S o f t W h e r e for 28 August 1999 You can also read this issue online at this location: SoftWhere: http://softwhere.cjb.net Free Email: http://softwhere.zzn.com HTML: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/7502/archives/html/1999-08-28.html TEXT: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/7502/archives/text/1999-08-28.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C o n t e n t s - Chit Chat - Software - ICQ 99b v3.17 Build 2565 (updated) - Buddy Phone 2.01 - Kill Ad v0.10 - LaserAge 1.4 - Xteq X-Setup 5.0 - Laser Kombat v1.0b - Updates & Patches - AOL Instant Messanging 3.0 - Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.4 (Intel) - News - Get Ready for XHTML 1.0 - Virus Alert: W32/Kriz.3862 - Microsoft to open MSN Messenger protocol - Cool Sites - Space Proxy - The Unleashed - Javascript Source - Beloved.net - Cool Links - Projects - Essential files - Notes - Technical notes ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C h i t C h a t Hi guys, Welcome to our new subscribers !!! Well, the site has undergone another major update. The interface is tweaked a bit, plus you could try our new free web based email at: http://softwhere.zzn.com SoftWhere: http://softwhere.cjb.net Do visit the site and tell your comments about it. Amit ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S o f t w a r e ICQ 99b v3.17 Build 2565 ICQ ("I seek you") is the popular messaging program that lets you communicate with friends and colleagues in real time. This major update includes a variety of new features, including a new ActiveList feature that lets you create or join ICQ communities based on topical interests. In addition, improved email-handling features allow you to check more than one email account and cancel incoming email messages you don't want to download. You can also view up to 99 lines in the email header message and decide which messages you'd like to download. Another new feature, "E-ICQ," lets you join interest groups and receive information about issues related to these groups directly to your Contact List. Licence Freeware Size 5 MB OS Windows 95/98/NT Download Now ftp://ftp.download.com/pub/win95/internet/icq99b.exe Site Link ICQ (http://www.icq.com/index.html) Approx. download time 23 min. at 28.8 kbps More Chat & Messaging Software at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/7502/download/inet_chat.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Buddy Phone 2.01 BuddyPhone is an Internet telephony application that features support for ICQ. You can directly call users who are online via ICQ. BuddyPhone supports connection bandwidths from 14.4 kbps to fast LANs with high audio quality. It also has a customizable appearance and includes an answering machine. This version includes audio input and output level meters for inspecting correct volume gain, the ability to start minimized, a revamped audio engine, bug fixes and more. Note: Although this version is free to use, it will display advertisement banners on your desktop. To obtain a version without advertisements, you must pay $14.95 for personal use, $29.95 for commercial use. Licence Freeware (Ad supported) Size 768 KB OS Windows 95/98/NT Requirements Pentium, 16MB RAM, full-duplex sound card Download Now http://www.hesci.com/buddyphone2/download/bp2setup.exe Site Link Buddy Phone (http://www.buddyphone.com/) Approx. download time 18 min. at 28.8 kbps More Communication software at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/7502/download/inet_communication.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Kill Ad v0.10 Kill Ad lets you kill those pop up ad window that make you go mad while surfing the net. The program has got some really good and advanced feature to monitor and close pop up ad window. You can even add your own window to the list either by title name or size of the window. There is also a terminator mode which 'll close any pop window. The program is so small, you won't even notice whether its running or not and its minimum resources. This version add limited support for Opera besides IE and Netscape. Licence Freeware Size 42 KB OS Windows 95/98/NT Download Now http://wwwwin.wplus.net/pp/fsc/killad.zip Site Link Kill Ad (http://wwwwin.wplus.net/pp/fsc/) Approx. download time: < 1 min. at 28.8 kbps More Browsing Companions at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/7502/download/inet_companion.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LaserAge 1.4 LaserAge is a simple shooter that comes with great graphics and fabulous sound. It is one of those retro games similar to Space Invaders / Galaxian / Galaga but with utltra cool graphics with 24-bit color and matching sound. One of the features that we really liked was that your ship is controlled with the mouse, but some die hard gamers might prefer keyboard but that is not available. Some small enhancements could have made it a real gem in your collection but even in its current state it is steal. There are three different levels in the game with 45 waves. Destroy 15 different enemies with nine power-ups. Licence Freeware Size 3.3 MB OS Windows 95/98/NT Download Now http://www.freeformint.com/files/laserage14.exe Site Link Ingava (http://www.ingava.com/) Approx. download time 15 min. at 28.8 kbps ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Xteq X-Setup 5.0 Xteq X-Steup is cool tweaking software for Windows. The program organizes its tweaks into a tree view with six basic categories: Appearance, General Usage, Hardware, Internet, Network, and System. You can hide/show Start menu items, system icons, and individual drives, tweak the behavior and appearance of Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Internet Information Server, and Netscape, change ActiveDesktop tips, add folder and context menu commands, and more. You can edit boot options, stop programs from automatically loading with Windows, and remove items from the Uninstall list. X- Setup is so complex, it comes with 17 wizards to guide you. You can even add your own tweaks and download new ones from the X-Setup Web site. Licence Freeware Size 2.4 MB OS Windows 95/98/NT Requirements Internet Explorer 4.0 Download Now http://www.xteq.com/downloads/xq-xsetup.zip http://www.software4free.net/xteq/downloads/xq-xsetup.zip Site Link Xteq (http://www.xteq.com/main.html) Approx. download time: 12 min. at 28.8 kbps More Desktop Enhancements at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/7502/download/util_desktop.