1. Protect your computer with an Antivirus
2. Search the internet
Internet browsers are the programs that you use to access the internet. You’ll already have one installed on your computer (Internet Explorer if you have a PC, Safari if you have a Mac), but that’s not to say that you’ve got the best ones. You can get free ones which we think are better!
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FirefoxFirefox does pretty much everything that Internet Explorer does, but is supposed to be faster and more secure. Oh yeah, and it’s free! It has the fastest response times available and security features not available with Internet Explorer. And it and promotes openness, innovation and opportunity, if you’re into that kind of thing. |
Google ChromeAgain, this does most of what Internet explorer does, but it’s made by Google, and is free! It looks pretty slick and has a few additional features. Your homepage shows thumbnails of the websites you visit most frequently (could be a good or bad thing, depending on which sites you visit), and it has extra security features as with Firefox. |
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3. ‘Bookmark’ internet pages
Bookmarking is when you save the location of an internet page so you can go back to it later. Most people do this using the Internet browser on their personal computer, but this means that they can only return to these pages when they are on that computer. Instead, you can save bookmarks using an online bookmarking service and access them on any computer. Here are the best ones to use:
4. Protect your computer with anti-spyware software
Ad-Aware FreeSometimes software can be installed from the internet onto your computer without you realising it. This can be adware’ which allows advertisers to collect information about you, or spyware’ which is used to collect your passwords and financial details. You obviously don’t want this, so we recommend you use this free software to remove these types software. |
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5. Free/Cheap Office
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Open OfficeYou’re probably familiar with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) as it’s what you use to do your university projects. Well, you can get a free suite that works just like Microsoft called Open Office. If you’re working on a shoestring then you may want to check this out. It’s not quite as good as the Microsoft suite, but hey, it’s free! |
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Microsoft Office 2007 UltimateIf you don’t mind paying for Office, then we recommend you visit www.UltimateSteal.com and buy the most advanced version of Microsoft Office for less than £40. This is a 92% discount and is totally genuine and you’re buying it direct from Microsoft. |
6. Learn how to use Microsoft Word 2007
Word 2007 Made Easy: A Quick and Simple Guide for StudentsThe new Microsoft Word is pretty confusing when you first switch over. Get this free ebook and learn how to write your projects quicker, better and with ease with Word 2007. This was written by students, for students, and includes everything that a student needs to know. It’s simple, quick and pretty fun to read. Go check it out! |
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7. Get email with Gmail
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GmailWe recommend Gmail (Google Mail) as it’s probably the best free email provider. You get the usual features you’d expect from an email provider, plus it comes with lots of storage, its fast, and it’s easy to search your emails. Just remember that if you have your own email account, you still need to check your university email address regularly as it’s how your university may contact you. |
8. Manage your emails with Thunderbird
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ThunderbirdOnce you’ve got your free email account(s), you might want to manage them using Thunderbird. This great piece of software is similar to Microsoft Outlook, but its free! You can organise and search your email accounts, it’s fast, reliable and it allows you to look at your emails both on and offline. The only rub is that it doesn’t have the diary/organiser feature of Office. But hey, it’s free and it lets you check your emails from any computer! |
9. Backup and share your work with Drop Box
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Drop BoxWe recommend Drop Box as the best free online storage space. This is great for backing up your university work for free. You can copy your important files into your ‘drop box’ and keep it safe in case something happens to your computer. It’s easy to use, it’s reliable and you can access your work from any computer via the internet. If you do group work you can even share folders with your class mates! |
10. Listen to music and watch DVDs with VLC
VLCYou’ll probably already have a media player that lets you listen to music and watch DVDs on your computer (e.g. Windows Media Player and QuickTime). However, that mean you’ve got the best ones. We like VLC Media Player. It’s free, it does everything you’d expect a media player to do, and it plays pretty much every kind of file you can imagine (something that many preinstalled ones don’t). |
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