Mac

Windows

30-day trial

WatzNew from A.I.Studio acts as your personal portal to the Web. It is a smart agent that keeps track of mailboxes, site updates, forum postings, software releases, weather conditions, stock quotes, bid prices, etc. Using search patterns and message templates the program retrieves specific portions of Web pages and presents them in a compact, accessible way. There is also a time synchronisation function.

Web link: www.watznew.com

Free

AceFTP is an excellent FTP client that is easy to use. The program has powerful features and puts in a good turn of speed. Make server-to-server file transfers, open several FTP sites easily, execute multiple file transfers concurrently, preview files with the integrated viewer, resume broken transfers and monitor transfers graphically with the Transfer Rate Viewer.

Web link: www.visicommedia.com

Trial version

Web Protector helps protect your Web Pages from plagiarism. The program takes Web page content, including HTML, JavaScript and VBScript, and encrypts it so that attempting to view the source code displays a meaningless stream of text. Six levels of encryption are offered ranging from weak to high, although higher encryption levels can create up to 50 per cent larger file sizes. Compression can be applied before encryption, reducing the overall size.

Along with protecting code, Web Protector can disable the right-click mouse option, the image toolbar (IE 6), Smart Tags (IE 6), prevent links displaying in status bar and block offline use. Web Protector works with all JavaScript compatible browsers, including IE, Netscape and Opera.

Web link: www.protecthtml.com

30-day trial version

Mass Downloader helps you download files from Web and FTP sites at the maximum available speed. Multiple download channels significantly decrease the time taken to download files. MD also allows you to browse Zip archives and to choose only the desired files to download.

Web link: www.metaproducts.com

30-day trial version

FTP Navigator is just that – it allows you to carry out actions on files and folders on remote and local systems, including upload and download, copy, move, delete and rename. You can synchronise directories on local and remote computers. The program is compatible with virtually all types of servers and there are various customisation options.

Web link: www.internet-soft.com

Free – new version

Aladdin's Stuffit Expander gives you an easy way to expand most compressed or encoded files including those downloaded from online services and the Internet. The program handles Mac and Windows archive files.

Note: StuffIt Expander is a free component of StuffIt 7.5. This means that you will also have the opportunity to install an unregistered trial version of StuffIt Standard Edition, as well as unregistered shareware versions of DropStuff and StuffIt Browser.

Web link: www.stuffit.com

New 30-day evaluation version

Web Link Validator is a utility for checking remote and local links and can generate a detailed error report for any bad link, for example case errors, availability errors and missing pages. The program can check over 100,000 links during one session and save all the retrieved information to a file to be viewed and analysed later. It also supports importing and checking of plain text URL lists, Microsoft Internet Explorer Favorites, Netscape Navigator Bookmarks and Opera Hotlist.

The slick interface makes using the program easy – simply enter a URL and the program does all the work. The comprehensive reports it generates are broken down into good and bad internal and external links, HTML tags used, protocols used, filename extensions, file groups (such as videos, sound, graphics etc.), and a directory tree. This update includes some improvements, additions and bug fixes.

Web link: www.relsoftware.com

30-day trial version

Use ZoneAlarm Pro to shield your Internet-connected PC or network from hacker attacks – the program protects against worms, Trojans, spyware and other malicious threats. It blocks unauthorised connections, pre-empting known and unknown attacks and provides email protection against 46 suspect file types. Users of 'always-on' broadband connections should seriously consider a tool like ZoneAlarm Pro.

Web link: www.zonelabs.com

Free – updated version

This version includes an important fix for a potential security problem involving cross-site scripting. Also the zlib code is updated to version 1.1.4 and there are several other enhancements.

Analog is a statistics program to measure the usage on your Web server (or Web site). It can show you which pages are most popular, which countries people are visiting from, which sites they tried to follow broken links from, and all sorts of other useful information. Analog can read all standard log formats and can handle large log files very quickly.

Note: Analog is ready to run and does not require installation – to use it, simply copy the folder as above to your hard drive and run the file analog.exe from there.

Web link: www.analog.cx

WinZip
v6.3
(Win 3.x)
Evaluation version

At last, after extensive beta testing, it's time to upgrade to the latest Windows 9x/NT/Me/2000/XP version of WinZip. WinZip is an excellent archive file manager, handling ZIP and other compression formats, including many common on the Internet, such as TAR, BinHex, UUencode and MIME. Features handy integration with Windows explorer.

A key addition to this version is compatibility with Windows XP. There are also major enhancements to the integration of WinZip into Windows Explorer, with many new functions and options in the context menu. You should generally find the handling of your ZIP files easier than before. There are various cosmetic changes and improvements to the program and its help files.

Web link: www.winzip.com

Free for non-commercial use

WS_FTP LE (Limited Edition) is the cut-down version of WS_FTP Pro. It still gives you the most important file transfer functions: you can transfer files between a local PC and another remote computer system connected via a modem or by a local-area network; browse through directories and files, and transfer files between the two systems; create, change, and remove directories and view, execute, rename, or delete files; the program can also resume interrupted file transfers.

