The Official "Underrated Shareware/Freeware Utility&quo

[Scott Baret]

I thought of this topic this morning and will be the first to submit my favorite underrated shareware/freeware utility.

Bomb Shelter was written by Andrew Welch, if I recall. It was a tiny INIT that forced the Mac to display the continue/resume button in a bomb dialog box if at all possible. It ran under System 6 and 7, not sure about earlier or later releases. I've been a fan since 1993 and still use it on my Plus. It's freeware and can be found on Gamba's page. I originally got my copy with a 160GB external LaCie drive--my big seventh birthday present. (LaCie used to give you a ton of shareware and freeware on their drives.)

 

[Patrickool93]

Wow, your family must have been rich to afford such a spacious drive way back when! Why I just paid $73.50 for a 160GB drive...Think of way back when!

I like Virtual Viagra, it makes me laugh (Woah, ho, ho!!!, awwww!)

 

[coius]

virtual stapler anyone?

what about the smiley face that you torture? (blender/laser/flesh eating virus/etc...)

 

[Scott Baret]

Patrick--no, my family was never rich or anything. The reason I got stuff like hard drives is because I didn't really play with toys once I discovered that Apple IIe at 2 and a half. I sometimes call myself "Violator" because I basically violated all the rules of a typical childhood.

By the time I was 7 I rarely played with my model railroad, which was really the only toy I loved. My other "playthings" included art supplies (pencils/crayons/markers), books, and my little "My First Sony" tape player/recorder...my big gift for Christmas in 1990! I also was, and still am, an avid swimmer and spent almost every summer day at the pool. I also played soccer and backyard baseball (I'd later get into basketball and organized baseball as well). Outside of the Mac my favorite toy was my mom's piano.

Instead of buying me a new Ninja Turtle (something I always despised) or dump truck or Batman every month or so I'd go months and only get a box of crayons and a pack of pencils, maybe some new swimming goggles or a tape. With the Mac, sports, and music I really didn't need much. Then whenever birthdays or Christmas hit, the money that would have been used on a "normal" child's toys was saved up to buy stuff from MY toy store...Egghead Software. I didn't get a ton of presents but the ones I did get were usually Mac related or something I would find useful--aside from that hard drive I also got my electronic pencil sharpener for my seventh birthday--and I still have both the drive and the sharpener, both in good shape 14 years later!

Anyway, I thought of another great little program to add to this list--Label Secrets. It came with Mac Secrets and would change the label names on your System 7 label menu to read a tip out of the book--sort of like a "tip of the day". It was written by David Pogue and Joe Schorr (the authors of the book) if I recall.

 

[Patrickool93]

The reason I said that was because you said 160gb drive I'd think you meant 160MBs. Thats basically the same as me. I swim, like baseball, and didn;t play with "toys" eg, Action Figures (dolls )

 

[Scott Baret]

Oops, I did say GB! Yes, I meant MB. A 160GB drive in 1993 would have been amazing (and amazingly expensive). To think nowadays 160MB is absolutely nothing and 160GB is also getting far too small!