Ten Free Utilities for Video Editing Computers
Sometimes its not about the video editing software you choose alone. Most of us don’t have a dedicated video editing computer and have to make do with the one we have. These are ten of my favorite free utilities that I use to make the job of video editing a little less stressful…on me and the computer!
1. CCleaner
Starting off life many years ago as Crap Cleaner (my preferred name for this program!) CCleaner remains one of the great freeware programs available for Windows users today. Video editing is a resource hungry activity and it is not helped in any way by piles of useless temp files, folders and goodness only knows what other…well.. crap that builds up over time.
CCleaner run once a week or even just before you start a video editing session will go a long way towards a stress free experience. As a bonus CCleaner also has a rather nice Windows Registry cleaner in it as well.
2. Smart Defrag from IObit.com
Once you have used CCleaner to take out the garbage then the next order of business is to get organised. Give that hard drive a good defrag and keep it defragged.
Smart Defrag is a full-featured disc optimization tool with a well-designed interface. It has an auto defrag function or you can schedule defragging for when you are not likely to be using your computer.
On the downside the first run through your hard drives may take a little time but it is a good idea to use the “deep optimization” for this first run then leave it in “set and forget” mode from then on.
It may be a good idea if your are a little short on computer resources to suspend the program while running your video editing software.
3. Lupas Rename
Video editing software programs are a little inconsistent regarding how you can name the files you import or capture for editing. VideoStudio is the perfect example of no control whatsoever potentially resulting in hundreds of cryptically named video files that give no clue as to what they are and where they came from. Other programs differ widely.
Lupas Rename is a handy little utility that allows you to select and entire folder of files or more and have it rename those files with more meaningful names. It will respect the file sequence of the originals so you don’t have a bunch of files that are now renamed and out of order!
When you are working on large projects organization of your video, audio and still image assets is a must if you want to retain your sanity…Lupas Rename can help there!
4. Smart Close
Smart Close is a tiny little program that you can use to quickly shut down any unnecessary service or programs running in Windows prior to embarking on a video editing session. Instead of searching around trying to find them all and shut them down you can do it with one step using Smart Close.
I have already mentioned the resource intensiveness of using your computer as a video editor so it is wise to shut down everything you can and give yourself a break.
5. CleanMem
CleanMem is a tiny app that once installed, calls up Windows every half hour and tells Windows to release the memory being used by any programs that are idle. Just a great little program all round. Not just for video editing but for general computer use.
Once you download, install the program and it automatically sets itself up to run. You never have to touch it again and it will keep as much memory free as possible while you are working on your computer. I have had this on my workstation for a few months now and the difference in speed is noticeable. Especially good for video editing when you need all the memory you can get devoted to the video editing software functions.
6. LightBox Advanced Digital Image Editor
Blown your entire budget on a video editor? Afraid to approach the wife/husband/partner/credit card/bank manager or other financial overlord for additional funds for a good image editor? Fear not!
LightBox is a great digital image editor with lots of features to tidy up your shots before placing them in a video project. The free version should be all you need and although you can unlock more advanced features by buying a license, the free stuff should be enough.
7. Audacity
Simply a great free audio editor. For those times when the built-in audio capabilities of your video editing software isn’t enough.
8. Windows Media Encoder
Most video editing software will have the capability of outputting to WMV files. They generally do this by calling up the Windows Media Encoder in the background and instructing it what to do. Now Windows is not exactly renowned for their…cooperative software! The usual result is slow encoding with reduced options and control.
A faster and far more controllable process is to install this encoder yourself and you directly tell it what to do. More often that not you will get better, faster results and let’s face it, WMV is still a very widely used format for many distribution situations.
9. Super
Super is kind of a strange piece of software but either way it gets the job done. It will input and output to a wide range of file types and these days this is very often what you may need.
The new highly compressed files of today are not that great for editing and sometimes you may need to convert them to a more editor friendly format. Super gets the job done. It does have a rather confusing interface which presents a vast array of choices. Worth the time to get to know it.
10. CamStudio
Not up for paying $300 to buy Camtasia? Your existing video editing software doesn’t do screen captures for all those “how to” screen casts you are planning…no problem! Camstudio is small and effective allowing good control over screen capture and will output to .avi or .flv files.
So, how about you? Know of any great (or not so) free programs or utilities to use when you are stretching the home computer with the rigors of video editing?
More Free Software for Video Editing Computers
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