Rating: 4

Description: Dad’n Me is a free beat-em-up side scrolling flash game where (you), the protagonist, set out to be the neighborhood bully, backed up by your father, bully-senior. (No it has nothing to do with the Bush family).

Not sure what to say about this that’s not said in the description…

• It’s got very cute visuals and big playable levels.
• It’s very well made, with obvious attention to detail.
• It’s a very quick game to get in and out of; no long-term commitment required.
• Employs the beat-em-up staple: combination of buttons/arrow keys will generate special moves. Read more »

Rating: 4

Version tested: 1.0

Description: Shell Tray Info is a small portable program that allows you to re-arrange the order of icons in the system tray.

For the 4 people out there who, like me, want a program that can re-arrange the order of icons in the System tray I present you with Shell Tray Info. Why would anyone need to do that, you ask? For myself I can say that I’ve used this program for creating the absolute best possible screenshots for posting on Freewaregenius. But surely there are massive productivity gains to be had from having the optimum sort order of icons in the system tray; if you are in need of a PhD dissertation topic this is virgin territory.

How to use: run the program, select the icons within the dialog to nudge the up or down the sort order until you are satisfied, then exit. No installation, and no need for the program to run in the background afterwards. Read more »

Rating: 5

Version tested: 1.0.305

Description: Free Easy Burner is a CD/DVD burning and authoring program that supports burning data and audio CD’s and DVD’s, copying CD’s and DVD’s (by ripping and burning ISO’s), and Ripping audio CD’s into MP3’s.

If you want a small CD/DVD burning program that performs all standard functions without many frills, then Free Easy Burner will cater for all of your burning needs (pun intended heheh).

Important Note [8/13/2007]: since first reviewing this program on 2/3/2007 it has become adware, despite still being billed as freeware on the author’s site. This means that as of version 1.2.43 the program, while fully functional, nonetheless displays ads (albeit harmless ones) within its interface. However you can still download version 1.2.21 of this program, which is fully functional and ad-free, from the link at the bottom of this page.

The following is a list of what this program can do:

• Supports dual-layer DVD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW.
• Burns Data CD’s and DVD’s: allows dragging and dropping of files and folders, will verify and/or finalize your CD/DVD.
• Will copy CD’s and (unencrypted) DVD’s by ripping an ISO image on hard drive and burning it back. Read more »

Rating: 5

Version tested: 1.0.1 (6) beta

Description: Windows Live Writer is a true WYSIWYG blog authoring tool that can be used to write and edit blog postings (including pictures) locally and then post these online. It supports a wide range of blogging platforms including Windows Live Spaces, Wordpress, and Blogger. 

Let me start by saying flat out that I am in love with this program, mainly because it allows me to work on a blog posting locally and publish it when I’m ready. Here’s what you need to know about it.

Notable features : 

• WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get). It will download your site’s CSS and is able to preview exactly what your post will look like when published. The editing interface looks really good and is very well designed.
• Built in spelling checker.
• Instantly switch from normal view to the HTML code and to ‘web preview’.
• Tags Tags Tags! Enter tags straight from the Windows Live Writer interface. For Wordpress check out this plugin that will work with the Windows Live Writer tags for both tag and metakeyword support.    Read more »

 Rating: 4

Description: Bang Howdy is a free online multiplayer game with a wild-west theme. It is a tactical strategy game that introduces an innovative hybrid between turn-based and real time modes of play.

Pick a squad of units (each with its own unique characteristics and abilities) lead by your ‘hero’ unit, and wage battle against other teams in a series of skitmishes in an isometric 3D setting. Depending on the scenario, the objectives vary but center around collecting the most resources (gold, cattle, towers for terriroty) or accomplishing certain goals. The more successful player scores the most points, and the objective is to garner the most points before the clock runs out. Good performance earns cash, was can be used to upgrade your unit and/or buy practical items that can be used be used on the battlefield. There are 5 unique wild-west settings to play through, and each introduces new units, features, and scenarios to play through.

Many of the typical elements you would expect in a strategy game are present in bang howdy; knowing your units strengths and weaknesses and planning accordingly will enable you to successfully engage your opponents in a kind of ongoing rock-scissors-stone calculus. Some units, for example, have a longer range that they could travel per ‘turn’ than others, while others deliver more damage when attacking (or can sustain more damage). Some units are more effective against melee or mounted or ariborne units (yes there is an airborne unit), etc. Read more »

Rating: 4

Version tested: beta

Description: Zamzar is an online file format conversion service for documents and media files. It will allow you to upload a file up to 100 megs in size and will convert it remotely according to your requirements. It will then email you a link to download the converted file from.

This service is very similar to Media-Convert. Just like Media-Convert, Zamzar can handle an impressive array of file types; it doesn’t quite match Media-Convert’s support for obscure formats, but should cover most of the file formats you would encounter. One notable absence is flash SWF support. For a list of all file formats supported click here.

Max file upload size is 100megs compared to Media-Convert’s 50megs. This means that Zamzar is a much more practical resource for converting video files (albeit still limited by the max upload ceiling).

Here are some observations: Read more »