The
SHAREWARE LIBRARY
| Software for Writers | Software for Business | Software for Home and Special Interest |
Shareware order form
Way Ahead has selected some of the very best PC Shareware titles for writers, small businesses and home and special interest users.
Most are Windows programs, but several DOS titles have been included on account of their ability to fulfil certain needs and their proven general excellence. Titles run under Microsoft Windows unless indicated with a *DOS* prefix.Charges for the supply of titles are as follows:- 1-3 titles: £7.50 per title
- 4-6 titles: £7.00 per title
- 6-8 titles: £6.00 per title
- 8+ titles: £5.00 per title
The above charges include postage and packaging to a UK address. Overseas customers, please add £1.50 per order.
Shareware is try-before-you-buy software. That is, if you wish to continue using it after a trial period (usually 30 days) you are expected to register the program with the author. Full details of how to do this are included on the disk(s).
PLEASE PLAY FAIR WITH SHAREWARE: The cost of registration is generally exceptionally low, and for your modest investment you usually receive the very latest version of the program, a printed manual and details of any future upgrades.
Software for Writers
Brainstorming/Ideas Generation
*DOS* Babble! is an automatic writing program which analyses samples of text for style and content, and then generates a steady stream of nonsensical prose. Mix Shakespeare and Harold Robbins (or import your own writings); apply special effects like stutter and subliminal. Text is controlled on-the-fly using Babble!’s unique "text mixing studio" control panel, and changes appear instantly. By mixing up words and ideas, and by finding connections between things which are not obvious on a straight reading of the text, Babble! is useful both as a writer’s tool and as an ideas generator for brainstorming sessions.Infomap Lite brings the power of "Mind Maps" (Tony Buzan’s brainstorming & ideas creation vehicle) to the graphical PC environment, and extends the utility by combining the graphical interface to produce a tool which helps you collect, visualise, organise and present information. Gives added control and visibility over writing or other projects, meetings, ideas, action plans, to do lists and much more.
Paramind for Windows is a creativity aid which works by merging words from a "Word Category" database into sentences that you enter into the program via a simple word processor interface. Your ideas are expanded by copying them and changing each copy slightly by replacing old words with new words. Word category databases are related word chains, such as colours, speeds, descriptions etc, and can be created and expanded by the user.
Desktop Publishing
*DOS* Envision Publisher runs in its own graphical environment under DOS. It is a true WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) desktop publishing program which allows you to design your documents in a visual, interactive fashion: what you see on the screen is exactly what will be printed. Features easy-to-use, mouse-controlled graphical user interface; context-sensitive help; scaleable fonts capable of displaying and printing from 4pt to 144pt; full control over text blocks and columns, line leading and justification and character kerning; drawing tools for lines, rectangles, circles, ellipses, polygons, polylines and curves in a variety of fill patterns, styles and colours; PCX bitmap file import and text file import from popular word processors; style sheets, master pages and page numbering. Will work on any graphic display and print to 9 or 24 pin dot matrix, laser, inkjet or postscript printers. During printing, output may be collated, reversed, scaled or sent to a disk file.PagePlus Intro is a single page desktop publishing system for Windows 3.1 based on the popular retail DTP system PagePlus 2.0. Features text and graphics rotation, powerful typographical control and drawing tools, Hypergraphics Help, full frame based text flow, document templates and full support for Windows fonts including TrueType.
TrueType Fonts 1 includes TTINSTAL v2.00 font installer/previewer plus a selection of fonts. These include Amelia, Andes, Andes Bold, Antique, Ariston, Ashley, Athletic, Baskerville, Bauhaus, Becker, Beeswax, Benguiat, BlackAdder, Black Forest, Blippo, Bodacious, BoDiddly, Bodoni, Boldface and Brushscript.
