AFTER READING THIS FILE, CLICK THE "FILE" MENU (IN THE WINDOWS PROGRAM) AND CLICK OFF "PSL-NEWS". Picks Of The Month: ================== (Click on a program name to install it.) AZZ Cardfile [WIN\UT_SYSTM\AZZCRD20.ZIP] [SEE SCREEN SHOT] is a powerful replacement for Cardfile for Win95/NT. Data files can be password-protected and encrypted. Other features include support for unlimited file and card size, phone dialing via a modem, RTF support, and more. BombGolf [WIN\GAMES\BOMBGOLF.ZIP] [SEE SCREEN SHOT] is a challenging miniature golf simulation for Win95/98. If you cannot make the hole in 7 shots, your ball will explode. Features include excellent graphics, a musical soundtrack, and a high score listing. Requires VBRUN300. Bomby [WIN\GAMES\BOMBY71.ZIP] [SEE SCREEN SHOT] is a fun two-player arcade game where the object is to collect gems from a twisting maze while avoiding monsters. Barrier walls are destroyed using bombs. Features include excellent graphics, a musical soundtrack, and more. Bubbles (DS) [WIN\GAMES\BUBBLE12.ZIP] [SEE SCREEN SHOT] is a fun multimedia puzzle game for Windows. You must maneuver the rising bubbles so they float into matching bubble pods. Features include beautiful digital graphics, a classical music soundtrack, the ability to save games, and much more. Requires a 486 or faster, 8MB RAM, and High color SVGA. Crazyoid [WIN\GAMES\CRZOID10.ZIP] is a fantastic 3-D and space shooter with multiple galaxies to choose from, seven available ship models, and many weapons, missiles, torpedoes, mines, shields and engines. Every system on the ship is also configurable. Network play is supported. Requires an 800x600 display. Easy Desktop Publisher [WIN\WORDS\EASYDTP.ZIP] [SEE SCREEN SHOT] allows you to quickly and easily create flyers, banners and other graphical materials. To create a design, you simply drop various objects where you want them and then customize those objects. These objects can include text, pictures, lines and various shapes. HistoryKill [WIN\COMMUNIC\HISTKILL.ZIP] [SEE SCREEN SHOT] helps protect your on-line privacy by clearing out the registry entries of IE, and resetting Netscape's javascript entrees. It also protects you by giving you the option to erase Netscape and IE's cookies and cache. InfoMagic [WIN\DATABASE\IMAGIC11.ZIP] [SEE SCREEN SHOT] is a simple and straightforward free-form database for Win95. It is like a "junk drawer" for snippets of text information you would like to keep track of (phone numbers, important dates, etc.). A phone dialer is provided. Mutilate [WIN\UT_DSKFI\MUT232RT.ZIP] destroys (or "wipes") sensitive files so they can never be recovered or undeleted. It overwrites all bits in selected file(s), including cluster slack space, with 1's, 0's, and/or random bit patterns. This offers three security levels and a customizable level. Requires Win95/NT. Quick Budget [WIN\HOME\QB11FULL.ZIP] [SEE SCREEN SHOT] is simple budget generator to aid in the organization of your monthly finances. You can enter income and three levels of projected expenses, and it will perform the math for you. This allows you to categorize your expenses by priority so that you can more easily decide what can be added or removed from your monthly budget. Xara WebStyle [WIN\COMMUNIC\WEBSTYLE.ZIP] [SEE SCREEN SHOT] helps create top quality, custom designed, web optimized graphics, including 2D and 3D headings, buttons, bullets, dividers and backgrounds. It uses vector graphics that can be scaled, zoomed, rotated and re-colored with no loss of quality. A wide range of graphic templates are provided. CD-ROM Sections Of The Month: ============================ Following is a list of the sections from the most recent CDs. By getting all of these CDs, you would have every program/file in PSL's collection. Programs for both DOS and Windows are included in each group. Order from 800-2424-PSL or online at "www.pslweb.com". Vol. Num. 6 8 Games for Windows (new files since V.6, N.1) 6 7 Communications for Windows (new files since V.5, N.11) 6 6 Education for DOS & Windows (new files since V.5, N.10) 6 5 Words and Graphics (new files since V.5, N.9) 6 4 Utilities for Windows (new files since