best software for college

I need to know what kind of software is essential to has in college my budget is about 500$ and I want to get the best bang for my buck. Any ideas?

 

I am not sure I understand what you mean.

Microsoft Office 2007 is an option, although expensive. StarOffice is free.

Incidentally, many colleges offer free software to registered students.

 

One note might be helpful.

 

I am a college student, and the only programs I use for school are Microsoft Word. PowerPoint as well, when teachers allow you to DL their Presentation.

 

MOST universities have educationally discounted versions of a lot of MS software. At my university, we have Office 2007 & Vista Ultimate for around $35 each. Includes OneNote.

Also, check out...
1) CutePDF for making PDF files (free, useful to share documents you don't want altered later)
2) Your university's IT department security website (if one exists). They may offer a version of anti-virus software for free that you'd normally pay for (mine offers McAfee for free, but I refuse to use McAfee based on prior experience).
3) Their site may or may not also have a downloads link for other software you may find useful.
4) Engineering student or do a lot of science/math? Pick up a copy of MATLAB, educational versions are around $100.
5) Need a photo editor? GIMP is all I've ever needed...and its free.

Other websites for academic software, all recommended by my university at least so they're legit...most software will be heavily discounted.
http://www.academicsuperstore.com/
http://www.gradware.com/
http://www.journeyed.com/
http://www.swexpress.com/

 

Office is pretty much a necessity. But check your college book store for deals. I was able to get CS3 Design Premium from my bookstore for $350, when it usually retails for around $1800.

It would be nice to know what kind of work your course would entail though. There's a lot of software out there...

 

theultimatesteal.com i think that's the site. Office 07 Ultimate for $60 for college students.

 

Vista Ultimate for 35 bucks?

 

MS had an offer for Office Ultimate for $55 if you had a .edu e-mail.

 

matLAB, matematica...

 

Office Ultimate 2007 for $60.
MATLAB student version: $100
Autodesk Inventor 2008 Professional: free for engineering majors/architecture.
Adobe Photoshop/Premier Elements.
The software in the Free Software Sticky.

 

Adobe Photoshop/Premiere is garbage. They install some bloatware with the system (namely, network-screwing-up software called Bonjour that is tweaked by Adobe).

 

Never heard of bonjour... is this limited to the PS/Premiere package only?

 

I think its all versions of Adobe.

 

link please?

 

www.theultimatesteal.com

 

oh well. Adobe software is so good it's worth it

I just did a spotlight search of my PC and it didn't come up with anything called Bonjour, so at least it's not an the Mac version.

 

Check the task manage for a process like ##ID_String...something, something. Or at least similarly structured, the name seems spammy. That's how you know you have it.

 

yep, mac's have it too!!!

check your startup programs........

 

I get Office 2007 for $30 bucks at my school.

Even though I think it should be free...

 

I don't see anything remotely similar to that in my active processes... I opened up photoshop however and there's a process called FNPLicensingServ on the list with the parent program being Photoshop. Nothing else though...

 

You should definetly check with your school's IT department in regards to academic pricing. Many universities offer free office, windows, adobe acrobat, etc. to students, faculty, and staff. Others have you pay a nominal fee for the software. Check to see if your school is part of the MSDN alliance, because you can get access to almost all of Microsoft's software library by signing up for one computer/IT course.