DO IT ONLINE
Fill your PC with software or take advantage of online tools? It’s a tough one. In certain circumstances, this isn’t an option – we don’t know, for example, of an online tool that can help repartition your hard drive – but moving your work online does have a long list of advantages. Your files will theoretically always be where you left them. There’s no need to manually update a piece of online software to keep it in line with the latest developments. And your local machine stays uncluttered and unslowed by the overheads of installed software. We might have presented a list of 50 programs, but we don’t expect you to be mad enough to install them all.
There’s an ever-growing string of online tools turning up. For the office, Google’s Docs suite (http://
docs.google.com) has matured to a surprising level of competence, and Microsoft’s own Office Online (http://office.com) offers up a decent cut-down version of its desktop office tools, and integrates nicely with OneDrive. Want to edit photos? Photopea (http://photopea.com) is a Photoshop-esque image editor that, in some cases, even manages to do more than the software it’s emulating – we even recommend it over GIMP, given that Photopea doesn’t include “randomly crashing” among its list of hobbies. Many of the desktop tools that made our list also have an online component, and in some cases it’s preferable over its installed counterpart. LastPass is best managed online, TeamViewer works great through its Chrome plugin, Spotify’s web interface is a little stronger than its desktop version, and you can employ the services of http://userstyles.org to mess with the CSS and customise it to your liking.