However, for many applications you use every day, there are great alternatives that are even for free. Here are some of the main software alternatives for Windows:
Office suite (word processing, spreadsheet, presentations)
- OpenOffice
Software package that is comparable to Microsoft Office. Contains a word-processing program (like Word), a spreadsheet program (like Excel), presentation program (such as Power Point) and others.
www.openoffice.org - Google Docs
Similar to Microsoft Office, but it is used online in the browser. A Google account is required. The created files are stored online and can be opened from anywhere (Cloud Computing).
Very useful, but not a real alternative to OpenOffice or Microsoft Office.
https://docs.google.com
Creating and editing PDF files
- PDFCreator
Creating PDFs and other files (such as PNG, JPG, BMP, PCX, TIF, PS, EPS). The tool is controlled by the print function.
www.pdfforge.org
www.chip.de/downloads/PDFCreator_13009777.html - FreePDF Ghostscript
Create PDF documents.
Both software packages must be installed. The configuration is done automatically.
http://freepdfxp.de/xpDownload.html - Free PDF to Word Doc Converter
Converts PDF files into Word files.
www.hellopdf.com
Playing DVDs, videos and audio files
- VLC media player
Plays almost any audio and video formats.
www.videolan.org - Kantaris Media Player
Plays DVDs, videos and audio files. Version 0.6.6 works with Windows 2000, XP, Vista or 7.
www.kantaris.org
Email (instead of Outlook or Outlook Express)
- Thunderbird
Offers great expansion possibilities (with so-called add-ons https://addons.mozilla.org) and therefore offers everything Outlook has to offer.
http://www.mozillamessaging.com/de/thunderbird/ - Gmail
Online-mail program with more than 7 GB of memory. Provides labels and grouping of emails into conversations.
www.mail.google.com
Internet Browsing
- Mozilla Firefox
Very popular browser that can be extended easily with a variety of add-ons (https://addons.mozilla.org/en/firefox).
www.mozilla.com - Opera browser
Good performance, but cannot be extended.
www.opera.com - Google Chrome
Very stable and incredibly fast, but sends your data to Google.
www.google.com/chrome - Safari
The Mac browser is also available in a version for Windows. However, the browser offers no advantages over other browsers.
www.apple.com/safari
Programs for burning CDs and DVDs
- CDBurnerXP
Burns CDs, DVDs (including double layer and rewritable), Blu-Ray and HD DVDs. Reliable and not overloaded with extra features.
http://cdburnerxp.se - ImgBurn
Burns DVDs, CDs, Blu-Ray and HD DVDs, and supports popular image formats.
www.imgburn.com
Image optimization
- GIMP
With this software you can edit photos, create images, convert several files at once, use layers, fonts and effects. GIMP is developed by a large community.
www.gimp.org - Picasa
For organizing and archiving photos, but also for image editing.
http://picasa.google.de
Anti-virus software
The free anti-virus programs protect against viruses and some also against spyware, but they do not protect against phishing attacks nor do they check your emails for viruses.
- Avast!
www.avast.com - AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
http://free.avg.com - Avira
www.free-av.com
Mind Mapping
- Free Mind
Open-source software that is constantly evolving.
http://freemind.sourceforge.net - XMind
Easy to use mind mapping software.
www.xmind.net - Master Mind
If the functions are not sufficient for your needs, you can purchase another version.
www.mindmeister.com
Posts
Right. Ich verwende aus jeder Sparte eins und hab noch nie für Software gelöhnt (außer sie kam mit einem neuen Rechner im Sonderangebot).
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