FastTrackNews is a free portable RSS feed reader and news aggregator. The program reduces the time and effort needed to regularly check mass media Websites for updates and can be used as news and blog browser. Once subscribed to a feed, FastTrackNews is able to check for new content at user-determined intervals and retrieve the update. You can easily organize news channels in a fully customizable tree structure and browse actual news articles using built-in or external Web browser.

FastTrackNews uses a Web feed to retrieve syndicated news given in XML-based formats (Atom, and RSS), rapidly downloads news articles from various Web sources in background and displays them in comfortable customizable views. The program supports password protected feeds, has the ability to expire news items so they get deleted after a certain amount of days. FastTrackNews is simple and easy to use, offers a no-nonsense Outlook Express-like user interface.

Editor's review of FastTrackNews

FastTrackNews fails to impress when there seems to be almost as many RSS feed readers as there are RSS feeds. The primary problem with this freeware is its manual approach, as it lacks the function to auto-discover feeds. The program's standard tri-pane interface is split into feed list, site headline list, and entry display. Without a help file, novice users might get a little frustrated before getting the program to work.

Unlike more polished programs that automatically detect Web site feeds, you'll have to do all of the work to uncover the appropriate feed URL. FastTrackNews often failed to find the feed URL, even when the Web page displayed the standard prominent orange RSS icon. We had to locate the feed URL in our regular browser window, then copy and paste it to the feed reader. Feeds downloaded well, but the viewing window often fails to display the whole article. That is unfortunate as our testers received some error messages using the function to open articles in a new browser window.

FastTrackNews is still rough around the edges. In a genre with so many good programs, we can't recommend this freeware app to any user.