-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Best Freeware Programs for DOS and Windows 3.1 ============================================== Last updated 16 September 1996 This is a list of some freeware programs I like. As far as I know, all are free for personal use. This includes public domain programs, freeware, "postcard-ware", and shareware programs which are free for personal or non-commercial use. It can also include demos, if they are reasonably fully functional, can be freely used, and are not time-limited. Some of these programs require payment if used for commercial purposes. Corrections and suggestions are welcome. Authors's suggestions are also welcome, but please note that I only list free programs. I update and post this list to Usenet groups alt.comp.freeware and comp.archives.msdos.d about every two weeks. Programs new in this version are marked "*NEW*". I've marked a few programs I especially like with this sign: "*A TOP PICK*". The list is also available, with links to all the programs and to other resources, through the World Wide Web at: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~an448/ The latest version is usually available by FTP at: ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/info/free96??.zip ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/misc/free96??.zip ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/text/free96??.zip To get the list by E-mail, send a message to: infomart@acy.digex.net with the subject: send freelist Note that the subject must be exactly as shown, in lowercase. Compiled by: Yves Bellefeuille . PGP mail welcome. ======================================================================== Table of Contents: Section A: Application Programs Section B: Compression / Decompression Programs Section C: Utilities Area 1: 4DOS / NDOS Utilities Area 2: Disk Utilities Area 3: Directory Utilities Area 4: File and Text Utilities Area 5: Screen and Graphics Utilities Area 6: System Utilities Area 7: Other Utilities Section D: Anti-Virus Programs Section E: Text and Hex Editors Section F: Communication Programs Section G: Miscellaneous Programs Section H: Windows 3.1 Programs ======================================================================== SECTION A: APPLICATION PROGRAMS Galahad - Old-fashioned but serviceable word processor. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/editor/gal210a1.zip, gal210a2.zip, gal210a3.zip and gal210a4.zip I'm interested in suggestions for free spreadsheets, database programs, word processors, DTP programs, CAD programs, and so on! SECTION B: COMPRESSION / DECOMPRESSION PROGRAMS Quick guide: To decompress: Use: ============== ==== *.arj ARJ *.com UNP *.exe UNP *.gz GZip *.lha LHA *.lzh LHA *.tar PCTar *.tar.Z First GZip, then PCTar *.tgz First GZip, then PCTar *.uue UU (see File and Text Utilities) *.z GZip *.zip Info-Zip *.zoo Zoo ARJ - Supports multi-disk archives and self-extracting archives. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/arcers/arj250a.exe *A TOP PICK* Diet - Compresses executable programs while leaving them executable (similar to PKLite). ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/execomp/diet145f.zip GZip - To compress/decompress files using the Unix .Z format. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/unix/gzip124.zip Info-Zip - PKZip compatible archiver, but doesn't support multi-disk archives. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/arcers/unz520x.exe and zip21x.zip LHA - Supports self-extracting archives. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/arcers/lha255e.exe LZExe - Compresses executable programs while leaving them executable. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/execomp/lzexe91.zip PCTar - Unpacks files in the Unix "tar" format. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/archiver/pctar11.zip UNP - Unpacks files compressed with PKLite, Diet, LZExe, EXECOMP, etc. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/execomp/unp411.zip Zoo - An old archiver still used in the Unix world. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/arcers/zoo210.exe SECTION C: UTILITIES AREA 1: 4DOS / NDOS UTILITIES 4UTILS - Two utilities for 4DOS: a DESCRIPT.ION editor and a 4DOS-aware file finder. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/4dos/4utils86.zip AREA 2: DISK UTILITIES ATAID - Shows characteristics of ATA/IDE disks. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/diskutil/ataid011.zip Core - Measures hard disk performance. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/diskutil/core303.zip DOG - "Disk OrGanizer", disk defragmenter. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/diskutil/dog316.zip *A TOP PICK* FDFormat - Formats diskettes to greater capacities. For 3.5-inch diskettes, try "sector sliding" with "X=1 Y=2". Also includes WImage, a "disk image" program. