There are a lot of software available on the internet for different purposes but most of the time we, users choose only some popular software to install — leaving behind some of the most amazing feature-rich lesser-known software.
Like when it comes to web browsers we choose either Chrome or Firefox or for a music player, we install VLC and forget about all other names. Of course, the above-mentioned software is also free and open-source but still, some of the best free lesser-known software fails to get the limelight they deserve.
In this article, we are going to recommend some of the best lesser-known software you should consider to install. All of these software are 100% free and packed with awesome features. Maybe they are better than their respective famous alternatives.
Best free lesser-known software for PC:
1. Onlyoffice
Onlyoffice is an open-source office suite developed by Ascensio System SIA. It is one of the best Microsoft Office alternative for desktop users with full support for MS Office files. Onlyoffice includes a word processor, spreadsheet editor, and presentation software, providing alternatives to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Supported platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac OS, iOS and Android.
Key features of Onlyoffice:
- Work on documents of most popular formats: DOCX, ODT, XLSX, ODS, CSV, PPTX, ODP, etc.
- Integrated with a collaboration platform, it offers a toolset for document, mail and project management.
- Share and work on all kinds of Office documents collaboratively with your colleagues.
- Encrypt your documents, data transfer, and even temporary files while co-editing at both ends.
2. Olive
Olive is a free open-source non-linear video editor aiming to provide a fully-featured alternative to high-end professional video editing software. Olive is making rapid progress and users are already producing videos with it regardless the software is still currently in alpha and not fully stable.
Supported platforms: Windows, Linux, and Mac OS
Key features of Olive:
- It performs non-destructive video editing and your original video content is not modified.
- It does not have high system requirements.
- It offers the familiar timeline-based interface just like in Adobe Premiere and packed with all editing tools and common operations.
- It comes with solid color and title generators.
- The tools like Razor, Ripple, Slide, and Slip helps in media cutting.
- Option to export the final video to a large number of file formats.
3. Lunascape Orion
Different browsers use different rendering engines — like Internet Explorer uses Trident, Firefox uses Gecko, Safari uses WebKit. Chrome and Opera (from version 15) use Blink, a fork of WebKit. and most times during web development, developers have to switch to different browsers for testing.
And Lunascape Orion is the world’s first triple engine web browser and savior for web developers. With Lunascape, the three most popular rendering engines (Trident, Gecko, WebKit) have been integrated in a single browser. By clicking the smart engine-switch button next to the address bar, it is very simple to switch rendering engine for any page, until you find the engine most suitable for displaying the page contents. Web designers and web developers will find this browser particularly useful.
Supported platforms: Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android.
Key features of Lunascape Orion:
- It comes with over a hundred built-in functions necessary for any modern browser to take full advantage of the web environment of today.
- In Lunascape, you can specify which engine any given page should open with.
- “Cascade view” feature allows you to display the contents of open tabs side by side in the same window.
- Lunascape makes this easy by letting you specify which URLs should be blocked.
- To protect your privacy on, e.g., a shared system, you can choose to always delete all your personal data every time you exit.
- Lunascape automatically backs up your settings for you, including bookmarks, history, plugins, etc.
- Switching to Lunascape from other browsers is quick and easy with the user settings import function.
4. Bitwarden
Bitwarden is free and open-source password management solutions for individuals, teams, and business organizations. Even we set a strong password, security breaches occur and your passwords are stolen. Also, when you reuse the same passwords everywhere hackers can easily access your email, bank, and other important accounts.
So to protect your private data, randomly generated passwords for every online account that you create and Bitwarden is one such tool that helps you create and manage secure passwords. It uses AES 256 bit encryption as well as PBKDF2 to secure your data.
Supported platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac OS, iOS, Android and all popular browsers.
Key features of Bitwarden:
- Securely share and manage logins, secret keys, and more with users across your organization.
- Practice good password hygiene by auditing your vault with insightful reports.
- Store & share sensitive files such as private keys, certificates, documents, photos, and more.
- Enforce multi-factor login policies for your users by integrating with Duo Security.
- Sync passwords with all of your devices.
- Autofill logins with saved passwords.
5. WebTorrent Desktop
WebTorrent Desktop is the perfect tool for streaming torrents — you don’t have to wait for it to finish downloading. WebTorrent Desktop is fast, free, non-commercial & open source.
Supported platforms: Windows, Linux and Mac OS
Key features of WebTorrent Desktop:
- Lightweight, fast torrent app.
- Beautiful user experience.
- Instantly stream video and audio.
- Stream videos to AirPlay, Chromecast, and DLNA.
So which of these lesser-known software you like? Feel free to comment other software you think to deserve to list in this article.
