College is a time to learn and grow and gain new skills. If you’re looking to use the best software for college, you’re in luck! I’ve put together a list of software for professional and personal use that will help you get the most out of your time at school, whether that’s college or graduate school. This list includes software that allows you to get smarter (math), tougher (sports training), more organized (task managers), more capable (stationary computers or mobile technology), safer (password managers or security applications), more productive (word processors) and more efficient in school work (time management tools). If there’s anything in here that can help you in your time at college, do yourself a favor and check it out!
Microsoft Office 365 for Education (Windows, Mac)
There are lots of Office imitators out there, but why not get the real thing for free? Full and part-time tudents (and teachers) get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Microsoft Teams, and more, completely free (that includes high schools, too!). Plus, it comes with 1 terabyte of OneDrive cloud storage! All you need to sign up is a school-specific email address (like YourName@YourSchool.edu).
Download Office 365 for Education
Paint.NET (Windows)
While Paint.net does have its roots in the old Microsoft Paint software, it’s much more evolved and has many more features than that basic program, including some advanced ones, like the ability to “undo” all the way to the beginning of the file, and the ability to work with layers. If you’re used to something like Photoshop, you’ll see a lot of the same tools, like the clone stamp, the magic wand, and the lasso. You can save images as a .png or .jpg (probably sufficient for most users), plus a half dozen other formats. You can also download plugins that have been developed by the Paint.NET community.
Jango Music Streaming (browser-based)
The free versions of other music streaming services are loaded with ads. Jango only plays one audio or video ad per DAY! How does it manage that? By earning revenue if they sell you a song you’ve listened to, but also by letting independent artists buy their way into the music rotation. When one of these songs is played, a pop-up lets you see who it is, and you have the opportunity to like the song, become a fan, or contact the artist. It’s a win-win: you get (almost) ad-free music and get to listen to a new song here and there, and the artists get exposure and maybe even a sale.
Tableau (Windows, Mac)
Tableau is an innovative visual analytics tool that helps you to understand large amounts of data by showing it to you in different ways, and K-12 and college students can get it for free. Tableau lets you see data in the form of charts, graphs, maps, and more in order to spot trends, make interactive dashboards, and create beautiful graphics for presentations. There’s also a student guide to help college students use data analytics.
LogMeOnce (Windows, Mac)
Security experts say that the passwords most of us use are too easy, but with so many different accounts and programs and devices, it’s confusing and cumbersome to use complex passwords. One solution is to use one password to access all of your other passwords, which many programs do. LogMeOnce has taken it one step further and uses photo logins, fingerprint logins, or pin logins on your phone to approve logins from other devices, so that you can go truly password free if you want to. You can make complex passwords (or let LogMeOnce come up with them for you), and you’ll never have to remember them!
Prey (Windows, Mac)
Losing a laptop can be devastating for a student, since so much of their lives (and school work!) is probably stored there. Prey is free software that you can download to your PC or Mac (and mobile devices, too) that will monitor your device’s location and let you know when it leaves a certain radius (your dorm, for example). If you mark your laptop as missing, Prey will send you status reports including location, screenshots, and pictures. You can sound an alarm, send a message that will pop up on the screen or even lock the device. There are premium features that can do more, but the basic free version is probably fine for students.
AVG AntiVirus (Windows)
Scammers are getting more sophisticated, so you have to be smart about protecting your computer. There are many paid programs out there that will do the job, but if you can’t afford them you should at least cover the basics with AVG. AVG will protect your PC from viruses and malware, and will also block unsafe links or downloads (it will also remind you what you’re not protected against unless you upgrade to its paid version). It scans yourcomputer without any noticeable slowdown, which is a huge plus.
OneNote (Windows, Mac)
OneNote is an amazing organizational tool that can help you keep all of your notes and assets in one place, and its drag-and-drop boxes can keep everything in order. It autosaves after every single change, so you never have to worry about losing your work. If you’re using a device with a touch screen and a pen, you can handwrite notes as well. You can drag items into OneNote easily from webpages or other sources, or use the OneNote Web Clipping Tool to save entire web pages. If you link to an online video it can be played right in OneNote. You can also use OneNote to record audio and/or video, and it will link the notes you take during the recording to the timecode in the recording. This is incredibly handy for taking notes during lectures and classes. There are OneNote apps for many devices, so if you link OneNote to the cloud you will never be without your notes.
Mint (browser-based)
You’re living in a dorm or an apartment. Nobody is looking over your shoulder to see what you spend. You’re finally being treated like an adult when it comes to money. So don’t blow it! Mint doesn’t just keep track of your money by linking to pretty much every financial institution you would ever use, but it also helps you stay on track. It gives you reminders and helps you pay your bills, it analyzes your spending and suggests ways to save and it monitors things like unusual spending and when funds are low. You can also make a budget and check your credit score. All for free!
GIMP
WARNING: Please be wary when searching online for this free service. You might be, erm… surprised by what the search pulls up. We learnt the hard way.
GIMP rivals Adobe Photoshop with free, good-quality software. It includes loads of features similar to Photoshop and has been highly recommended by both amateur and savvy Photoshoppers alike. They offer a huge range of editing tools, which allow both simple and complex photo manipulation.
Like Photoshop, there are many plug-ins available for GIMP to make your editing easier and more advanced – a quick online search will show you what’s available.
GIMP supports tons of file types including JPEG, GIF, PNG and TIFF, among others.
Conclusion
Let’s say you’re going to college and dread going back to school, but you know you have to go. Having the right computer equipment will help make your time there more enjoyable. In this post, I am going to give an overview on the best software for college students, including software that is good for schoolwork, research, project management, and gamification of learning activities.