These sites can contain infected ad banners and links that plant malware on your device. Reliability is necessary, as torrenting sites are common targets to get shut down by the government due to copyright laws. Download speeds determine how fast you can get the content on your device. A quality torrent site should have lots of torrents for popular content, and each torrent should have a decent number of seeders users who upload the file.
Torrents with many seeders usually download much faster. The more people access the site, the likelier it is to have a vast content library with lots of seeders. The site has a simple interface and is easy to navigate.
When I wanted to find a torrent for the film A Farewell to Arms , I was able to filter out all results for other gaming systems. It contains a few ads, but those quickly disappear if you turn on an ad blocker. If you want to be extra safe when torrenting, CyberGhost is a good VPN option as it has a built-in ad and malware blocker.
Visit The Pirate Bay. Movies and TV shows often feature screenshots directly on the torrent page. Posters, album art, and software brand images appear in pop-ups when you hover your mouse over the search results. Users can leave comments and star ratings on torrent pages to show the quality of the file. For movies, you can search by compression standard and pixel definition. When I wanted to find a torrent for Night of the Living Dead in pixel definition and x compression, I could do so easily by checking the boxes for these categories.
This saved me from sorting through hundreds of torrents for the same movie with different specifications. These can be annoying, disturbing, or even dangerous if they link to malicious sites. As one of the most popular torrent sites in the world and one of the oldest still in operation, x is a reliable option with plenty of high-quality torrents in every category.
New content is uploaded daily by a loyal group of users. You can find everything from old movies to the latest TV shows, music, and games.
When I wanted to find a torrent for Meet John Doe , I was able to quickly find one with a good number of seeders. This made it clear that the torrent was most likely reliable. Visit x. With nearly 10 million files available to download, LimeTorrents is one of the biggest torrent sites on the internet. It has tons of movies, TV shows, music, games, and more. Each search I performed came back with plenty of results, so you should have no trouble finding the content you want.
The site focuses on more recent files, so you can usually find new and popular releases with lots of seeders, which helps you download the files quickly.
LimeTorrents has a comprehensive tracker list and directories of the most popular recent torrents. The more active seeds, the faster you can download the files. When I wanted to find a torrent for Manos: The Hands of Fate , it only took me a couple of clicks to sort through and find ones that looked reliable. Visit LimeTorrents.
An advanced search option lets you filter results by category and status. Each torrent contains information about the number of seeders and torrent health, helping you choose safe links.
With these intuitive features, it never took me longer than 30 seconds to find and find the torrent link I wanted. Visit TorrentDownloads. Torrentz2 is a basic search engine that scans every peer-to-peer sharing site in its database using your search terms and lists the sites that have related files. Then you can download the torrent directly from the site that hosts the file or through a magnet link a link your torrent client uses to find seeders with the file you need.
Visit Torrentz2. Zooqle is one of the newer sites on this list. Zooqle focuses on movies and TV shows but also has a good range of games, software, and ebooks. The site has an easy-to-use interface. Each torrent contains information about the ratio of seeders to leechers, how long ago the file was uploaded, and resolution quality.
I was able to find a torrent for one of my favorite shows in the public domain. It took less than a minute and was in the format and quality I wanted. I got a lot of pop-ups when I was trying to navigate the site and found it pretty annoying to keep closing them. Visit Zooqle. YTS is famous for its library of high definition movies that you can download at fast speeds. The reason why the popular and well-known site ranks low on this list is that its content is quite limited.
The current yts. Visit YTS. EZTV is widely known as the top torrent site for TV shows with an enormous selection, clean and ad-free interface, and range of resolution options. I advise you against downloading copyrighted content on EZTV or any other torrent site — the activity is illegal in most jurisdictions and can get you in serious legal trouble.
However, the selection has more older shows than newer releases. Visit EZTV. TorLock is a solid option for first-time torrent users as you can guarantee all files are genuine. TorLock is well-established, still using a. The homepage has the most popular torrents in each category — these are usually recent torrents and as such, likely to be under copyright and illegal to download.
The specifications for each file, including size, seeders, and upload date, are found listed next to the title. This makes it simple to find a recent torrent that results in a fast download.
You need to install a reliable torrent client to download your torrent. It communicates, sends, and receives the files you want to download with other peers of the same torrent. Next, navigate to a torrent site and download your chosen file.
