Desktop Ticker for Windows

Desktop Ticker is a free scrolling RSS feed display that you can place anywhere on the desktop for an unobtrusive yet instantly accessible and highly customizable news crawl. It's easy to use yet offers lots of options. It can follow news, stocks, and pretty much any other feed you can subscribe to.

The small dock-style interface resembles a traditional ticker tape, featuring small directional arrows at either end for effortlessly scrolling forward and backward. On the right side, there’s an icon to minimize the display or close the program. The left-side menu consists of three primary entries: File for managing and reloading feeds while providing the option to save settings as a User Profile, Tools for adjusting the dock's position, speed, and opacity, and Help, which links to a web-based User's Guide.

The compact Feed Manager allows users to select their feeds, adjust the order of feeds in the list, delete unnecessary ones, and add new feeds by pasting URLs. 

Users can also edit stock symbols for stock feeds, which enhances the app’s utility for finance enthusiasts. By default, the ticker can float anywhere on the desktop, but it also offers the option to fix it to the top or bottom of the screen for a more traditional ticker experience.

The Opacity control allows users to adjust transparency levels, while the Speed control can be easily adjusted to make the scrolling faster or slower, ensuring that the display suits individual preferences. Changes are automatically saved under the User Profile, making it simple to maintain a personalized setup.

While Desktop Ticker is not the only scrolling RSS freeware available, it stands out for its extensive customization options. Users can change color schemes to keep the display visually engaging, which is particularly beneficial for those who spend extended periods looking at their desktops. 

This feature contrasts with other apps like RSSOwl, which, while also robust in functionality, lacks the seamless integration into the desktop environment that Desktop Ticker offers. RSSOwl provides a more traditional interface for managing feeds and doesn’t provide the same real-time visual accessibility that Desktop Ticker excels in.

With its rich feature set and high degree of customization, Desktop Ticker provides an effective solution for those looking to stay updated with minimal disruption. The ease of use combined with advanced features makes it a top contender in the of RSS feed display applications, ensuring users are never far from the latest information they care about.

• Font can now be changed
• Added support for Windows 10 virtual desktops
• Added support for TLS 1.2 servers
• Added support for HTTP compression
• Added option to show icon in the notification area
• Taskbar icon can now be completely disabled
• Corrected link URL for Atom feeds
• Atom feeds can now be set to use either updated time or published time (useful for YouTube feeds)
• Ticker can be stopped from scrolling (speed 0)
• Startup feed error window can be disabled, and is by default
• The feed list can now be sorted
• Feed tooltips can now be disabled
• Added delay to feed loading when PC is resuming from sleep to allow network to connect
• Clicking on a feed item with the middle button will now hide it
• Changed menu button icon
• Maximum font size increased to 96
• Yahoo stocks feed removed