-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Best Freeware Programs for DOS and Windows 3.1 ============================================== NOW OVER 190 PROGRAMS! Last updated 4 May 1997 This is a list of over 190 of the best freeware programs I've found. 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 once a month. 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 freeware 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/Coast/msdos/info/free7???.zip ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/misc/free7???.zip ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/text/free7???.zip Compiled by: Yves Bellefeuille . PGP mail welcome. ======================================================================== Table of Contents: Section A: Compression Programs and Utilities Section B: Utilities Area 1: Disk Utilities Area 2: Directory Utilities Area 3: File and Text Utilities Area 4: Screen and Graphics Utilities Area 5: System Utilities Area 6: Other Utilities Section C: Text and Hex Editors Section D: Anti-Virus Programs Section E: Application Programs Section F: Communication Programs Section G: Miscellaneous Programs Section H: Windows 3.1 Programs Area 1: Shells, Program Managers and Program Switchers Area 2: Desktop Area 3: Compression / Decompression and Encoding / Decoding Area 4: File Managers and Utilities Area 5: Graphics, Icons, Screen and Video Area 6: System Utilities Area 7: Editors and Word Processors Area 8: Information Managers (PIMs, Schedulers, Calendars, etc.) Area 9: Communication and Internet Area 10: Miscellaneous How to Get Files Through the World Wide Web How to Get Garbo Files by E-mail How to Find Files Acknowledgements Disclaimer ======================================================================== SECTION A: COMPRESSION PROGRAMS AND UTILITIES Quick guide: To decompress: Use: ============== ==== *.arj ARJ *.com UNP *.exe UNP *.gz GZip *.lha LHA *.lzh LHA *.tar Tar *.tar.Z First GZip, then Tar *.taz First GZip, then Tar *.tgz First GZip, then Tar *.uue UU (see File and Text Utilities) *.Z GZip *.zip Info-Zip *.zoo Zoo ARJ - Supports multi-disk archives and self-extracting archives. 269 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/arcers/arj250a.exe *A TOP PICK* Diet - Compresses executable programs while leaving them executable (similar to PKLite). 44 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/execomp/diet145f.zip GZip - Decompresses files created by Unix compress (*.Z) and gzip (*.gz). 114 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/unix/gzip124.zip Info-Zip - PKZip compatible archiver, but doesn't support multi-disk archives. 179 kb or 228 kb, and 155 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/arcers/unz520x.exe (get unz520x3.exe if you have a 386 or better) and zip21x.zip LHA - Supports self-extracting archives. 64 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/arcers/lha255e.exe *NEW* LSize - Repacks archives into smaller packages. Each package is still a valid archive and will work without splicing or concatenating it to other packages. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/arcutil/lsize252.zip LZExe - Compresses executable programs while leaving them executable. 43 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/execomp/lzexe91.zip NCAV - Norton Commander Archive Viewer. Compression shell; lets you view, edit, add and delete files, change compression method, etc. Supports ARJ, LHA, Zip, Zoo, and other formats. Can be used as a stand-alone utility, without Norton Commander. 140 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/arcutil/ncav47.zip Tar - To unpack files in the Unix "tar" format, use "tar -xvf [filename.tar]". Can convert Unix file names to legal DOS names. 177 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/archiver/tar320g.zip UNP - Unpacks executable files compressed with PKLite, Diet, LZExe, EXECOMP, etc. 34 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/execomp/unp411.zip *NEW* UNTGZ - Unpacks archives created with Unix tar and gzip (*.tar.gz, *.taz or *.tgz) in a single step, but can't unpack files created with the older Unix compress. 159 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/archiver/untgz095.zip Zoo - An old archiver still used in the Unix world. 71 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/arcers/zoo210.exe SECTION B: UTILITIES AREA 1: DISK UTILITIES ATAID - Shows characteristics of ATA/IDE disks: number of heads, cylinders and sectors, cache size, etc. 29 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/diskutil/ataid011.zip Core - Measures hard disk performance: seek time, data transfer rate, etc. 26 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/diskutil/core303.zip DOG - "Disk OrGanizer", disk defragmenter. 53 kb. 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". To copy Microsoft's new "DMF" format, use these options: "/t:80 /n:21 /c:4 /d:16 /m:240". Also includes WImage, a "disk image" program. 107 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/diskutil/fdform18.zip FIPS - Changes partition size and adds new partitions without deleting data. Source included. 116 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/diskutil/fips15.zip HD-Copy - Fast one-pass disk copier. Supports FDFormat and Microsoft's "DMF" format. Do not confuse with hdcp31.zip, a hard disk copy program. 