Standalone easy-to-use video editor

Windows Movie Maker is an easy-to-use video editor that has been surprisingly stripped down to its most basic features in the most recent versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Luckily for you, now there’s a standalone version with all the goodies from the original Windows Movie Maker. It’s called Portable Windows Movie Maker and can be run from a USB drive.

Portable Windows Movie Maker works just like the original one. You can create attractive multimedia presentations that include not only your favorite shots and video clips, but also some nice video and transition effects that will add a professional touch to your creation.

The program is dead simple to use. Import all the media you’d like to use in your presentation into the interface and drag it on the timeline (or storyboard, if you prefer it that way). Then add as many effects as you like, and check how everything looks in the preview window.

Portable Windows Movie Maker includes more than a hundred transitions and 76 video effects, plus a handy tool to make titles or credits. That said, bear in mind that this program is intended for people with little or no experience in video edition, which means that more advanced users may find it a bit too limited.

Once your work is finished, you can export the video to several different formats in various sizes, depending on where you want to use it: publish it on a website, recording it to a CD or simply saving it to your hard drive are some of the options included.

Portable Windows Movie Maker helps you create your own video presentations with your favorite photos, video clips and some nice transition effects.