Electronic Books
*DOS* Robert Carter’s Armada is an electronic version of his recent historical adventure novel set in the 16th century and follows the fortunes of Captain-General John Hawkins, John and Richard Tavistock, merchant seamen during the Anglo-Spanish conflicts of that time, together with the political intrigues of the Elizabethan era.*DOS* Talwar is an epic historical novel by Robert Carter in the tradition of "Shogun", supplied in hypertext format; the first time a major popular novel has been offered on disk at the same time as it appears in print. A story of love and war set in mid-18th century southern India during the Anglo-French war and the conflict between the trading ports of Madras and Pondicherry. Hayden Flint and his father Stratford challenge the supremacy of the East India Company, but their own personal battles will jeopardise the whole future of the British in India.
*DOS* Shakespearean Plays covers twelve of Shakespeare’s plays and allows the use of arrow keys on a menu to select which act and scene to be viewed. Each program contains a glossary, and words in the glossary are highlighted in the main text. Disk 1 contains A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet; Disk 2 covers As You Like It and The Taming of the Shrew; Disk 3 contains Julius Caesar and King Lear; Disk 4 Othello and The Merchant of Venice; Disk 5 Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth; Disk 6 Twelfth Night and Anthony and Cleopatra. Each disk counts as one title.
*ASCII Text for use in Windows or DOS word processors* Horror Classics includes Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Supplied as plain ASCII text files which can be read by any word processor or text reader.
Genealogy/Royal Ancestry
Kith and Kin for Windows is a genealogy program featuring an easy to use graphical user interface and powerful multi level editing tools making it ideal for large or small family trees. Supports dates and places of birth, marriages and deaths as well as multiple marriages and aliases for each person. Complete user control over formatting and extent of several printed reports including tree graphic, family unit details and index to names. Supports TrueType fonts and colour printing, and features GEDCOM file support.*DOS* Monarchs provides information about kings and queens of England from 827 AD to the present time. As well as dates of their rule the program also provides information about their major achievements and notable events during their reign such as wars and battles plus details of birth and death. Monarchs may be selected by name or year of reign Facilities are also provided to print out the information. Also includes a quiz about the monarchs and a top ten score table is saved on disk.
Graphics
Top Draw is a paint program for Windows 3.1 able to read and write Windows WMF, BMP or PCX format files. Features include user-modifiable Shape Palette, user definable pens and line endings, calligraphic and rotating pens, the ability to define both a fill and a texture style for an object, and the ability to cut and paste any drawing into virtually any program that supports WMF graphics. Complete hypertext help is provided in addition to command descriptions and selected object systems on the status line. Comprehensive multi-level undo and redo is provided.Multimedia Authoring/Utilities
Showstopper is a Multimedia development and presentation system for Windows 3.1. Using simple templates, you can develop training applications in minutes featuring 256 colour graphics, scrollable text and WAV sound clips. Also features Q&A for training apps.E-Media is a "book on a disk" development tool for Windows. It can display scrolling text Windows, show a BMP graphic, play a video clip, print text, run a slide show, or run an external application. This can be used to produce sales promotions, electronic resumes, software demos, corporate newsletters and more.
Win Interactive MultiMedia is a multimedia file player for Windows 3.1. It can display full motion video (AVI) files, and has optional audio CD-playing capabilities. Supports common sound and graphics files including WAV, MID, BMP, ICO, WMF, DIB and RLE. Play controls have continuous loop, automatic rewind, and auto-load control functions for files. Load feature has playlist capabilities for easy file browsing. Soundblaster compatible sound card supported. Several sample files are included.
Picture It With Sound allows creation of Multimedia Windows tutorials and presentations like the "Look and Listen" series. Simply substitute your own sound and graphics files for those supplied with the program. Features picture file Autostretch/Shrink. Up to 100 picture and sound files in one show. Needs sound board and microphone to create sound files (plays back through PC speaker), and graphics program able to produce BMP files for pictures.
Softline Brochure is an easy to use multimedia program enabling the production of talking brochures. Associate picture files with your recorded voice or music. Allows up to 100 picture and sound files in one show. Automatically accesses a Windows Write file from within the program for detailed written information (ie product catalogue, pricing, service bulletins, new product announcements etc). The end customer can print out your detailed information within Windows Write. Needs sound board and microphone to produce sound files (but plays back through PC speaker), and a graphics program capable of producing BMP files for pictures.