80 kb. ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/utildisk/hdcp20ae.zip JCFG - Assigns "dummy" drive letters, swaps drive letters. 18 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sysutil/jcfg100.zip Partition Resizer - Another utility to non-destructively resize, add and delete partitions. Nicely documented. 62 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/diskutil/presz112.zip Save the Boot/Fat/Partition - Saves and restores Master Boot Record, DOS boot sector and FATs (similar to MIRROR and IMAGE). Essential on a "rescue" diskette. 37 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sysutil/stbfp11a.zip *NEW* Space Map - Shows disk space used and allocated for each directory. Useful for seeing space wasted due to cluster size. 14 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/diskutil/sm200.zip Spindown - Powers down IDE drives after period of inactivity. 12 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/diskutil/spindn12.zip Wasted - Shows disk space wasted due to partition size. 30 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/diskutil/wasted20.zip AREA 2: DIRECTORY UTILITIES *A TOP PICK* ACD - "Another Change Directory", jumps directly to any directory (similar to Norton's NCD). 52 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/dirutil/acd233.zip Directory Control - "Point and shoot" utility to move, copy and delete files. 12 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pcmagutl/dc106f.zip DirMatch - Compares two directories side by side. 17 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pcmagutl/dirmat31.zip DOS Controller - Norton Commander clone, well done. 38 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/fileutil/dc-sk.zip Locate - Finds files by name. Fast, many options. 57 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/filefind/floc120.zip Prune - Renames, moves and deletes directories; prunes and grafts directory trees. 33 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/dirutil/prune10.zip Swapname - Swaps two file names. Sounds simple, but there's no easy way to do it otherwise. 3 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/dirutil/swapname.zip Sweep - Executes a command in a directory and across all its sub- directories. 15 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/pcmag/vol4n24.zip AREA 3: FILE AND TEXT UTILITIES BFind - Boolean find, supports AND, OR, NOT, etc. Somewhat slow. 79 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/textutil/bfind704.zip Change - Changes strings in text and hex files, can also remove trailing spaces. Very fast. 96 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/textutil/chang704.zip FGrep - Fast "grep", finds text in files. 27 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/textutil/fgrep183.zip Flip - Converts text files from MS-DOS format (CR/LF) to Unix (LF), and vice versa. 14 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/textutil/flip1exe.zip *NEW* HLP2DOC - Converts Windows HLP files to Word for Windows 2 format. 44 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/fileutil/hlp2doc.zip HTMStrip - Removes HTML codes from documents. 189 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/textutil/htmst704.zip Less - File viewer, similar to Unix's "less". 217 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/unix/less177e.zip *A TOP PICK* List - File viewing utility. Absolutely essential. I frequently use List as a basic DOS "shell" to quickly go from one file to another, rename or delete files, change directories, etc. 99 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/fileutil/list91m.zip MPack - Encodes and decodes files in MIME (base64) format. 44 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/decode/mpack15d.zip Netrun - Converts COM and EXE files under 50 kb to executable ASCII text for transmission by E-mail. 7 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/decode/netrun31.zip *NEW* PCMCVT - Converts word processor files to ASCII text. Unfortunately, the formats supported are somewhat limited and haven't been updated lately: Word for DOS 5.0 and 5.5, Word for Windows 1.x and 2.0, WordPerfect 5.1 and 5.2, AmiPro 2.x, and Write 3.1. 36 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/pcmag/vol12n12.zip RPSort - Can sort huge files, very fast. 86 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/textutil/rpsrt102.zip *A TOP PICK* Udec - "Universal decoder" for UUencode, XXencode, MIME (base64), Ship and HexBin (Mac). 18 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/decode/udec1_1.zip UU - Smart UUdecode, handles E-mail or Usenet headers, out-of-order sections, etc. 30 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/decode/uu33.zip UUencode, UUdecode - Converts binary files to ASCII for transmission by E-mail. 41 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/decode/uuexe540.zip (not the latest version) Visual Compare - Compares two text or binary files, better output than DOS's FC. 37 kb. ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/utiltext/vc154.zip XGrep - More similar to Unix's "grep", supports regular expressions. 12 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/textutil/xgrep103.zip YATU - "Yet Another Touch Utility", changes a file's date, time or attributes. 