Copyright: © 1995 Ziff-Davis Interactive
Citation: © Copyright 1995 Ziff-Davis Interactive, All Rights Reserved


In this Issue
	June 1995 Issue Number 23 © Copyright 1993-95 Ziff-Davis Interactive, All Rights Reserved.
	Newest Titles Some new, some improved, all hot.
	Special Report The ZD Shareware Awards finalists: A complete list
	Featured Reviews Games, finances, Windows utilities -- and more
	Author Spotlight: Nico Mak We extract some data on the creator of WinZip
	This Month in Shareware . . .according to Timothy Campbell
	How to Download from ZiffNet Find out about accessing our software library
	About ZShare and ZiffNet


How To Download from ZiffNet

If you are a ZiffNet member on CompuServe, you can easily download all of the programs mentioned in this publication. If you are not already a ZiffNet subscriber, you can find out how to join by selecting "Becoming a ZiffNet Subscriber" below:

ZiffNet/CompuServe

All of the programs mentioned in ZShare are available directly from our Software Center (GO ZNT:SOFTLIB) or in one of the Public Brand Software Forums  (GO PBS). The correct forum is indicated in each program highlight, along with the specific library in which it can be found.

Become a ZiffNet Subscriber

Anyone with a modem and communications software can discover for themselves everything ZiffNet offers. It’s easy! CompuServe members can simply type GO ZIFFNET. If you are not currently a CompuServe member, just follow these easy steps:

1. Set your communications software to 7 data bits, even parity, one stop bit. Select a data transfer rate (bits per second) of 1,200, 2,400, 9,600 or 14,400 bps. Have your modem call the local ZiffNet number. (To find your local ZiffNet number: by modem, dial 800-346-3247 and at the User ID prompt type PHONES; by voice, dial 800-635-6225.)

2. Respond to the prompts by entering the information below:

When you connect: Press CTRL+C

Host Name: CIS
User ID: 177000,5555
Password: ZIFF*NET
Agreement Number: SREVIEW

3. Register your name and credit card number for billing.

You will receive your permanent User ID and temporary Password online. Write them down and use them to log on. You will receive your permanent Password within 10 days, as confirmation of your new ZiffNet membership.

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Newest Titles

Below are some of the newest additions to our libraries. These files are available for downloading on ZiffNet for CompuServe.

	Downloading from Ziffnet
Ziff-Davis Originals

ZDI’s Gates Does Windows 95 Screen Saver

Bill uses a sledge hammer in this follow-up to the popular ‘Gates Does Windows.’ Requires Windows 3.x.

CompuServe: GO PBSUTIL, Library 8 (ZDI Exclusives), and search for ZGDW95.ZIP

ZDI’s Magnify Utility

Zoom in on the fine print -- or anything on your screen -- with this virtual magnifying glass.

CompuServe: GO PBSUTIL, Library 8 (ZDI Exclusives), and search for ZMAGFY.ZIP.ZIP

Fun & Games

Bubba 95 v1.2

Freeware spoof of Microsoft’s Bob is also a completely functional Windows shell program.

CompuServe: GO PBSUTIL, Library 1(Hot off  the Presses), and search for BUBBA.ZIP

Terminal Velocity v1.0

Futuristic action game is a shooter that's part Star Wars and part Descent

CompuServe: GO PBSARC, Library 3 (Action Games), and search for 3DTV.ZIP

Outer Ridge v1.0

Action-packed 3-D game puts you in the cockpit of a spaceship behind the gun sight.

CompuServe: GO PBSARC, Library 3 (Action Games), and search for OUTRID.ZIP

Tools & Utilities

XFile v2.0

This desktop manager provides a real-time read-out of your available memory and system resources.

CompuServe: GO PBSUTIL, Library 2 (Reviewer’s Picks), and search for XFILE.ZIP

InVincible Disk Recovery v6.01e

Protect existing and new files from viruses with this major update.

CompuServe: GO PBSAPP, Library 3 (Action Games), and search for INVB.ZIP

SmartSurf v1.0

Automatically monitor online usage and costs. It works with all on-line services.

CompuServe: GO PBSAPP, Library 1 (Hot off the Presses), and search for SMTSRF.ZIP

Pin Ups v1.1a

LAN-based BBS is so easy to use that even novice users will need little or no training.

CompuServe: GO PBSAPP, Library 1 (Hot off the Presses), and search for PINUPS..ZIP

	Downloading from Ziffnet
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gates


bubba


Special Report

1995 Ziff-Davis Shareware Award Finalists

The following programs -- competing in Ziff-Davis' 2nd Annual Shareware Awards -- are available for downloading on ZiffNet/CompuServe. The 79 finalists were painstakingly tested, reviewed, rated, and selected from 1,300 submissions, and represent the state-of-the-art of shareware in their respective computing categories--from Action Games to Communications to Multimedia to Personal Productivity to Windows Utilities.

Which title will succeed DOOM as "Program of the Year?" Winners of the ZD Shareware Awards -- co-sponsored by Ziff-Davis Interactive (ZDI), PC Magazine, Computer Life and Computer Gaming World -- will be announced in June at the Shareware Industry Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. Judges for the awards will include editors from the sponsoring magazines and ZDI.

