Art by Monae Hamilton

The digital world holds millions of resources, but not everyone knows of all the advantages it offers. With brand new websites being published daily for every occasion imaginable, it’s difficult to discover which websites are actually useful. Therefore, we have compiled a list of our favorite websites on the internet, which are all free, safe, and easy to use. Whether you're just bored during the summer or trying to find some new study hacks, here are some websites that every person should know.

WEBSITES FOR STUDENTS

Open Libraries is an Internet Archive with free books, movies, PDFs, software programs, and more. With countless resources, it’s a simple one-stop spot for students. They even post online textbooks, which can save you hundreds of dollars on supplies in the upcoming Fall. In fact, with an archive of over 330 billion websites and 20 million textbooks, you’re bound to find a textbook for a class or two.

Jotti With hundreds of malicious viruses out on the Internet, Jotti is here to help keep you safe. This website offers a malware scanner that lets you scan suspicious emails or files that you download from the internet, with a 250 MB limit per file. The website is a combination of over 15 of the best virus scanners, so you can be sure the files you download won’t harm your laptop.

Slides Carnival: Although most students are already aware of this website, we want to ensure that everyone is taking advantage of SlidesCarnival’s many benefits. Slidescarnival is the most useful website for making presentations. Instead of having to worry about whether your slides are aesthetically pleasing, you can rely on pre-made powerpoints! SlidesCarnival offers many types of free templates, whether it may be for business-related slideshows or fun, playful presentations. Each template is fully editable with pre-made covers, 80 customizable icons, and about 25 different slide designs per template.

ifRead: Just like read receipts from messaging applications, you can also get read receipts for your important emails! With ifRead, you can be notified when and where your recipient opens your email. You can even get a reminder if your recipient doesn't open your email after a certain amount of days.

I Love PDF is going to be your best friend when dealing with PDFs. In fact, almost everything that you could ever need a PDF to do can be found here. Whether it be from adding watermarks, page numbers, merging, or protecting, this site has got it all. With classes becoming more technology-based due to the pandemic, you'll definitely find yourself needing this site.

Art by Monae Hamilton

WEBSITES FOR GENERAL LIFESTYLE HACKS

My Fridge Food is a useful website that allows you to enter all the ingredients in your fridge and find out what you can make with it! This is extremely useful if you need quick advice on what to make for dinner, or if you’re not the greatest at cooking like me. Additionally, the site also offers easy and fun cooking tips, such as how to test the freshness of eggs or how to keep bread from going stale!

HomeStyler is a website where you can design or remodel your home in 3D! This is useful if you’re moving, want to remodel your house, or even if you’re just bored. The website uses furniture from real brands, so if you get attached to something, they will provide you with information to purchase the product. It's also an extremely useful website if you're an interior designer who needs a 3D tool to visualize homes for your clients.

CamelCamelCamel is an Amazon price tracker that shows you the price history on ANY item you want and alerts you when the price drops. The tool is extremely helpful if you’re on a budget but still want to keep an eye on your favorite items. The site is useful because you wouldn’t even have to install or download any suspicious programs onto your devices.

 FreeCycle.Org is a site that gives things away for free! With communities across the world, you can easily find the nearest free items near you. This website is especially advantageous if you live in a more populated city because the list of free items is always longer. Additionally, if you want to get rid of items like a spare couch but you’re too lazy to ship it, the website allows you to list items that people can come pick up.

Art by Qing Zhang @choosearts

WEBSITES FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES

GrooveSharks is a safe and legal way to explore brand new music. With genres ranging from blues to punk, you are bound to find some tunes you enjoy. Additionally, the website also lets you explore music from different languages, including French, Netherlands, Russian, etc. Groovesharks is also available on mobile devices as an application on Android.

CleverBot is an extremely easy way to kill boredom. The website is simple and lets you have fun conversations with artificial intelligence. With the bot’s quick wit and intelligent responses, CleverBot is a better conversationalist than most people I know!

Snesfun.com: If you’re a gamer, you will love this website. SnesFun lets you play almost every single old Nintendo game ever created. With countless categories including action, sports, and puzzles, the website will give you a fantastic blast from the past.

Free Rice: If you want to create change in the world while having fun, FreeRice is the website for you. The website offers fun games and trivia that donates 10 grains of rice to a hunger charity for every question you answer right. So far, the website has donated 202 billion grains of rice to charities around the world. With countless activities of all skill levels, you will have a blast while also feeling good about yourself.

Sources

https://mashable.com/article/websites-to-waste-time/

https://www.themuse.com/advice/99-sites-that-every-professional-should-know-about-and-use