Web link: www.ipswitch.com

Free

View all those PDF documents found around the Internet and elsewhere. Acrobat Reader is a standalone program and browser plug-in that lets you view and print Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. PDF files are useful for distributing documents that will always look the same, regardless of the platform and operating system they are viewed on.

Version 5 now includes many new features including the ability to save PDF files downloaded to your browser, drag-and-drop toolbar icons, dynamic thumbnail generation, improved access to Web-hosted applications and online services, improved support for the visually impaired, better display of text on LCD screens using Adobe CoolType technology, and support for Adobe Illustrator 9.0 graphics that contain transparency. This latest version also lets you download Asian font packs so you can view PDF files that contain Chinese, Japanese and Korean fonts.

Web link: www.adobe.com

Mac OS

NOTE: The Mac programs are mostly in archived 'HQX' (BinHex) files – they can be extracted with several applications, including Stuffit Expander (see below). Clicking on the links below should set the process in motion. You may receive a message that the file cannot be loaded into Simple Text — if so, start Stuffit and then open the HQX file you want from within Stuffit.

Web link: www.aladdinsys.com

iGetter
v1.8
(OS 7.5.3+)
Shareware

iGetter is a handy download manager that can resume interrupted downloads, download files in multiple segments to speed up the process, and schedule downloads for low traffic periods. The program features browser integration, queue filtering by various criteria, file mirrors support for additional acceleration, cookies support, and auto-shutdown when downloads are complete. This latest version features a new speed limit function, which allows you to download files with iGetter and still use your Web browser without significant loss of performance.

Web link: www.igetter.net

Trial version

SubmitWolf MAC is an easy to use Web site promotion tool that automates the process of getting your Web site listed on the Internet. It has a huge database of search engines, link lists and business directories.

The number of search engines is limited in this trial version.

Web link: www.trellian.com

New version – shareware

Speed Download has gone through a number of updates this year, incorporating numerous changes, improvements and fixes. The program lets you use multiple simultaneous connections to perform downloads, working with Internet Explorer, Netscape and Opera. Open up to 32 simultaneous connections per file. All downloads are resumable and a queue system that supports schedules and scripting allows for efficient use of online time.

Speed Download is ready for Mac OS X and has multi-processor optimisations when running under OS 9 or higher. It doesn't install system extensions, control panels or other gadgets, but just brings speed and performance.

This latest version brings improvements to performance and compatibility. There have also been bug fixes and other enhancements.

Note: this unregistered version supports only two simultaneous downloads. The program is intended for use with broadband Internet connections.

Web link: www.yazsoft.com

New version – free

Captain FTP is a full-featured FTP client for OS X. It has all the tools you'd expect from an FTP client including unlimited simultaneous connections to different servers, file and folder transfer and an address book that stores all your FTP session parameters. The two-paned Aqua interface is easy to use and functions like any Finder window. You can drag and drop files from a local folder to a remote server, or double click files to initiate transfers. If you want to check the contents of a local file, you can double click on it while pressing the option key and open it.

Other features allow you to specify connection ports, firewall and proxy support, file manager functions such as renaming, creating and deleting directories, folder searching and more. New in this version: set permissions for local and remote files and folders; user defined file browser look; optional keep-alive connection; support for Unicode FTP servers; and more, plus bug fixes.

Web link: http://captainftp.xdsnet.de

Free – latest version

Requires CarbonLib if on a system earlier than OS X.

Analog analyses your Web site log files, giving you vital statistics on visitors' usage of your site. It understands MacHTTP, WebStar, WebCenter and NetPresenz log formats. It also understands the common log file format, NCSA old-style and the NCSA/Apache auxiliary and combination.

See also Analog Helper below.

Web link: www.summary.net/soft/analog.html

Analog Helper
v1.5.1
(OS 7+)
New version – shareware

Analog Helper is a graphical configuration tool for use with Analog, a free program that analyses the logfiles from your Web server. (You will find the latest version of Analog above.) Analog Helper lets you control and preview the results of hundreds of settings, and means you need not touch the complex syntax of Analog's configuration files.

This version adds support for the LaTeX output format and includes several other minor fixes and improvements.

Web link: www.sigsoftware.com

15-day trial – recently updated

Fetch is an FTP client that makes file transfer and management easy. Move files around and set permissions to directories and files with simple mouse actions. It includes integration with BBEdit, Graphic Converter and QuickTime, and supports server-to-server transfers. This version includes numerous bug fixes and new features such as support for long filenames.

Web link: http://fetchsoftworks.com

15-day trial version

Use MacSFTP to transfer files over TCP/IP using the Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) subset of the Secure Shell Protocols (SSH). SFTP is the replacement for the old and insecure File Transfer Protocol (FTP), with the addition of strong Encryption/Authentication.

Web link: http://pro.wanadoo.fr/chombier

Free

View all those Acrobat format (PDF) documents found around the Internet and elsewhere. A plug-in for Netscape Navigator is included and automatically installed. For the latest version 5 you will have to go to the Adobe Web site to perform an online installation.

Web link: www.adobe.com