Page 51 - Computeractive - January 2, 2018 UK

Download f or free in 2018

DOWNLOAD FREE SOFTW A RE

1 WPS O ffice WPS O ffice
LibreOffice ( www.libreoffice.org) lets you o pen
and s ync
is still one o f o ur favourite f ree documents
programs. B ut in 2018, a s t he line on PC, p hone
between P Cs, t ablets and p hones c ontinues and t ablet
to blur, we think y ou’ll n eed an office
suite t hat y ou can use a cross all your
devices and o perating systems. W PS
Office ( www.wps.com/office-free, s ee
screenshot right) fits the b ill. I t’s a f ree
office s uite that looks and w orks much
like m odern v ersions of Microsoft Office,
and r uns o n W indows, i OS and A ndroid.
It gives y ou 1GB f ree o nline s torage to
share a nd sync files between y our
devices, t hough you c an also use o ther
services like D ropbox and O neDrive.
Currently , this works w ith W indows and per y ear. Instead, y ou can use a well as podcasts. Y ou can also ask i t t o
iOS o nly , but WPS has p romised t o m ake combination of free tools t o a chieve a automatically a dd album c over art a nd
it available for A ndroid users s oon. similar l evel of protection. W e lyrics t o y our fi les.
Free use o f W PS Office i s s upported b y recommend u sing EaseUS ToDo Backup MediaMonkey doesn’t h ave i ts own
adverts, but these are r arely i ntrusive and Free (www.snipca.com/26368) f or your built-in music s tore, b ut it can sync with
it’s a s mall price t o p ay for s uch a b rilliant local b ackups. J ust m ake s ure y ou untick your phone or tablet (a recent update
multi-device o ffice s uite. the o ption to install a ny additional tools makes i t w ork w ith A ndroid 8 a nd iOS
when you r un the i nstaller. 11). This m eans you c an shop for t unes on
2 EaseUS T o Do Backup Free Crucially , EaseUS ToDo Backup Free your mobile device a nd transfer t hem
and G oogle Backup and S ync supports file v ersioning, w hich k eeps easily to your PC.
CrashPlan (www. previous versions of saved fi les, g iving
crashplan.com), one o f you a l ifeline i f a ttacked b y r ansomware. 4 Stellarium
the b est f ree b ackup Click F ile B ackup, ‘Image-reserve In 2003 Mars came w ithin 3 4.6
tools, is closing i ts home-user s ervices in strategy’, then tick ‘ Enable image r eserve million miles of Earth, c loser
October 2 018 t o r efocus on business strategy’ a nd enter t he number of than at any t ime i n n early
customers. Th is is a m assive shame, backups you w ant t o p reserve ( ‘4’ in the 60,000 years. I n J uly 2 018, it will get
because it provided a u seful w ay to back screenshot below l eft). For y our o ff-site almost as close - j ust 3 5.8 million miles
up your files securely to an external hard backup, we’d recommend u sing Backup away. Th at’s all t he excuse you s hould
drive, as well as to someone else’s and S ync ( www.snipca.com/26369), need to download the o utstanding
computer over the i nternet, w ithout Google’s new , simple tool for s yncing fi les astronomy p rogram Stellarium (see
having to pay a s ausage. Th is meant y ou with Google Drive. A lso c onsider V eeam screenshot below), though the l aunch o f
always h ad local ( on your PC) a nd off-site Agent ( see p age 5 8). Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe, also in July,
(someone else’s computer or online) sounds exciting (go t o www.nasa.gov/
copies of your files. I t’s a g ood way to 3 MediaMonkey launch schedule and s croll d own t o t he
protect y ourself a gainst ransomware, Microsoft’s Groove Music a pp bottom).
theft, fire, hardware failure - a lmost leaves a l ot to be desired. I ts To get S tellarium on your PC visit
anything in fact, e xcept a m eteor s trike. interface is simplistic, a wkward http://stellarium.org/en_GB and c lick
Currently , there’s n o d irect f ree to navigate and – a mazingly – l acks even your operating s ystem at the t op (the
equivalent. C rashPlan recommends basic f eatures, like t he ability to rip m usic download will begin a utomatically).
switching t o C arbonite (www.carbonite. from CDs. Sadly , Microsoft shows n o s ign Y o u’ll then be able to explore a 3 D
com), but this costs a m inimum of £45 of improving i t. In fact, o n 3 1 D ecember simulation of the n ight s ky. S tellarium
Microsoft will remove its music- was r ecently u pdated, a dding m oons of
streaming features and o nline s tore. Saturn, U ranus a nd Pluto.
Launch Groove Music a nd you’ll see a
warning telling y ou to download any
purchases you’ve made before that date,
or you’ll lose them forever.
There are m any o ther, m uch b etter
music p layers available, i ncluding
MediaMonkey (www.mediamonkey.
com). Packed with features, i t m akes
Choose how m any f ile v ersions you w ant t o browsing your collection easy, a nd
save using EaseUS T o Do Backup Free supports dozens of audio-file f ormats, as Get up close t o M ars u sing Stellarium

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