Al's RSS Ticker

Editors' ReviewDownload.com staffAugust 17, 2005This very basic RSS reader brings all the latest news and headlines right to your desktop, but don't expect any extra features. Al's RSS Ticker sports a bland interface that includes two buttons--one for configurations and one to refresh--and a news ticker. This particular reader uses Yahoo as its default source, but you can add any URL you wish. During testing, adding--and subsequently receiving--feeds from several sources was a piece of cake. Clicking a headline will take you directly to the full story, though our computer became very sluggish when we tried this. The feed bar can be positioned anywhere on your screen and remains on top of whatever window you are working in. We would have liked to see a larger variety of preloaded feeds as well as other features found in similar readers, such as the ability to e-mail feeds to friends. Al's RSS Ticker's simple design may best suit users who are new to the world of RSS readers, but if simplicity just isn't your thing, you might want to look for another RSS reader that offers more options.