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Laser Kombat v1.0b In Laser Kombat you drive your tank through each level, your objective is to destroy all the enemy tanks. You accomplish this mission by firing your laser and manipulating the wide variety of objects in your environment. You can vaporize enemies with nuclear bombs, make bridges over water, and fire your laser through beam-splitters and at mirrors. Laser Kombat comes with a lever-editor to make your own levels. Send your best ones in and they may be incorporated into the next release of the game! Licence Freeware Size 1.2 MB OS Windows 95/98 Requirement DirectX (http://www.microsoft.com/directx/download.asp) Download Now http://www.olympus.net/personal/dewey/laser/laser_kombat_setup.exe Site Link Laser Kombat (http://www.olympus.net/personal/dewey/laser/) Screen Shots http://www.olympus.net/personal/dewey/laser/screen_shot.gif Approx. download time 6 min. at 28.8 kbps More Strategy & War games at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/7502/download/gam_war.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- U p d a t e s & P a t c h e s America Online 3.0 Following the Message war between Microsoft and AOL, both the companies have updated their instant messaing software. Licence Freeware Size 1.9 MB OS Windows 95/98/NT Download Now ftp://ftp.newaol.com/aim/win95/aim95.exe Site Links AOL (http://www.aol.com/) Approx. download time 9 min. at 28.8 kbps ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.4 (Intel) This new version also include the new MS Audio 4.0 technology besides other popular multimedia formats like Windows Media, ASF, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, WAV, AVI, MIDI, VOD, AU, MP3, and QuickTime files ... Licence Freeware Size 3.5 MB OS Windows 95/98/NT Requirements Intel x86, Pentium 90MHz (120MHz recommended), 16MB RAM (32MB recommended), Sound card (recommended), Internet Explorer 4.x Download Now http://msvaus.www.conxion.com/download/winmediatech40/WMP/6.4/W9XNT4/EN-US/mpfull.exe http://mssjus.www.conxion.com/download/winmediatech40/WMP/6.4/W9XNT4/EN-US/mpfull.exe http://mskyus.www.conxion.com/download/winmediatech40/WMP/6.4/W9XNT4/EN-US/mpfull.exe Site Link Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/) Approx. download time 16 min. at 28.8 kbps ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N e w s Get Ready for XHTML 1.0 Why the heck do we need another Markup Language ? The W3C cites estimates that by 2002 as many as 75% of all HTTP requests may be made by devices other than browsers: telephones, PDAs, toasters, doorknobs, etc. These devices 'll be having only limited memory and processor power. So to allow these devices to access the web more faster and easier and to get rid of today's bloated browsers which have tonnes of code just to overcome browser incompatibility or to provide proprietary implementation of HTML. To state it simply XHTML = XML + HTML. XHTML(eXtensible HyperText Markup Language) is a cleaner and stricter version of HTML incorporating the cool features of XML and HTML. But still be powerful and easier in its approach. Among the major differences between XHTML and HTML 4.0: All tags must be lowercase. All elements, including empty ones, must be terminated. E.g:

Those tags that don't have ending tags like
must be self terminated. E.g:
All attribute values must be quoted, even numerical ones. For example: To get complete information about XHTML 1.0 read XHTML Draft (http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/) at W3 (http://www.w3.org/). Or if you would like to read reviews about it, visit Web Review (http://webreview.com/wr/pub/1999/07/16/feature/index.html) or CNET Builder (http://www.builder.com/Authoring/Xhtml/?dd.bu.bb.0819.03) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Virus Alert: W32/Kriz.3862 A new virus is in the wild so watch out. It's W32/Kriz.3862, a new and very dangerous polymorphic virus similar to WinCIH and it infects Windows 9x/NT PE (Portable Executable) EXE and DLL files irrevocably. And even infects files even when you view or scan them! The virus payload explodes on December 25. It scans your CMOS to try and flash change the contents to garbage. And will also try to directly erase hard disk sectors. The infector strain is similar to WinCIH and the most critical system file at risk is KERNEL32.DLL. The virus replaces this file with its own version. So don't attempt a repair; just replace the file. Updates your virus data files for McAfee VirusScan 4.x (http://download.mcafee.com/updates/4x.asp) and Norton Antivirus (http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/download.html) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Microsoft to open MSN Messenger protocol Dated: 19 August 1999 Microsoft Corporation this week (18 August 1999) announced its intention to freely publish the protocol used by its MSN Messenger