JASC Media Centre is a Windows program for multimedia file management and manipulation. You an organise your multimedia files into albums of thumbnails, catalogue, search, sort by keyword, comment or file properties. Files can be viewed with a powerful slideshow feature. Prints high quality contact sheets. There is support for 35 file formats, removable disks and CD-ROMs.
Preview is a Windows-based graphics file viewer, general image utility and multimedia player. It features full GIF 87a/89a support and comment viewing, and fully supports TIFF, PCX, TGA, BMP, DIB, WPG and DCX formats. Includes supports for JPEG files and raster support for EPS and Mac PICT files. Multimedia support includes AVI video, WAV audio, MIDI music and FLI/FLC animation files. It includes an AVI frame grab function to import and save AVI frames to other formats. Powerful printing support and file conversion. Images can be sharpened, smoothed, resized, flipped, rotated, dithered and converted to greyscale.
Quickshow Lite for Windows is a multimedia slideshow creator supporting images in all the static bitmapped formats. Allows you to create slideshows almost instantly. Each image can include attached WAV. MID or AVI files for special effects. Special effect transitions between slides are easily implemented.
Personal Organisers
Almanac for Windows is a complete desktop manager comprising calendar, notebook, scheduler and to-do list which can be viewed simultaneously via multiple windows. Notes can be attached to dates, to-do items or appointments. Allows user-defined holidays, birthdays and other special days. Rapid selection of year, month etc. Wide range of printing options.Poetry
*DOS* Poetry Star uses artificial intelligence techniques to maintain an interactive dialogue with the user. In addition to "questions and answers" sessions, Poetry Star can also collaborate in free verse poetry writing, analysing users’ input to generate lines of poetry. Can be used as an interactive poetry tutorial.*Use with Windows or DOS word processors* ASCII Touchstones is a collection of 38 poems in plain text format plus a set of 23 files giving brief notes on the life and principal works of each of the poets concerned. Poets featured include Marlowe, Shakespeare, Donne, Vaughan, Blake, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Keates and Browning. Also supplied paginated and margined in a single volume ready for printing. Ideal for students of English Literature or anyone interested in classic poetry.
Specialist Databases/Cataloguing Systems
Jeepers for Windows is a bibliographic database management system for writers and scientists. Takes advantage of Windows MDI and DDE features to allow multiple files open at the same time and can send formatted bibliographies to Word, Ami Pro and WordPerfect for Windows automatically. References consist of title, authors, journal or book title, pages, volume, year, type (journal, book or abstract), editor, publisher and keywords.Librarius is a Windows 3.1 cataloguing system for printed and audio-visual material. Allows many different types of media to be catalogued using the same window; items are indexed as they are catalogued, making them instantly available for searching; searching includes word, word beginning, date and Boolean methods; statistical information presented in a wide range of graph types. Uses paradox format files for easy export to other applications. Shareware version limited to 300 titles.
On This Day (*DOS*) and On This Day for Windows (both versions included) are event database printing programs. When given a date in which the user is interested, OTD reads a group of databases then formats and prints the data for the specified date. These databases are simple text files which can changed and added to as required with a text editor or word processor. Handles dates in Gregorian, Hebrew, Islamic and Julian calendars. Can accept dates like "the last Monday in May" for holidays with a variable date. Also calculates phases of the moon, solstices and equinoxes, and flags lunar eclipses. Comes with a collection of data ready to use.
Dear Diary lets you journal your day to day thoughts and activities in Windows 3.1. You can store up to 64,000 characters of notes per day. Data is stored using MS-Access 2.0 format, enabling users to create their own ad-hoc queries and reports. Requires VBRUN300.DLL (supplied).