37 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/fileutil/yatu100a.zip AREA 4: SCREEN AND GRAPHICS UTILITIES ANSI.COM - Not the fastest ANSI driver, but this one can be loaded and unloaded. 36 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/screen/ansi138.zip 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. 722 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/graphics/disp189a.zip DVPEG - Graphics viewer. Supports GIF, JPEG and others; limited BMP support. 162 kb. ftp://sunee.uwaterloo.ca/pub/jpeg/viewers/dvpeg30l.zip Ghostscript - Displays and prints PostScript files. 779 kb, 1142 kb, 677 kb. ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/ghost/aladdin/gs403ini.zip, gs403fn1.zip and gs403dos.zip GifExe - Makes "self-viewing" GIF files. 39 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/gif/gifexe44.zip JPEG - Converts JPEG graphics to and from BMP, GIF, TGA and other formats. 186 kb or 308 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/graphics/jpeg6a.zip (get jpeg6a32.zip if you have a 386 or better) NANSI - A faster replacement for ANSI.SYS. Supports keyboard redefinition. 18 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/screen/nansi33.zip PCMouse - Gives "cut and paste" ability to DOS programs. 15 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/screen/pcmou15a.zip ScrUtil - Simple screen blanker for DOS and Windows. No longer supported by author. 5 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/screen/scrutl91.zip Snipper - Captures text from the screen and saves it in a file or sends it to the printer. 20 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pcmagutl/snippr26.zip U-Font - Changes screen font and colour palette. 131 kb. ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/utiltext/u-font14.zip ZANSI - An even faster replacement for ANSI.SYS. Doesn't support keyboard redefinition. Remove before running MEMMAKER. 22 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/screen/zansi12.zip Zeno - Speeds up screen writes via BIOS. 10 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/screen/zeno25.zip AREA 5: SYSTEM UTILITIES AmiDiag - System diagnostics and information. Demo, some functions disabled. 305 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/sysutil/diagdemo.zip CacheChk - Verifies size and speed of cache memory. 51 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/sysinfo/cachchk6.zip CMOS - Backs up and restores CMOS data. For use on a "rescue" diskette, in case the CMOS battery dies. 11 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sysutil/cmos93cd.zip CompTest - System information and benchmarks. 152 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sysinfo/ctest260.zip Escape - Cancels execution of programs during system crashes. 4 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/tsr/escape20.zip FindIRQ - Shows free interrupt request lines (IRQs). Useful when installing new peripheral devices. 44 kb. ftp://www.coast.net/Coast/msdos/sysutil/findir.zip InfoPlus - Lots of information about your system. 111 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sysinfo/ifp1p158.zip MSD - Microsoft Diagnostics, system information. 164 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/microsft/ga0363.zip AREA 6: OTHER UTILITIES 4UTILS - Two utilities for 4DOS/NDOS: a DESCRIPT.ION editor and a 4DOS-aware file finder. 152 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/4dos/4utils86.zip Batch Tunes - Similar to 4DOS's "BEEP" command, makes sound with specified frequency and duration. Several simple songs included. 72 kb. ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/utilmisc/u-batu14.zip Bat2Exec - Compiles BAT files to executable format. 36 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pcmagutl/bat2ex15.zip CAL - Similar to Unix's "cal", shows calendar for any year or month. 40 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/calendar/cal33.zip Clay's Utilities - DOS program shows Windows file information, and many other utilities. Very useful to view the information stored internally in a Windows file, to know which one of several DLL files with the same name is the most recent version. 272 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/batutil/cutpak11.zip CoreView - Shows conventional memory in real time. 14 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/sysutil/cv100.zip CtrlAlt - Resident utilities: show ASCII codes, draw boxes, mark and cut text, and others. 51 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/sysutil/ctrlalt.zip DUMPEM - Displays and edits conventional, expanded and extended memory. Includes memory diagnostics. 18 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/memutil/dumpem.zip FILEC - File name completion utility. Configurable. 13 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/sysutil/filec106.zip Key-Fake - Feeds keystrokes to a program. 5 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/pcmag/vol4n26.zip NCPlay - Plays WAV, VOC and SND files through PC speaker or Sound Blaster. Somewhat kludgy. 180 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/sound/nc5play.zip Now & Then - Runs programs at specified intervals (every day, every two weeks, etc.). 