Download of the day: Snagit

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The free version of Snagit is designed to promote its paid-for sibling, which is an extraordinarily powerful capture utility.

If you’ve ever wanted to make your own memes of people falling over, animals doing funny things or anything else that needs to be seen to be believed, Snagit is the app for doing it.

It’s also great for creating software or website demonstrations, tutorials and walkthroughs. The free version isn’t feature-limited, so you can take full advantage of all the app’s features before having to think about paying anything.

Why you need it

If you can’t justify a paid-for video capture and editing app but need to create a bit of visual content quickly, Snagit is hard to beat: the free edition is fully functional for 15 days and includes the ability to share to Screencast straight away.

It can scroll to capture bits of web pages that aren’t currently on screen, capture panoramas and infinitely scrolling web pages, capture anything from full screen to specific pixels and most importantly of all, make animated GIFs. The full version is currently £46.45, US$49.95 (about AU$65), but there are discounts for students, teachers and non-profit organizations that are almost half the price.

Download here: Snagit

The best free screen recorder 2016

The simplest screen recorders simply capture what's on your screen and save it in AVI format, but the more advanced free tools also offer editing, additional audio, picture-in-picture and on-screen drawing. These are our favorites.

For more details, see our guide to the best free screen recorders

1. CamStudio

An open source app more flexible than most paid-for tools, CamStudio is the best free screen recorder.

2. FRAPS

With high-resolution recording, FRAPS has a well-earned reputation as the go-to choice for gamers.

3. Bandicam

Bandicam is a screen recorder designed specifically for gameplay, with hardware acceleration built in.