RSS Guard Portable, developed with the Qt framework, is an RSS/ATOM feed aggregator that features online feed synchronization and is conveniently available via PortableApps. It operates independently of any dependencies. Installer/Linux/Mac versions are also available.

Once executed, you can choose from adding a new account, including Gmail, Inoreader, NextCloud News, Tiny Tiny RSS, or, most likely, a standard online feed. This allows you to set up multiple accounts. You can optionally choose from a pre-selected group of feeds, which is nice considering most RSS readers provide feeds whether you want them or not.

Initially, there was no right-click to add a feed to existing categories. Instead, you had to go to the menu under Feeds & Categories; that has been remedied, and you can now use the right-click menu to add a feed. We couldn't find an auto-detect anywhere either, something we've seen in other RSS readers, but not a deal-breaker. Once the data is retrieved from their RSS feeds or ours, you will find a three-pane interface: your feeds, headlines, and the story. Notifications are annoying and something we shut off immediately. None of the feeds pulled headlines correctly, almost defeating the entire purpose of RSS Guard. The idea is to skim headlines and read what you want.

RSS Guard Portable claims to be simple, lightweight, and easy to use, but we disagree, which is not necessarily bad. It's very complex, and some stuff doesn't flow well or takes too much effort. We spent some time covering some negatives, but the positives outweigh those. That said, it has many features beyond a standard RSS reader, and we think you'll appreciate the effort that went into this.

This version is via PortableApps, so there are no dependencies. If you want an installer, Linux or Mac, they are available here.

You may need to update your Visual C++ runtimes with Visual C++ Runtime Installer.

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