Free Microsoft Office

·         What do you get? The ability to download the entire Office software suite – including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher and Access – on up to five PCs or Macs (the last two are on PC-only).

·         Who can get it? Students and staff at universities, colleges and schools which have licensed Office institution-wide through the Microsoft Volume Licensing programme. Microsoft says 99.9% of universities, 87% of colleges and a "large number" of schools in the UK are eligible.

·         How do I get it? Enter your academic email address on the Office website. You'll be asked to log in through your institution's online portal and if you're eligible, you'll be redirected to a page where you can download the software.

1TB free online storage

·         What do you get? A whopping 1TB of free online storage through OneDrive (others now only get 5GB free) and use of collaborative platforms like Yammer and SharePoint.

·         Who can get it? Again, this is aimed at students and staff with an academic email address, though the university, college or school doesn't have to have licensed Office as above.

·         How do I get it? Enter your uni, college or school email address on the Office website. You'll be asked to log in through your institution's online portal, then follow the instructions.

How long can I get these for?

You can use the free Microsoft Office and/or the free online storage for as long as you're enrolled at or employed by the academic institution. Microsoft says student eligibility may need to be be reverified at any time.

If you graduate or leave, the Office applications enter a 'reduced-functionality' mode (meaning documents can be viewed but you can't edit them or create new ones). OneDrive and other online services accessed through your academic address will also stop working.

What if I'm not eligible?

If your school doesn't qualify, Microsoft suggests asking your IT department to consider licensing Office through Microsoft's Volume Licensing program. Alternatively, if you really must have Microsoft Office and the alternatives below won't do, full and part-time students at academic institutions can get a four-year subscription to Office 365 University for £59.99.

LibreOffice is an open source project which includes six word-processing programs. It's compatible with many Microsoft documents.

The newest version, 5.1.4 is now out, and it looks and feels much more like its Microsoft counterparts. The programs included in LibreOffice are:

Writer: A word processor, it's the equivalent of Microsoft Word. Calc: A spreadsheet program, its equivalent of Excel. Impress: Presentation software, it's the equivalent of Microsoft PowerPoint. Base: A database, it's the equivalent of Microsoft Access.Draw: A design program, especially useful for flowcharts. Math: A simple tool for equations. Charts: A program for creating and embedding charts and graphs.

Combined, they make for a powerful suite of programs. It also works with Microsoft's 'docx' standard, which most free office software isn't compatible with.

Based on the source code of OpenOffice (which is a good alternative if you've a Mac) and similar to LibreOffice, OxygenOffice adds a wealth of templates, clip art and photos.

Over 3,400 graphics are included, and you also get more than 90 new fonts and a more detailed help guide. For some people, these extra features will seem like unnecessary bloat, but if you'll use them, it's well worth considering.

To get it, click the link above, scroll down and look for 'see your downloads'.

Microsoft's stripped-down Office Online includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. They operate through your browser, and work on Macs too. Anyone with a free Microsoft account can use them, along with 5GB of storage on the OneDrive back-up service, which you can use to store documents.

If you're used to the Microsoft packages, they're worth a try, but bear in mind these are hobbled versions of the software. After all, Microsoft doesn't want to cannibalise its profitable business of selling the full versions of Office.

Thinkfree online is a free suite which bears a striking resemblance to the official Microsoft software.

It's received glowing reviews all round. It includes the equivalents of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, looks pretty, and most importantly for an online suite, is responsive and simple to navigate.

It also holds a trump card in the way it hides your web browser window when in use, so you can use regular keyboard shortcuts to control it without upsetting your browser. Neat.

You also get 1GB of cloud space free per account

This basic-but-superfast package is fine for simple tasks, but if you're going to need advanced features it's best to look elsewhere. It's largely aimed to help directors of small businesses who need to use various applications.

While it offers a wider range of applications than ThinkFree, they aren't as detailed. Zoho stores all your documents in its free online storage space, and allows you to share them with (member) friends via email invitations.

Google's suite of online tools places more of an emphasis on collaboration than others. You can select a few people to work with you on the same document, spreadsheet, presentation or form, and they can all see it and make changes in real time.

It includes plenty of useful document, spreadsheet, and presentation templates which you can use to get going. You can even set-up offline access when using Chrome.

It's also the most web-oriented, since if you publish one of your Google Docs, you can use all manner of Google's whizzy analytics tools to track its progress too. Google Docs works in conjunction with Google Drive, so you'll have 15GB of free storage

This super-fast program cleans up unused files in around a second, getting rid of all the crap (that's what the first "c" stands for – honest) as it goes. CCleaner doesn't run all the time, just have it give your machine a quick spruce-up each week to keep it shipshape.

