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VampGirl's Software Reviews : Page Ten
11/11/2001  Yahoo Messenger 5.0
Yahoo Messenger just got the upgrade of the century. Cast your eyes to the right and see what I mean ---->
Those pictures flashing by are the new 'IMvironments' that are the newest feature of this nifty little messenger and THEY ROCK!! These 'IMvironments' (can you see what they are doing there?...IM=In lol never mind) are themed, interactive backgrounds for your chat window and some even have their own emoticons ('Hello Kitty' is cute). There is also a comic-strip based theme, a karate fighting fully interactive theme with which you can play 'chop socky' with your chat partner, streaming media themes and many more to come. This latest upgrade also has new emoticons and typing notification: you can now see when your chat partner is typing which saves a lot of frustration when you don't know whether or not they have crashed or been disconnected.
This superb free messenger program still has all its usual features: Mail alerts, File send, Offline message support, chat rooms (Yahoo! based and user-created), webcam and voice chat support (even for half-duplex soundcards which are unsupported by MSN chat) and many, many other features. There are fully configurable security options for all of these so that your computer will never be compromised and this upgrade includes improved support for users running Yahoo Mesenger behind corporate firewalls. This essential freeware chat client will run on Windows 95/98/NT/2000/Me and Macintosh systems and requires a minimum installation of IE 4.01.
Visit the download site by clicking the button below.
04/11/2001  Tetris 4000
OMG I am addicted! One of my friends suggested I try out this version of Tetris and now I'm going to have to buy the stupid thing. I wouldn't normally review any software that is not completely free for download and that you have to pay $10 for...but Tetris falls into a category of its own. This version is so damn good I simply HAVE to review it here. I've wasted a whole week on it. I'm dreaming in blocks again. Tetris addiction is a dangerous thing.
Tetris 4000 is a superb piece of work. The gameplay is accurate and incredibly responsive; the blocks move and land where you want them, they rotate when you want them to with no delay and the speed increase from level to level is evenly paced so that, as in some games I have played, you do not suddenly find yourself at level 10 and everything crashing down around you. There are a few different game options: simple or colour Tetris with options for non-traditional block sizes, bombs, rotation bonuses etc and also Super Puyo-Puyo which is another favourite game of mine. It was called 'Super Foul Egg' on the Amiga and I loved it. Tetris can be played in either Easy, Normal or Hard mode and you can compete with other players by uploading your high scores to the programs internet database...I'll be there before long.
Not only does it play perfectly...it looks amazing too. The game has some beautiful 3D effects including oscillating blocks and a moving 'interactive' frame which you can alter the appearance of in the options. Thre are also six choices of background picture and some very good midis while you play. These can be switched off if you want to play in silence for total concentration. Tetris 4000 requires at least a Pentium II 233mhz with 64 Mb Ram and 8 Mb Video Memory (3d accelerator recommended) to run and will work on Windows 95/98/ME/2000 and XP.
So what's the drawback of this game? Simply that it isn't freeware, lasts for only 50 runs of the game and costs $10. Ahh well...I think I've finally found something worth paying for! Visit the download site by clicking the button below.
VampGirl's Previous Software Reviews| Page One | IrfanView : Image Viewer
First Page 2000 : HTML Editor
Web Ferret : Search Utility | | Page Two | Divide by Zero Fonts : Font Package
Swish : Flash Creator
NetAnts : Download Manager | | Page Three | Add/Remove Programs : April Fool's prank
Spectroscope : Colour Picker
Font Glancer : Font Viewer | | Page Four | InoculateIT Personal Edition : Virus Checker
Internet Surfer : MDI Browser
Wingrab : Image Capture program | | Page Five | Sonique : The Ultimate Audio Player
RegCleaner : Registry Maintenance Utility
ZoneAlarm : Personal Firewall |
| Page Six | Sequoia View : Disk Browsing Utility
Ad-Aware : 'Spyware' Removal Utility
Xteq X-Setup : Windows System Tweaker |
| Page Seven | AnalogX : Website
Eraser : Secure File Wiping Utility
Kyodai Mahjongg : Tile Removal Game |
| Page Eight | Metapad : Notepad Replacement
Cacheman : Windows Optimising Utility
Opera : Web Browser
Trillian : Ultimate Chat Client
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| Page Nine | SmartFTP : File Transfer Program
Rough Draft : Word Processor
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| Page Ten | Yahoo Messenger 5.0 : Chat Client
Tetris 4000 : Stupidly Addictive Game
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All Image copyrights acknowledged. |
