RSSMate

RSSMate is a simple application that lets you view your RSS and podcasts in a user-friendly environment, featuring several standard features.

The installation procedure does not take a long time to finish and it offers to set up a few known RSS feeds to start with.

As far as the interface is concerned, the main app window has a vertical view by default, which can be resized and maximized.

Adding a new channel to the list is very easy, by entering the URL and frequency for update checkups (once a day, every six hours, hourly, every ten minutes). All feeds are listed in the main frame and you can read their description as well as open URLs in the default web browser via the right-click menu. The status bar shows the next time for updates checkup.

It is possible to edit or delete channels, backup the channel list to restore it at a later date or another computer with RSSMate installed, minimize the app to the system tray area to make it non-intrusive, as well as use a search function to browse the current or all channels.

When it comes to viewing options, RSSMate is able to display only titles (without descriptions), toggle the layout (feeds, or feeds and channel list), and arrange channels in the list by moving them up and down.

The interface is customizable in terms of item background color and font. The app can be set to automatically run at system startup and to minimize to the system tray, float as a normal app or dock on the left/right of the desktop, stay on top of other windows, ignore permanent redirects, log all errors, and connect via proxy.

We have not come across any issues in our tests. RSSMate has minimal impact on system performance, using low CPU and RAM. It includes a help file for inexperienced users. Although its interface is not particularly attractive, and the features are all basic, RSSMate is a decent tool for viewing RSS feeds and podcasts. More importantly, it can be used by novices.