You've all seen those nifty YouTube videos. The cool techy ones where the gal or guy is showing you how do use a program or tweak your Windows computer? You've probably wondered how they did that right? You're thinking that you could make some cool videos of you doing nifty things you've learned from this newsletter and showing your kids or grandkids how you've become a computer wizard. Speaking of computer wizards, did you know that computer wizards never die? They just lose their memory! Chortle! Chortle!

What if we told you there was a free program you can download and use that makes it easy for the most computer clumsy computer novice to make nifty screen shots and flash videos of everything that's happening on your screen - even the mouse cursor movement and all your mistakes? What if this same program allowed you to narrate your video by speaking clearly into your microphone - so you could say nifty things like, "Oh darn. I didn't meant to click that thing, let me do that again..." Or "Yikes, you weren't supposed to see THOSE pictures! Let me start over again!".

And what if we told you that you could also capture your Web Cam in this program and show videos of yourself juggling or eating a tuna sandwich - to the whole world? Pretty cool eh?

And to top it off, what if we told you that this same program gives you a couple GB of Web space so you can upload your videos to your own storage space and send links to your friends so they can watch your tutorials or antics online?

Well, Jing does all of these things. And Jing is made by one of the most respected names in graphics software - TechSmith. That's a very revered name in graphics editing circles. They're the people who make Camtasia Studio and Snagit. Well, if you're not familiar with those two programs, maybe you're not in the graphics loop -- yet. You will be soon though!

We actually made a few videos with Jing. We'd include them here in this newsletter, but last week when included a video in our newsletter a bunch of our readers panicked because they got an Active-X warning. We don't want to scare you folks, so if you want to watch the videos we made with Jing, just send an email, we'll be glad to send you a link. Honest!

About this time in our freeware pick segment we start rambling and bail ourselves out by including a few words from the program's developer. So that's what we're going to do right now. The program's developer is not one to yammer though, he is a man of few words -- a man of action. Apparently his name is Tech Smith. Sounds like a linebacker, doesn't it?

"...Capture what you see.

Initiate a capture by clicking Jing's happy, always-ready "sun" icon...or pressing a hotkey of your choice. You can capture a window, pane, or region. (Tip: click and drag to select a region.) Add notes, arrows, more. Four drawing tools. Unlimited colors. Go nuts.

Make a point.

Need to emphasize or explain? Mark up your screenshot with a basic text box, arrow, highlight, or rectangle.

Share instantly.

Just tell Jing where to send the screenshot and—BAM!—it's there and ready to share. When you send to a destination like Screencast.com or Flickr, Jing even places a hyperlink on your clipboard. Jing is the missing link in your online conversations

No need to wait.

Simply paste (CTRL-V or Command-V) the link into an IM chat, email, forum post, Twitter, anywhere...and when the person clicks it they see your freshly-uploaded screenshot. Like magic.

Record what you see (and do).

Select a window or region and Jing will record up to five minutes of video of everything that appears in that area. Point to things with your mouse, scroll, flip through photos, click around in a website or application...Jing captures it all.

Narrate on the fly.

If your computer has a microphone, Jing can record your sparkling commentary at the same time. Since everyone prefers short and pithy, recording time is capped at 5 minutes.

Share at the speed of conversation.

The moment you're done recording, your little screencast movie is ready to upload. The moment it's on Screencast.com [?]To make sharing instant and easy, we give every Jing user 2GB of free space and 2GB of free monthly bandwidth on our content hosting site, Screencast.com. Most users find this to be plenty, but an upgraded Screencast.com account is available should you need more., you've got a link ready to paste and share. No waiting.

Want options?

We've got a few. Jing can put Screencast.com embed code on your clipboard instead of a link. Or you can save the SWF Flash video to a directory or FTP site. Maybe even edit it with Camtasia Studio...."

Whew! All this for free? What's the catch? Well, the only catch is that the videos you share will have a little "Created with Jing" in the bottom-right corner. Not a high price to pay for all this freeware program does. If you're really upset by this, you can get the Pro Version for $14.95 a year. But, this is the freeware pick of the week and freeware version of Jing offers a lot for very little - like zero dollars. Get Jing, or learn more about it, by visiting this page. It's our freeware pick this week and we think you'll have a ball with it. Hey! If you make something nifty with Jing, share it with us and if we think it's as nifty as you do, we'll feature it in our newsletters and make you famous. OK. A little famous - but not rich. Don't get your hopes up too high.

Pithy? We're not.