Colour codes and symbols used at this site:
Green Links: You haven't been there lately.
Blue Links:You've already been there.
A Brosco Favourite.

• WinDownload - Automatically extract and download pics from your favourite sites. The purpose of WinDownload is to queue up the files that you wish to download to keep from delaying the loading of HTML pages as you surf the web. You can use WinDownload to schedule downloading for later times or to maximize bandwidth by downloading as many files simultaneously as is efficient. WinDownload will also take a URL and extract all the info: JPGs, GIFs, LINKs, etc. for you to decide what you want to download.You can evaluate the fully functional Shareware product (US$20) for 21 days free of charge (Expires after that, but you will get so much value in the 21 days, I am sure you will register it). I have also contacted the authors with some questions and suggestions and found them to be very responsive! I have evaluated other Downloaders - some with an address book - that checks if a site is updated and then automatically downloads the whole page or site - but none of these offer the control over content the way that Windownload does.  I use the services of URL-Minder to tell me when a site is updated, and then use Windownload to retrieve the content. (The applications that check if a site is updated use YOUR connection and resources to determine if there are any changes - URL-Minder does the checking for you and simply sends you an email).

Rating: Excellent. Performance: Fast.

• FreeLoader. Automatically download all the pages of your favourite site for viewing offline. This product is FREE! (Note that the link is to RocketDownload. You will find the product in the Internet category). My only complaint with this product is that the menu buttons are not intuitive to use and you should refer to the Help file FAQs when you first start.

Rating: Good. Performance: Good - but slow to load.

• Picture Agent Automatically scans the Newsgroups specified and downloads messages and attachments directly to a directory. This is a fully functional Shareware product ($19.95) except that the unregistered version stops after saving 30 messages and must be restarted.

Rating: Excellent. Performance: Excellent.

• News Rover Automatically scans the Newsgroups specified and downloads messages and attachments directly to a directory. This is a fully functional Shareware product ($29.95) except that the unregistered version stops after saving 20 messages and must be restarted. This product had a couple of extra options over PictureAgent, but I had no use for them. I would suggest that you download both products and determine which suits you the best.

Rating: Excellent. Performance: Excellent.

• Eudora Light Totally free Email reader and sender. Much more powerful than the Netscape and IExplorer counterparts. The features that I particularly like are:
• Received mail is automatically downloaded from the server to your PC for reading immediately, or viewing offline.
• Attachments are automatically stored in a directory (folder) of your choice.
• Great phonebook, store one or many addresses under one nickname.
• Easy transfer of mail to Trash, or one of many of your own archive folders.
• Automatically checks for mail at a period set by you and alerts you with a specific sound if new mail has arrived.
• many, many more. The above are just my favourites.

• BeeLine - Simultaneously use multiple search engines to find what you want - FREE Beeline is a FREEWARE product that will initiate a simultaneous search using 7 popular Search Engines and display the results as a HTML in your active Browser. If you have ever used any search engine, you will find this product simple to use.

Rating: Very Good. Performance: Fast.

• YourSpell A FREE Text file Spell Checker that has some handy options: English and American Dictionary, Ignore HTML tags, Ignore Email addresses, etc.

• Memory Monitor This is a terrific little FREE utility. Instead of the useless information provided by Microsoft's product (percentage of system resources used), this monitor informs you of the current size of the swap file and how much is being used. This is great for determining your optimal Swap File settings. Downloads from this site (only 10k).

Rating: Very Useful. Performance: Fast-Minimal overhead.
 
• Sites to See: Another great little utility with tremendous functionality! SITES2C is a small window on your desktop (or minimized to the task bar). When you see a link to a site that you want to remember to visit later, you simply paste the URL to sites to see and add any comments you want.  SITES2C generates a HTML Links page with all the sites URLs and your descriptions - when you add another URL the HTML page is updated to include the new URL.. (I make this HTML page my Home page). That way I never forget to check out a site that I've seen referenced WITHOUT clogging up my favourites (bookmarks) entries.

Rating: Excellent. Performance: Fast - No noticeable overhead.

• POVRAY This Freeware product is a 3D ray tracer. It comes with lots of shapes and scenes already defined plus you can define your own. Ray tracing is usually a very slow process, but I found the performance of this product very acceptable (even on my under powered 486). You can download as one file (over 4Mb) or you can download the same product split over 4 files (the largest being 1.4Mb for easy backup to floppy). It is hard to believe that a product as powerful as this is being provided absolutely FREE! One word of warning: It is free, so don't expect the authors to give a lot of support unless you read all the FAQs.

