1st Screen Recorder 2.8.0.1

1st Screen Recorder is a screen-capture utility for Windows. It allows you to record your screen output to a video file. The application consists of a single small window that resembles a panel from a video player. It has a record button, which starts the recording process. By default, when you hit that button, the application switches to a special cursor for you to select the area of the screen that you want to capture. After you are done, 1st Screen Recorder will move out of that area and the recording will start.

The trial version limits you to ten seconds of recording. Both audio and video get recorded, though (however, audio recording is disabled by default). The codec used is the standard Microsoft video compressor, which should be playable in most video players. If you dig a little deeper into the options, you will find that this utility also supports full-screen recording.

The developers suggest a long list of uses for 1st Screen Recorder, however, I think it works best as a screencasting tool, especially because of the custom cursor options. Since this app has no scheduling options and no support for external codecs, it is kind of limited for other uses. If one is not too picky, the application manages to produce good-quality videos that can be later on converted to other formats. But that entails an additional step.