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

COMPUSERVE: GO PBSAPPS, Library 23 (ZD Shareware Awards), and search for ******.ZIP

Computer Gaming World

Action Games

DSCENT.ZIP 	Descent

HERETC.ZIP 	Heretic

JAZZ.ZIP  	Jazz Jackrabbit

OMF.ZIP   	One Must Fall: 2097

INSPAC.ZIP	Operation: Inner Space

Card & Casino Games

CVBJS.ZIP 	Casino Verite BlackJack

DOUBLE.ZIP 	Double Down Video Poker

MVPBRW.ZIP 	MVP Bridge for Windows

Puzzle & Logic Games

JIXXA.ZIP 	Jixxa

ROCKMN.ZIP 	Rock Man

WSKIT.ZIP 	Word Search Construction Kit

Strategy

GOMOKU.ZIP 	GoMoku Narabe

KCHESW.ZIP 	K-Chess for Windows

WEMPIR.ZIP	World Empire III For Windows

Computer Life

Education

AMYF.ZIP  	Amy's Fun-2-3 Adventure

AYLI.ZIP  	As You Like It

PROF.ZIP  	Piano Professor for Windows

PRESWN.ZIP 	Presidents of These Fifty States United

CHINA.ZIP 	Write Chinese

Graphics

JASCMC.ZIP 	Jasc Media Center

PSPRO.ZIP 	Paint Shop Pro

STWIN.ZIP 	Screen Thief for Windows

CADDRA.ZIP 	TS CAD/DRAW

TEKILL.ZIP 	TS Tek Illustrator

Home & Hobby

TARTWN.ZIP 	CyberTarot

FSCR.ZIP  	From Scratch

GPA.ZIP   	Greatest Paper Airplanes

BARPRO.ZIP 	Professional Bartender

TKV.ZIP   	SmartTracker Videos

Multimedia

ABCD.ZIP  	A-B-CD for Windows

CDW.ZIP   	CD Wizzard

COOLED.ZIP 	Cool Edit

TDRUMS.ZIP 	Drums Professional

NWCW.ZIP  	NoteWorthy Composer

Personal Productivity

2DO.ZIP   	2Do Personal Task Manager

ICTWO.ZIP 	IC2

PHONES.ZIP 	METZ Phones

SMTADR.ZIP 	Smart Address

TCHAOS.ZIP 	Time and Chaos Professional

PC Magazine

Business & Finance

MEDLIN.ZIP 	Medlin Accounting

MWPR.ZIP  	Medlin Windows Payroll

SEW.ZIP   	Scheduling Employees for Windows

UPSS.ZIP  	Universal Parcel Shipping Software

WINCRG.ZIP 	WinCharging

Communications

FXMAIL.ZIP 	FaxMail for Windows

SLPKNT.ZIP 	SlipKnot

TELIXW.ZIP 	Telix for Windows

WRAMP.ZIP 	WinRamp Lite

ZOC.ZIP   	Zap-O-Comm

Major Applications

ADHOC.ZIP 	Ad Hoc Database Manager for Windows

FNAWIN.ZIP 	First Name Almanac for Windows

GATOR.ZIP 	Gator Edit

TKH.ZIP   	SmartTracker Inventory

WXPRS.ZIP 	WordExpress

Math & Science

CMSTR.ZIP 	Conversion Master Engineering Calculator

TENKEY.ZIP 	Judy's TenKey

MATHPL.ZIP 	Mathplot

PCTRA.ZIP 	PC-Track

WPLOT.ZIP 	WPlot

Networking

INRNET.ZIP 	Inner-Net

NETSEO.ZIP 	Network Security Organizer

WATCHE.ZIP 	Watcher

XFORUM.ZIP 	X-Forum3 Network Message Forum

XSKED.ZIP 	X-SKED3 Network Scheduling System

Programming Tools

CENVIW.ZIP 	CEnvi for Windows

EINSTL.ZIP 	Easy Install

LBWIN.ZIP 	Liberty BASIC for Windows

MSMEGA.ZIP 	Mabry Software Mega Pack

VBRIG.ZIP 	VB/Rig

Utilities - DOS

COUTIL.ZIP 	Castle Oaks Utilities

CDQCK.ZIP 	CD-Quick Cache

DESIGN.ZIP 	Design Shell

GAZE.ZIP   	Gaze

NVIEW.ZIP 	NOMSSI Viewer

Utilities - Windows

CLYSBR.ZIP 	clySmic Icon Bar

WFIND.ZIP 	File Finder for Windows

TEXTPD.ZIP 	TextPad

WZIPSE.ZIP 	WinZip Self-Extractor

WWW.ZIP   	Win, What, Where

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Reviews Contents Page
	Budget Maker Ease Your Budgetary Burden
	Wall Street Simulator Greed is Good
	Image Alchemy A Golden Graphics Tool
	Asylum 3 A Puzzling Diversion
	Filer Tidy Up Your Directories
	The Right Button Pushing The Right Button


Budget Maker

Reviewed by Edward G. Hoffman

Do you often find that there are more days in the month than you have money to cover? If so, take comfort in the fact that you are not alone. Most financial experts will agree that the simplest way to stretch your money to fill the time between paychecks is to create and follow a budget. Sounds simple enough, but the trick is developing a systematic way of organizing your income and expenses. There are any number of different ways to accomplish this--from using a collection of envelopes to organize your regular bills to maintaining your finances on a high-end accounting program. But if you simply want to create a simplified budgeting system without too much of a hassle, Budget Maker 1.1 may be just what you need.