Usenet — a common alternative to torrenting — stores all files on its centralized servers instead of relying on peer-to-peer file sharing. While it provides a faster and more private way of downloading content than most torrent sites, Usenet is only available through a paid subscription and using it to obtain copyrighted material is still illegal.
Through malicious pop-ups, fake links, and infected downloads, hackers can take your files hostage and steal your sensitive information. No matter which torrenting site you use, you risk infecting your device unless you secure your connection with a quality VPN that also blocks malicious links. You could be directed to a malicious website designed to attack your device with viruses or malware.
Torrenting can also expose you to the prying eyes of your ISP, which can report your activities to the copyright holder or law enforcement. Since downloading copyrighted content is illegal in many countries, the resulting criminal or civil investigations can lead to fines or a prison term.
If you spend time on internet message boards such as 8chan or Reddit, you may come across invitations to private torrenting communities. The privacy risks associated with torrenting extend beyond law enforcement. When you torrent without using a VPN to mask your true identity , your real IP address is exposed, which creates a massive lapse in privacy and personal safety. Torrent securely with ExpressVPN. Watch out for fake torrent sites.
Multiple windows, demands for registration, and strange-looking URLs are telling signs of malicious sites. Copycat sites often spring up to replace legitimate torrenting sites when they shut down and can also expose you to malware. Check the history of an uploader to see if they upload quality and highly-seeded torrents. I avoid new uploaders and download verified torrents only — unverified torrents can easily plant malware on your device. To increase your chance of getting a legitimate torrent, look for a higher seeder-to-leecher ratio.
It also helps to read comments on torrent pages to avoid potentially dangerous downloads. Be aware that your antivirus software could trigger a false-positive, even if the files are harmless. These are a red flag for malicious processes. Download a secure VPN and a reputable anti-malware scanner to keep your personal information and device safe when torrenting.
You can also get a quality standalone ad-blocking service before you visit torrent sites. Remember: even unintentional downloads of copyrighted materials can get you in legal trouble. Here are a few torrenting sites you should avoid at all costs:.
The only way to torrent safely is through a top-tier VPN service. A VPN reroutes your internet connection through a different IP address , anonymizing your online activity. Quick Tip: Torrenting ebook and audiobook files is just as illegal as downloading films and shows. I tested over 30 VPNs, and ExpressVPN is one of my top picks as it gets you high torrenting speeds and lets you download files anonymously.
If you want to test it yourself, you can try ExpressVPN for torrenting on your own device. ExpressVPN had consistently fast torrent download speeds. Together with my team, we tested over 30 ExpressVPN servers across the globe and never experienced a speed decline below 25Mbps.
This is fast enough to watch Netflix in HD and download torrents quickly. With no bandwidth limit, you can torrent as much as you want with ExpressVPN and have zero issues. ExpressVPN also has unbeatable security features to keep you safe while torrenting. Its military-grade encryption makes it impossible for your online activity to be traced back to you. The money was back in my bank account after 5 days.
Try ExpressVPN risk-free. This is a limited offer so be sure to grab it now before it's gone. Otherwise you might prefer to switch to Libre Office which will probably do everything you need for free. Some things have changed since this article was written. And a small perk is one hour of Skype credit per device. So if you use a paid service like Dropbox, you can get the same amount of storage for less and have MS Office essentially free.
I use Libre every day. Free has worked great for me for the past decade. I started using Open Office and Libre Office and including them with the systems I built and sold to my customers.
I will stixk with for the forseeable and eventually probably migrate to open office. Microsoft is probably essential nowadays for anyone running anything other than for home use or a very small business. Shame they cannot provide a home licence and a commercial licence, but i guess that would be open to abuse nowadays.
So doing the math, that works out better for me. Also note that at least in Sweden where I live there are sometimes promotions on Office You can enter several codes on the same subscription and by that have up to I think three years of paid subscription time. Last time I paid about USD for three boxes.
I am now insured against price increases for this. And the Onedrive 1 TB makes it really worthwhile. I am an all Mac household. So why have Microsoft excluded Access and Publisher from the suite of packages for Apple products? Are there any alternatives available? I temped in an office awhile back where the MS software was kept on an off-site server.
