Leftover Ten

Ten Things That Didn't Make Other Ten Lists

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads for viruses and other bugs before you dump them on your hard drive.

1. The freeware starter version of ArtRage enables you to paint with natural tools in a creative environment, and "allows unlimited loading, saving, and printing of your paintings" (OS: Win 2000/XP/Vista)

2. So your protagonist has some sort of futuristic weapon in his hand, and phaser is taken, so you're going to call it a . . . ? No worries, just head over to Seventh Sanctum and get a name for it from the fabulous and funny Firearms Generator. If you need something for your protag to fire at, try the Techno-Fantasy Monster Generator.

3. I can't tell if this is freeware, shareware, guiltware or payware, but I know a few people who could really use Good Idea Generator software (OS: ?)

4. Draw freely with Inkscape, "an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format" (OS: OS: Win 9x/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3; Mac OS X, Linux*)

5. Modjex Coaxer shareware "encourages a writer to write for a sustained period of time. If they stop typing, Coaxer will prompt them with a low humming sound while offering constructive writing suggestions." (This sounds like a nicer, virtual version of my mom.) "This stream of consciousness approach keeps the writer productive, helping them to generate a large body of work from which to condense more polished texts. Users can enter and use their own suggestions" (OS: Win95, 98, 2000, ME, NT 4.x, XP)

6. PageFour shareware is "a tabbed word processor and outliner for creative writers. Where other word processors were designed with the business user in mind, PageFour aims to meet the needs of a different class of writer. It does not improve your prose or make you a better writer - only you can do that, but PageFour does make your job just that little bit easier" (OS: Windows 98, 2000, 2003, ME, NT 4.x, XP)

7. Pin Notesis "a simple, but effective sticky note program. Allowing full control and rich text support, each sticky note that is generated can be saved, customised (including transparency, window position, etc) and re-opened when the program is opened again" (OS: Win ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista)

8. For help with furnishing your interior scenes, Sweet Home 3D is "a free interior design application that helps you placing your furniture on a house 2D plan, with a 3D preview"; available in English and French (OS: Windows, Mac OS X 10.4, Solaris and Linux)

9. TinyBooks is "an easy-to-use, non-bloated, single-entry accounting and bookkeeping system for the Macintosh. Designed for Sole Proprietors, and small businesses, TinyBooks can also be used to help with the family finances" (OS: Mac OS X)

10. If you need "an Open Source visual text file differencing and merging tool for Win32 platforms, highly useful for determing what has changed between project versions, and then merging changes between versions", give WinMerge a whirl (OS: Win 9x/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3)

*Thanks to Solidus for the OS tip