19 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/bootutil/nowthn12.zip PMap - Program Map, shows memory usage, resident programs, etc. 32 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/memutil/pmap210.zip Real Delete - TSR intercepts DOS's delete command and over-writes files before deleting them to prevent recovery. 16 kb. http://www.bonaventura.co.uk/realdelete/ Strings - Adds string handling (and many other) functions to BAT files. If you frequently create batch files, don't go without this or another batch enhancer. 74 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/batutil/string25.zip *A TOP PICK* TSR Utilities - Removes TSR programs from memory without rebooting, and other memory utilities. 57 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/memutil/tsrcom35.zip U-TIDA - Time and date utilities for batch files. 69 kb. ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/utilmisc/u-tida10.zip SECTION C: TEXT AND HEX EDITORS GDSpell - Stand-alone spelling checker for ASCII files. 412 kb. ftp://ftp.gdsoft.com/pub/shareware/gdsp300b.zip Hex - Unlike most hex editors, this one lets you insert and delete bytes. 64 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/binedit/hex51.zip Micro-Emacs - Emacs-like editor. Can edit files larger than available conventional memory. 72 kb or 108 kb, and 48 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/uemacs/ue312ibm.zip (get ue31216m.zip if you have a 386 or better) and ue312cmd.zip NE - "No Edlin", straightforward text editor with spelling checker. Don't use in a "DOS box" under Windows! 358 kb. 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. 31 kb. 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. 420 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/editor/tde40.zip TED3 - "Tiny EDitor" for text files up to 64 kb. 17 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/editor/ted3.zip VIM - "Vi IMproved", vi-like editor. 598 kb. http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/vim/distribution.html Zap-It - Binary file and disk editor. 68 kb. http://www.stack.nl/~ep/zapit500.zip More Text Editors The choice of a text editor is probably more subject to individual preferences than any other category of software. I thought it might be useful to list more freeware text editors which, for whatever reason, did not quite make it to the main list. G - Text editor with powerful macro language, support for regular expressions, etc. 108 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/editor/g471exe.zip Program Editor - Similar to MS-DOS's EDIT, with spell checking but without mouse support. 103 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/editor/pedit200.zip T - A "Tiny Editor" (9 kb executable), extremely similar to PC-DOS's E editor and to OS/2's System Editor. 65 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/editor/tinyed.zip TPE - Turbo Powered Editor, programmer's editor especially designed for Turbo Pascal. Can edit files larger than conventional memory. 178 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/turbopas/tpe34.zip Request: I'm wondering whether it would be possible to start a list of free spell checkers for many languages. If you know of a freeware spell checker for your own language, for DOS or Windows 3.1, please let me know. SECTION D: ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAMS ADinf - Advanced Diskinfoscope. Integrity checker, lets you check for changes to files due to virus, hardware problems, etc. 297 kb. ftp://ftp.kiam1.rssi.ru/pub/msdos/antivirus/adinf/english/adinf.zip Antivirus Toolkit Pro Virus Encyclopedia - Loads of information on computer viruses. 1134 kb ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/virus/avpve97a.zip DiskSecure II - Protection against Master Boot Record viruses. 31 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/virus/dsii242.zip *A TOP PICK* F-Prot - Anti-virus scanner. Excellent and indispensable. 880 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/virus/fp-226.zip (updated about every two months, finger f-prot@complex.is for latest version) FixUtils - Suite of anti-virus utilities. 28 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/virus/fixutil6.zip SECTION E: APPLICATION PROGRAMS bCAD - 3D CAD program. 625 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/cad/bcad22.zip Galahad - Old-fashioned but serviceable word processor. 158 kb, 190 kb, 128 kb, 120 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/editor/gal210a1.zip, gal210a2.zip, gal210a3.zip and gal210a4.zip Micro CADAM - CAD program, demo of commercial program. 51 kb, 1115 kb, 1176 kb, 1186 kb, 1129 kb. http://www.microcadam.com/cornerstone/ I'm interested in suggestions for free spreadsheets, database programs, word processors, DTP programs, CAD programs, and so on! SECTION F: COMMUNICATION PROGRAMS FaxIt - Faxes ASCII files, doesn't receive faxes. 218 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/commprog/faxit10.zip Felix - Complete program, somewhat similar to Telix. In German. 512 kb. ftp://ftp.informatik.hu-berlin.de/pub/pc/msdos/commprogs/felix25.zip MS Kermit - Reasonably complete, but only supports Kermit. 714 kb. ftp://kermit.columbia.edu/kermit/archives/msvibm.zip QModem - Complete communication program, demo of commercial product. 