Newbie to Windows, How can I do this?

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 29 Dec 2015 4:30 am

I have never owned any computer except Mac's. I have inherited a laptop that is Window's XP system. Is there any way to type a letter, an instruction sheet, a shipping label, or a business card?

I worked a long time trying to get Microsoft office to work before I realized that you have to buy it. I can't believe you have to pay for such a basic computer function. Never had to pay anything on any of my Mac's. Went to Google and it looks like the cheapest Microsoft office is $99.00. I don't know if this is a one time charge or if it is good for just one year. Also, reading the sticky about Microsoft not supporting Windows XP after 2014, I guess it is not available for my Window's XP system.

Is there any way of just simply typing a letter with what I have? If you have to buy things ala carte to make this laptop work, I am out. I am going back to Mac.

I have 5 Mac computers but they are so old that you can't buy a printer for them. I really need to have a printer, so I guess I will have to get a Mac with a later OS than what I have. This is my first experience with Windows and a non-Mac computer. I am very disappointed that they want me to buy something besides the computer to just type a simple letter.

Carl Kilmer · Post by **Carl Kilmer** » 29 Dec 2015 4:56 am

You should have Microsoft works on your computer. Use Microsoft
Works Word Processor, or go to Google and download "Free Open Office"
This program will do about anything you need to do and it's free.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 29 Dec 2015 5:05 am

Even if you don't have Microsoft Works, you should certainly have both Notepad and Wordpad.

Both are part of Windows.

Notepad is very basic, but Wordpad has quite a few features.

Libre Office is another free downloadable Suite, similar to Microsoft Office, but you certainly don't need it for basic word processing.

Jeff Bollettino · Post by **Jeff Bollettino** » 29 Dec 2015 6:22 am

Assuming you've got an internet connection you can use Google Docs for free https://www.google.com/docs/about/

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 29 Dec 2015 7:19 am

Many good alternatives already, but here's the heavy hitter. Apache Open Office 4 is free, open source software that does it all, and does it better than anything Microsoft ever offered, and yet it's compatible with all the standard document formats. It has all the features you'll ever need and more. If all you want to do is simple text projects, Just open a new text document and start typing. Then print and save. Couldn't be easier.

With this available free, I never understood why people are willing to pay good money for competing products, especially when they're only paying for yearly "subscriptions" to use those products. Microsoft Office is just a gift that keeps on giving - to the Microsoft bottom line.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 29 Dec 2015 8:15 am

George Kimery wrote:I am very disappointed that they want me to buy something besides the computer to just type a simple letter.

NO! Don't spend any money!

As Mitch said, you have NotePad and WordPad. They should be in the Start Menu. I suggest putting a shortcut to WordPad on the task bar. Just drag & drop it there.

Georg Sørtun · Post by **Georg Sørtun** » 29 Dec 2015 9:44 am

Haven't used anything but Open Office for years, as it does it all, and more.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 29 Dec 2015 10:29 am

I use Libre Office, which is also free/donation.

http://www.libreoffice.org/

But there is the included programs as previously mentioned.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 29 Dec 2015 11:59 am

After looking at both websites, it appears that Libre Office and Open Office are one and the same. Each program in the suites have the same names. I have used open office, even though I do have MS Office 2007. Open Office or Libre Office would be very good choices.

https://www.openoffice.org/product/

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 29 Dec 2015 12:54 pm

I'm not sure they are the same product.

I don't use either, but would probably go with one or the other if I ever go full-time Linux, which is a possibility.

I've heard that Libre Office was founded by a bunch of ex-Open Office employees who were dissatisfied with the direction Open Office was taking, and so went out on their own.

I've also heard that Libre is under more intensive development.

I've considered ditching Microsoft Office even if I don't go with Linux, but I have that lingering doubt about full compatibility and bugs/annoyances of Open Office or Libre Office, particularly when it comes to matching some of Excel's more advanced capabilities--macros, formulas, charting, etc.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 29 Dec 2015 3:08 pm

I've heard that Libre Office was founded by a bunch of ex-Open Office employees who were dissatisfied with the direction Open Office was taking, and so went out on their own.

I would think, that because both have named the modules of the suite with the exact same names, and pretty similar icons, that one would be going after the other for some kind of illegal infringement.

