Student Software Guide
If you just got a new computer for uni or maybe you just fancy starting a fresh there is no need to pirate or buy the programs you will need for university. There are loads of free and easy ways to do all your work without ever buying software. Check out our list of essential programs for student life:
Office Suite
Microsoft Office is obviously the most popular office suite on the market today and most universities will have it installed on workstations. Even a student license isn't cheap but thankfully there are plenty of free alternatives that are compatible (meaning you can work at home and take the files into university easily).
OpenOffice is one of the more popular free office suites with equivalents for word, excel and powerpoint which are all compatible with the Microsoft file formats. Anyone that has used office should find it easy to use.
StarOffice is an office progra m worth $70, you can get it completely free however by downloading the Google Pack. It includes office program including writing, presentations, calculations, spreadsheets and much more.
Google also has its own office suite called '
Docs & Spreadsheets', it works entirely within your web browser with no need to download or install anything. It is probably the most basic product here with no presentation application (yet) but it makes sharing and collaborating with other students really easy and all your work is saved remotely automatically!
Organiser
Online organisers and todo lists are becoming more and more common and are a great tool to help you stay on track with your studies. By creating a list of things to complete at set times you are much more likely to make progress with big essays and projects.
Todoist is our organiser of choice, it is free to use, uncluttered and ad free. If you fancy delving deeper there are loads of keyboard shortcuts, addons and widgets available - even gmail integration and email reminders.
Notes & Research
Google Notebook can help you organise your research online. It is possible to save snippets of webpages, links, images and your own notes to a central area which is of course saved on Google's servers so that you can work from home and university seamlessly
Del.icio.us is a bookmarking service that lets you store and tag bookmarks on their website and either make them public or private. The ability to tag every webpage is a great way to organise your online research and the sharing function means you could even team up with course mates to find the best resources.
Design
Creative software is usually the most expensive with professional packages retailing for hundreds of pounds. Engineering, architecture and 3d modelling students should check out
Autodesk's student community where you can get free copies of all their design programs.
Paint.NET is a fully featured alternative to Photoshop that shouldn't be confused with Microsoft Paint. It has filters, layers and other functions you would expect from a professional package.
Storage & Backup
That essay is important right? One of the most important things you can do is make sure that all of your university work is backed up. A USB key is a good idea but these are easily lost or stolen, so how about a solution where your work is stored many miles away.. for free?
Microsofts newly launched
Skydrive gives you 500Mb to backup and of your essays, photos and files you like. You can even share them if you like, or keep them private its up to you. All you need is a passport or windows live messenger account.
For those that are a little more technically minded
Mozy offers a great free backup service that includes software and 2Gb of disc space to store your files. There are plenty of advanced options and more space if you are willing to pay a yearly fee, but this is not required.
Protection
With important work, music and videos on your computer it is important to make sure you are protected when online. New computers will come bundled with trial software that will stop working after a month or so. Simply uninstall it and use one of our free alternatives..
AVG Antivirus will provide the same protection as a paid for program such as Norton but with no yearly subscription fees.
ZoneAlarm is a great free firewall program that stop programs accessing the internet without authorisation and stop others from easily accessing your computer.