need help choosing the right Editor

[Akol]

Dear all,
I am a freelance Art History tutor, I record my online lectures and then try to edit them. I have tried many video editors and only got some results with VideoPad. And even that brings me endless trouble. I use Asus ZenBook, i7, 16GB RAM, Windows 11 (HOME edition). All I need to do is to cut off unnecessary bits, I don't do anything else. But my recordings are very long, between 2 and 3 hours, which creates problems I guess. VideoPad gets clogged up. I regularly delete all unnecessary data via (options; disk; remove unnecessary data) I usually manage to edit 1 video and then it just stops working. I restart/optimize/boost my computer, and reinstall VideoPad (13.21 version, released 8/3/23), I have paid the license fee and register VideoPad every time I reinstall, I tried different versions, but no matter what I do, after I manage to edit 1 video and when I try to start a new project I get endless trouble. Please, let me know the most basic Video Editor available for Windows 11 which would work. I only need cutting and trimming, occasionally adding clips. Thank you.

[smrpix]

Try Davinci Resolve. It's free and powerful. If that sounds like overkill you can use it in Cut mode which is simpler than full-on Edit.

The other question is, what kind of footage are you cutting? H.264? H.265? Something else? Long files tend to get laggy in ANY software.

[johns0]

If you don't mind using mkv files then mkvmerge will do simple cuts and merges.

[Akol]

Thanks to all respondents.

[video.baba]

I have paid the license fee and register VideoPad every time I reinstall...

You keep paying every time you reinstall?

[Brainiac]

I have paid the license fee and register VideoPad every time I reinstall...

You keep paying every time you reinstall?

I certainly hope not. I purchased software years ago and had to do a reinstall and the developer told me I had to purchase the software again; I simply stopped using the software. A horrible business practice.

[Xhumeka]

The other question is, what kind of footage are you cutting? H.264? H.265? Something else?

Yes, which format/container are your videos in? If you're working with MP4 files, this splitter/joiner is very easy to use and very fast - doesn't re-encode the files, simply splits/joins:

https://www.mp4joiner.org/en/

(open source, completely free)