RE: Take Control of Your Videos, Music, and Images With These Free Software Programs! (Free Software Series Part 2)
I got distracted and never did reply to your previous post, so I'll do it here. I just want to warn people about a possible security issue when using the type of clip-boards that store all your copies/cuts un-encoded. If you use these types of software to copy/paste your steem keys or other wallet keys and later get hacked, the hacker will have your un-encoded keys available from wherever the program stores all the stuff you had copied and pasted.
As for VLC, I used to use it a lot, but for some strange reason it kept failing on me. Not sure if Microsoft created some conflicts with it when they upgraded Windows software or what was the problem, but I would constantly need to re-install the software to get it working again.
Gimp is supposed to be a fantastic graphics program, but the interface is not very intuitive. It is too complicated for many people. I use Photo Pos Pro, which is easier to use but still offers layers and customizable tools. It is free but you need to register to get the key to keep it working beyond the trial period. I installed it on my spouse's computer and forgot to register it, so after a month or so, it stopped working. It has been working on my own computer for years.
There is a pretty decent video editor out for Windows machines called VSDC Free Video Editor. If you have any experience at all with other editors, it shouldn't take too long to get used to using this one. There are a couple of things I found kind of clunky (like distinguishing exactly which resource you were editing and how it fit into the entire project) but it does have a lot of features that you can't find for free any more. Windows Movie Maker used to be easy and quite flexible, but it's no longer available and Windows Live Movie Maker is crap in comparison.
Thanks so much for addressing this as a security concern. I'm sure the program has an option to clear the history, but I'll have to do some more research on where the history is stored and how to completely eradicate it for security purposes.
That's unfortunate that VLC is giving issues. I sincerely hope Microsoft's push to disallow apps that aren't from its Windows Store will affect great open source programs in the future. Until then, I plan to keep using it, and I hope you can get the issues sorted out, maybe with a future update.
I'll agree that GIMP's interface can take some getting used to. I think if you're willing to go through tutorials and such, it can be worth it, but for the average user, something like the program you mentioned might be more suitable. I'll look into that program, so thank you for mentioning it.
I also appreciate your suggestion for free video editing software. I know many of my subscribers edit videos occasionally, so I'll have to check out the program and give it a review. I, too, was a huge fan of the Windows Movie Maker that came packaged with Windows XP. I used it for countless videos and slideshow projects when it was available. Live Movie Maker still had most of the features, but it was clunkier and harder to find the good settings.
Finally, I appreciate your engagement on this post. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my blog.
I appreciate this platform for the good parts of it and community engagement is a huge part of what this platform is all about. I am pushing for more engagement with my weekly contests and am trying to encourage thoughtful responses. If I have something useful to say, then I comment. Otherwise I will stay silent rather than fill the page with useless extra stuff to read like, "Good post". Those types of comments don't do anything to improve the platform.
I'm all about growth and education, so I'm happy to share what I can.
Thanks for your article and for providing me with the ability to add my little bit to it.