best apps or softwares for chrome os

Chrome OS is built around the Chrome browser, so it requires less resources, hence enabling it to start faster. Unfortunately despite its hallmark speed advantage, Chrome OS still has a major weakness.

Most of the apps available requires your machine to be online all the time. The workaround for this weakness are “offline apps”, apps which have all the data they need to run without downloading anything else.
Here are a few offline apps which will ensure that your offline experience with Chrome OS is seamless.

Google Drive (Productivity)

Google Drive is a default app in Chrome OS, and has been integrated into the OS to act like an additional drive. On top of that, it also doubles as a productivity suite since Google Docs was absorbed into Google Drive. You’re able to start or work on documents, slides and spreadsheets saved onto the machine while offline, which would take away any excuse not to work on a Chromebook. And if you need additional functionality, you can install apps that let you edit photos, draw graphs, create forms and sign documents straight from Google Drive.

Deezer (Music)

Deezer is one of the biggest streaming music services right now with millions of tracks for you to listen to. You can run it straight from your browser the moment you log in. However, to download tracks onto your Chromebook, you’d have to shell out for a Deezer Premium+ account which would set you back $12.50 a month. It might not seem much at first, but it will add up over time, so you’d have to weigh the cost against the benefits of having your tracks offline.

Gmail (Productivity)

Gmail, a web-based email service, is currently one of Google’s biggest consumer services. However with the usual web-based Gmail, you’re required to be online in order to retrieve and reply emails. Now with Gmail Offline, you can easily store a week, 2 weeks or even a month’s worth of mail on your Chromebook. It also has very conventional and pleasant looking interface which is easy to use and navigate. Most of the basic email functions you’re used to on regular Gmail are available here, even color-coded labels.

Angry Birds (Gaming)

If the Chromebook is the only device that accompanies you on your travels, you might want to get yourself a good offline game. What better game than Angry Birds, which has millions of users across the globe right? Unfortunately, the sad truth is, there aren’t many quality games on Chrome to begin with. The best and most recognizable offline-capable game we found on the fledgling Chrome platform was Angry Birds. We do have hopes that as Chrome OS takes off, there will be more games from other high profile developers, and not just Rovio.

Google Keep (Read)

Google Keep is not just fast and lightweight, it has also been upgraded by Google recently to appear in a standalone window when opened in Chrome OS (or Chrome desktop browser) rather than in a new tab. This gives you the flexibility of taking quick notes while working on your Chrome browser, without switching to another tab. Another major advantage is that it syncs flawlessly with the Google Keep apps in your Android device, so you can have your notes anytime, anywhere.

Read Later Fast (Read)

“Read later” apps are apps that saves online articles, formats and stores them for offline reading. You’d think that the most prominent of these apps like Instapaper and Pocket would be on this list, but unfortunately, they aren’t yet. However, there is Read Later Fast, which does the same thing, except it only works on the Chrome browser. The caveat here is that this app isn’t available on other platforms like Android or iOS yet. This means that while you’d be able to read articles saved on your Chromebook, you can’t access them with any of your other devices.

Kindle Cloud Reader (Read)

The Kindle Cloud Reader basically pulls the digital books you’ve bought (using certain workarounds) through Amazon, and stores the selected books in your Chromebook so that you can read it later. This app functions like a typical book reading app, and allows you to customize page layouts with your preferred fonts and colors. You’re also able to use more advanced features like adding notes, highlights, bookmarks and syncing your last page read across all your Kindle apps on other platforms and devices.

top 10 software for windows in 2014

In 2014 why not dump some of our same old software and try something new and better this new year. weknowwiki’s Editorial Team has come up with yet another smashing list of ten best free software for 2014, have a look ..

In this featured post we hope to make your download selection easy by providing 10 of the most useful, fresh and effective software for the year ahead.

1) Zoner Photo Studio Free 16

( Min req : Win XP / Vista / 7 / 8+ ) An excellent photo organiser, viewer and editor which makes it a great tool for every photography workflow. The best part about this software is that it keeps away the duplicates and remove the need to click copy and replace, with importing for images from camera itself.
Reading metadata, renaming multiple photos, creating 3D images, postcards, panorama and Zonerama, Facebook, Flickr and Picasa Web Albums are some of its salient features.
Alternative : Picasa

Office Suite

2) Apache OpenOffice 4

(Min req : Windows XP+, Mac OS X or Linux ) After OpenOffice.org got discontinued, this Apache OpenOffice took over where they left and the code used is same as the LibreOffice commonly found in Linux platforms.
It’s functionality is in between Microsoft Office and Google Docs, with capability to save in formats of .doc and .docx. It also has great print view facility which gives more control over printing and it makes more space on top of documents as the toolbars can be pinned in sidebars.
Alternative : LibreOffice

Media Player

3) VLC Media Player 2.1

(Min req – Win XP +, Mac OS X or Linux) One program that does it all, play any video or audio file, supporting maximum number of formats and Video Codings. It supports skins and has something extra that no other media player can have.
Alternative : GOM Media Player

System Optimiser

4) Advanced SystemCare 7

(Min req : Win XP/Vista/7/8+) A free toolbox providing Advanced system care which simplify and automate process of speeding up and cleaning your PC for smooth operations.
It also improve privacy by removing traces of your online / offline activities, defragmentation, fix registry errors, malware and other vulnerabilities.
Alternative : Wisecleaner

Security Software

5) Avast Free Antivirus 2014

(Min req : Win XP/Vista/7/8+) Today any anti-virus you choose gives you many options other than the usual protection from malware, the new version has auto updater to stay with current versions, a browser cleanup tool, do not track options.
With the new hardened security feature, Avast has made the antivirus protection more solid than ever before for the newbies, people starting to use internet will definitely feel more secured with Avast than any other antivirus software.
Alternative – AVG Free 2014