 This Windows-based program is well organized and quite intuitive, and a rather complete help system is included. However, since Budget Maker is made to be as simple to use as possible, it's doubtful you'll need to much help in getting started. To create a budget, the first entry you'll need to add to the program is your Net Yearly Income. (This is your after-taxes, take-home pay.) Next, you select the Budget Period you'll be using: Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Semi-Monthly, or Monthly. A Summary Window then automatically shows you the amount of money you have to work with for each period. If, for example, you have a net yearly income of $30,000 and have a monthly budget period, your period income will be shown as $2,500.

The next step is to add all your recurring bills. For instance, if you have a car payment, this is added in the Expense Data window. The Item Description would be Car, or Car Payment, or whatever you wish to call it. You then add the Period Cost. This is the normal payment amount. Finally, add the number of times per year that this payment occurs. If your payment is monthly, then you would say 12. Click the Add button, and this budget item will appear in the Period Expense List. Continue this process until all your bills are listed. You may also click the Edit or Delete button to change or remove an entry, respectively.

As each item is added, the Summary Amount is automatically changed to reflect the Amount Budgeted and the Unmarked Funds. The Amount Budgeted is the total amount of all your bills; the Unmarked Funds indicates the money you have left after paying your bills. The budget entries may also be sorted. Three small buttons are provided to allow you to sort your budget items alphabetically or by the amounts. If you sort by the amount of the payment, you have the option of listing the items as larger-to-smaller amounts or smaller-to-larger amounts.

If your finances are in a constant state of chaos, Budget Maker can help you regain control and organize those pesky monthly expenses. Although the program will help you get a handle on your finances, it cannot make you follow your budget. Unfortunately, that's still up to you. Code Lightning Software's Budget Maker requires that you have a copy of VBRUN300.DLL in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. (It's available for downloading from the Software Library.) The registration fee is $14.50.

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

COMPUSERVE: GO PBSHOME, Library 6 (Personal Finance), and search for BUDMKR.ZIP

	Reviews Contents Go back to reviews contents page


Budgetpop


Wall Street Simulator

Reviewed by Susan Borden

If you've ever wished you could practice playing big spender on Wall Street without actually plunking your money down, then check out Wall Street Simulator for Windows 1.1. Use this graphic and attractive program to learn how to trade and manage a portfolio without putting your own money at risk. Popular online services can be used in conjunction with this program to update the value of your portfolio.

All Wall Street simulations begin when you select New Account from the File menu. From there, you specify account options that you want. These options relate to the amount of cash provided for the simulation, the length of the simulation, the schedule of commissions to be charged, and the type of trades allowed for your brokerage account. In other words, you waste no time indicating the exact parameters for your simulation.

An open Account is used to select an existing brokerage account for trading or review. Set up a variety of accounts that include bonds, commodities, mutual funds, and stocks. If an invalid account file is selected, the program displays a warning message. When a valid account file is selected, the Account Summary Window appears, and you can begin account review or trading.

When the simulation has ended, all open positions must be closed. When you open your brokerage account after the end of the simulation for the first time, you will have the option of having all open positions automatically closed. If you choose to close all open positions, you must be sure that the Security Information File contains the most up-to-date market prices for your open positions.

You can view all current positions by selecting Positions from the Account menu. A separate window will appear containing all positions in the active brokerage account. Information such as the numb7er of shares owned, current market value, and unrealized gain or loss are displayed in tabular form. All information displayed in the Positions window is updated after each trade is executed or a change is made to the market price of a security in your portfolio. Information relating to unrealized gains or losses is dependent upon the market prices contained in the security information file. You can similarly check out your account transactions via the Transactions command in the Account menu.

The Statement command in the Account menu shows current income or loss. You can see unrealized and realized gain or loss, interest income, interest expense, and other items in a clear, concise financial statement format. Information relating to unrealized gains or losses is dependent upon the market prices contained in the Security Information File (SIF). Therefore, in order to produce an accurate statement, it is important that the market values in the SIF are up-to-date.

Each brokerage account can have its own set of options. Use this to set commission rates, maximum amount of trades allowed, or the type of account (margin or short). These options can be set when a new account is created or after the account is established.

The Security Conversion Utility lets you access information from online services. There are five different formats that you can use with Wall Street Simulator: Prodigy, CompuServe, America Online, Quicken, and Wall Street Simulator. Once you select a source file and source file type, click View Source to display the contents of the source file. This is a read-only viewer and isn't capable of making permanent changes to the source file.

The registration fee for Wall Street Simulator for Windows is $15. When you register, you receive a printed manual, discounts on future upgrades, discounts on companion products, and a semiannual newsletter comparing investment results and ideas.

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

COMPUSERVE: GO PBSHOME, Library 6 (Personal Finance), and search for WSSIMW.ZIP

	Reviews Contents Go back to reviews contents page


WallStPop


Image Alchemy

Reviewed by David D. Busch

The medieval alchemists' quest to turn lead into gold was child's play compared to the magic performed by the latest release of Image Alchemy. This must-have utility can metamorphose image files between 60 different file formats, while performing additional tricks--such as applying blur or sharpen filters, resizing, or changing the number of colors.

This version is limited to images no larger than 640x480 pixels. (If you want to work with larger files, you can order the full program, for $79.95.)