Word Games/Quotations
Wisdom of the Ages for Windows is an electronic book of quotes, sayings and ideas. It contains 6,561 carefully selected thoughts from over 1,000 of history’s greatest European, American and Asian minds. Features include a handy toolbar interface, colourful iconic subject menus, word searching capabilities, custom fonts and text colours, subject finder, and more. You can also add, edit and delete entries.Men on Women/Women on Men is a database of approximately 900 quotes, quips, cracks and witticisms. 500 different authors throughout history are quoted on Men, Women, Sexes, Husbands, Wives and Love. Includes browser, filters, word search, seven indexes, twelve output formats, context sensitive help and various tools and options to customise print, disk write, and screen characteristics.
*DOS* The Last Word is a quotations based trivia game for one to four players competing against each other and their own high scores identifying the sources of quotations and completing partial quotes. Most answers are entered free form and are matched with a sophisticated pattern matching algorithm. Quotes are sourced from literature, politics, social commentary, etc. Supports Ad-lib soundboard if available. Will also run under Windows.
Windows Word Search Rampage is a word search puzzle creator and solver supplied with over 100 categorised puzzles which can be played on the computer or printed out. Option timer, hint mode, highlight mode, grid, upper/lower case and sound. Variable complexity levels of created puzzles, plus options for no diagonal words, or increasing numbers of diagonals also available.
Hangman for Windows is an excellent implementation of the classic word game, featuring a high score table, five levels of difficulty, a choice of keyboard layouts and word lengths, an option to play against the clock, and a dictionary of 3,500 words.
Word Processing
WordExpress is a fully featured Windows word processor which combines first class word processing features with a range of desktop publishing capabilities. Features a true WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) display. This program has been favourably compared with the likes of Word for Windows, WordPerfect and Ami Pro/Word Pro. Tables and pictures can be embedded into documents, there are full search and replace facilities, and you can create newspaper style columns for all or just a part of a document. Other features include headers and footers, borders and shades, user-defined tab stops, bullets, numbered lists, envelope printing, mail merge and spelling checker.Software for Businesses
Business Card Design
Rockford is a business card design and printing program for Windows 3.1 able to use TrueType and ATM fonts, BMP or PCX bitmap graphics in up to 256 colours in a WYSIWYG environment. Features text rotation, image resizing, line drawing , print single, multiple or sheets of cards, special foreign character support, colour printing and much more.Business Simulation
Strategic Business Simulator is a Windows-based management decision-making game which can be used in conjunction with accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing courses. Participants divide into decision teams consisting of three or more individuals who take control of a firm and make periodic high-level decisions choosing output levels, price, advertising expenditures etc. The computer then simulates the business activity of each firm and prepares reports showing the results during each quarter.Contact Management
Contact! for Windows is a general purpose contact manager with address list, diary, to-do list and a journal for taking notes. Also features an auto-dialler, a powerful query utility, label/page printing, fast search facility, secure password protection and multiple contact files. Address data can be imported and exported in ASCII (text) and other formats.Databases
buttonFile is a Windows based personal database manager operating on a cardfile basis. Supplied with 14 pre-defined templates including book library, business contacts, home inventory, mailing lists, music collection, personnel records, recipes, video library etc. These can be easily modified to suit your specific requirements. 100 pre-defined forms supplied for all common labels, cards, envelopes and paper sizes. Handles fields up to 256 characters, records up to 40 fields (including a free form "notes field" of up to 8192 characters).*DOS* PC-File 7 is the latest version of Buttonware’s best-selling database program which now incorporates a new look "graphical" style interface (character mode also available), spelling checker for memo fields and much more. Makes extensive use of a mouse if you have one. Features retained from previous versions include a versatile report writer for fast and easy custom reports, graph line/pie/bar charts and more (Postscript output supported), retrieve data from multiple databases, dBase file compatibility, customise up to five data entry screens with up to 128 fields, telephone dialling and phone log.
Wyndfields Bronze is a powerful relational database system for Windows allowing up to 20 database files to be open at once. Contains all the usual database functions plus use of formulae and calculation functions to create calculated fields, multiple record updating or deleting based on search conditions, mail merge output compatible with WordStar, MS Word, Word for Windows, WordPerfect, and WordPerfect for Windows, and will import dBase files and comma or carriage return delimited ASCII files.