While I was there, the staff enjoyed many long breaks every so often when the site was down and the software could not load, or stay in contact with the server. How often is this an issue? If you have the Office subscription, does it automatically update or does it stay with the version you install? Office is a subscription which gives you a license for the latest version of Office.
On one of my machines, it automatically upgraded to Office On the other, I had to manually upgrade, but the activation was automatic. About the only reason I would switch is for the Access as MS charges a horrible price for it. Any packages free variety that are Access compatible both ways? I only need it for home use and it does everything I need, including producing documents in almost any format that can be read without cost and with regular updates.
I did hear recently that Open Office is no longer being updated, but that may have been just a rumour. Anyone know the answer? I personally use and love MS Office Otherwise, if you only use a Word processor, Spreadsheet and Presentation program, Libre Office is sufficient.
I believe Open Office is still being supported, but Libre Office seems the better option now. I thought the subscription model only worked through the cloud, so if I cannot connect to the Internet I cannot use it.
Is this correct? You end up with a local copy of Microsoft Office on your computer which you can use when not connected to the internet. Not correct. Otherwise Office will go into limited function mode read and print only, no file creation or editing. This happened to my daughter while living at a house where the internet connection was off for an extended period of time.
She had to bring her computer back home after 30 days to validate her subscription status. She has one of my 5 installs. Thankfully, aside from that the products can still be used offline. I try to look at things from both sides. Doing that. I think I understand why this new business model is being developed. MS needs a steady stream of money. Every business does. They have tried adding features to entice people to upgrade.
They either need to find a whole new type of software product to market. And then do they abandon Office? No security updates? No help for a new user with a problem? So how to gain enough revenue to at least have a core group of employees keeping that piece of software current?
Enter the Subscription model. The biggest hurdle they will face is the same as you can see from the majority of the posts here.
Given the choice, I will pay more upfront, to lower or eliminate an ongoing fee. I buy my cars instead of Leasing. It will always be my prefered way of doing things. And I do see some of the limitations this brings. A company should be rewarded by the value they bring to the Marketplace.
And Microsoft has provided a huge service, with their Office products over the years. Both work and can be registered with Microsoft to get your upgrades. I worked in a home office until I got laid off a year or so ago. We used Office for business and I was used to it. The laptop is a MacBook Pro.
Like you said, the math is pretty clear. It just becomes a real nuisance. So if there is any chance of you needing to share documents please use standard software and keep it updated. Office is by far the easiest and cheapest way to do that. I have a hard time understanding the attitude some people have about Microsoft. Microsoft sets the standard for most software. The other thing I like about Office is the document sharing facilities.
You can send a link to someone, or a group, and edit a document together, or add comments, and Office will put it all together for you. I can even open a document stored in OneDrive with my phone and edit it, in a pinch. Of course, I like that kind of thing. Some people hate new things and will attack any change in their favorite software.
Sounds like this topic is quite the lightning rod for opinions, Leo! I have been subscribing to the MS Office package for years now and love it. One thing people seem to miss in this offer is that it also includes use of all the same apps on your Android devices, too. And yes, the 5x1TB cloud space is quite the deal. My data is far too valuable to me to leave it exposed to a unsecured product like Windows XP or older versions of Office.
And having bought licenses for many years in the past, this is a bargain. Read the EULA that came with it. After a certain amount of years I forget the exact number , both of them went dead and displayed a message to the effect that the license had expired and the product was no longer supported.
I used both of them VERY infrequently and could neither justify buying a new license, or, heaven forbid, a monthly cloud version. So I had to abandon both. I have a very mixed environment: windows, Mac in all its form factors, and android, Ubuntu, Mint, device Linux. My solution is one Office license on one computer of fairly recent vintage, one Office of older Vintage, Google Drive and docs for most stuff, and Libreoffice on all computing devices.
I also have an open source super text editor that is portable and runs everywhere. So, from a worldwide and device agnostic perspective Google Docs, even the paid version, is a better general solution for most users worldwide where Linux distros rule. Is this for real? ALL Office licenses are monthly or yearly subscriptions. Hopefully they will contact the vendor to correct the ad. Dealing with MS Word that has been formatted extensively is actually more trouble for most publishers than sending them something done in Notepad or the simplest writing apps.