Image Alchemy 1.7.7 is a perfect complement for any image-editing program, and an essential tool for anyone who must convert large batches of files. While most image editors can read or write a dozen different file formats, Image Alchemy handles more than 60 varieties. Basic formats like TIFF, BMP, PCX, EPS, Targa, GIF, and WordPerfect Graphic are supported, of course. But the program also includes import and export filters for less well-known or obsolete file types, including Dr. Halo CUT, GEM, and RIX.

You'll find support for formats used on high-end graphics and CAD workstations (Sun Raster, SGI Image, Calcomp, Autologic), as well as Adobe Portable Document Files. The program can read, but not write, any of the five different formats used for Kodak PhotoCD files and automatically orients the images during conversion.

Image Alchemy can apply "convolutions"--image-processing filters such as blur or sharpen--and convert an image from one "color space" to another, e.g., from RGB (red/green/blue) to CMYK (cyan/magenta/yellow/black).

While your image editor can read and convert files one at a time, Image Alchemy handles them in swarms. You can use the program in command-line mode from the DOS prompt to specify whole groups of files for conversion with DOS wildcards. The only non-optional parameters you absolutely must supply are the name(s) of the files to be converted and the output format you want. Image Alchemy can identify the input file format automatically.

You can enter optional parameters to resize an image, change the number of colors (reducing a 16.7-million color image to 256 hues, for example) using seven different dithering routines, or compress the image using highly efficient JPEG routines.

Those who balk at even simple command-line utilities will love Image Alchemy's new graphical user interface (GUI)--a menu-based shell that allows you to easily browse for files and select from the roster of options. The GUI is also a great way to learn about all of Image Alchemy's features without wading through the 268-page manual.

Despite its power, Image Alchemy runs on any 286 or higher IBM PC compatible, and requires a mere 400K of free memory. The program does work faster and better with speedier CPUs and more extended or expanded memory.

Image workers with huge images can order Image Alchemy/386 ($199.95), which can manage the largest files through sophisticated virtual memory routines. Additional versions are available at the same price for Sun SPARCStations, IBM RS/6000, HP-9000/700 and 800, and Silicon Graphics workstations.

If the thought of loading 100 different image files and saving them in a new format has you dazed, or if you need to convert some offbeat image types into a more mundane classification, Image Alchemy will do the trick.

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

COMPUSERVE: GO PBSSTU, Library 4 (Graphics Tools), and search for IMALCH.ZIP

	Reviews Contents Go back to reviews contents page


Asylum 3

Reviewed by Edward G. Hoffman

We've all heard the adage "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." For the 1990's, though, we should probably paraphrase, or at least modernize this sage wisdom. With the plethora of computers running Windows across the land, it might be better said as: "All spreadsheet, database, or word processing work, without Solitaire, can quickly make ol' Jack brain-dead." Very few among us, no matter how dutiful or devoted to our work, can honestly say they have not stolen a few minutes here and there to play a few hands of Windows' Solitaire. Yet even it can get boring after several thousand hands. So, to beat both the tedium and the monotony, you might want to take a look at something new. One worthwhile offering is Asylum 3.

This is actually a collection of four different puzzle games. Though similar, each of these games has a specific objective and predefined procedures for play. The puzzles may look simple at first glance, but you'll soon learn that behind these innocent screens lies a series of devious little gems that will test both your skill and patience.

The first puzzle is called Vampyre. This is a simple game where you move a series of bloody wooden stakes around a square grid. The object of the puzzle is to remove these stakes one-by-one, until only a single stake is left on the board.. Sounds easy enough, until you start moving the stakes.

Puzzle No. 2 is called Pyramid. Here you need to again remove all but one of the skulls from a triangular grid. No problem ... until you start jumping, that is.

Fossilized is the third puzzle. Here you are presented with a grid with criss-cross lines which connect a series of boxes. Your job is to take the two yellow skeletons on the left side and move them to the right side. You must also take the two red skeletons on the right side and move them to the left side. After a few minutes of this, you may want to move all young and impressionable members of your household to a safe place to save them from your expletives.

The final torment in the collection is called Arachnid. Once again, the game seems simple: Remove all but one of the spiders from the rectangular grid. Oh, did I mention that there are 15 plain spiders and only one red-back spider? As you might expect, the red-back spider is the only one that can be left in order to win the game. This one will have you talking to yourself in very short order.

So, if you're looking for something beyond Solitaire and are not afraid of a mental hernia, give New Zone Productions' Asylum 3 a try. At the very least, your gray matter will get some good exercise -- if it doesn't first turn to mush. Though the program can run on a system with 16-color VGA, at least 256 colors is recommended. Asylum 3 has no registration fee, but the company will accept donations. Earlier collections, Asylum 1 and Asylum 2, are also available if you are a glutton for punishment.

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

COMPUSERVE: GO PBSARC, Library 8 (Board Games), and search for ASYLM3.ZIP

	Reviews Contents Go back to reviews contents page


Asy1


Asy2pop


Filer

Reviewed by Jack M. Germain

If you need a more powerful file utility than Windows' File Manager, Filer 4.0 is it. The program is really a file finder utility that lets you locate one or more files on your computer's hard drive or floppy disks. But it does so much more that you may never need any other file utility again.

Filer finds files and lets you view them. It shows graphics files, plays video and audio files, and deletes files and even seeks out duplicates. Filer includes all the tools you need to manage your directories. But these great tools work only after you run a file search and have a list of files on the screen.

