Notepad++ is notepad on hyper-steroids. It is small and quick but with greatly enhanced functionality. To top it off, it is free open source available on sourceforge.net. http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/news.php?lang=uk Also find a portable version of the utility here: http://portableapps.com/apps/development/notepadpp_portable

I have been a user of Notepad++ for some time now and have become a big fan. Recently Notepad++ has been released in the 5.1 version. What I have found is there has been a major undocumented change between 5.0 and 5.1. The change is from ANSI to Unicode. This change breaks many plug-ins including those that install with the application.

Until the plug ins are upgraded to Unicode as well, I recommend sticking with the 5.0.x version of the application.

Here are some of the great features:

• Auto-completion (language and file)
• Bookmarks
• Syntax highlighting (and brace and indent highlighting)
• Regular expression find and replace
• Split screen editing
• Zooming
• Spell checker (built in but requires Aspell)
• Hex editor (plug-in available, no longer included in standard installation as of v4.8.2)
• Tabbed document interface
• FTP Browser (plug-in included in standard installation)
• Support for various file formats including Unicode. 

What's new in Notepad++ 5.1 RC:

· Make Notepad++ Unicode-compliant application(Unicode path supported).
· Fix crash issue due to the incoherent modification/creation date.
· Fix tag match highlighting mismatched bug.
· Make tag match highlighting on non HTML zone optional.
· Refine the Save/Open file directory settings (follow tab/last operation/user defined dir).
· Add "Doc go to new instance" and "Doc open in new instance" features.
· Add new plugin notification NPPN_DOCACTIVATED and NPPN_LANGCHANGED.
· Fix context menu incorrect setting crash bug.
· Fix a problem with Incremental search+UTF8 in win9x.
· Fix bug with CPP lexer keyword list.

What's new in Notepad++ 5.0.2:

· Fix crash bug for tags match highlighting.
· Fix the huge file makes notepad crash issue.
· Fix adding item in the history file list while deleting file from Notepad bug.
· Fix a bug that file detection options set are not saved due to doc monitor plug-in.
· Improve opening file performance.
· Fix bug when closing file using close button.

What's new in Notepad++ 5.0.1:

· Fix tags match highlighter bug - more accurate
· Fix word completion doesn't display bug
· Fix word completion not in alphabet order
· Fix Notepad launch problem under WINE
· Fix crash issue due to time-stamp problem
· Fix bug : Files not in recent list on exit and no session saved
· Fix bug : hide lines not working right when closing
· Re-enable gcc compiler environment (minGW)
· Fix bug : Syntax highlighting is not applied after "Save as"

What's new in Notepad++ 5.0 Beta:

· Improve Notepad performance - on startup and on exit.
· Add Calltip capacity.
· All the menu commands can be added in context menu, including plugins' commands, macros and user defined commands.
· Add bookmarked lines operations : delete all marked lines, copy all marked lines into clipboard, cut all marked lines into clipboard, paste from clipboard to replace all marked lines content.
· Fix crash bug : Open files with date pre-1970.
· Fix clone mode bug : now the actions done in one view will be synchronized in the cloned view.
· Add tooltips in document tab to display the full file name path.
· Change hide lines behaviour : Hide lines now saved during switches.
· Change file history list behaviour : Most recent closed file is on the top. Add number on list.
· Caret width and blink rate are customizable.
· Add asterisk in title bar if file is dirty.
· The bookmarks' look & feel are improved.
· Add "Select all" and "copy" context menu items in Find in files results window.
· Fix goto line with command line bug.
· Improve smart highlight / mark all / incremental search highlight all visibility
· Tabbar's coulours is configurable via Stylers Configurator(Active tab Text, Inactive tab text, Inactive tab background, Active tab focused indicator and Active tab unfocused indicator).
· Add the smart highlight file size limit - 1.5 MB in order to improve the performance.
· Add exception handling (dumping filedata).
· Fix go to line command line bug.
· Enhance Find in files and Find in all opened files features' performance.
· Fix dialog off screen problem under multi-monitor environment.

What's new in Notepad++ 4.9 Beta:

· Add smart highlighting feature (double click a word to highlight all the same word in the document)
· Enhance visual effect of Mark all feature
· Enhance Incremental search dialog docking
· Enhance Incremental search : add Highlight all feature
· Add auto-hide menu feature (IE7 style menu - Alt or F10 to toggle)
· Enhance tool bar GUI usability (display a chevron while some tool icons hidden)
· Add style transparency feature, right click on color to enable
· Fix the files not opening by DnD bug
· Enhance Find Replace dialog : Add "Extended" option - search (and replace) for tabs( ), newline(
· ), and a characters by it's value (o, x, , d, ,
· ,
and )
· Bug fixed : Find dialog always scrolls text into view now
· Add places bar in save as dialog
· Fix non-recognized relative path bug in command line mode (under Dos prompt)
· Add 2 messages for doc monitor plugin

What's new in Notepad++ 4.8.5:

· Fix crash bug while a "New 2" is in session.xml
· Fix the Drag N Drop text bug between 2 views
· Fix the annoying acrobat reader dialog problem
· Fix the bug that the first new document encoding is not set as the setting in "New Document settings"
· Fix crash bug while running the command "Close All But Me" in some context
· Add scroll to end line feature after document reloading from disk
· Enhance checking modification from outside feature

What's new in Notepad++ 4.7.4:

· Fix the horizon scroll bar flicker bug.
· Fix the full screen (F11) bug regarding multi-display issue
· Explorer context menu is available under xp 64 bits et vista 64 bits.
· Fix the crash issue of window dialog while clicking Sort button without selected item.
· Enhance Sort feature GUI part - Enable Sort button only after clicking on the column tab; Disable Sort button after sorting.

What's new in Notepad++ 4.3 RC:

· Fix the crash bug due to the corrupted configuration file (config.xml and session.xml)
· Fix the crash bug while the shortcut command is absent in shortcut.xml
· Fix the file status auto-detection bug: a unwanted selection after a pop-up dialog
· Enhance Styler Configurator: the visual effect is updated immediately while the setting is changing
· Add Global override feature (in Styler Configurator)
· Fix the bold/italic/underline refresh problem in Stylers Configurator for Scintilla component
· Add hide lines feature (Menu: View->Hide lines)
· Add new capacity (optional setting in Preferences dialog : Backup/Auto-completion tab) to trigger Auto-Completion (Function Completion or Word completion) automatically
· The set languages in session are remembered now
· Added new plug-ins metool-tipsbehaviorbehaviorTab-bar'scolorsssages (for plugin developers)

What's new in Notepad++ 4.0.2:

· Fix the crash issue.
· Add Docking feature for plug-in dialogs.
· FiXMLXMLXMLx the bug that current "open" and "save as" directory are unchanged with the shortcut Ctrl Tab.
· Fix the bug that the new added languages in v3.9 can not be hidden from the language menu.
· Fix the volatile search direction bug.
· Fix the Tab display problem.
· Add Haskell, InnoSetup languages support.
· Add the option to open/save files in the last operation directory.
· Enhance Document switcher (MRU and switch crossing view abilities).
· Fix "Find Next" unicode bug for Find Replace Dialog.
· Support Unicode in displayed result of Find in files & Find in all opened files.
· Add Reload from disk feature.
· Fix bug : Exit (close or restart Windows) without prompt to save.
· All the shortcuts of plug-insplug-inplug-in commands are customizablplug-inse via the shortcut mapper.