Either way, they would be a good choice. I may switch from MS Office to One of these. One reason is they are more likely to updated. The other is that I HATE Microsoft.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 29 Dec 2015 3:10 pm

I use Open Office because it works on Mac and Windows. It's compatible with Microsoft Office files, and it exports PDF for sharing. www.openoffice.org

For labels, I use Avery's DesignPro, mainly because I worked on it for a while, or The Print Shop (same reason). Neither of those programs are free, though.

Sometimes to make just one shipping label, I'll use WordPad.

I make my business cards online at www.Vistaprint.com. Not free, but the printing is so much better than what I can do at home.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 29 Dec 2015 3:24 pm

Richard Sinkler wrote:
I've heard that Libre Office was founded by a bunch of ex-Open Office employees who were dissatisfied with the direction Open Office was taking, and so went out on their own.
I would think, that because both have named the modules of the suite with the exact same names, and pretty similar icons, that one would be going after the other for some kind of illegal infringement.

Under normal circumstances, I'd agree with you about infringement.

But both are so-called "open source" applications.

I'm not sure how much things like naming, patents, copyrights, and intellectual property are affected by the whole idea of "open source". It may be that neither organization has much legal recourse against the other.

Likewise, Linux is "free", but you can also pay for certain Linux distributions. Red Hat is a for profit outfit as far as I know, so I guess they provide some sort of added value to get people to pay for it.

I've never really researched what the whole "open source" thing means in any detail. I don't even know how or if the employees of Open Office or Libre Office are compensated.

Maybe they are literally volunteers working from home and not employees. Maybe they get no compensation or maybe they simply share in whatever donations the web sites attract.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 29 Dec 2015 3:45 pm

OpenOffice was developed by Sun Microsystems. Sun was sold to Oracle, who then donated the code as open source to the Apache Foundation. LibreOffice and NeoOffice are forks of that same open source.

Jeff Bollettino · Post by **Jeff Bollettino** » 29 Dec 2015 3:57 pm

Google Docs - free, no installation required, no updating needed, automatic backup, you can access your files from another computer if needed, you can share your documents with others if needed, why mess around with installing anything?

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 29 Dec 2015 4:21 pm

Jeff Bollettino wrote:Google Docs - free, no installation required, no updating needed, automatic backup, you can access your files from another computer if needed, you can share your documents with others if needed, why mess around with installing anything?

Easy answer - Aside from the clunky, arrogant, non-standard, "we know how to do this better than MS" user interface with Google Docs, everything you do with anything "Google" (or any other "cloud" out there) is stored remotely. No matter how secure Google promises it will be, you have absolutely NO control over data you place in their hands. It's a well-known fact of life that so-called "secure" networks get hacked all the time. Not a good plan, IMO.

I use Google apps, but only for things that wouldn't matter if they fall in the wrong hands. Personal stuff - not a chance.

Jeff Bollettino · Post by **Jeff Bollettino** » 29 Dec 2015 6:43 pm

Dave Potter wrote:clunky, arrogant, non-standard, "we know how to do this better than MS" user interface with Google Docs

I have found all of the google apps to be easy to use but that's just ones opinion

Dave Potter wrote:It's a well-known fact of life that so-called "secure" networks get hacked all the time.

True, but then non-secure networks get hacked even more often. If George is going to be using XP, which is no longer supported, he'd be better off with the security built into Google's apps, IMO.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 30 Dec 2015 3:13 am

I refuse to have ANY Google apps installed on my PC. I tried Google chrome one time and it caused dropouts and clicks in my recording studio program audio. Uninstalling Chrome did no good because of the auto updater that was still left and causing the problems. Even after uninstalling the updater with Revo Uninstaller Pro which also scans the registry there were still many registry entries remaining that still caused problems. Only after manually editing the Registry and removing all the Google entries did my Recording system get back to "normal" and low DPC Latency.

I use Bing for search and it does as good as Google search.

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 30 Dec 2015 6:43 am

Jeff Bollettino wrote:True, but then non-secure networks get hacked even more often.

We're playing with words here - semantics. Any business would tell us our data is protected in their system. Yet we know that a large number of compromises happened just this past year. US Office of Personnel Management, T-Mobile, Target, Ashley Madison, VTech Toys, Home Depot ... the list goes on and on. So huge amounts of personal data that people thought was secure, wasn't.