The Filer interface is clean and simple to use. In the upper left of the screen is a text box for entering your search specification. Click inside of this box and type your own search string to replace the *.* default entry. Use any normal DOS wildcard criteria for your pattern. Search for a single file by name or for any group of files. Search patterns work with the asterisk (*) or the question mark (?) to indicate portions of a file name. The asterisk represents any number of unknown characters, while the question mark indicates a single unknown character. Select a single drive when specifying the search directions to do a limited search. It can also search all drives if you wish. Filer looks for matching files and counts as it goes. Once the search is done, all matching files appear in a list box with a total count of the files found. Filer can then send this list to your printer.

Filer shows graphics files with the extensions WMF, RLE, ICO, PCX, TGA, DIB, JPG, PIC, or BMP. If the image is too large to display completely, Filer show the upper left corner. A Zoom button then shows whatever fits on the entire screen. Unfortunately, this latest version no longer handles GIF files due to a patent dispute with UNISYS. To see JPEG files and AVI and MOV multimedia files, you need the QuickTime for Windows MultiMedia driver installed on your computer. And a sound card is necessary if you want to hear sound files with a WAV, MID, or RMI extension.

If you're not convinced of Filer's value, two features make this a must-have utility. When you delete files, a Wipe File option makes them unreadable by anyone, ensuring that no one can undelete your erased files. When you search or delete duplicate files, you may want to compare two files to see if they're identical. Select two files and use the Compare Files command in the Utilities menu. Filer will first compare the files' sizes, then report if the dates and times match and what the differences are in the files' content.

To run, Filer requires Windows 3.1 operating in Enhanced Mode, and it takes up about 1MB on your hard drive. You also need a fully supported Windows-compatible printer and a valid video display with a minimum resolution of 640x480. Also, make sure you have VBRUN300.DLL installed in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. (If you don't have this file, you can download it from the Software Library.)

Installing this program is a three-step process. First, unzip the files to a directory you create on your hard drive. Next, move all files with DLL and VBX extensions to the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Third, add the program's icon to Windows' Program Manager, using the File/New command. The registration fee is $25.

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

COMPUSERVE: GO PBSUTIL, Library 3 (File Utilities), and search for FILER.ZIP

	Reviews Contents Go back to reviews contents page


FilerPop


The Right Button

Reviewed by Russ Lockwood

If you look back upon the development of Microsoft Windows, you'll notice that every major upgrade improved the Program Manager interface, from the original Windows 1.0 to the new Microsoft Bob. Yet for all Microsoft's tinkering, others have stepped forward to bring their own concepts about efficient interface schemes to Windows, including a new shareware design from Matt Hart called The Right Button.

In one sense, The Right Button 1.34 and other such interface designs add another layer to Windows. Certainly enough paradigms have been tried with varying degrees of success, including looseleaf notebooks, living rooms, and office desks. Adventurous? Certainly. But fitting office decor onto a monitor screen seems a step backward from solving the dilemma of filtering out the overload of icons to run programs.

The Right Button cuts through this carpal tunnel cacophony by popping up a customized dialog box using the right (or middle) mouse button. A text box lists active programs while the area to the right displays multiple rows of icons. If you're clever, you'll select a half-dozen of your most frequently used programs and install them as an icon within The Right Button. You do not want to select too many, otherwise you're back to searching through a multitude of icons to find a program. This installation, which is more properly called configuration, takes about 15 seconds per program. Once installed, a double-click on the icon launches the program.

The efficiency comes with the click of the right (or middle) mouse button, which pops up this custom dialog box over the top of an application. Hence, no more minimizing or Alt-Tabbing to get back to Program Manager and find the next program. It's simple, effective, and quite clever.

Several options are available under the text box. The most useful of the bunch is End Task, which closes a highlighted active program. When you get familiar with The Right Button, the combination of icon launch and End Task proves to be a dynamic duo to run utilities over the top of your major application. If there's a caveat, it's that the Help function is not very sophisticated and not entirely helpful.

This utility is a lightning-fast 43K download that expands to 112K on the hard drive. Registration is a reasonable $25. Note that you will also need VBRUN300.DLL to run the program, which is available here in the Software Library should you need it.

The Right Button punches all the right buttons for interface enhancement. It's small, fast, and efficient. If the Windows interface slows you down, this will help you navigate through a maze of icons and dialog boxes quickly.

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

COMPUSERVE: GO PBSUTIL, Library 11 (System Utils - WIN), and search for RBTN.ZIP

	Reviews Contents Go back to reviews contents page


RightPop


Zips and Zaps

This Month in Shareware

Timothy Campbell, the author of this column, has been writing shareware since 1986. Opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of ZShare. Tim’s World Wide Web Home Page is at http://www.cam.org/~pinnacl.

File Manager StepUp -- A Record-Breaker

The common wisdom has it that the average shareware program is registered by about 2% of the people that evaluate it, while a really exceptional program can garner about a 5% registration rate. Andrei Belogortseff stunned the shareware community by announcing that his File Manager StepUp had achieved an incredible 20% registration rate. File Manager StepUp is an add-on for Windows that makes it easier to work with the File Manager, providing history lists, an Execute menu, and a host of other features.

With the kind cooperation of Tad Green, CompuServe's SWREG manager, I looked into Andrei's extraordinary claim, and his story checks out. He must be doing something right!

