Is your 2013 free FeedDemon Pro 4.5 becoming annoying, in terms of its occasional ’15 second freeze’ problem on Windows? It’s nice software but is no longer under development. So I’ve taken another look around for alternative desktop RSS readers that are under active development, seeking something a touch faster but with the same or better features.
One ‘actively developed’ option is the new-ish QuiteRSS. A basic feature set, so far, but perfectly functional. AdBlock runs by default in the internal browser, and Flash is blocked with a click-to-play button. After install, for additional security you may want to uncheck: Tools | Options | ‘Help improve QuiteRSS by sending usage information’ and disable ‘Javascript’ and ‘External plugins’ in the internal browser. You can also block internal browser pages from setting cookies.
QuiteRSS offers search within your feeds, though only at the level of a per-folder search…
Also font size and font choice, across all display panes. So there is now one acceptable actively developed desktop Windows alternative to FeedDemon Pro. Which is good to know.
The only other — albeit unacceptable — actively developed desktop option is RSSOwl 2.2.1. Update, 2025: last version was 2014, has several vulnerabilities and the maker says “don’t use it”.
A huge problem with QuiteRSS, after a month of use. It’s all too easy to completely loose the UI by accident, leaving only the menu bars. I have no idea what I did to cause it. I occasionally lost UI elements in the past couple of weeks, by some kind of an accidental click(??) but was able to get them back again via the menu. Now the whole damn thing has gone, except for the menu bars. There’s no reset-to-default button for the UI, and I went through everything and nothing I tried would get it back. No help on the forum. I suspect it’s a bug in the software somewhere? Luckily the menus were still there at the top, so I was still able to export the OPML for the feeds. I then uninstalled QuiteRSS, re-downloaded, then re-installed. But the UI was still gone. Nice though QuiteRSS was, it is now completely useless to me. Back to FeedDemon Pro.