I'm pretty sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. But I am saying that using remote resources to store critical personal information is foolish if there are alternatives, which there are for locally produced documents. If the choice is between Google apps and my own hard drive, it'll be the latter every time, for me. I'm simply not willing to subject my data to the whims of somebody like this guy, with whatever ulterior motives he may have.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 30 Dec 2015 9:13 am

Jack Stoner wrote:I refuse to have ANY Google apps installed on my PC. I tried Google chrome one time and it caused dropouts and clicks in my recording studio program audio.

I'm so paranoid about latency that I don't have any internet connection on my studio computer. I install programs and move files via a thumb drive.

Back to subject:

As for Goggle Docs on a PC, it's not security that I worry about - it's changes in corporate policy. In the past, Google has shut down services when they were no longer profitable. Consider the fate of Google Code.

Also, Google Docs compatibility with MS Office is shaky, so you can't really share your files with MS Office users in the workplace. Even if your friends are retired, chances are they still use MS Office at home. My band shares lyric sheets and set lists in Word .doc format, and they resist change (we're all old guys, y'know). Some bands send out their set lists in Excel .xls format.

For me, OpenOffice is the solution to these problems. Also, it doesn't auto-update, so you don't have to worry about it stealing cycles on a music workstation.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 30 Dec 2015 11:41 am

Jeff Bollettino wrote:
Dave Potter wrote:clunky, arrogant, non-standard, "we know how to do this better than MS" user interface with Google Docs
I have found all of the google apps to be easy to use but that's just ones opinion

Dave Potter wrote:It's a well-known fact of life that so-called "secure" networks get hacked all the time.
True, but then non-secure networks get hacked even more often. If George is going to be using XP, which is no longer supported, he'd be better off with the security built into Google's apps, IMO.

I have to agree with Dave. I think big time hackers tend to attack larger sites where they can do more damage. I know of no one that has had their personal computer hacked. Not saying it doesn't happen. I have recieved notices in the mail from some sites, including a large worldwide corporation that I worked for, that there was an "intrusion" of their system, but there was believed to be no personal info stolen, but to keep an eye out.

I also wouldn't trust or use a third party storage for anything sensitive.

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 30 Dec 2015 3:37 pm

After noodling around some, I decided to go for the Apache Open Office. I have it going. I can't thank you guys enough for all your help. I am learning my way around Window's slowly but surely.

Happy New Year,

George

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 30 Dec 2015 3:41 pm

Richard Sinkler wrote:I also wouldn't trust or use a third party storage for anything sensitive.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I see it. Google Docs for an invite to a kid's birthday party? Sure. But not for anything you can't afford to have compromised.

I still get annoyed with Google's UI. Every other app in the world lets us right-click for cut/copy/paste. But the Google apps? Nope, try that and they quickly prompt us to forget conventions, and use Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V. Why? It's annoying and needless.

Jeff Bollettino · Post by **Jeff Bollettino** » 31 Dec 2015 3:40 am

Dave Potter wrote:Every other app in the world lets us right-click for cut/copy/paste. But the Google apps? Nope, try that and they quickly prompt us to forget conventions, and use Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V. Why? It's annoying and needless.

Are we talking about the same things? Google Docs (akin to MS Word) and Google Sheets (akin to MS Excel) both offer right-click for cut/copy/paste, but I use Ctrl+ method as I find it to be faster.

Jack Stoner wrote:I refuse to have ANY Google apps installed on my PC.

Google docs don't get installed, you just use them through a browser, just like this forum. Chrome is another story.

b0b wrote:Also, Google Docs compatibility with MS Office is shaky, so you can't really share your files with MS Office users in the workplace.

The beauty of the google docs/sheets is that they are shared without e-mailing files around, converting them, etc. Everyone can access files according to your permissions. They can look at/modify files from their pc/mac any browser, smart phone or iPad etc. so they can see updates even at the gig.

"Old" is a mental condition. Once you decide you're old, you are.

George Kimery wrote:After noodling around some, I decided to go for the Apache Open Office. I have it going. I can't thank you guys enough for all your help. I am learning my way around Window's slowly but surely.

Glad to hear you've got a solution. Just keep in mind that you're using an operating system that is no longer updated to fix security vulnerabilities. A simple precaution would be to unplug it from the internet when not actually using it.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 31 Dec 2015 4:14 am

Jeff Bollettino wrote:"Old" is a mental condition. Once you decide you're old, you are.

I like the way you think.

This is interesting stuff. I like MS Word, but may have to check out Apache for a better Draw.

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