372 kb, 374 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/qmodem/qm46td-1.zip and qm46td-2.zip Terminator 2 - This package seems to go out of its way to make itself as troublesome as possible, but it has the only freeware fax reception program I've found so far. Be sure to modify the file FAX\SIGN.APF, which will make your faxes look laughable. Suggestions for other fax programs are most welcome! 632 kb, 611 kb, 387 kb, 693 kb, 708 kb. http://www.i1.net/~paul/t2.html TXZM - Texas Z-Modem, very small communication program. Supports Z-Modem only. 41 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/termutil/txzm241.zip SECTION G: MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAMS FZC - Fast Zip Cracker, brute force cracker for PKZip encrypted files. 45 kb. ftp://ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/cryptanalysis/fzc104.zip *NEW* MD5SUM - Calculates and verifies MD5 "hash" value, to check for corruption or changes to files. 37 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/fileutil/md5sum.zip PBCal - Simple calendar and diary. "Light" registration available by postcard. 167 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/calendar/pbcal130.zip PGP - Pretty Good Privacy, encryption program. 300 kb or 397 kb. ftp://ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/pgp/pc/dos/pgp263i.zip (get pgp263ix.zip if you have a 386 or better). SFS - Secure FileSystem, encrypts a partition or a disk. The documentation is a textbook in itself. Doesn't include source code, which is quite unusual for a cryptographic program. 239 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/crypt/sfs110.zip WPCrack - Finds passwords of Word Perfect 5.x files. 14 kb. ftp://ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/cryptanalysis/wpcrack_a.zip ZipCrack - Brute force cracker for PKZip encrypted files. 18 kb. ftp://ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/cryptanalysis/zipcrkmq.zip SECTION H: WINDOWS 3.1 PROGRAMS AREA 1: SHELLS, PROGRAM MANAGERS AND PROGRAM SWITCHERS AddMenu - Adds new commands to the system menu (the menu you see when you click the box at the upper left corner of a window or when you single click on a minimized program's icon). 48 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/util/addmnu41.zip Calmira - Windows 95-like shell for Windows 3.1. Formerly called Calypso. 883 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/desktop/calmir10.zip FreeDock - Configurable button-bar program launcher. 282 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/16frdk30.zip *A TOP PICK* FTaskman - Replacement for Windows's Task Manager. 50 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/util/ftask124.zip GDesk - Pop-up menu and launcher. Fully configurable. 50 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/desktop/gdesk_22.zip GetSet - Permits different setup (StartUp group) configurations. Default group possible. 36 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/sysutil/getse20a.zip MWTask - Replacement for Windows's Task Manager. 18 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/taskman/mwtask13.zip Stiletto - Button-bar task switcher and launcher, calendar and clock. 248 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/stil19v1.zip SuckMeister - Task switcher and launcher. Very small "footprint". 73 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/taskman/sm135.zip Toolbar - Button-bar program launcher with built-in utilities. 211 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/desktop/tlbar232.zip Wayfarer - Replacement for Windows's Program Manager. *Very* configurable, but resource-greedy. 244 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/shell/wayfarer.zip WinBar - Windows 95-like taskbar. 173 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/desktop/winbar12.zip WINX - Executes several programs from a single command or icon. 195 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/batch/winx15.zip AREA 2: DESKTOP DOSBar - Adds a button bar to DOS windows. 25 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/sysutil/dosbr143.zip HideApp - Starts application hidden. Will work in some circumstances when StartApp won't. 6 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/hideap11.zip StartApp - Starts Windows applications normal, minimized, maximized or hidden. 26 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/strtap11.zip Wall Peeper - Quickly previews graphics files which can be used as "wallpaper" in tile or centred format. 24 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/wallpeep.zip WOAFON - Additional fonts for "DOS boxes". 22 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/fonts/woafon14.zip AREA 3: COMPRESSION / DECOMPRESSION AND ENCODING / DECODING Archive Viewer - Displays and unpacks archives in many formats. 63 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/util/av.zip StuffIt Expander - Unpacks files in zip, arj, arc, gz, uue, sit (StuffIt), hqx (BinHex) and bin (MacBinary) format. 346 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/windows/arcers/sitex10.exe WizUnZip - Decompresses, tests and displays zip files. 81 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/archiver/wunz20x.zip AREA 4: FILE MANAGERS AND UTILITIES Speed Commander III Light - Norton Commander-like manager. In German. 