A Note from the Webmaster

Thanks for buying the December 1996 edition of the Windows95.com 32-bit Shareware Collection on CD-ROM! Since early 1995, Windows95.com has been bringing the Internet the best in Windows 95 information, tools, and especially shareware. In fact, our 32-bit shareware collection is the most visited Windows 95 shareware collection in the world - and it's all because users know that when they visit the site they can get the latest 32-bit shareware quickly, all in one place. That's why I wanted to offer our users the Best of Windows95.com 32-bit Shareware Collection on CD. These discs will help you get the latest and greatest 32-bit shareware quickly and easily. Anyone who visits Windows95.com with any frequency knows that the shareware collection is kept up-to-date. A daily update of a CD is a bit impractical, but look for an updated version of the CD to be available every three months.

This collection is presented in a way that will be familiar to Windows95.com visitors. In fact, we used slightly modified versions of the Web pages to create these CDs. Most of the links on the CDs are "local" - meaning that they point to files on the discs. However, due to copyright and distibution limitations, we are forced to present some of the files' links as "remote" links - meaning that they point to a download location or home page location on the Internet. Clicking on these links will cause your computer to establish an Internet connection and attempt to download the file. This may seem inconvenient to some, but it sure beats getting dragged into court by some software company that won't allow us to distribute their stuff on CD. If your favorite app is among these remote links, please contact the vendor and urge them to let us distribute their program. Some other "remote" links on the CD will allow to you connect to the the Windows95.com Home Page and the Newest Shareware page on the Internet (that's for all you impatient users who lose sleep waiting for the next CD update).

We've included Microsoft Internet Explorer to distribute the files on this collection - but you can view the pages with any Web browser. Simply click on the icons to "download" the files from the disc. If you have a ZIP program installed in Windows 95 (you can get one from the Compression Utilities Page on Disc 2), then the Internet Explorer will send the file to that program so you can extract and run the "downloaded" file.

Since this CD is primarily made up of shareware, there are a few things you should know about this form of software distribution. First of all, just because you paid for this CD set doesn't mean that you can use all of the software collected here indefinately. Most shareware programs have a trial period, after which you are expected to pay a registration fee to the author of the program if you decide to continue using it. Please support the authors of the programs by registering, which will help them continue to bring you creative, useful software.

You may notice that some of the shareware on this CD "expires" after a certain number of days - perhaps 15 or 30. When you install these programs, they start counting from the day you install them, and then may stop working after the trial period unless you register them with the author. Other programs may have "hard-coded" expiration dates. These types of programs are particulary frustrating, as they expire on a certain date, no matter what. That means if the day you decide to install it happens to be later than the day on which they expire, the program is useless. I urge you to contact the vendors of these shareware programs (please don't contact us - we don't write the programs and can do nothing about it) and ask them to use the true trial-period method, rather than forcing the program to expire on a given date. This makes sure that you get a chance to try out all of the software on this CD.

My thanks go to all who've helped me create this collection, all those who help keep the site up-to-date, and all the users who visit the pages and keep us informed of updates and new releases. Special thanks to: "Grab-Meister" Joel Goldberger, Kim Goldberger, and the rest of the InfoMagic crew for having the patience to put up with me again to publish this collection, Matt Molen for helping to keep the online 32-bit Shareware Collection fresh daily, "Hairdog" for maintaining our online Drivers Collection, Jack Jenkins for attracting advertisers to keep the site online, Brian and Davis for their excitement of the Windows shareware market (and for not taking all my money at our monthly card games), to my wife Kay-dawn for letting me stay up late to play with my computer, and all the Web surfers who keep hitting the Web site. But most of all, my thanks go to YOU for buying this CD, which will ensure that Windows95.com keeps bringing you the best in 32-bit shareware.

See you on the 'Net,

Steve Jenkins
Webmaster, Windows95.com

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