Many free alternatives to Microsoft Office

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	LANGALIST PLUS[/size][/font] Many free alternatives to Microsoft Office[/size]
	By Fred Langa There are a surprising number of excellent office software suites available, and some of the best don’t cost a dime. MS Office remains the king of office suites, but if you can’t or don’t want to use it, numerous free and commercial substitutes stand ready to serve.[/size]

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The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/2010/01/28/03 (paid content, opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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Hi,
In Fred Langa’s column of the Windows Secrets, Looking for ways to enlarge a C: partition from Lyle Fettig, Fred has mentioned a few disk tools for doing the job.

One I have found to be very good and easy to use and would help Lyle expand his C Drive is EASEUS Partition Master http://www.partition-tool.com/

EASEUS Partition Master is comprehensive hard disk partition tool and system optimization software for Windows-based administration without data loss. Both basic and advanced partition operations can be done by this partition software. It is provided to optimize the performance of server or non-server machines including latest Windows 7 by extending the system partition. To Create, Delete, Resize/Move, Copy, Merge, Split or Format partition is also easy to realize.

It is easy to use, and allows to see the changes before committing changes by the Apply button. you can also just drag the partition bar in the disk screen to shrink or expand a partition.

Best of all its free. http://www.partition-tool.com

Pete J
NZ

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Re: Looking for ways to enlarge a C: partition

You forgot to mention Easus Partition Manager.

I have used Acronis for some time but their for-pay upgrade policy was upsetting in the long run.

I can’t count the times Easeus PM has saved my hinders. The latest version even can enlarge the running C: partition without a re-boot!

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Re: Looking for ways to enlarge a C: partition

You forgot to mention Easus Partition Manager.

I have used Acronis for some time but their for-pay upgrade policy was upsetting in the long run.

I can’t count the times Easeus PM has saved my hinders. The latest version even can enlarge the running C: partition without a re-boot!

I can confirm this. Latest version 4.1.1 also works with Windows 7. Available at http://www.partition-tool.com/

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Re: Looking for ways to enlarge a C: partition

I use gparted for this all the time. http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

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As several others have noted EASEUS Partition Master is an excellent alternative and the site also offers a number of other free and paid tools. In addition, at the moment (Through at least February 1, 2010) they are offering the Pro Version of their software for free as well as the Home Version. This adds several additional features and all the author asks in return is that you send him any bug reports (which most of us would do in any case). This is available at their website Easeus Partition Master Pro 4.1.1 Offer.

Amongst other things, this version works with Windows 7 as well as prior versions is very quick and in my experience is very stable and bug free. It offers a variety of options for creating, adjusting size of, and formatting partitions, works inside windows, and generally does not require a reboot. As with all free software, you should read the license agreement and others with different configurations may not have the same results as I have. But again my experience has been excellent using it in both Windows XP and Windows 7. I would add that the writers English is at times tortured but I have never had trouble understanding his meaning.

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You mentioned Acronis Disk Director. It doesn’t work with Windows 7. No indication when/if it will be upgraded.

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Alternative Office suites are great for personal use or small companies, but, since most don’t enable Office automation, are worthless for larger companies.
Many companies use InfoPath, Word, Excel, along with SharePoint and SQL Server to automate business processes.
Microsoft dev tools make it fairly fast and easy to do, compared to any alternatives.

So when recommending Office suite alternatives, please specify your target audience
Using a cheap alternative can be an expensive dead end for companies trying to improve efficiency…
My price for automating business processes using non-Microsoft products is considerably higher, if I can do it at all with what the client wants to use….

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RE: Looking for ways to enlarge a C: partition
You forgot to mention EASEUS – which has also been noted by several others. I’ve used EASEUS free Home/personal version myself and thought it was very easy to use and did the job cleanly. So, I was pleased to take advantage of the FREE access to the Pro version until Feb 1, 2010, and would encourage others to check it out.

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I am running Win7 64 bit.
What is the best way to expand the partition on my drive? So far I have not found a partition manager that works in 64 bit mode.

If I re-install windows 7, (I think I can format the drive and set a new partition?) then can I use Acronis to backup to that drive without restoring the old partiton size?

Thanks,

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My understanding is that EASEUS supports both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Win7. Have you checked on their site?
http://www.partition-tool.com/

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My understanding is that EASEUS supports both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Win7. Have you checked on their site?
http://www.partition-tool.com/

It supports it for the professional version, which I think is a purchase version. I was hoping to find a way to expand it for something less than 1/2 the cost of a new drive.

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re: Looking for ways to enlarge a C: partition from Lyle Fettig

My Windows Vista Home Premium includes a disk management utility under Programs, Administrative Tools, Computer Management (I still use “classic” for my start menu as the navigation is much faster for me.)

This tool allows some partition resizing and movement. You can “shrink” a partition, move it some, and expand another. That is how my disk came to be partitioned as C, F, E, D (with a little drive letter assignment shuffle) Why this order: C is the OS partition, F is the “family” partition with all user files, E is the “extra” partition primarily includes a download directory, and D is the “data” partition used by Acer
s Backup/Restore function. So I ordered the partitions in the order of most used to least used.

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re: Looking for ways to enlarge a C: partition from Lyle Fettig

My Windows Vista Home Premium includes a disk management utility under Programs, Administrative Tools, Computer Management

That utility does not allow a boot *partitian* to be expanded.

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That utility does not allow a boot *partitian* to be expanded.

Sorry,
but what tool do you refer to?
I just did exactly that a few weeks ago with Easeus!
Up to my knowledge every decent partitioning tool does that, most just need a reboot.

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Sorry,
but what tool do you refer to?
I just did exactly that a few weeks ago with Easeus!
Up to my knowledge every decent partitioning tool does that, most just need a reboot.

Sorry, I was referring to the Windows internal tool that won’t expand a boot drive.
I am just looking for a way to open the partition on my 64 bit Windows 7 drive. There should be a way without spending $50 to do so.

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