Snagit: Best for occasional use

Snagit is made by companies like Camtasia: Tech Smith. So it's no surprise that this is an excellent program and an excellent choice for those who only record their screen occasionally. The program mainly focuses on making and editing non-video screenshots, but the video tools do the little things.

One of the most valuable features of this program is the ability to take scrolling screenshots of visited websites. This is great for projects that need to render an entire web page. The capture and editing tools are essential and can only trim the scenes you don't want, so if you want a more robust set of video editing tools, Camtasia should be your choice.

Reasons to buy

• Excellent screenshot abilities, including taking scrolling screenshots of websites

Reasons to avoid

• Limited video editing abilities