From Piriform, the same stable as CCleaner, Defraggler is a defragmenting tool. Fragments are made when your computer splits up files because there's not enough space in the place they were originally saved. It has a significant effect on performance, since when re-opening these files, your PC has to find two (or more) pieces instead of one. Defragmenters join the pieces together again, thus speeding up the computer.

Windows has its own Disk Defragmenter, which can be found in the System Tools menu, but it takes ages, as it'll only go through your entire hard disk at one go. Defraggler can be used to do the job on a smaller scale: just choose the files and it'll process them in a few seconds.

While OSX is perfectly capable of packing/unpacking .zip files, if you want to open or use the wealth of other compressed file types out there, you'll need a third-party expander.

Smith Micro's free version of StuffIt fills this void perfectly, and offers a simple drag-and-drop interface which works just as well as any paid-for version, so you can focus on more exciting things, like, erm, anything.

If you've got the time to learn it, Quicksilver is a clever productivity tool which'll allow you to launch applications, files and folders without taking your hands off the keyboard.

It's worth trying out SuperCal even if you think your display looks fine. It's a display calibrator which can clean up the image you see on screen by tailoring your computer's output to the characteristics of the monitor you're using.

The results should be better tonal colour gradients, clearer text, and better long-term eyesight for you.

This is a nifty, user-friendly site which can convert over 1,200 types of media file formats between each other. So, if you've a CV document from Word, and you'd like to make it a PDF instead, you simply put in your email address, upload the file to convert, and choose ".pdf" in the dropdown box.

Zamzar will do the hard work, and then email you a link to download the new file. One thing though, since it stores your files online before conversion, it's not advisable to use it to convert sensitive documents.

For non-paying users, you can upload a maximum of 100MB of data split between up to five different files. But if you sign up for a paid account you can upload files up to 2GB in size.

The beauty of basic-yet-surprisingly-powerful Paint.net is if you've used the simple Paint program that comes with Windows, then you'll be able to navigate it with no problems.

It's the most straightforward program to use for basic image cropping and editing, and will optimise images for quick loading on the web too. In short, if you only need the basics, Paint.net should be your first port of call.

Inkscape is a free program similar in operation to Adobe Illustrator or Corel Xara.

It's made for building "scalable vector graphics" – the ones which remain perfectly sharp no matter how much you zoom in or out, making them ideal for serious design work.

If you're planning an extension to your house, or are simply redecorating, the free Sketchup tool makes it relatively easy to build an accurate 3D model to work from.

There are plenty of video tutorials to set you on the right track. Once you've used it a few times, you'll be impressing everybody with your designs.

Students can get AutoDesk's computer-aided design software free for three years simply by registering.

The package includes over 40 AutoDesk products, including AutoCAD which retails at £1,575 for a year's subscription! These are the most common computer-aided design packages used for everything from mechanical engineering design to urban planning.

You get full functionality for three years, provided you're not using the software for commercial purposes.

Any student or teacher with an ac.uk email address can sign up to the AutoDesk Education Community where you download the software, as well as access forums, support and content sharing. It doesn't matter if you are part-time or about to graduate.

Please note, some of this software will come with built-in features to prevent it being used commercially, such as a stamp on any printouts.

Replacing its now-retired photo organiser Picasa, Google Photos offers basic photo editing, though its strengths lie in storing and sorting your collection. It makes navigating ill-organised photos scattered around your computer more straightforward than the Live offering above.

It also offers unlimited photo storage for free (with a few limitations). See the Free Online Storage guide for more info on Google Photos.

Microsoft's OneDrive suite includes a function for photo storage and organisation. It's very similar to Google Photos above, though without the editing features.

One thing it does have over its Google counterpart is the ability to group screenshots of Pokémon, snapped by players of the recently released Pokémon Go game, by name – undoubtedly a dealbreaker for many.

Which you choose is likely to depend mostly on whether you've a Hotmail or Gmail account, and which of the tech behemoths you like most.

See the Free Online Storage guide for more info on OneDrive's file storage capabilities and limitations.

Part of the free suite of Serif programs, PagePlus is the most user-friendly desktop publishing program we've come across, with professional-looking results.

The company hopes that after using it, or the other free applications, you'll spend £90 on the full version, which has extra features.

An acclaimed open source desktop publishing program, Scribus offers features usually only found on more expensive suites like MS Publisher or InDesign, such as CYMK colour and ICC colour management.