465 kb. ftp://ftp.ku-eichstaett.de/pub/win3/manager/sclight.zip *NEW* Splitz - Splits and rejoins files. Files can be split to fit on any standard diskette or to a user-defined size. 116 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/fileutil/splitz10.zip WinFileX - Creates "default" association for File Manager. 7 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/fileman/wfilx120.zip *NEW* WSearch - Finds files by name, by content, or both. File Manager is just as good for finding files by name, but this is very quick to search by content. 107 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/fileutil/wsearch1.zip AREA 5: GRAPHICS, ICONS, SCREEN AND VIDEO *NEW* ABC Snap Graphics - Creates charts in many formats: flow charts, organization charts, Venn diagrams, etc. Impressive. 1353 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/snapgrfx.zip *NEW* Bodytag - Shows RGB (Red-Green-Blue) values of colours for use in HTML documents. 110 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/winsock/bodytag.zip GraphX - Graphics viewer and editor. 964 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/graphics/gv1-51.zip IconJack - Extracts icons from EXE, DLL and ICO files. 221 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/pcmag/vol14n12.zip KwikDraw - Simple draw program. Demo of commercial program. 407 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/util/kdraw302.zip *A TOP PICK* LViewPro - Graphics viewer. No registration required if used for "leisure purposes". 305 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/graphics/lviewp1b.zip Monitor Test - Tests monitor and helps set controls. 1151 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/video/mon_test.zip Otto's Album - Displays BMP, PCX and WMF files. 135 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/albm11.zip PageDraw - Vector drawing program, supports PostScript output. 268 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/graphics/pgdra204.zip Ulead Viewer - This graphics viewer is especially suitable for viewing fax files saved in various formats. 1077 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/graphics/ulview11.zip AREA 6: SYSTEM UTILITIES 1MbFort - Increases free low memory under Windows. 102 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pcmagvol/vol14n06.zip InfoBar - Displays clock and system information. More configurable than MinInfo. 49 kb. http://goofy.iafrica.com/~dalen/software/infb111.zip *A TOP PICK* MinInfo - Shows free memory and free resources, also time and date. 11 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/mininfo.zip *NEW* Real Time Performance Monitor - Shows CPU use, free RAM (physical memory) and free system resources. Can be useful to determine if CPU use is often high or free RAM is often low and whether you should get a faster processor or add memory. 32 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/rtpm200.zip SAW - System Analyst for Windows. Complete information about hardware, Windows, drivers, etc. 442 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/sysutil/saw110.zip Sinfo - A huge amount of detailed information about Windows. Suitable for programmers. 241 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/taskman/sinfo109.zip UnixCorn - Many commands for Windows and "DOS boxes": run and close tasks, kill and "nuke" windows, show and compact memory, run batch files, and many others. Free only to non-US residents. 130 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/shell/unixcn20.zip AREA 7: EDITORS AND WORD PROCESSORS Anansi - HTML editor. Still in beta, but very impressive so far. 673 kb. http://www.xs4all.nl/~hbosma/anansi/index.html DiDa - HTML editor with built-in viewer. 305 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/internet/dida160.zip (not the latest version) Notespad - Text editor capable of handling up to eight files with tabbed-notebook file switching. Resource greedy: uses over 1,1 Mb of RAM. 215 kb. ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/windows/editor/ntspad16.zip *A TOP PICK* PFE - Programmer's File Editor. Text editor capable of handling large files. 499 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/editor/pfe0701.zip Prolix - Simple text editor for files up to 16 Mb. 211 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/editor/prolix12.zip *NEW* QEdit - This editor is extremely useful for typing accents (which means just about every language except English!) and for converting between ASCII and ANSI codes. 260 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/editor/qe16.zip Spell Checker for Edit Boxes - Spelling checker for English (UK and US), French (France and Canada), Dutch, German, Italian, Norwegian and Spanish. You must get the program itself and one or more dictionary files. 136 kb for main program, dictionary files vary from 238 kb to 786 kb. http://clever.net/quinion/mqa/spell.htm SuperPad - Notepad replacement for large files. 104 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/note/spad13.zip Yeah Write - Unusual, easy to use word processor for simple documents. Demo, some functions disabled. 839 kb. http://www.wordplace.com/ AREA 8: INFORMATION MANAGERS (PIMS, SCHEDULERS, CALENDARS, ETC.) WinTer - Calendar, in German. 2126 kb. ftp://ftp.