Annoying things in free screen recorders and the best tool

Recording computer screen in Windows FREE?

Working with computer monitor is probably one of the tasks that you do almost every day. Some moment, you will need to record activities on the computer screen for a specific purpose such as: create training videos, product demonstration videos, software simulations or cooperative eLearning courses. That is what so-called a screencast. Whether you agree with our definition or not, you still have to admit that recording computer screen is the first step in creating a screencast. That’s what we are talking about in this article.

What to look for in a free screen recorder?

The follow features are just exactly what you need in a free screen recorder, not “the best one”: recording your computer screen in full or part of it, making screenshot, capture computer’s screen during the process and the save the videos in a watchable format. These are most common functions that any free screen recorder has. In fact, there are much more things to consider beside above simple things:

1. Customized pre-recording settings

Capture Area – Setting up your desire recording area or full screen.
Screen resolution – Depend on the tool, you will have wide range of choices here. At least, you will need very basic resolution such as 400×300, 800×600 or 1600×900. It would be great if you have 720p HD or 1080p Full HD feature.
Audio input – Give you possibility to choose external device (a microphone) or none.
Video format – Choosing desire file types as well as video quality.
Storage location – Allow you to select correct place to store your videos/ project.
Mouse cursor record: It is also common that you can set up to record mouse cursor or not.
Hot key setting: Basically you only need to have functional key to Start/ stop the program. It should be enough.

2. Screen recording functions

Start recording notification – Whenever it start to record your screen, there must be a notification so that you know you are ON.
Pause recording: You may feel thirsty after a while continuous speaking. Break time is always important, right?
Stop recording – By mouse click or hot key.

Those are the 2 most basic things that free screen recorders should bring to you.

What are the most annoying things in free screen recorders?

Whenever you are using a freeware, you will face with these top annoying things that make you really angry and sometimes counter-productive. Have you ever met the belows:

Limitation of recording time. Normally, most software limit recording time in 15, 20 minutes or even 5 minutes.
Watermark: Your recorded videos will be stamped with an unexpected watermark that forces you to “Go Pro” or “purchase now to remove watermark”.
Annoying advertisements jump out abruptly on the screen. And the worst thing is such ads are absolutely unrelated to your work or business in most cases.
Includes spyware that can harm or slow down your computer.
Containing virus, trojan, key logger: This is the worst thing. We advise you to carefully check every link, download packages before installing it.
Lack of technical support: Some company create free software but it is impossible to ask for help via any kind of communication.
Missing editing functions: Most free screen recorders don’t have any editing function at all. Some of them have very limited editing features.

The best free screen recording software – ActivePresenter?

With the mission to quench your thirst about the best professional, unique screen recorder for screencast purpose, we would like to introduce to you ActivePresenter Free Edition. This edition is considered to be the best free software of all time in terms of Screencasting industry. Why? Check out the comparison table below to see how it is the best free software for screencast among other famous one.

Recording Features	ActivePresenter	Bandicam	Camstudio	Camtasia	Icecream Screen Recorder	Screen-O-Matic
Full screen
A region
Audio from microphone
System audio
Webcam
Mouse movements
Mouse click effects
Lock to Application
Adjust audio volume
Add annotations for mouse
Add annotations for keyboards
Output format	MP4, MKV, AVI, WMV, FLV, WebM	AVI, MP4	AVI	MP4, AVI, WMV, M4A, GIF	WebM	AVI, FLV, MP4
Time limit for free version	No time limit No watermark	10 minutes with watermark (Free trial)	No time limit No watermark	30-day free trial without time limit, but watermark	10 minutes No watermark (Free trial)	15 minutes with watermark

Figure: Feature comparison among best screen recorders for Windows in terms of recording capabilities

We are really confident to state that “this is the best free screen recorder for screencast”. Once you have tried it, you will see that it is beyond your expectation. Beside screen recording capabilities, it includes fantastic video editing features. “And remember our free edition is the best for creating professional screencasts or training videos, not for simple video footage recording purpose”

Moreover, ActivePresenter is free to download and install without any commitment at all. All we expect from you is to respect the license terms. And, remember that this free version for personal and none commercial purpose only. For business, you need to go further with ActivePresenter Standard or Professional edition to acquire more professional works. There are different prices for different packages that give you more choices in purchasing. Let’s take a glance at two packages below:

ActivePresenter Standard(Most recommended for those who want to create video tutorials or video demos)	ActivePresenter Professional(Most recommended for those who want to create interactive eLearning contents in HTML5)
Advanced screen recording: Full Motion Recording, Smart Capture	Advanced screen recording: Full Motion Recording, Smart Capture
Video editing: Cut, Crop, Join, Change Volume, Speed Up, Slow Down, Blur	Video editing: Cut, Crop, Join, Change Volume, Speed Up, Slow Down, Blur
Multiple Audio/Video Layers	Multiple Audio/Video Layers
Rich annotations: Shapes, Image, Zoom-n-Pan, Closed Caption, Cursor Path, Audio/Video Overlays	Rich annotations: Shapes, Image, Zoom-n-Pan, Closed Caption, Cursor Path, Audio/Video Overlays
Export to numerous video formats: MP4, FLV, AVI, WMV, WebM, MKV	Export to various video format: MP4, FLV, AVI, WMV, WebM, MKV
Export to: PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Adobe PDF, HTML	Export to: PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Adobe PDF, HTML
Automatic Smart Annotation	Automatic Smart Annotation
	HTML5 Export
	Interactivity & Branching: Advanced Event-Action System, Javascript
	Interactions: Button, Mouse Click, Text Input, Drag & Drop, Keystroke
	Quiz: 9 Types of Questions
	Report & Tracking in LMS (SCORM, xAPI)

More interestingly, volume discounts are available.

Bottom Line

If you want to avoid annoying things in free screen recording software, don’t hesitate to download and use ActivePresenter. From our latest reviews, there are more options available for you to consider beside ActivePresenter. Take a look at our similar topic down here:

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Good luck!