The 5 best free alternatives to Windows DVD Maker

As Windows DVD Maker software is no longer available FREE with Windows 10 I needed to find alternative software for authoring DVD's.

I found a useful review on the Digital Citizen website. They list 5 options some of which can be used on a variety of platforms. I was interested in Windows software.

1. DVD Styler
2. WinX DVD Author
3. DeVeDe
4. DVD Flick
5. Freemake Video Converter

Digital Citizen Conclusion

These are the best free alternatives we've found for Microsoft's Windows DVD Maker. While any of these five can do the job, our opinion is that the best are DVD Styler, WinX DVD Author and DeVeDe. These are the apps with the largest number of DVD customizing features, they support a wide range of video and audio input formats, can embed subtitles and let you design your own custom menus. Furthermore, they’re also honest software: they don’t try to install unwanted programs on your computer, nor do they ask you to pay money in order to utilize them fully.

I had previously used DVD Flick but found the menu authoring options rather poor as did DC but it worked well as a video to DVD converter.

To see full reviews and to DOWNLOAD the software go to Digital Citizen website. Its clean and appears free from adware traps etc but as always be cautious about anything you download.

I will report back on my experience.

UPDATE...

I started by downloading DVD Styler. Warning you are offered FREE software during the download, make sure you tick the right boxes if you don't want it and who does...

UPDATE 2...

I gave up on all these options and went back to using Picturestoexe a very versatile piece of software used by photographers for making slideshows or AV presentations. The software includes a powerful video editing and authoring module. I had forgotten however that DVD's are low resolution. Wasted a lot of time on that problem.


LINK https://www.digitalcitizen.life/best-free-alternatives-windows-dvd-maker

Large space before footnotes in MS Word

While formatting the template I used for my PhD Thesis I came across the problem of bizzar formatting of the footer when footnotes were inserted. The problem could occur for no apparent reason. However, I discovered this fix which works. I acknowledge the source - Jess Writes Words -  I reproduce the post in full...

Quick Fix: Large space before footnotes in MS Word

Posted on 25 September 2010

It’s frustrating having programs screw up on you when there’s a pressing deadline to meet. Today while editing my 40-page behemoth of a PW report (before adding all figures, tables and double-spacing and enlarging the fonts) I was unlucky enough to encounter this issue:

After the footnote divider line, but before the footnotes themselves, there would be a huge expanse of blank space. It was wreaking havoc on my formatting and turning all my tables into multiple-paged impossible-to-read clusters of cells.

Turns out this is caused by something called a footnote separator which you have to go to Draft mode (under the View tab in MS Word 07 and up) to edit it.

Go to the View tab, then choose Draft.

Go to the References tab and click Show Footnotes. (On Macs, go to View > Footnotes – thanks to commenter Gerard for spotting this)

In the drop-down list that appears in the Footnotes area, choose Footnote Separator.

Delete any extra spaces, carriage returns etc. It’s handy to have “show non-printing characters” switched on.

Repeat for the other one – I think it was Continuous Footnote Separator.

Go back to View and switch back to Print Layout.

It’s gone!

LINK