Microsoft Office Starter 2010

[lackie]

Yesterday whilst trying to repair Word which wasn't working which I had done previously, I ended up deleting it. Much to my disgust. I thought I only had to reinstall it, but when I tried (using a disc) it brought up a message "This product must be installed to Q: Ensure that Q: is unused and try again". Q: is the Local Disc and not accessible. So I thought I could go down the route of Recovery but was unable to source it !!! nightmare. Is my only option to pay Microsoft for the privilege of using Word, or is there any other route I can take. Any help would be appreciated
Regards - ancient pensioner.

[Guilbert53]

Microsoft Office Starter was a free version of Office given away with some PCs (I got it free on a Dell PC). It consisted of cut down versions of World and Excel and was not time limited.

I think Microsoft hoped that people would use this and then go on to buy the full version of Office but few did so they stopped providing it.

It did create a Q disk and use that (I am not sure why).

I believe that some people can find the code on the internet so maybe try and find Microsoft Office Starter code by searching and download it (be careful what you download!).

Do you HAVE to use Word, there are plenty of free word processors out there rather than having to pay for Word.

Most (all?) version of Windows comes with WordPad, a basic word processor.

Or you can download Google Docs which comes with a free word processor, spreadsheet and so on.

More here:

https://www.google.com/docs/about/

Or you can install Libre Office, a full office suite, for free

https://www.libreoffice.org/

[lackie]

Thanks for your reply Guilbert53. You've given me good information. Didn't know these other sources existed. I do use Word quite a lot, but will certainly explore the ones you mention. Gutted that I couldn't reinstall it though as it is so easy to use, been using it for years. Thank you very much for your help.

[Buenchico]

Just to add to Gulbert's comments about alternatives to Microsoft Word:

LibreOffice is indeed very good and widely praised in the technical press. (There are quite a few AB members who use it).

However by far the most well-known freebie is OpenOffice which, again, the technical press loves:
https://www.openoffice.org/
(OpenOffice is increasing being used by businesses and by others, including schools and local authorities, who don't want to fork out for Microsoft licences. It's what I use myself, even though I've got a Starter Edition of Microsoft Word on my PC. Posts here on AB suggest that it's widely used by members of this site).

The other major freebie is far less well-known (possibly because it comes from Australia) but gets equally good press reviews. It's WPS Office Free:
https://www.wps.com/office-free

Most people don't need Microsoft Office. The free alternatives are just as good and possibly even better. (For example I don't like the 'ribbons' which Microsoft decided would be a good idea in their software. OpenOffice sticks to using a traditional menu bar across the top of the page. I've also encountered very large spreadsheets, detailing the results of academic research, that Excel refuses to open but which OpenOffice Calc can handle with ease).

[lackie]

Thanks Buenchico for your reply. Will certainly look into it - have already looked at some - very impressive. You get some good help from AnswerBank users which is much appreciated on my part. I can remember when MS Office came for free - long time ago. Time to move on - goodbye MS Office.

[Guilbert53]

>>>>I can remember when MS Office came for free

Yours memory must be playing up, I don't think Microsoft Office has EVER been free.

In fact Windows and Office were two of the biggest earners for Microsoft for many years. I guess they are still big earner.

[Jackdaw33]

I can only echo Chico's comments about Openoffice. Apart from the fact that the suites have different names you wouldn't know the difference.