<p>What software is an absolute must for college?- Microsoft Office, Windows, and what else.</p>
<p>Forget about absolute, what software helped all you college-going kids survive with the workload and helped you listen to music, chat, and relax with entertainment?</p>
<p>For typing up reports and doing homework for different subjects which software would you guys recommend?</p>
<p>As to software needed, first rule is: if you do not have it yet, don't buy it until you find out what you can pay for it through the college's computer store. Anything you may need is likely to cost less buying through the college: example: Mathematica, which some feel they may want, costs about $1500 or more if you buy it retail but colleges sell a student version, which is not different from the regular version except it says on the pages that it is a student version, often for under $100; price of Microsoft Office can often be a third or less than retail.</p>
<p>As to software to have, Microsoft Office is recommended (and most use Word for typing reports, which is part of Office, but comes with computers with windows systems even if you don't have office). Other than that, there is little you really need to buy for coursework, except some special programs may be required for certain courses which programs will either be provided or purchased for cheap in the computer store.</p>
<p>Or you can download OpenOffice (openoffice.org) instead of paying for Microsoft Office. It's just like MS Office (it can open up office documents, mac documents, etc) and it's FREE! :-)</p>
<p>i like foobar2k for playing music (of course there is Winamp for it too)
Trillian is great for chat, it's skinnable too, so you can have a different layout for it...black, gun metal, and my favorite, Mac OS X.<br>
VLC player is touted as the best free all around media player, and I agree. It worked without any codecs or additional downloads. </p>
<p>Also, don't forget your anti spyware stuff <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=88157&highlight=spyware+search+destroy%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=88157&highlight=spyware+search+destroy</a> </p>
<p>fluffloooz: yeah, OpenOffice is nice. Too good that I get a free copy of MS Office Prof. through my school. :p</p>