If that means nothing to you, but you want to make a professional magazine, then download this and read some of the detailed free tutorials. Also available for Linux.

If you need to burn disk images on DVDs, Blu-rays and the like but don't want to be besieged by millions of options, ImgBurn is a good bet. Skip its advanced mode and you've a fairly foolproof tool which seldom wastes your CDs.

Audacity is a proper wave editing and recording program. It lets you record audio, add effects, and even create your own soundscapes from scratch.

It's not the most user-friendly tool, but its power more than makes up for this.

Designed for podcasters, the sole purpose of The Levelator is to normalise audio files and make them sound crisper. There's no way to change its settings, you just drag audio files into the program and it does its thing, making all but the most appalling recordings listenable.

As of the end of 2012, The Levelator is no longer supported or being updated, though you can still download and use the most-recent versions.

If you've got hundreds of untitled MP3 tracks on your machine, MusicBrainz Picard will analyse them and add all the relevant artist/title info for those that match tracks in its database.

It also offers a wealth of other options for keeping your collection organised.

While iTunes is a necessity for most of us, the sheer number of features it now offers means there are far more streamlined music library options available, especially on Windows machines, where iTunes is especially slow.

MediaMonkey offers the ability to manage iDevices without iTunes, and some find it far more useful (and less salesy) than Apple's offering.

Another of the free software greats, VLC Media Player is the most widely compatible player available.

It seems no matter how esoteric a music or video format you throw at it is, it's got it covered. Plus, nowadays it's using more and more hardware acceleration to make proceedings more snappy too.

Like it or not, if you watch video content online, you may come across Windows Media .wmv files, which Quicktime doesn't natively support.

The previous solution was to download Microsoft's basic Windows Media Player for Mac, but thankfully you can now just get Flip4Mac, a plug-in for Quicktime which allows it to play these files.

Videora Converter converts a range of formats, including the ever-popular DivX, into files playable by iPods and other Apple products, meaning you needn't buy all your video from iTunes after all.

Several versions are available, so make sure you find the right one for your player.

Like the Videora converter for Windows, in essence HandBrake DVD to MP4 converter which makes files playable on a portable media player.

It's better than Videora in its support for the likes of Dolby Digital and multi-track audio, and also runs really rather fast.

Upload a sample or link to a web-hosted snippet of a song (15 seconds will do), and AudioTag will identify it. http://audiotag.info/

Skype barely needs inclusion here as you probably already have it installed.

There are other VoIP services available which are dedicated to internet calling, and there are certainly cheaper ones for calling landlines and mobiles. But for straight PC-to-PC calls, Skype's still the leader, simply because it's the most popular.

Clever tool Trillian allows you to keep track of all your instant messaging and social networking conversations from one centralised location.

It looks like any number of the IM clients you're probably familiar with, and has a straightforward interface, plus all manner of handy features, like instant URL-shortening for Twitter users. http://www.trillian.im/

If you're a Mac user and your online social life includes more than one instant messaging program, Adium is a neat way of combining them all in one easy-to-use window.

It supports AIM, Yahoo!, Facebook and Twitter among others. It's also highly customisable with add-ons aplenty.

Designed for when you reinstall your operating system and want to get up to speed quickly, Ninite installs a whole range of top free software in one package.

Just go to its site and tick the boxes for the software you want, and it'll install as many or as few as you choose. Everything is neatly categorised, so it's a good place to get the basics together quickly.

Osalt is a software database with a difference, as it only lists open source equivalents to commercial programs. You just tell it which commercial program you want, and it'll list free programs which are most similar to it.

Cnet's Download.com for Windows and OS X hosts practically all the programs listed in this guide. It reviews bigger programs and charts the most popular, so it's well worth a browse.

A user-friendly and well-organised site, FileHippo catalogues browsers, firewalls, audio tools, DVD tools and more. It also promises no pop-ups when you visit the site.

A bit slicker than FileHippo, SnapFiles has the added bonus of user reviews and feedback, though it can be hard to find what you're looking for.

Like Snapfiles, Tucows downloads includes its own and users' ratings and also has sections for Linux and Mac users.

With more and more of us using the web to bank online and do other sensitive tasks, coming up with solid passwords is more vital than ever.

Don't use the same login for lots of sites. If one falls into the wrong hands, your whole online life is up for grabs. Try picking one and add a few letters related specifically to each site you're logging into.

Ensure you change your passwords frequently. You can even use a free password generator to get a completely random (and very secure) password.

Windows Defender comes pre-installed on Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.

