Yeah, notepad++. I also tried it. The price was better (free), but it lacked column mode, "reformat paragraph" (it basically takes separate lines and makes it into a paragraph), and trim trailing spaces, at least when I tested it, which I used a lot.

Column mode and trim spaces have existed in notepad++ for years, but may be a bit hard to find.

I just checked, and that may have improved: both are on the Edit menu, bottom half.

Yes, I couldn't find at the time how to use them. I am talking again probable 15 or 20 years ago, so it might have been version 0.1 of N++.