Contact Info

Author name .............: Andrei Belogortseff

Company .................: ChaoSoft

CompuServe/ZiffNet ......: 74634,2173

Program Info

Program Name ............: File Manager StepUp

Version .................: 3.25

Filename ................: FMSU.ZIP

Location ................: PBSUTILIIES Library 1

Operating system ........: Windows 3.1 or Workgroups

Registration price ......: $29.95

Ultimate Calculator

Ultimate Calculator is a multi-purpose graphic calculator that can be used for simple arithmetic or intricate scientific calculations. Daniel Corbier's quest for the perfect calculator began when he wrote the underlying software for a 3-D animation language. To achieve high speed, he optimized the code carefully. He then realized he had the technology to create a more generalized product that could be used by everybody.

Since this was his first shareware program, he did extensive research on how he could market his program, foraging through FidoNet, UseNet, Rime, I-Link, and elsewhere. Suggestions ranged from "Give it away for free -- with source code!" to more traditional advice from seasoned shareware authors.

The program is designed to run under DOS, as a Terminate-and-Stay Resident (TSR) pop-up, using a mere 6K of RAM in resident mode, but it can also be used under Windows. Ultimate Calculator was beta-tested at Princeton, Cornell and Stanford University. One of the beta-testers, who was blind, helped Daniel make the program compatible with voice synthesizers (this feature is not available in DOS TSR mode, however).

Contact Info

Author name .............: Daniel Corbier

CompuServe/ZiffNet ......: 75541,1523

Internet E-mail .........: corbier@satelnet.org

FidoNet .................: 1:135/110

Mailing address .........: 20410 SW 92 Place, Miami, FL, USA 33189

Program Info

Program name ............: Ultimate Calculator

Version .................: 2.8

Filename ................: UCALC.ZIP

Location ................: PBSBUSINESS Library 1

Operating system ........: DOS (can be run under Windows)

Registration price ......: $25

Book-It Organizes Escapades

In Manchester, U.K., there's a company named SPICE (Special Program of Initiative Challenge and Excitement) that is, in the words of shareware author Paul Herschell, "a big adventure club for grown-ups.” The company has nine franchises in the United Kingdom, with around 6,000 fun-seeking members. Each month they schedule more than 30 activities ranging from dancing to bungee jumping.

Keeping track of all this activity is time-consuming, so Paul Herschell wrote Book-It, a Windows-based membership and event booking system. It handles membership drives and administration, event booking, basic accounting, mail-merge, label printing, and report generation.

Often, the main problem in most clubs is finding a member to handle the paperwork. With Book-It, the job is much easier, which might make it a little less difficult to get somebody to accept the position of "Club Secretary"!

Contact Info

Author name .............: Paul Herschell

CompuServe/ZiffNet ......: 100103,3722

Program Info

Program name ............: Book-It Membership Activity Booking System

Version .................: 1.0

Filename ................: BOOKIT.ZIP

Location ................: PBSHOME Library 1

Operating system ........: Windows

Registration price ......: $95

Bubba Introduces “Parodyware”

George Campbell believes that Bubba is the first major freeware program designed to parody another. In this case, the program being lampooned is "Bob,” Microsoft's "social" interface for Windows. Bob offers a picture of a room, and users can click on various items in the room to run programs. A cartoon dog offers advice about using Bob and its built-in programs.

George says, "Bubba makes fun of Bob by displaying a trashy-looking room. Bubba is a fully functional Windows shell, which can replace Program Manager, just as Bob does. But click on some items in the room and humorous things happen." For example, instead of Bob's helpful canine, Bubba features an armadillo dispensing down-home wisdom about life.

Microsoft claims that Bob took a long time to develop, but George states that he and a colleague spent about 24 hours each creating Bubba. He is distributing it as freeware because he figures there isn't much chance that anyone would actually pay for this kind of interface. Bad news for Microsoft.

George tells me that he has managed to sell some of his shareware in Russia, but because of currency exchange difficulties, he sometimes lets the user pay with valuable Soviet military souvenirs instead of rubles.

Contact Info

Author name .............: George Campbell

Company .................: OsoSoft

CompuServe/ZiffNet ......: 74774,442

Voice phone number ......: 805-528-1759

Program Info

Program name ............: Bubba

Version .................: 1.2

Filename ................: BUBBA.ZIP

Location ................: PBSUTILITIES Library 1

Operating system ........: Windows

Registration price ......: Free

Shareware (And Honesty) Under the Microscope

The nature of shareware distribution makes it very hard for authors to determine why people register programs. Since the beginning of the shareware revolution (about 15 years ago), many authors have insisted that you could trust people to "do the right thing.” Other authors have firmly stated that you must hold something back, or limit the program by time or number of uses, to ensure that people honor their legal requirement to pay for what they use.

Until recently, there was no way to be sure; nobody had ever conducted a scientific test that would determine just how important "the honesty factor" was. But last month, Colin Messitt published the results of a brilliantly conceived experiment that he had run for a year.

The "guinea pig" program was a Windows utility named SmartDoc, which prints out Windows Help files. When it is installed, it "flips a coin" to decide if it will use simple Registration Reminder Screens or if it will "cripple" the program. The crippled version prints every fourth page in reverse, so you can see that the program is able to do what it's supposed to, but you can't really use it until you've paid for it.

