I was looking for a piece of software that would let me create Flash screenshot tutorials and presentations, and was about to purchase the first one I found for $45, when I decided I should look a little further. And boy am I glad I did, because I found two freeware programs that are as good or better than the commercial software I was about to blow my money on.

First, I found Wink

Wink is a Tutorial and Presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software (like a tutor for MS-Word/Excel etc). Using Wink you can capture screenshots, add explanations boxes, buttons, titles etc and generate a highly effective tutorial for your users.

Wink is distributed as Freeware for Windows and Linux, and does a really great job creating tutorials.

I also found Powerbullet Presenter

Powerbullet Presenter has a freeware version that has all the functionality of the $44 software I first discovered. The only thing I don’t like about this software is the non-changeable forward and back arrow buttons. Apparently these become modifiable if you upgrade to the Pro version for $19.95.

I don’t know which of these I’m going to be using yet, but I’ve uninstalled all the other software I’ve downloaded, because I know these’ll do the job just fine.

PS. Along the way I found Flipz — Flipz characters are macromedia flash compositions that have embeddedl audio that dynamically lip-synch and animate. The character file and audio is automatically generated using the supplied “Flipz Voice Master” software.

I don’t know if I’ll ever use it, but it sure is cool for FREE software.