Free Alternatives

[Connor82]

I use Microsoft365 office and Photoshop with other apps on my pc. Are there better or free alternative out there in 2026, surely?

[WaveFunction34]

There are actually some solid free alternatives now.

A few I've used:

GIMP instead of Photoshop
DaVinci Resolve for video editing
LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office

They're not always identical, but for most people they're more than enough.

Would be good to build a bigger list here.

[One-One-Five]

I agree LibreOffice is a good sub.

[Plateau65]

Lots of alternatives out there buddy

[Midnight Wolf]

Definately going to try them.

[Neil57]

I bounced off it for different reasons. The games that get talked about the most are rarely the ones I end up spending the most time on.

Good shout.

An SSD upgrade is still the single biggest performance gain on most older machines.

[DQ Eric]

Lots of alternatives out there buddy

I tried that and the catch was not obvious until afterwards. Every bit helps at the moment.

Software bloat is half the problem and it gets worse with every update.

[DotEXE]

There is something right about that. Really good thread this.

The hardware is usually fine, it is almost always software causing the slowdown.

[NovaPrime68]

That is my view too if I am being straight. People forget that pressure affects players differently and the better sides handle it better.

Still think I am right on this.

[Mia86]

That resonates with me. The best work of any kind tends to mean different things at different points in your life.

I find these conversations more useful than reading reviews.