Envelope/Label Printer
PrintEnvelope is a complete Windows mail addressing system with facilities to print envelopes or labels of any size. Can use different fonts for addresses, note text and the return address or use a Windows BMP graphic as the return address. You can type addresses on the fly, paste from other applications, use an address book or import a mail list in Windows Cardfile or ASCII format. Supports laser, dot matrix and Postscript printers and can automatically set orientation and select paper bins.Finance/Accounting Systems
Systematic Finance Applications is a sheet of financial templates for the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program. It provides company accounts and performance ratios analysis, lessor lease evaluation, lease vs. purchase and lease purchase analysis, a finance calculator for solving single and multiple cash flows, net present value calculations, internal rate of return, UK monthly salary statement, and UK personal income tax returns.Money Smith is a double-entry accounting system, financial calculator and investment tracking system for Windows 3.1 with excellent graphing and reporting features. Also supports budgeting, cheque printing, account category grouping, international currency support and automatic recurring transactions.
Smart Accounts for Windows is an integrated package for managing your bank account. Features include automatic posting of regular entries (standing orders, direct debits). Check of cleared and uncleared items with running totals. Forward projection of balance is possible with a "what if?" procedure. All items can be assigned budget codes making possible a full analysis of expenditure.
Flowcharting
Treechart for Windows enables the design of presentation quality organisation charts or other hierarchy charts. Features automatic box sizing, positioning, alignment and routing of connecting lines, outlining features for chart design, print preview and auto scaling, print whole chart or sub-section. Uses TrueType or ATM fonts.Forms Designer
Formpower is a flexible forms processor for Windows 3.x. It features a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface allowing you to create, fill out on screen and print multiple forms. Powerful drawing tools are optimised for forms design and manipulation. Includes a library of sample forms to get you started.Job Applications/CV Manager
*DOS* Job Hunt manages your job searching by recording achievements, work history and education details, using the information to create CVs. A database of “action” words ensures you use the right words in text. CVs can be stored as small text files or in a database, allowing them to be customised for each application. Other databases record contacts, agencies, job applications, interviews and interview questions and answers. Features hypertext help, interview/CV tips, calculator, calendar. Includes mouse support.Management Assessment
Leadership Test for Windows allows you to test yourself or prospective managers and leaders in important skill areas. Tests can contain from 20 to 100 questions and cover communications, motivation, delegation, time management, stress, human relations and more. Complete question and answer quizzes may be printed out.Project Management
Task Planner is an easy to use project management system which graphically displays every task required to complete a project, warns you of delays or stoppages, tracks the cost, who is doing each task and when. At a glance you can look at what needs to be addressed today, this week, month etc.Personal Organisers/Reminder Systems
Time and Chaos is a powerful integrated appointments calendar, to-do list and phone-book/dialler. Appointment calendar provides times from 6.00am to midnight, a 70+ character description line, and numerous repeating options. The to-do portion lets you assign a variety of weights to activities, links to a telephone contact, and has an auto dialler. The telephone book area includes information for both work and home, with several address lines for PO BOX numbers etc. Printed reports include phone-book, address book, to-do list and daily/weekly/monthly calendars in two different sizes.Above and Beyond is an excellent task scheduling appointments management system for Windows. All types of recurring activities need to be entered only once. Also includes a pop-up calendar, alarms and week-at-a-glance. Generates printed schedules for use throughout the day. Can use UK format if desired. Notebook-style text editor for reminders. Also numerous multi-user LAN group productivity features.
Gorin’s Organiser for Windows
complete personal information system features a “month in view” diary using smart icons to mark appointments, calculator, phone dialler, notepad and mini contacts database. More than a straight conversion of the DOS version, it was written from scratch to take advantage of the Windows environment. Includes multimedia voice notes, alarm clock, telephone logging and multi-organiser support.Reminder System contains DOS and Windows versions of a daily reminder program which will alert you to important events before they happen. Excellent calendaring features make it easy to add, modify, view or search your events. Over 20 parameters let you set just when and how you’re notified.