Rating: Excellent. Performance: Good.

• PolyView - Image viewer and Thumbnail Catalogue system. This shareware product ($20 to register - but doesn't expire) is the best Viewer and catalogue system that I have seen for the money. The only comparable products cost many times more. I prefer POLYVIEW to the GRAPHIC WORKSHOP (below) purely because of the catalogue system. Polyview keeps all the thumbnails in one large file, whereas, GWS creates a separate file for each thumbnail, thus doubling the number of files (and associated overheads). Polyview, however, does not allow for Descriptions and Keywords in the catalogue.

Rating: Excellent. Performance: Good.

• Graphic Workshop. Image viewer from Alchemy Mindworks for DOS, Windows and Windows 95. Displays and manipulates all types of images and AVI movies, plus it can create a thumbnail catalogue of your collection. In the catalogue you are able to include a description and keywords for performing searches. The shareware product is $20 (does not expire).

Also available from Alchemy:
• GIF Construction Set for Windows ($20),
• GraphSaver for Windows (bookware), Pagan Daybook for DOS, Windows,Windows 95 & Mac (Bookware),
• Pagan Daybook Screen Saver for Windows (Bookware), QuickShow Light for Windows (Bookware),
• GrafCat for Windows (Bookware) and
• Multimedia Workshop Light for Windows (Bookware).

NOTE: Bookware ... the cost of registration is to buy and read one of Steven William Rimmer's new novels!
Rating: Excellent. Performance: Good.
 
• ThumbsPlus -Image viewer and Catalogue An excellent combination of the two products above (Polyview and Graphics Workshop).  Not only does it display all image types, it also recognises (and thumbnails) AVI's. Allows for entries of descriptions and keywords for searching.  Another attractive feature is the ability to create an image of a set of thumbnails (called a contact sheet).  Shareware($60) with a little extra Nag Ware when your evaluation period expires.

Rating: Excellent. Performance: Good.
 
• MainActor - Editor for all types of movies MPG, Quicktime, AVI, GIF, etc. Allows you to edit your movies and save your new version in the format of your choice. Current version does not support sound, but will be available in the next release. Shareware ($60 registration, doesn't expire but has a bit of Nag ware in the unregistered version, particularly while you are saving a movie).

Rating: Powerful. Performance: Good.

• Quicktime Movie Viewer Free MOV viewer from Apple (for Windows and Win95).

Rating: Excellent. Performance: Excellent.

• SafeBase Protect your sensitive files from the prying eyes of family members and co-workers. SafeBase uses 512 bit encryption to encode your documents and images. This Shareware software (US$30) offers a free trial for 90 days. After that the package is disabled. The package includes an image viewer with slide show capabilities, but of course, will encrypt any type of document that you have on your PC.

Rating: Excellent. Performance: Excellent.

• NoNags: Freeware and almost free shareware.

• Freeware Publishing Site: The biggest catalogue of Freeware I have found. Only lists Freeware. No Shareware, No Demo ware - its all FREE!

• Shareware.com One of the largest Free and Shareware sites with an enormous range of software for all purposes.

• TUCOWS - Your best source for Internet Freeware and Shareware Shareware and Freeware for the Internet. Browsers, Utilities, Plugins, HTML Editors, Image Viewers ...... you name it - its there!

• The Guide to Australian Shareware A comprehensive directory of Aussie-authored shareware, freeware and other downloadable software. Over 800 applications - all rated, reviewed and with download links.

• RocketDownLoad Another source of Freeware and Shareware. I like the layout of this site, its very attractive and well indexed. The site can be a little slow at times, so after I find some software that I want to download I follow their link to the original supplier of the product and download from there.

• Totally Free Stuff This site is attempting to be the largest site referencing free products. Not just computer stuff, but anything at all that's available FREE. They do, of course, list computer software (no distinction is made between Freeware and Shareware), Free websites, email. games etc. If you want to go straight to their computer area, its: http://adhere.on.ca/free/computer.html BTW, its best to have on JavaScript (but not absolutely necessary) to make it faster to find what you're looking for.
  
  
• Winsite has Freeware and Shareware for Windows, Windows 95 and Windows NT. Software is well categorized and before download, all the files in the ZIP are listed, with the opportunity to view the README files and an estimated download time calculated.