Google Docs are completely understood and accepted by most publishers and people I write for, and they have gotten really good at saving and opening in other formats. Libre Office is also great, and again way more than most people need. Yes, there are exceptions, especially it seems on the Excel side, so the Office subscription may be worth it to you, but not for most ordinary consumers.
My kids have been using Google docs in school since 5th grade, and now in junior and senior year their written assignments are to be turned in online. I have asked them for help in Word and Powerpoint documents and get a blank stare from them. MS makes the vast majority of their profit from business users.
Your kids will one day likely be in a professional environment using Office. The value of 1TB cloud storage per user is pretty much worth the annual subscription by itself. I used to follow the occasional work related special deals to by the latest version of Office I still have have purchased copies of Office , XP, , but this generally resulted in blow back when someone in the family was not working on their normal PC or was trying to help with a PowerPoint presentation. That being said, my brother runs his business using Open Office and is very happy with the result.
Kind of timely this article repeat. I was thinking of looking for it. Our last laptop came with Office Starter and that was sufficient for our needs.
But now, it seems that the shop is pushing people towards Office Yeah, that is a good deal. It would take 7. In fact the last time I purchased Office was in Office 4. Ran on Windows 3. Had Word 6, Excel 5, Powerpoint, and Access 2. When I bought a new computer, I installed it on that computer. When I bought my XP computer, I installed it on that. It worked, so I just kept using it. I never would have used those features. It only crashed on the odd occasion. It was workable. Onetime payment licenses will have to buy the new version.
MS says these features will be rolled into the next release of onetime payment versions, when ever that is. So the Home license actually allows you to install on up to 15 devices! They are not fully functional. When you get you also upgrade office on those devices to have more features. But even these upgraded versions are not fully feature equal to the desktop the usual excuse is OS limitations.
When you buy a new computer, you are typically given the option to buy a copy of Office at a reduced priced compared to store retail. This is the best option to have an hold something you can grow old with. I have macros built into them and not willing to risk Microsoft obsolescing them some day. I do see the benefit is of a subscription if you are running an office or household where you have multiple users.
As a single non-business user I am happy with my antiquated Office 95 which works on my desktop Windows xp and laptop Windows 10 with no issues. If you are an occasional Office user, an older more reasonably priced version of Office may meet your needs. Thank you for your thoughtful article. Upgrades to Office are like upgrades to Windows, in that most of the upgrades are just change for its own sake so that Microsoft can manufacture demand and sell replacements.
I suspect that a lot of them upgrade only to keep their home PCs in line with the software they use at work. For myself, I run Office on my Win10 box. As long as it has the free add-on installed it can read the new format files for Word and Excel introduced with Office I actively do not want up upgrade — that damned ribbon introduced in Office is far too much of a pain to get to use. The other reason for updates are security issues.
Vulnerabilities in Word and Excel have both been abused to propagate malware of various sorts. Keeping with the latest supported version or any supported version, to be honest keeps you updated with the latest protections. I have it happily mounted on my desktop and two laptops. Keep your old PC with XP or win7 and keep on using what you have. If you are an individual for yourself why take on the expense of a product that never changes. Greed is what Msft is doing because they have you over the barrel and want to keep you forcibly paying the fee, I strongly believe congress needs to step in and force MSFT to make an option just like before.
Its called being an monopoly and they are holding you for a ransom. As she usually only uses Outlook and Excel, I thought it would be best for her to try it.
So now we are both back on Office pre-ribbon. So I can not imagine why I would ever pay for a newer version of Office in any form since the alternatives work fine. Since I only use Word for documents sent to me, I use Excel for Word Processing — I used to laugh at my boss when he used Lotus for word processing — now I know why — lots more control of what it looks like.
I agree with your sentiments about sticking with an older version that does what you need, but I have to balk at your comment about using spreadsheets as a word processor. When writing something in paragraph type format, I would have to say that Word or an equivalent is much better, if you know how to use all the various formatting options.
I cringe when I get something sent to me at work and the person has used the spacebar to layout the document, as if it were a typewriter. Learning to use left tab, right tab, center tab, decimal tab makes layout much quicker and more reliable. Also learning to use styles, indents, margins also can greatly help your layout and make your document much more consistent. Knowing when to use each tool is important. I actually think it is an improvement. If I end up on a computer with an older version of Office, it takes me so much longer to get stuff done because I have to play hunt for the menu option.