Twelve months and 1,363 registrations later, Colin reported the following figures:

   Registrations from crippled version:   851

   Registrations from uncrippled version: 156

   Registrations from unknown:        	356

Some registrations are listed as "unknown" because the user simply sent a check and did not include the order form (which contained a code to let the author know how the program was behaving).

Colin's report set off a firestorm of controversy within the shareware community. Many authors tried to claim that the results were meaningless, or that the experiment was methodologically unsound. This reporter translated their statistical arguments into programs and published both the source code and the results on CompuServe. Colin's numbers stood up to the test.

These programs shows that given the "worst possible case" of statistical deviance (occurring one time in 200), the crippled version outsold the uncrippled version at a ratio of 3.6 to 1. Given the average case, we decided that the crippled version had a 4.5 to 1 advantage. The clear conclusion was that most shareware users need a strong incentive to register, and that an author who simply relies on "honesty" will lose a lot of business.

Colin recounted an amusing incident about the experiment. "I had one guy call up and swear at me because he bought four copies of the magazine [with SmartDoc on the cover disk] trying to get one that didn't reverse, so he wouldn't have to pay for it. He spent more than the registration fee on the magazines!"

Contact Info

Author name .............: Colin Messitt

Company .................: Oakley Data Services

CompuServe/ZiffNet ......: 74774,1347

Internet E-mail .........: cmessitt@cix.compulink.co.uk

World Wide Web ..........: http://www.smartcode.com

Program Info

Program name ............: SmartDoc

Version .................: 1.5

Filename ................: SMTDOC.ZIP

Location ................: PBSUTILITIES Library 1

Operating system ........: Windows

Registration price ......: $25

Author Profile: Todd Replogle

Todd Replogle has come a long way from washing dishes in his hometown of Santa Cruz, California. Todd is the 26-year-old author of Apogee Software's popular shareware game series, Duke Nukem. Todd can now be seen cruising around Dallas in a black Acura NSX; the vanity plate reads "I NUKEM.”

In 1981, Todd got his first computer -- a Z80-based Timex Sinclair 1000. Shortly afterwards, he moved over to the Commodore 64 where he began learning programming and graphics ... and washing fewer and fewer dishes.

Todd joined forces with newly formed Apogee Software in 1990 and has since produced an unbroken series of shareware games for the PC, including Monuments of Mars, Dark Ages, Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure, and the highly successful Duke Nukem series -- all side-scrolling action arcade games. Todd has netted around half a million dollars in royalties from the sales of Duke Nukem games.

Todd is currently working on "Duke Nukem 3D.” DN3D promises to deliver exciting arcade action, wry humor, and Ramboesque thrills.

Numbers

Misha Glouberman (CompuServe/ZiffNet 72763,3532) passed on two interesting statistics to me. John McAfee says that the McAfee virus scanner program is downloaded by around 100,000 people per month. (Source: Forbes Magazine, October 24, 1994, p. 258). Jay Wilber, VP of Marketing at Id Software, estimated that there are about 10 million copies of their 3D game DOOM. (Source: Brandweek, November 14, 1994, p. 60).

A Disk Vendor Closes Up Shop

Brad Biondo's Future Enterprises was a well-respected shareware disk vendor. Brad worked hard at keeping his catalog up to date, acknowledging author submissions, and giving the customer full diskettes instead of selling one program per disk. Alas, due to the increasing pressure of CD-ROM sales and modem downloads, Brad has decided to drop out of the disk vendor business.

"My major mistake was similar to that of some of the authors," says Brad. "I spent too much time on product and not enough time on marketing." He also says that he vastly underestimated the time required to review new programs and produce custom orders.

In a market dominated by "quick buck" disk vendors who care little about authors and customers, Future Enterprises will be sorely missed.

Got Some News?

"This Month In Shareware" covers the latest news about the exciting world of shareware. If you have information about a new product release, or some other interesting tidbit, please drop me a line at CompuServe/ZiffNet 72241,2052. All letters will be acknowledged. I encourage shareware authors to log on to the Author Upload Center (AUC) at 800-426-3425 (617-252-5510 outside North America). Programs received at the AUC will be reviewed and (if there is no problem) placed in an appropriate forum on ZiffNet.

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Author Spotlight
Nico Mak

Author of WinZip, WinZip for Windows NT , WinZip Self-Extractor

Name

Nico Mak

Computer system

A one-year-old Micron P90 PCI/SCSI machine and a three-year-old Atlas 486-50DX.

Typical programming hours?

Whenever I get a chance!

Favorite shareware program (excluding own)

Netscape

Marital status

Married

Favorite pizza toppings

Mushrooms, peppers, hamburger

What kind of car do you drive?

1991 Nissan Pathfinder

Favorite Vacation Spot?

Empty beaches -- North Carolina's Outer Banks (offseason) or Nantucket.

Daytime job:Full-time shareware author

Ever since I started programming, I've found myself writing utility programs to make my computing environment easier to use. I wrote my first utility program 17 years ago, while taking an assembler language course. The school had just switched from punch cards to terminals on a slow time-sharing system. Students got 15-minute turns at the tube, but because the system was so slow, it took almost 15 minutes to compile, link, and run a test. There was no point in waiting in front of the terminal for 10 or more minutes, but other students would often mistake an unattended terminal for an unused terminal and try to sign on. This would interrupt a compile and the entire session would be lost. To help avoid this problem I wrote a small program that displayed "In Use" in six-inch high letters before starting a compile. This sounds easy, and would have been easy had I known about batch files, but back then even the teachers hadn't had time to learn the online system. I spent the better part of a week finishing the program, and while it certainly wasn't the world's most sophisticated utility, it felt good to have written something that was really useful instead of just an exercise like the class assignments.