V.5, N.8 6 3 Home for DOS & Windows (new files since V.5, N.7) 6 2 Business for DOS & Windows (new files since V.5, N.6) 6 1 Games for DOS & Windows (new files since V.5, N.5) 5 12 Programming for DOS & Windows (new files since V.5, N.4) 5 11 Communications for DOS & Windows (new files since V.5, N.3) 5 10 Education for DOS & Windows (new files since V.5, N.2) 5 9 Words & Graphics (new files since V.5, N.1) 5 8 Windows Utilities (new files since V.4, N.12) 5 7 Home for DOS & Windows (new files since V.4, N.10) 5 6 Business for DOS & Windows (new files since V.4, N.9) 5 5 Games for DOS & Windows (new files since V.4, N.7) 5 4 Programming for DOS & Windows (new files since V.4, N.6) 5 3 Communications, Networking, Internet for DOS and Windows 5 2 Education (math, science, languages, reading/spelling, gradebook, study aids) 5 1 Words & Graphics (new files since V.4, N.3) & all OS/2 (word processing, drawing programs, clip art, desktop publishing, spelling/grammar checkers, hypertext, fonts, printer utilities, and more.) (OS/2: all OS/2 files since V.4, N.1) 4 12 Utilities For DOS & Windows (new programs since V.4, N.1) 4 11 Home Applications for DOS (home accounting, hobbies, home/auto maintenance, astrology, genealogy, religion, collecting, and more.) 4 10 Home Applications for Windows 4 9 Business (accounting, finance, general business, time managers, general business, database, spreadsheet, mailing list managers, and more, since V.3, N.11) 4 8 Games and Sounds & Music for DOS (since V.3, N.10) 4 7 Games and Sounds & Music for Windows (since V.3., N.9) 4 6 Programming (new programs since V.3, N.8) (assembler, Basic, C, Cobol, Fortran, Pascal, Modula, Visual Basic, general tools, and more.) 4 5 Communications & Networking (comm programs and utilities, BBS systems, programs for FAX cards, pagers, etc., plus networking pgms.) 4 3 Words & Graphics (new programs since V.3, N.5) 4 1 Utilities for DOS & Windows and All OS/2 Programs (new programs up to 1/96, since V.3, N.4 CD) 3 11 Business (up to 11/95) 3 10 Games and Sounds & Music for DOS (up to 10/95) 3 9 Games and Sounds & Music for Windows (up to 9/95) 3 8 Programming (up to 8/95) 3 7 Communications & Network (up to 7/95) 3 5 Words & Graphics (up to 5/95) 3 4 Utilities for DOS & Windows and All OS/2 Files (up to 4/95) FUTURE CD's: Following is the schedule for the section-of-the-month for coming CDs. Because the number of programs in each section continues to grow each month, it may be necessary to split up one or more of the following sections onto separate months' CDs. If this is important to you, check before ordering. ("Vol." indicates the year. "Vol.4" is 1996, "Vol.5" is 1997. Volume 1 appeared in 1993, so Volume 2 is 1994, Volume 3 is 1995, Volume 4 is 1996, and Volume 5 is 1997. The "Number" is the month number, so Vol.4, Num.11 is November 1996.) Vol. Num. 6 9 Business 6 10 Home 6 11 Utilities 6 12 Words and Graphics Problems: ======== In all the years of producing the PSL Monthly CD, we have NEVER found a single problem caused by a "bad CD copy". If you cannot get a CD to work on your machine, please try it on another machine if possible. Otherwise, please read the following Q&A's. If none of this works for you, return the CD and we will check it and replace it if necessary. (1.) "My machine locks up or reboots when I try to install a program." You have one of the small percentage of systems with a CD-ROM driver that is incompatible with PKUNZIP. To get around that problem, we have placed a public domain unzip program on the CD. To invoke it with the DOS-based program, run it using the syntax: "PSL_SHRD /U" (without the quotes). In the Windows based program, select UNZIP in the window that appears after pushing the Install button. In Windows, you can also elect to use WinZip to dearchive files. (2.) "There are no files on the CD." "There are no files in one of the directories." "I get an error trying to copy a file from the CD." We have only had a few such complaints, but in all cases, there was nothing wrong with the CD. Some of the users who made the complaints were able to read the CDs without error on other machines or even when trying later on