05/Oct/10

I use the calculator that comes with Windows quite often and it does a perfectly good job. But after using the better featured Moffsoft FreeCalc for a while, I'm a convert.

I particularly like the tape, which clearly shows each stage of your calculation and can be saved, or printed. The memory value display in the status bar, is an excellent idea, even if it does look like an after thought. You can also alter the size and appearance of the calculator.
The comprehensive help file completes the package, making FreeCalc an excellent replacement for the standard Windows calculator.

Freeware -- Download size 764KB -- Win 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7

http://www.moffsoft.com/freecalc.htm

Computing on a cloud -- Free Panda Cloud Antivirus v1.0
28/Feb/10

Panda Cloud Antivirus uses the cloud (or internet, to you and me), to store the virus definition database, rather than the more traditional downloaded and regulary updated database.
So there is no need for the initial massive virus definition download and regular updates are no longer needed, a definite bonus in my book.

Panda automatically checks suspicious files online, so you always have the benefit of the latest database. And new threats can be identified far quicker with this online interaction, than with traditional methods.

The initial software download is about 22Mb and after installation you need to create an online account, so that you can properly activate Panda Cloud Antivirus.
Depending on which firewall (I use Zonealarm) you are using, you may need to give Panda permission to access the internet.
Panda Cloud Antivirus is very easy to use, the default settings take care of everything (there are very few settings) and the help file is excellent and worth reading.

In use Panda is unobtrusive, taking care of problems with no fuss at all. You can run either a Quick Scan, or select the hard drive areas you wish to scan. Scanning isn't very fast, but the progress and results are displayed well, with vital information such as the file path shown.

Any problem files are automatically quarantined and can be deleted, or restored as you require.
I found detection accuracy to be good. Panda did quarantine some of my tools and one joke program, but these are items perceived to be possibly dangerous if misused, so it's a judgment call.

All the tests I tried, to see if Panda would spot suspicious behaviour, were blocked immediately and I will admit to being impressed.
On the downside, despite the claims of Panda being light and fast, my elderly computer did seem slightly sluggish and one game crashed the computer everytime I tried to run it, until I turned Panda off.
Broadband internet speed doesn't seem to be affected at all and I noticed no increase in traffic, despite the cloud aspect of Panda.

Overall, I was impressed by Panda Cloud Antivirus, it seemed competent and unobtrusive and was very easy to use.

Free -- Download 22Mb -- Win 7, Vista, XP.

http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/

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