Spreadsheet
As-Easy-As... is a DOS spreadsheet – virtually a full clone of Lotus 1-2-3. It features pop-up or panel menus (user configurable) and powerful charting – Bar, Stacked Bar, Line, XY, Pie, HiLo, Cumulative, Area, Radial, Semi-Log and Log-Log. Intelligent recalculation calculates only cells that are relevant, giving greater speed. More than 100 macro commands and more than 100 functions for maths, statistics, finance, logic, strings and dates, plus user-definable functions. More than 50 pages of on-line help screens.Software for Home and Special Interest
Astrology
Astro 22 Professional Astrology for Windows is an enhanced version of the popular DOS-based astrological program which accurately calculates the position of the planets, cusps and Zodiac positions to within approximately 30 seconds of arc. Designed to meet the needs of anyone interested in astrology regardless of experience. Features textual character profile which may be viewed on screen, printed or saved to a file, and powerful aspect calculating routines displayed in tabulated, graphic or grid modes. Graphic screens can be scaled, copied to the clipboard and pasted into other programs such as Paintbrush, Windows Write or a DTP package.Astro World for Windows is an astrological program allowing the creation of personalised horoscopes. Offers three different house systems. You can include or ignore planetary aspects and there is an option to adjust the orbs for every occurrence. Interpretations incorporate a drawing of the birth chart, a legend with the symbols of the planets and signs of the Zodiac, a tabular representation of all astrological data for a particular horoscope, general astrological remarks, evaluation of the sun, moon and the ascendant, astronomical, archetypal and astrological meanings of the planets. Also provides an entire planetary aspect interpretation.
Gardening
GrowIt For Windows is a gardening program with databases of many hundreds of trees, shrubs, bulbs and plants. It includes plant attributes, requirements, maintenance and more. You can perform a search by common or botanical names and other criteria. Covers buying, planting, making compost, mulching, fertilising, pruning, transplanting, watering and dealing with pests and diseases. Features graphics screens with hints, advice and illustrations of practical tasks.JSSI Garden is a garden management program for Windows which allows you to enter details of flowers, vegetable crops etc and produces a simple graphic display of your garden layout. Allows details to be kept of what you planted, when you planted it, when it sprouted, when it first bloomed (or bore fruit), when you first picked or cut it, and much more.
Lottery
Windows Lotto is a powerful Lottery Analysis program for Windows 3.x featuring a comprehensive set of analysis charts for handicapping lottery numbers. The Quick Pick option picks the best numbers to play. Numbers picked can be used with any of the 24 wheeling systems included. Compatible with all lotteries that pick 5, 6 or 7 numbers inlcuding, of course, our very own National Lottery!Music
Noteworthy for Windows is a music composition and notation processor allowing the creation, playback and printing of your own musical scores. You can also export your compositions to other MIDI applications. Imports and automatically notates songs contained in standard MIDI files.A Musical Tutorial for Windows is an excellent way to encourage musical study in an easy-to-use graphical environment. Treb/Bass note and chord sight reading; associate notes to piano keys; chord dictionary; musical games; play, view and print scales, chords and broken chords; play classics; print sight reading test papers; key signatures.
Guitar Teacher incorporates a guitar tuner accurate to 1/10000th of a cycle per second with a database of 240 chord diagrams, left- or right-handed, which when selected are played through the PC’s speaker. Seven chord formulas (major, major 7, minor, minor 7, 7, suspended 4 and 7, suspended 4). There are six alternatives for each chord, with formula and voicing displayed. DOS and Windows version are included on this disk.
Windows/Typing Tutorials
Sunshine is a Windows based tutorial and reference, covering Windows, DOS and computers in general. Includes hypertext and hypergraphic glossary containing the latest buzzwords from Microsoft, PC magazine, Dr Dobbs Journal and elsewhere. Tutorial sections include “For Absolute Beginners” and “The Visible Window”.Mastermind Typing teaches touch typing in a fast and innovative manner by adapting exactly to the learner. Postpones repetition until you need it, and repeats before you forget. From the learner’s answer history, MasterMind estimates exactly when one will forget a key. Features graphic display of keyboard layout for prompting and demonstration.