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/diskutil/fdform18.zip FIPS - Changes partition size and adds new partitions without deleting data. Source included. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/diskutil/fips15.zip *NEW* JCFG - Assigns "dummy" drive letters, swaps drive letters. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sysutil/jcfg100.zip Partition Resizer - Another utility to non-destructively resize, add and delete partitions. Nicely documented. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/diskutil/presz112.zip Save the Boot/Fat/Partition - Saves and restores MBR, DOS boot sector and FATs (similar to MIRROR and IMAGE). ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/diskutil/stbfp11.zip Spindown - Powers down IDE drives after period of inactivity. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/diskutil/spindn12.zip Wasted - Shows disk space wasted due to partition size. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/diskutil/wasted20.zip AREA 3: DIRECTORY UTILITIES *A TOP PICK* ACD - "Another Change Directory", jumps directly to any directory (similar to Norton's NCD). ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/dirutil/acd233.zip DirMatch - Compares two directories side by side. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pcmagutl/dirmat31.zip Locate - Finds files by name. Fast, many options. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/filefind/floc117a.zip Prune - Renames, moves and deletes directories; prunes and grafts directory trees. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/dirutil/prune10.zip Swapname - Swaps two file names. Sounds simple, but there's no easy way to do it otherwise. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/dirutil/swapname.zip Sweep - Executes a command in a directory and across all its sub-directories. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/pcmag/vol4n24.zip AREA 4: FILE AND TEXT UTILITIES BFind - Boolean find, supports AND, OR, NOT, etc. Unfortunately slow. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/textutil/bfind607.zip Change - Changes strings in text and hex files, can also remove trailing spaces. Very fast. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/textutil/chang608.zip FGrep - Fast GREP, finds text in files. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/textutil/fgrep183.zip Flip - Converts text files from MS-DOS format to Unix, and vice versa. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/textutil/flip1exe.zip *NEW* HTMStrip - Removes HTML codes from documents. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/textutil/htmst608.zip *A TOP PICK* List - File viewing utility. Absolutely essential. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/fileutil/list91m.zip *NEW* Netrun - Converts COM and EXE files under 50 kb to executable ASCII text for transmission by E-mail. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/decode/netrun31.zip Udec - "Universal decoder" for UUencode, XXencode, MPack (MIME), Ship and HexBin (Mac). ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/decode/udec1_1.zip UU - Smart UUdecode, handles headers, out-of-order sections, etc. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/decode/uu33.zip UUencode, UUdecode - Converts binary files for transmission by E-mail. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/decode/uuexe651.zip AREA 5: SCREEN AND GRAPHICS UTILITIES Display - Displays images and movies in over 50 formats, including GIF, JPG, PCX, BMP, FLI, AVI, GL and others. Some basic editing functions. Installation can be complex. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/graphics/disp189a.zip DVPEG - Graphics viewer. Supports GIF, JPEG and others. ftp://sunee.uwaterloo.ca/pub/jpeg/viewers/dvpeg30l.zip GifExe - Makes "self-viewing" GIF files. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/gif/gifexe44.zip JPEG - Converts JPEG graphics to and from BMP, GIF, TGA and other formats. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/graphics/jpeg6a.zip (get jpeg6a32.zip if you have a 386 or better) NANSI - A faster replacement for ANSI.SYS. Supports keyboard redefinition. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/screen/nansi33.zip PCMouse - Gives "cut and paste" ability to DOS programs. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/screen/pcmou15a.zip ScrUtil - Simple screen blanker for DOS and Windows. (No longer supported by author.) ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/screen/scrutl91.zip Snipper - Captures text from the screen and saves it in a file or sends it to the printer. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pcmagutl/snippr26.zip ZANSI - An even faster replacement for ANSI.SYS. Doesn't support keyboard redefinition. Remove before running MEMMAKER. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/screen/zansi12.zip Zeno - Speeds up screen writes via BIOS. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/screen/zeno25.zip AREA 6: SYSTEM UTILITIES CacheChk - Verifies size and speed of cache memory. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sysinfo/cachchk4.zip CMOS - Backs up and restores CMOS data (for use when battery dies, etc.). ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sysutil/cmos92cd.zip CompTest - System information and benchmarks. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sysinfo/ctest260.zip Escape - Cancels execution of programs during system crashes. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/tsr/escape20.zip InfoPlus - Lots of information about your system. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sysinfo/ifp1p158.zip MSD - Microsoft Diagnostics, system information. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sysinfo/ga0363.zip AREA 7: OTHER UTILITIES Bat2Exec - Compiles BAT files to executable format. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pcmagutl/bat2ex15.zip CAL - Similar to Unix's "cal", shows calendar for any year or month. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/calendar/cal33.zip Clock - Shows clock in upper right corner, also supports alarm. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/clock/clok132.zip CoreView - Shows conventional memory in real time. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/sysutil/cv100.zip CtrlAlt - Resident utilities: show ASCII codes, draw boxes, mark and cut text, and others. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/sysutil/ctrlalt.zip DUMPEM - Displays and edits conventional, expanded and extended memory. Includes memory diagnostics. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/memutil/dumpem.zip FILEC - File name completion utility. Configurable. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/sysutil/filec106.zip Key-Fake - Feeds keystrokes to a program. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/pcmag/vol4n26.zip NCPlay - Plays WAV, VOC and SND files through PC speaker or Sound Blaster. Somewhat kludgy. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sound/nc5play.zip Now & Then - Runs programs at specified intervals (every day, every week, etc.). ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/bootutil/nowthn12.zip *NEW* PMap - Program Map, shows memory usage, resident programs, etc. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/memutil/pmap210.zip Real Delete - TSR intercepts DOS's delete command and over-writes files before deleting them to prevent recovery. ftp://ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/comp/security/pc/realdeal.zip Strings - Adds string handling (and many other) functions to BAT files. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/batutil/strings2.zip *A TOP PICK* TSR Utilities - Removes TSR programs from memory without rebooting, and other memory utilities. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/memutil/tsrcom35.zip SECTION D: ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAMS ADinf - Advanced Diskinfoscope. Integrity checker. ftp://ftp.kiam1.rssi.ru/pub/msdos/antivirus/adinf/english/adinf.zip Antivirus Toolkit Pro Virus Encyclopedia - Loads of information on computer viruses. ftp://ftp.command-hq.com/pub/command/avp/avpve96a.zip DiskSecure II - Protection against Master Boot Record viruses. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/virus/dsii242.zip *A TOP PICK* F-Prot - Anti-virus scanner. Excellent and indispensable. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/virus/fp-224c.zip (updated about every two months, finger f-prot@complex.is for latest version) FixUtils - Suite of anti-virus utilities. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/virus/fixutil6.zip SECTION E: TEXT AND HEX EDITORS EDC - The only free editor for DOS I've found that's able to handle files larger than conventional memory. It's hardly simple, however, and poorly documented. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/editor/edrhr15b.zip GDSpell - Stand-alone spelling checker for ASCII files. ftp://ftp.gdsoft.com/pub/shareware/gdsp300b.zip Hex - Unlike most hex editors, this one lets you insert and delete bytes. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/binedit/hex51.zip NE - "No Edlin", straightforward text editor with spelling checker. Don't use in a "DOS box" under Windows! ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/editor/ne300b.zip SLED - Small yet surprisingly complete text editor. A good choice if you need a very small editor. ftp://ftp.achilles.net/pub/users/sam/sled/sled.zip *A TOP PICK* TDE - Thomson-Davis Editor, configurable text and hex editor. Very complete. I use this one quite a lot. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/editor/tde40.zip TED3 - "Tiny EDitor" for text files up to 64 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/editor/ted3.zip Zap-It - Binary file and disk editor. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/binedit/zapit400.zip SECTION F: COMMUNICATION PROGRAMS *NEW* Felix - Complete program, somewhat similar to Telix. In German. ftp://ftp.informatik.hu-berlin.de/pub/pc/msdos/commprogs/felix25.zip MS Kermit - Reasonably complete, but only supports Kermit. ftp://kermit.columbia.edu/kermit/archives/msvibm.zip QModem - Complete communication program, demo of commercial product. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/qmodem/qm46td-1.zip and qm46td-2.zip TXZM - Texas Z-Modem, very small communication program. Supports Z-Modem only. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/termutil/txzm241.zip Special request: I'm still looking for a good fax program! SECTION G: MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAMS FZC - Fast Zip Cracker, brute force cracker for PKZip encrypted files. ftp://ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/cryptanalysis/fzc104.zip PGP - Pretty Good Privacy, encryption program. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/crypt/pgp263i.zip SFS - Secure FileSystem, encrypts a partition or a disk. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/crypt/sfs110.zip WPCrack - Finds passwords of Word Perfect 5.x files. ftp://ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/cryptanalysis/wpcrack_a.zip ZipCrack - Brute force cracker for PKZip encrypted files. ftp://ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/cryptanalysis/zipcrkmq.zip SECTION H: WINDOWS 3.1 PROGRAMS 1MbFort - Increases free low memory under Windows. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pcmagvol/vol14n06.zip Anansi - HTML editor. Still in beta, but very impressive so far. http://www.noord.bART.nl/~har2312/ *NEW* Calypso - Windows 95-like shell. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/shell/calyps21.zip CCM - Tracks time online. Manual and automatic modes. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/internet/ccm286.zip *NEW* ClipStac - Lets you retrieve multiple items from the Clipboard. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/pcmag/vol11n14.zip DOSBar - Adds a button bar to DOS windows. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/sysutil/dosbr143.zip FTaskman - Replacement for Windows's Task Manager. ftp://ftp.csusm.edu/pub/winworld/tasks/ftask124.zip GDesk - Pop-up menu and launcher. Fully configurable. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/desktop/gdesk_22.zip GetSet - Permits different setup (StartUp group) configurations. Default group possible. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/sysutil/getset20.zip HideApp - Starts application hidden. Will work in some circumstances when StartApp won't. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/hideap11.zip IconJack - Extracts icons from EXE, DLL and ICO files. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/pcmag/vol14n12.zip InfoBar - Displays clock and system information. More configurable than MinInfo. http://goofy.iafrica.com/~dalen/software/infb111.zip *A TOP PICK* LViewPro - Graphics viewer. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/graphics/lviewp1b.zip *A TOP PICK* MinInfo - Shows free memory and free resources, also time and date. ftp://ftp.csusm.edu/pub/winworld/memtools/mininfo.zip More Control - Control Panel add-on. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/sysutil/morecn10.zip MWTask - Replacement for Windows's Task Manager. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/taskman/mwtask13.zip *A TOP PICK* PFE - Programmer's File Editor. Text editor capable of handling large files. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/editor/pfe0602.zip *NEW* Prolix - Simple text editor for files up to 16 Mb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/editor/prolix12.zip SAW - System Analyst for Windows. Complete information about hardware, Windows, drivers, etc. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/sysutil/saw110.zip *NEW* Sinfo - A huge amount of detailed information about Windows. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/taskman/sinfo109.zip StartApp - Starts Windows applications normal, minimized, maximized or hidden. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/strtap11.zip Stiletto - Button-bar task switcher and launcher, calendar and clock. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/stil19v1.zip SuckMeister - Task switcher and launcher. Very small "footprint". ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/taskman/sm135.zip SuperPad - Notepad replacement for large files. Doesn't support printing. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/pcmag/vol14n07.zip UltraClip - Clipboard replacement. Supports OLE. ftp://ftp.csusm.edu/pub/winworld/clipboard/uclp20.zip UnixCorn - Adds Windows commands to DOS programs. (Free only to non-US residents.) ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/shell/unixcn20.zip Wayfarer - Replacement for Windows's Program Manager. *Very* configurable. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/shell/wayfarer.zip WCL - WinComm Lite, communication program. Demo of commercial program, annoying compulsory registration. ftp://ftp.delrina.com/pub/product/windows/wincommlite/wcl.exe WinFileX - Creates "default" association for File Manager. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/fileman/wfilx120.zip WS_FTP - Winsock FTP client. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/winsock/ws_ftp.zip I hope to add more communication programs and Winsock applications and welcome suggestions. ======================================================================== How to get Garbo files by E-mail For those without access to FTP, garbo.uwasa.fi runs an ftpmail server which allows you to get Garbo files by E-mail. Please do not use ftpmail if you can get the files by FTP or through the WWW (http://garbo.uwasa.fi/). The files will be sent to you in UUencode format. You'll need a UUdecode program to decode them. If you don't already have one, you can get one by E-mail as follows. Send a message to: infomart@acy.digex.net with the subject: send muud Note that the subject must be exactly as shown, in lowercase. Follow the instructions in the file you'll receive and you'll create a basic UUdecode program called MUUD.COM. You may later want to get a more complete UUdecode program, such as Udec, UU or UUdecode. To get files from garbo.uwasa.fi, send a message to: ftpmail@garbo.uwasa.fi The message's "Subject" can be anything at all. The ftpmail server will simply ignore it. The message should have the following contents: open garbo.uwasa.fi get [write here the full path and name of the Garbo file] quit For example, to get the program Diet, I would send the following message: open garbo.uwasa.fi get /pc/execomp/diet145f.zip quit Note that I'm giving the full path to the program, everything after "ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi". Note also that I'm using slashes, "/", not backslashes, "\". You will get a confirmation message soon after your request. Depending on the backlog, you may have to wait a few days before getting the file itself. Please be patient, and don't keep requesting the same file! To get more information on this service, send the following message to ftpmail@garbo.uwasa.fi: help quit =========================================================================== Acknowledgements: I got the idea for this list from two great lists of shareware programs. The first is the list of the best shareware programs by Timo Salmi, moderator of the FTP site at garbo.uwasa.fi. His list can be found at ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pd2/bestp43b.zip. Thanks especially to Timo for his encouragement and his help. The second is Samuel Ko's list of the best shareware programs. Unfortunately, this list seems to be no longer maintained. The last version (May 1994) is available at ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/info/useful35.zip. I've adapted Samuel's table of contents for my own list. Special thanks to Konrad Hinsen for suggestions and assistance and to Stig Linander, Andrew McLachlan and Ian Smith for many useful suggestions. I'd also like to acknowledge the contribution of Frazer Crump, who was the first, to my knowledge, to post a list of best freeware on Usenet group alt.comp.freeware. Disclaimer: To my surprise, the administrator of one of the commercial FTP sites has complained that his own site was not featured prominently enough in this list. With regret, I therefore feel that I should make the following disclaimer. This is a list of software, not a list of FTP sites. I list FTP locations as a convenience to the users, so that they may find the programs I mention more easily. I make no judgement on the merits of FTP sites. If any FTP site has a more recent version of one of the programs I mention, I would appreciate being informed of this. And, of course, users's suggestions are always welcome. ======================================================================== Compiled by: Yves Bellefeuille . PGP mail welcome. Comments, corrections, suggestions and criticism welcome. This list may be freely reproduced, provided that any changes are clearly indicated. ======================================================================== -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3i Charset: cp850 iQCzAgUBMjze7qdbnFWa/K4dAQE5YQTvQPD+zfSZUxa2QIggMnG2bg+5tSjmCFFB ++jjRJfDiN97AfBl313biFD7L79qswNC0kYLGrES9MujJhlzfihP/GJ/3Hs56Qgi wjSLq6bchpUVPEzKY4L86FKzjpAWDHkz0ziQy3pOslM+T0qxteGP2t7eOKlcjBbX kqD2KQXJvNaSLMxqCb9WEdthGX5rPFtMq9iFv1a+DgjdeSjsU9s= =vkO9 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----