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/systems/win3/misc/winter.zip AREA 9: COMMUNICATION AND INTERNET CCM - Tracks time online. Manual and automatic modes. 444 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/internet/ccm286.zip *NEW* Eudora - E-mail program for SMTP and POP3. 1997 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/eudora/eudor154.zip Ewan - Winsock telnet client. 250 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/winsock/ewan1052.zip eZcom - Very basic communication program. 115 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/commprog/ezcom.zip Free Agent - Winsock Usenet client. 1065 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/winsock/fagent11.zip *NEW* Pegasus Mail - E-mail program for SMTP and POP3. 1392 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/mail/winpm252.exe WCL - WinComm Lite, communication program. Demo of commercial program, annoying compulsory registration. 814 kb. ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/Software/win3x/wincommlite/wcl.exe WSArchie - Winsock archie client, finds files in FTP archives. 159 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/winsock/wsarch11.zip WS_FTP - Winsock FTP client. 566 kb. http://www.csra.net/junodj/ AREA 10: MISCELLANEOUS *A TOP PICK* ClipStac - Lets you retrieve multiple items from the Clipboard. 65 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/clipbrd/clipstac.zip *NEW* Inst-All - Tracks changes made when installing programs to permit easier removal. 35 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/util/instl330.zip JaxCam - Clips and pastes user-defined area. 4 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/clipbrd/jaxcam.zip More Control - Control Panel add-on. 20 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/sysutil/morecn10.zip *NEW* ScanBin - Finds which DLL files are used by a Windows program. 429 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/sysutil/scanbin.zip *NEW* Trowser - Lets you view True Type fonts without installing them. 25 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/font/trows101.zip UltraClip - Clipboard replacement. Supports OLE. 158 kb. ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win3/desktop/uclp20.zip Windows Play Any File - Plays VOC, WAV, SND, AU and other sound files through PC speaker or sound card. Command-line use only. 36 kb. ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/win3/sound/wplny12a.zip ======================================================================== How to Get Files Through the World Wide Web If you prefer to get these programs through the WWW, my homepage has links to all the programs on this list and to other freeware resources: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~an448/ ======================================================================== How to Get Garbo Files by E-mail For those without access to FTP or WWW, 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. The files will be sent to you in UUencode format. You'll need a UUdecode program to decode them. To get files from Garbo, 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, 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'll 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 =========================================================================== How to Find Files If you know a file's name, an excellent file search service is available at: http://ftpsearch.unit.no/ftpsearch/ This service will let you restrict your search by domain or by country. There are many WWW search services. Two of the best, in my opinion, are: http://www.altavista.digital.com/ http://www.infoseek.com/ =========================================================================== 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 archive at garbo.uwasa.fi. His list can be found at ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pd2/bestpr54.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/Coast/msdos/info/useful35.zip. I've adapted Samuel's table of contents for my own list. Special thanks to Konrad Hinsen, Frazer Crump, Lars-Erik Sandberg and Stephen Metcalfe for their assistance, and to Uli Allgeier, Laurent Duchastel de Montrouge, David Fletcher, Dan Ford, Marc Giller, Tomas Hajny, Mario Laboch, Stig Linander, Andrew McLachlan, Laura Michaels, Michael Neef, Ian Smith and Mary Zurbrugg for many useful suggestions. Frazer Crump has prepared a list of Windows 95 freeware at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/5882/. ======================================================================== Disclaimer To my surprise, the administrator of one of the commercial FTP archives 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 archives. I list FTP locations as a convenience to the users, so that they may find the programs I mention more easily. If any FTP archive has a more recent version of one of the programs I mention, I would appreciate being informed of this. And, of course, 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 iQCzAgUBM3TYR6dbnFWa/K4dAQHPUgTvbbEHwWOyQHQo8RjVTS1fB83eEFq3uzSQ ISbYheD0c/9zBwWRCZvWlnz6yZRFq08dge3Zo+gLgMolDCZf2OXToHGIpOUcwj1w fp9ktCNB9DRjlYlbTzAXDiXwWgvroTxy6jJZ3LqUvDzY+F/usAK/VjKENpD0km1k poP4cyA5VU29bXYA64fE4F53+kBu39R2zRPU0i/px4sv7JIQfeQ= =3lv0 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----