In our never-ending quest to find some of the best free software available, we've come up with some of the free programs that we think are absolutely awesome for college students. Most of the software we have listed is available for Windows Linux and Mac. These software are highly trusted and can perform many of the same tasks as high-priced software.
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| Technobroz List of Best Free Software that Every College Student Should Know. |
Best Free Software that Every College Student Should Know.
- BleachBit
- OBS Studio
- FotoSketcher
- f.lux
- KODI
- Banshee
1. BleachBit
BleachBit is a free and open-source disk cleaner, and privacy manager and can help to optimize your system. This is for those people who don't want to use the built-in tools on their computer's operating system. Our preferred disk-spaced cleaner many years ago used to be CCleaner but as We've mentioned in Prior of this article they've had some issues over the last several years making them no longer trustworthy. Including a recent data breach exposing its customer data.
With BleachBit you can delete cookies, free cash, clear internet history, and delete logs and temporary files, plus it can clean thousands of applications including Google Chrome, Firefox, and Adobe Flash.
Before making any major changes it's always best to back up your system by selecting options in the left pane. It'll show you what it does to the right with Firefox. It says it'll delete backup files delete web cash, delete cookies, and all sorts of other stuff. It'll give you a warning if you're about to do something that could be detrimental.
BleachBit is available for Windows and Linux. They also have special versions for Mac OS, email servers, and for the one or two people out there still using an old Blackberry.
2. OBS Studio
- Video Recorder/Streaming
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| OBS Studio - Video RecorderStreaming |
OBS Studio is a free and open-source screen recorder. It's great for recording projects that can be saved to your computer and for live streaming of video games or anything else that you want to stream live. It is one of the best free Video Recorder/Streaming software that a college student can use, whether on projects, assignments or to play games and more. We've used several screen recorders and OBS Studio is the best that We've used. Unlike most free screen recorders OBS does not have any forced watermarks and you can record with up to 60 frames per second.
If you are planning to try out the software there is a slight learning curve. There are several videos on YouTube that will get you started and OBS has an expansive help section on their site. The latest release for OBS studio is available for Windows 10 and 11, Mac OS 11 and newer. And it's also available for Linux.
3. FotoSketcher
- Turns Photos Into Art
FotoSketcher is software that'll take your pictures and turn them into artwork. We find the effects are a lot better than those found in online photo editors. FotoSketcher is really easy to use. Select the blue folder and then select your picture. If you want to zoom in on your image or zoom out you can use the magnifiers located in the upper right-hand corner. Select the paint icon there are more than 20 different drawing styles that you can choose from.
If you hover your mouse over each style you can see an example. In the banner at the top, you have the option to add text to undo or redo your changes and to save just select the floppy disk. FotoSketcher at this time is available for Windows, if you're a Mac User there's also a link on their download page to download an experimental version of their software.
4. f.lux
f.lux is a program that adjusts the color temperature of your display according to your location and time of day. Blue light emitting from your screens in the evening can make it more difficult to sleep. f.lux reduces the blue light levels.
Many operating systems now have a built-in night mode but none that we have used are as good. f.lux is primarily available for Windows and has experimental versions for Mac OS, Linux, iOS and Android.
5. KODI
- Home Theater Software
KODI is a free and open-source media player software. If you've ever used Plex, it shares some similarities you can use KODI to view media directly on your computer or if you have a supported Smart TV or streaming device that also has a KODI app. It allows your PC to behave like a media server to be able to stream your movies, TV shows, music, and other media to those devices.
What brings a lot of people to KODI is the add-ons. There are several categories of add-ons for video or audio to stream internet content. They also have add-ons for skins to change the look and feel of KODI, add-ons for weather and so many more which are all completely free. After you install KODI and first launch it you may get overwhelmed. There are all these categories along the left-hand side that are empty which you have to link to before it'll show up in the main window. You'll also want to go to the settings menu which will have several categories for you to set up your preferences.
If KODI is something that interests you there are hundreds of tutorials on YouTube to check out along with documentation and how-to guides on their site. KODI is available for Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iOS, and Raspberry Pi.
6. Banshee
Banshee is an open-source media player. It has a ton of features for sorting and organizing your music videos podcasts and audiobook Libraries you can create playlists listen to and rip audio CDs and listen to and organize internet radio stations.
If you've ever used the old Windows Media Player or Media Monkey, Banshee has a similar look and feel. Banshee is user friendly so you should have no problem learning how to use it. The latest release for Banshee was nearly four years ago but we find it still works great. It's primarily available from any of the Linux with a beta quality for Mac and an alpha quality preview for Windows.
Conclusion
We hope you may have found some of the software that you can be useful in your student life. If you have any opinion on our Technobroz List of Best Free Software that Every College Student Should Know then let us know in a comment.