My first programming job involved writing and maintaining utilities in the "tech" unit of an application programming department in a large company. One of my first "spare time" programming projects was to take the "In Use" program one step further and write a general purpose "banner" program. For the next few years I worked at two jobs as VM Systems Programmer, writing enhancements to and maintaining local enhancements to IBM's VM/CMS operating system. Again I had opportunities to write a number of utility programs, including the CMS equivalent of a DOS "TSR" program to automatically correct misspelled commands.

I wrote SWAP, my first popular PC utility program, while MS-DOS was still the standard PC operating environment. It was frequently useful to run a second program without leaving the first application, but this was often impossible due to MS-DOS memory limitations. SWAP solved this problem by using undocumented DOS features to temporarily swap out one program to make room for another program. I released SWAP as freeware (copyrighted software but free for personal use). When I released SWAP, I had no idea of how much time was involved in releasing a "free" program; I did not expect a pile of mail from users with suggestions for enhancements, requests for technical support, etc. Based on the response to SWAP, I decided that next time I wrote a useful program, I'd try selling it.

WinZip started as a Smalltalk program running under OS/2. I wanted to learn object-oriented programming and at the same time was trying to get used to the graphical Presentation Manager OS/2 1.2 environment. I was looking for an interesting Smalltalk coding project and also often found myself getting frustrated with the File Manager, because I had to switch from the graphical shell to the command prompt to run PKUNZIP. I decided I could solve both problems by writing a graphical front-end to PKZIP. Everyone that saw the result liked it, and I decided to try releasing it as shareware. Smalltalk programs required over a megabyte of disk space for the run-time library, so I rewrote it in C and released it as PMZIP in late 1990. I got good responses from people that used it, but back in 1990 OS/2 was not very successful, and PMZIP was not a big commercial success.

By January of 1991 I realized that much of the world was moving to Windows and I'd better learn how it worked. My first Windows programming project was to port PMZIP to Windows, and in early 1991 I released WinZip 1.0. It had the same features as PMZIP but was a lot more successful, no doubt because of the larger potential user base.

When I first released WinZip I had no idea of how much time it would take, and did not expect it to be this successful. WinZip has been downloaded from CompuServe over 100,000 times, and the download count on America Online is almost as high. I learned that while writing a basic ZIP shell is not a huge project, turning it into something thousands of people use is a lot harder, and requires a continuous process of revisions and improvements. I've released major updates every year and minor updates more frequently, adding features, integrating with new operating environments, etc. But with the release of Windows 95 around the corner, there is a lot more work to be done.

	Nico Mak’s Shareware
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Nico Mak Shareware

WinZip 5.6

WinZip is an exceptionally strong, award-winning archive program with internal support and external access to a wide variety of archives. Convenient management functions allow you to move, delete, rename, and copy files using the button bar and other quickly accessible menu options. Associate WinZip with archive extensions, drag and drop files, and add it to the File Manager menu. Use the 'Check Out' feature to work with programs and later uninstall them. Test zips, view files with a designated program or the internal viewer, engage a virus scanner, fully manage all archiving activities, and mail files using MAPI.DLL. This major update adds internal support for Internet TAR, gzip, and Unix as well as 'Microsoft Compress' lzexpand formats. WinZip is a superior archive utility for the active downloader, saving time and bringing many conveniences.

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

COMPUSERVE: GO PBSUTIL, Library 3 (File Utilities), and search for WINZIP.EXE

WinZip for Windows NT 5.6

WinZip is available in a improved version designed specifically for use by either Windows NT or Windows 95. It can open ZIP, ARC, ARJ, and LZH archives. This version, which supports long filenames and UNC, has its compression ability built-in, so PKZIP is not necessary for basic ZIP operations.

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

COMPUSERVE: GO PBSUTIL, Library 3 (File Utilities), and search for WZNT.EXE

WinZip Self-Extractor 1.0

WinZip Self-Extractor quickly creates compressed archives in the form of EXE files that can be extracted without an external unarchiving program. You browse to select a currently zipped file, specify a destination directory, and optionally add a post-run command. EXE files created by WinZip Self-Extractor provide a Windows dialog that gives the user a choice of destination directories and an overwrite option, as well as an option to run WinZip if they have it installed. Comments are also supported. Output could be used as a convenient method for distributing a program, with only 12K of overhead added to the executable. WinZip Self-Extractor can be run independently or from a DOS prompt or can be called from WinZip version 5.6 and later.

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

COMPUSERVE: GO PBSUTIL, Library 3 (File Utilities), and search for WZIPSE.ZIP

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About ZShare

© Copyright 1993-95 Ziff-Davis Interactive, All Rights Reserved.

Editor: David Grober (ZiffNet/CIS ID: 72241,1766   Internet: 72241.1766@compuserve.com)

ZDI Software Library Manager: Preston Gralla

Contributing Editors: Susan Borden, David D. Busch, Timothy Campbell, Jack Germain, Edward Hoffman, Russ Lockwood, J.W. Olsen

Help File Production: Bob Gollihur, Wordsmith (CIS ID: 71334,2065)

Editor Emeritus and Designer Extraordinaire: Scott Arpajian

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