PSPad

PSPad at a glance

PSPad is a free editor for Windows maintained by Czech developer Jan Fiala. It offers syntax highlighting for many languages and configuration formats, plus a hex editor, a built-in FTP client, macros, project handling and file comparison. In administrative work it serves as a quick editor for scripts, batch and PowerShell files, INI and XML configuration, and for skimming large log files without starting a full development environment. Alongside the installer there is a portable build, which often ends up on technicians' USB sticks.

Development rests with a single author; releases appear irregularly, usually as a series of builds within the same major version, sometimes announced as test builds in the forum first.

When updating, remember that settings, highlighter definitions and user files live in the profile and should be backed up before a jump. Bundled libraries are refreshed along with the builds, so stale installations are worth replacing — portable copies on sticks and network shares otherwise sit untouched for years.