the same machine. We suspect that the problem is with dust or dirt in the drive or, more specifically, on the laser lens, or on the CD-ROM disc itself. If you do not have a CD lens cleaner, get one from your dealer. Also inspect the non-printed side of the CD for dust or debris. One caller took the CD out, wiped it off, put it back in, and it worked. Maybe it was dirty or maybe just re-seating it helped. (3.) "When I install from the Windows access program, it tells me FILE NOT FOUND." Some combination of flukes in Windows/DOS cause some systems not to be able to find PKUNZIP.EXE on the CD-ROM drive. The solution is to copy PKUNZIP.EXE into your WINDOWS directory on your hard disk. SOUND BLASTER PRO OWNERS: On the January 1995 CD-ROM, we went over 600MB on the CD for the first time and a couple of people with Sound Blaster Pro cards and CD drives were unable to get a directory on the CD. If you have a Sound Blaster Pro and have this problem on a future CD-ROM, ask Creative Labs for a new CD-ROM driver. Frequently Asked Questions: ========================== (1.) "Why don't you install the programs on the CD ready to run instead of in ZIP format?" There are many reasons: - Many programs try to write back to the directory that they are installed in, which cannot be done on a CD. - Many programmers require that their programs be distributed in archived format. - Some installation programs configure the software to the system they are installed on, so that a program installed on our system may not work on yours. - Because we add a section of PSL's disk-based library to the CD each month, there is not room to have all the programs dearchived. - For use of the CDs on BBSs, files must be in archive format. Distributing the programs in archive format makes for a much neater package, making programs easier to find. Dearchiving a program to hard disk only takes a few seconds and by using a temporary directory, you can easily delete the files when done. (2.) "Are the same programs repeated on each month's CD?" No. The \DOS, \WIN, and \OS2 directories contain only the new programs received by PSL during the last 30 days. In addition, we put a different section of our disk-based library on each month's CD. (3.) "I'm not interested in the section of PSL being added to the CD this month. Why should I have to pay for a CD with a section I don't want in order to get the lower subscription price?" The majority of each CD contains new programs received during the last 30 days. These are programs of ALL types and now usually total over 400MB. Rather than leave the rest of the CD empty (as we did during the first year of producing the CD, we fill it in with a different section of our library each month. Even if you don't care for that section, there are tons of programs on each CD for all interests. (4.) "After the PSL_NEWS program installs a file, the program sometimes has to be installed again from those files. Why can't it just be installed once directly from the CD-ROM?" Some shareware authors have custom installation programs which create directories, put files in specific directories, configure the program to the user's specific hardware, etc. We cannot have multiple INSTALL programs in the same directory and it would be cumbersome to have a separate directory for each program, so we are forced to archive such programs, resulting in their having to be dearchived from the CD-ROM before they can be installed with the author's installation program. Contacting PSL: ============== Your comments and suggestions are appreciated. We are striving to make this the ideal CD for sysops and vendors, as well as for individual end users. We will implement every possible suggestion which will still allow us to produce the CD in a timely manner and which will not degrade the CD in some other way. If you are a programmer and want your program distributed on this CD, simply send it on disk to the address below, or email us and tell us where we can download it from your BBS or Web page. Public Software Library, Inc. P.O.Box 35705 Houston, TX 77235-5705 Voice: 713-610-1432 Fax : 713-523-9803 Email: admin@pslweb.com Web : http://www.pslweb.com