I try to leave the ribbon on the Home tab and for the frequently used items that are not on the Home tab, I put them in the Quick Access toolbar. This type of radical change is not about age. When you get used to a tool, you want to continue to use the tool to do your work. Unfortunately, in the world of software and web design there is societal pressure to make changes just for the sake of change. I beg to differ that the ribbon takes more mouse clicks. Just the other day I embeded a Word document into an Excel workbook.
I clicked the Insert tab of the ribbon and clicked the Insert Object icon. Same number of clicks. In fact, in an older version, if I left the menu settings the way it defaulted on installation which hides less frequently used commands, I might have had to make a third click, to expand the menu.
But finding things is much easier because the icons are a visual reference. And I would prefer to make my own custom toolbar, rather than be stuck with the toolbar icons that Microsoft thinks are important and having to search through the menus to find the thing that I want e. I think it has to do with whether or not a person has managed to learn the ribbon.
Aaaa, I agree with you on the loss of productivity when switching to a new interface. However, I agree with James B, that some things are easier and most things are at least as easy using the ribbon and the Quick Access bar. The issues is the learning curve.
I thought Microsoft should have done something similar to what they did with Word 6. Simply including a compatibility ribbon which looks like the Word toolbar would have made the transition easier. There are 3rd party add-ons which do that and create a ribbon which looks and acts like the older Word toolbar. As soon as I installed the Office product all my Excel files were available again. Thanks for this article.
It can open and work on MS Office files. To test it out, you can even install it and use it to edit your current Excel files without any conflicts with MS office.
I have Office and Libre Office installed on my computer and use either Office or Libre Office to open the same Excel files without any problems.
If you have any questions while switching over, you can ask a question here in comments so others can get the benefit of any answers. I apologize if this has already been asked: If I purchase Office will the new versions overwrite the versions I have been using?
I have developed several programs in Access and I want to continue using them as is. When there are future upgrades in Office will I get to chose when or whether to use them? The upgrade will overwrite Office , but any files created using Office will remain and be compatible with the new programs. We moved over to using Open Office several years back, and found it quite acceptable for most every aspect of small biz life.
Since Microsoft has now decided that our Win7 Pro machines are no longer fit for purpose i. Over the past year, about half our Dell machines are now running Linux Mint Microsoft is still updating Windows 7 with security patches, and will until So I agree, it comes down to numbers and preferences. First, computers are a commodity, subject to fast obsolescence.
That tactic works for me, as I can write off the equipment cost as a business expense engineer-consultant LLC and eventually dispose of it by donating to a charity or a needy individual.
Of course I do a lot of uninstalling, cleanup, and a DoD free space shred first. Second, I do contract work for a government agency typically for a 5-year term and each new contract requires the use of a specific version of MS Office. For example, until the current contract effective for work in , forward , I was required to use Word and PowerPoint when preparing course materials.
At that time Office had been out several years. It seems a subscription to Office would be incompatible with such a requirement.
I have been paying for Microsoft Office since my computer was set up for me by a Tech expert who used to service the company I worked for. I am retired, my computer is used mainly for relaxation but I am doing some voluntary accounts work for a sports club.
As well as my own private email address I also have a club address with an outside server and received and send many emails. Would love to hear your comments.
Many thanks. The free Libre Office program can open and edit Word and Excel files. The layout of the documents might change a little but no information would be lost.
Thunderbird is a good replacement for Outlook. I prefer Thunderbird to Outlook, fewer bells and whistles. I do some voluntary work for a sports club and have a club email address as well as my own private email. Other than the above, my computer is mostly used for my relaxation. Look forward to your comments. Your subscription only affects the installed programs and nothing else.
I love my office applications. The last upgrade was to a Win 7 machine. My question is will I be able to use the same disk and key on on my newest Win 10 machine? It should work on your new machine. You may have to deregister it from the previous machine to allow it to reregister on the new one.
There is a statement that may have been correct at the time the article was written but is not correct now. The Personal version can also be installed on 5 computers. It can only be used by the one user on the 5 computers. It can not be used by a different user on the other computers.
Includes premium Office apps for up to 6 users on PC or Mac. I encourage my students to use it for term papers.
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