Service, which allows users to communicate with each other in real time over the Internet. Designed as an open insult to America Online, which has been trying to block MSN Messenger users from communicating with its proprietary AOL Instant Messenger, Microsoft hopes that other instant messaging products especially AOL will begin using the protocol. "Our goal is to help people enjoy the benefits of free and open communication on the Internet, and we are pleased that this is resonating with so many consumers," said Brad Chase, senior vice president of the Consumer and Commerce Group at Microsoft. "Since 1997, Microsoft has actively worked with the industry on open standards for interoperability among messaging systems, and documenting our protocol is a significant step in this direction." Microsoft is working with the Internet Engineering Task Force on instant messaging interoperability. It is expected that a future protocol based on the MSN Messenger protocol will become an open standard used by all Internet communications programs. Source: WinInfo (http://www.wugnet.com/wininfo) ZDNet (http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2316354,00.html) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C o o l S i t e Space Proxy (http://www.spaceproxy.com/) This site is must visit for everyone esp. for the paranoid ones because this site allows to surf the net annonymously as it hides your IP, Browser and the referr and other myriad information that is available to the servers on the net. The Unleashed (http://www.theunleashed.com/) Your one shop stop for the themes for windows desktop. They have large database and cool collection, catorized for simpler finding. They also have skins for WinAmp and ICQ Plus ... Javascript Source (http://javascript.internet.com/) This site has a large collection of cut & paste javascript code to make ur site more dynamic and interactive. Must visit! Beloved.net (http://beloved.net/index.html?PID=893) Well, the romance saga still continues.... This site has all the regular feature and services a dating / personal site with posting your personal ad, searching / browsing posted ads, replying ads and find that special one. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C o o l L i n k s Fonts Site This time I have got you sites for cool collection of fonts on net. 1001 Fonts (http://www.1001freefonts.com/) Acid Fonts (http://www.acidcool.com/) Divide by Zero (http://fonts.tom7.com/) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P r o j e c t s Have you heard this phrase "A busy computer is a happy computer". Well, if you got a system and thinks its waste its processor cycles, try one of the following projects and make your system "A Happy Computer". And you could win upto US$ 100,000. Best of all, these projects run on the idle time of your system and doesn't interfere with your normal work. I have done some analysis and found out the following specs for the type of processor you have. Processor Project Recommended --------------------------------------------------------------- 486 and higher PiHex Pentium or higher Distributed.net Prime Net PentiumII with SETI @ Home lots of RAM (atleast 64 MB) You can run multiple projects at the same time on your system, because only your idle processor time is utilized so your normal work does not suffer. And don't forget to join the SoftWhere Teams on these projects. Visit: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/7502/projects.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E s s e n t i a l F i l e s Some of theprograms mention in this list may require the following files. DirectX You can download latest DirectX Drivers from Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/directx/download.asp VB Runtime file You can get the Visual Basic Runtime files for versions 3, 4, 5 and 6 at: http://support.microsoft.com/support/vbasic/runtime.asp Java Runtime Envoirnment 1.2.1 You can download the JRE from http://java.sun.com/ Or if you want the direct link, here it is ftp://usmt.java.sun.com/pub/jdk/1.2/78674t/jre1_2_1-win.exe ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N o t e s Hey come on people send me some feedback. What you like, what you don't about this list. Whether you want more software, or more news, whether you want more system software or entertainment software or if you have something intersting to share or you have found a cool site or cool software or whatever just right to me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- T e c h n i c a l N o t e * A technical note for the readers* If you get an error page when you click links in this newsletter, please try copying the entire link (including the .html) and then pasting it into your browser's URL field. There are a variety of email clients in use by our subscribers, and since each client handles links differently, broken links sometimes occur. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SoftWhere is Copyright 1999 by Amit Arora . If you would like to use SoftWhere for Commercial use, please contact me. For non-commercial purposes please forward, post, link, print, spread as you see fit. If you use any material from this list, please mention us and a quick word about us. SoftWhere acknowledges all the copyrights of the respective owner, authors of the sources of SoftWhere and all the respective companies mentioned in this list or on the site. Please forward this to anyone you think maybe interested in subscribing. Visit SoftWhere at: http://softwhere.cjb.net Subscribe SoftWhere at: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/SoftWhere ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Amit Arora amit.arora@bigfoot.com