It runs in the background and tells you when you need to take specific action. You can use it anytime to search for malware if your computer isn’t working properly, but reviews are mixed on how thorough the scans actually are.

Microsoft's Security Essentials antivirus package is completely free to users of "genuine Windows machines", so it'll verify your copy. Two versions are available, for Vista and Windows 7. Sadly, XP is no longer supported.

The software's unobtrusive and provides quick and comprehensive protection from viruses, trojans, and spyware. For casual Windows users, it feels and runs like part of the regular operating system rather than an added extra. But some experts say it's not as good as it used to be.

Avast Antivirus Free is the supposedly the most widely used antivirus product in the world, with 230 million users.

The latest version, 2016, boasts an improved interface and better detection. So much so, it's leapfrogged Avira's Antivirus in our rankings.

The free antivirus software of choice for many techies, Avira's won many tech publications' free antivirus round-ups by providing both the most thorough and fastest software protection.

If you have the know-how, it'll do everything you want it to, but it's best for those that know their way around a PC.

Panda Security's free Antivirus 2016 software has been highly praised by reviewers, and has scored well on tests carried out by antivirus evaluation site AV-Test. Plus it includes additional features not often found in (free) antivirus software.

For example, it prevents USB drives running software automatically when inserted into your computer – as well as vaccinates your own USB sticks against infection from other PCs – and a monitoring function to highlight security information about current running applications.

The protection provided by the current version of AVG AntiVirus Free 2016 is reasonably thorough, though it doesn't offer any real tech support.

AVG is unobtrusive, doesn't use too many resources, and will regularly auto-update. It includes LinkScanner, a real-time threat detector which checks links out when you're surfing the web (on Firefox, Internet Explorer and Chrome only), and marks unsafe threats with red flags.

LinkScanner is also available separately as an 4MB-sized plugin for those who already use another antivirus (though check compatibility).

HSBC customers can get 12 months' McAfee VirusScan Plusfor nowt (click on the 'McAfee' tab) – after the first year you'll have to pay full price or uninstall it.

It gives anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall protection – see the McAfee site, where anyone can also get a free six-month trial, for more details.

Some forumites are sceptical about it though, so you may want to consider alternatives before deciding to go with it.

Barclays' online banking customers can grab a free 12-month Kaspersky Internet Security 2016 antivirus subscription (RRP £30). This comes with two licences, meaning you can protect up to two computers.

It comes very highly-rated by various tech publications, so it's a must-have if you bank with Barclays. You can renew it free after the first year, but you'll need to reactivate it again.

Simple to use, Sophos Antivirus for Mac runs in the background while you work, scanning files for threats whenever your Mac opens them. It's had fab reviews in techie publications, but has been known to slow down some systems.

Mac users who are also Barclays' online banking customers can get Kaspersky Internet Security 2016 for a year at no extra cost.

It comes highly-rated, so is definitely worth downloading. You can renew it free after the first year, but you'll need to reactivate it again.

Firewall = the fence stopping it getting there in the first place.

So why aren't we all going firewall mad? Well, we tend to connect to the web via a router, rather than just a modem, and routers provide a hardware firewall. Make sure yours is switched on and set to a high-enough security level. Consult the manual or search online for the make and model number if you don't know how to check.

While you're there, check you've changed your router password from its factory-set default. You'd be surprised how many connections are hacked (and how much havoc gets wreaked) because the standard password hasn't been changed. Spend a little time to get your settings right here, as router firewalls give a higher level of protection than software ones.

It's totally free but you'll need to register and activate the licence by email within 30 days of installation. While Comodooutperforms many similar offerings, it can be intrusive, especially if you just want a firewall that does its job quietly.

Ad-Aware's great at detecting and removing malware, and this new version works even faster than previous ones. On the downside, most features are locked in the free version. If you make it your primary tool, you won't be fully protected.

While the free version doesn't provide real-time protection or scheduled updates, Anti-Malware is still powerful enough to make a big difference. As a lightweight program, it's pretty quick too.

Spybot's been going for a while, and while it has a pretty long list of features, it's always received mixed feedback. It's fairly processor-hungry, so if your computer's already slow it'll be an unwelcome addition.

One of our top picks for adware/spyware removal on Windows, Anti-Malware is also also has a free version for Macs.

SecureMac's MacScan software is built to detect, isolate and remove spyware apps as well as blacklisted cookies saved on your system. It's a 30-day free trial; you'll pay $49.99 (c. £40) to upgrade if you choose to. Reviews are mixed, so if it doesn't work for you, just delete it once the trial's finished.