Scan & Fix 50 registry issues FREEActivePresenter User Reviews
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"Best of the free."
Version: ActivePresenter 3.7.2
Pros
I tried several free screen recorders and in terms of features and reliability, this is by far the best. Others have a much simpler interface, but also extremely limited features. I really like how straightforward the download info is, no gimmicks, no 'trial' ware, no bloatware, no other 'come ons', no nothing, just a great piece of software. ( I did a direct download from c-net but not using the c-net dwnloader). The options on this are enormous and you need to study a bit to get the full use of it, I don't mind. There are simplified instructions online.
Cons
Could be simpler to use but is a great offer for a free product.
Summary
The best of the free I've used.
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"Great - If it Actually Worked"
Version: ActivePresenter 3.7.2
Pros
Good feature set
Typical movie/screencasting UI
Free version features adequate for simple projectsCons
Frequent crashes (save often!)
Poor UI implementation
Feature set lacks finishing touches
Ultimately frustrating to useSummary
Hey, it's free. That is the best that can be said for this product. If I had to pay for it, I would be looking elsewhere. Atomi Systems obviously wants to hook you on the free version, then get you to pay for an upgrade - a valid marketing strategy, especially seeing that the free version is adequate for simple projects. But the free version, which simply unlocks (no re-install) to get the upgraded features, is a poor ambassador for selling the product.
It crashes often, sometimes on start-up. No other comments on this issue are necessary. Atomi needs to clean up their code.
Before starting, you need to select a capture profile. There are several pre-made profiles, and you can also create your own based on the pre-made templates. Unfortunately, the options are confusing and poorly described in the documentation. Some of the options, such as audible mouse clicks, are grayed out in some profiles, with no obvious reason as to why. Again, the documentation is of little help.
The mouse click option comes in for special scorn. This is supposed to create an audible mouse click in the soundtrack when you click the mouse to make it obvious to your viewer that a click has occurred. Unfortunately, this option simply doesn't work. I had to add mouse clicks to every slide by hand. (At least the option was there to do this, but it was tedious and should not have been necessary.)
The UI is typical and familiar for audio-video software. That said, the UI will frustrate you. Most items can be dragged and fully adjusted in the time window, but some critical items cannot. One of those critical items is the speed and duration of mouse cursor movement Such items are adjustable only by selecting the item in the time window, then entering the time desired (in milliseconds) using the properties window for that item. Gets the job done, but why can't it be done with the mouse like everything else? Needs work.
There are nice spotlight and highlight features, but again these will frustrate you rather than bring a smile to your face. The highlight can fade in and fade out. On the other hand, the spotlight, which is a far more dramatic effect, has no fade option. That makes this effect too jarring to use.
In the support forums, many people complain that full motion video capture has poor synchronization between audio and video. I can confirm that problem. I also encountered issues in full motion recording (FMR) mode with having my voice narration and computer sounds drop out momentarily or cut off completely near the time of mouse clicks (which helpfully break the project into editable chunks). Atomi's repeated answer is that your computer isn't powerful enough. If a core i7 can't do it, what can? I wound up recording my project in Auto-FMR mode, which is essentially a series of non-motion screen shots combined with mouse cursor animation.
This would be a great product if it worked well. Unfortunately, the frequent crashes and poor UI implementation make this a poor choice. It also suffers from poor documentation. The manual is pretty enough, with nice graphics and obviously produced at great expense. Unfortunately, it is poorly written and lacks critical specific information.
As an aside, the glowing review by the CNET editor is a joke. They obviously didn't try to use the product at all or they would have run into all of these problems, none of which are mentioned in the review. I take all CNET reviews with a heavy dose of salt for that reason.
If you absolutely have to do your project on the cheap, you can get it done with ActivePresenter. However, if you value your time, look elsewhere. -
"I have not attempted to use it."
Version: ActivePresenter 3.7.2
Pros
looks like the culmination of a lot of effort to accomplish this.
Cons
this turns out to be something other than I was looking for.
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"Adware/Spyware plus program didn't work"
Version: ActivePresenter 3.7.2
Pros
None that I saw
Cons
Adware/Spyware
Didn't workSummary
As soon as I started downloading this program using CNET's installer, both my browsers (Chrome and Chromium) started crashing for no apparent reason. Whenever I tried to restart my browser, it would crash again after a few moments.
As soon as the download completed, my browser started up with the spyware's welcome screen.
I finished installing ActivePresenter, started it up, chose my recording directory and the program crashed. Couldn't get it to start up again.
Uninstalled - all 3 (2 spyware). -
"Don't look anywhere else for a screen recorder."
Version: ActivePresenter 3.7.2
Pros
Heavy weight application, with editing options, multiple slides projects etc. And all is clear - I didn't have to read any manuals.
Cons
Didn't find any yet.
Summary
And it's free. really.
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"Fantastic for a free application!"
Version: ActivePresenter 3.7.2
Pros
Easy to get right into and start recording / editing. Controls were intuitive enough.
Video quality was stellar. No skips, high quality...
I didn't test every feature and only made one video but for a FREE program, how could you not love this?Cons
So far none!
Summary
If you're looking to record your screen, narrate what you're doing, perhaps make it interactive, and share the actions being performed on your computer - you can NOT go wrong with this application. I liken it to Screenflow (MAC) but the huge difference is the price. Free is good.
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"Excellent screencasting tool."
Version: ActivePresenter 3.7.2
Pros
Free version is more powerful than many other paid programs.
Very easy to use.Cons
Program hanged on me a couple of times.
Summary
Excellent program , specially since you can do a lot of things with the free version.
Results 1-7 of 7
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