Cloudeight Freeware Goodie – 3/22/2011

We featured this program a three years ago when it was still freeware. It was the absolute BEST freeware screen capture program ever. However, like many things that are very, very good, after they become very, very popular, they also become very, very not free. So, we hung on to our freeware versions of FastStone Capture and we still use it to this day to make screen shots for this and other newsletters.

Every once in a while, we get an email from some irate reader admonishing us for including FastStone Capture in our E-book from 3 years ago, when FastStone Capture was still free. And they are irritated that when they click the link in the E-book, they are told it’s a trial version and it will work for 30 days and then fizzle out if user doesn’t cough up $19.95 for a registration key. This hurts our feelings! Because two years ago, when E-Book Volume III was compiled, FastStone Capture was free – honest it was. And we swear the programmer didn’t call us and say, “Hey EB and TC, you better change your E-book because your readers will be livid when they find out they’re going to have to pay $19.95 for your ‘freeware of the week’ hehe!”

So we’ve been weeping and gnashing our teeth for a few years now, scouring the Web for a free screen capture program that even comes close to being as good as FastStone Capture. And, much to our chagrin, we couldn’t find one.

But now we have! And we’re delighted as foxes in a hen house too! The name of this wonderful program, that is just as good as FastStone Capture is…uh, um, FastStone Capture. That’s right. Sort of. Well it’s the last freeware version of FastStone Capture released before the developer decided he’d rather drink mint juleps and watch the Kentucky Derby whilst surrounded by several fair, young Kentucky maidens or whatever. In the vernacular, he wanted to get rich.

We’re lucky that some forward-thinking, freeware archive Webmaster saved a copy of the last freeware version of FastStone Capture and is now making it available to anyone who wants it; probably much to the dismay of the developer. However, ours is not the reason why, ours is but to find you great freeware programs every week.

There isn’t a freeware screen capture program out there that even comes close to this feature-rich program – we’ve tried about all of them.

FastStone Capture Version 5.3 (Freeware) Features:
– A small floating Capture Panel that can be dragged anywhere or minimized to the Windows tray area
– Resource friendly – uses a very small amount of memory, especially when minimized to the Windows tray area
– Global hotkeys to activate the program’s capture capabilities anytime, anywhere
– Efficient tools to capture windows, objects, full screen, rectangle/freehand-selected regions and scrolling areas
– Capture web pages in Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera
– Option to specify destination (internal editor, clipboard, file or printer) where the captured image will be sent
– Text/Arrowed line/Highlight/Watermark annotation
– Drop-shadow, torn-edge effects
– Add caption
– Resize, crop, zoom in/out
– Undo/Redo
– Save as BMP, JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG, GIF, TIFF, TGA and PDF
– Send e-mails
– Screen magnifier, Screen color picker
– Multi-monitor support
– Option to run when Windows starts
– And many more …

Well, what are you waiting for? Are you waiting for this guy to take it down too, so you can write and tell us it’s not there anymore? Please don’t. You’ll hurt our feelings! You know, if this program disappears you can’t say we didn’t try to warn you. So Grab it now, while you still can. It’s the best ever free screen capture – screen shot – program ever made – and that’s why it’s today’s Cloudeight Freeware Goodie.

BE CAREFUL! DO NOT CLICK THE BIG GREEN DOWNLOAD BUTTON ON THE PAGE. THE DOWNLOAD FOR FASTSTONE IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE. HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD LINK.

The technical stuff – sort of:

Faststone Capture 5.3
Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7
32bit and 64bit
1.3 MB Zip file