Web Browser

6) Midori

(Min req : Win XP/Vista/7/8+ or Linux ) Built on as same engine as Chrome, its a great lightweight and fast browser with great enhanced blocking scripts, cookie control and clearing history with time period settings. Midori also has an ad blocker an effective bookmark method.
Alternative : Maxthon Cloud Browser

Music Manager

7) MusicBee 2.2

(min req : win xp /7/8+) To manage your songs and play them on your computer this alternative to iTunes is a great tool that is also a lightweight as compared to iTunes. Features like importing of songs automatically by watching folders, streaming from radio and music blogs, playlists, rip / burn CDs, display lyrics etc. Right now it doesn’t support Apple devices which can be a real plus point if it does in future.

Desktop Tool

8 ) MetroSidebar

(min req : windows vista/7/8+) A very powerful software that provides the design of Windows 8, including the time, weather and remaining battery status. More features like program launchers, auto-hide, on top, separate panels etc.
Alternative : Thoosje Windows Sidebar 8

PC Rescue Kit

9) Emsisoft Emergency Kit Free

(min req : win xp/7/8+) – This kit acts as an second line of defence, if you have an antivirus which never does a complete job for you, then this free software will make your PC much security proof. Features likes anti-malware scanner, no installation required, you can easily carry it on USB device.
Alternative : Anvi Rescue Disk

Ebook Software

10) Calibre 1.1

(min req: win xp/vista/7/8+, OS X or Linux) – An absolute gem of an ebook manager, it has almost everything you could imagine like it supports all major book formats, syncs books between devices, converts ebook types, tagging, cover art, divide libraries into smaller sections and much more

chrome or firefox which is best

May of you have questions which browser must be used, which is the faster browser, lightest browser to use on my Desktop. Among all the browser(Chrome, Firefox, Epic,Opera, internet Explorer,recently started using safari) I used. I found Chrome and Firefox as the best browsers. Here is the review on best browser experience I like to share.

Google Chrome Vs Mozilla Firefox

This is comparison based on all the factors mentioned below:

#1 Installation Setup

Installing Firefox and Chrome is really easy and simple. Chrome has one-click online installation and Firefox has offline installation. Chrome installation file size is about 13 MB and Firefox installation file size is about 15MB.
As chrome has online installation, it need internet connection while installation. And also it download large data online making it difficult to install.

#2 Start-up Time

When comparison come to start up time, Chrome start faster than Mozilla Firefox. Starting time of Chrome is about 0.7s where as Firefox has 0.9s.
When there are large number of windows open in the browser at start up, then Firefox load faster then chrome. Because chrome start to loading all active and inactive pages but, Firefox load only single active page. Later on changing the tab it start loading other pages.

#3 Browsing or Loading Time

As Google is the lightest page, I tried to load it in both the browser. I find the loading time for chrome is better then Firefox. As both the browsers support view-per-load* make them easier to use. As many elements are supported in Chrome, it makes faster to load and browse.
[ * showing the content of website as quickly it loaded in the browser cache]
Read; How to make your website or blog load faster using Google CDN

#4 RAM Memory Used

When I opened the Google.com in both browsers, waited till it completely load. I saw my RAM memory usage in task manager. I found Firefox usage was 108MB of RAM and Chrome has 90MB usage.
Chrome use the RAM memory in pieces, it has different elements using different RAM process. Whereas the Mozilla collective use its RAM memory.
Tip: Use ALT+CTRL+DEL to see your Task Manager Window.

#5 Hard Drive Memory Used

Mozilla uses 37 MB of hard drive for storing it files and Chrome uses 120 MB of space. Chrome files space hogging is greater because it support all kind of browsing files including HTMl 5, which is partially supported by Firefox.

#6 Private / Incognito Browsing

Firefox support “Private browsing” where as Chrome has “ Incognito Browsing“. Function of both these browsing is same, to make hide all activity done while browsing.
About Firefox, we can only open either regular browsing or switch to private one. But, Chrome has option to enable both the browsing simultaneously. Also chrome can enable multiple Incognito browser making it more secure to use and handle multiple accounts same time.
Tip: Firefox User can start private browsing by CTRL + SHIFT + P. And Chrome users by  CTRL + SHIFT + N

#7 Add Users

There is separate account for Chrome users. You can login to your chrome browser using your Google Account. mange the users of chrome, add remove users, limit to use by parental setup.

#8 Add-on and Extensions Integration

Add-on and extensions are developed daily in both browsers. Chrome Browser has pre-integrated with lot of  extensions, but if you want to add more features you may go to Chrome store for adding more. For Firefox, you have to add more extensions and add-on to get enable new features integration.

#9 Support with HTML 5

Almost all the elements of HTML 5 are supported by the Chrome Browser. But, Mozilla has drawback for majorly not supporting HTML 5 elements like Video, Sound, more. Firefox is developing its new version so as to fully support the HTML 5 browsing.
Read: How to make your website or blog responsive?

#10 Special Features in chrome

• There is a separate task manager for browser.
• Integrated Inspect element (Same as Firebug in Firefox).
• While copying from any Microsoft Word File. All the extra attribution are delete by “Paste as plain text” (CTRL + SHIFT + V ).
• Zooming Tool available.
• Google language Translator

Conclusion: Chrome is the best, lightest, fastest, and more user friendly browser as compare to any other browser.

Don’t have Chrome browser ? Download it from here.