Computer Help

[Starbrite]

DS is in middle school & somehow we've gotten this far with some crappy Microsoft Works thingy at home.

He does most of his work @ school on Word & he can use my work PC if he needs to do something that's not compatible with what we have @ home.

I want to get Word or maybe the whole Office on my own laptop for him. I'm embarrassed to say, but I don't know where to start. What do I buy? There are 32 versions on BestBuy.com I think we'd only use Word & Excel. I have a nearly 2year old Dell w/ Vista. Is it easy to install (just pop in a disk & voila)?

If someone could just point & tell me what to buy, I'd appreciate it

 

[MariDisney]

DS is in middle school & somehow we've gotten this far with some crappy Microsoft Works thingy at home.

He does most of his work @ school on Word & he can use my work PC if he needs to do something that's not compatible with what we have @ home.

I want to get Word or maybe the whole Office on my own laptop for him. I'm embarrassed to say, but I don't know where to start. What do I buy? There are 32 versions on BestBuy.com I think we'd only use Word & Excel. I have a nearly 2year old Dell w/ Vista. Is it easy to install (just pop in a disk & voila)?

If someone could just point & tell me what to buy, I'd appreciate it

You can go to microsoft.com and look at all the various versions of Office. As you mentioned there are many! Decide on the on that seems right, and download a 60 day free trial there. You'll know which features you need and which you don't. Then after 60 days you can buy from them the one you think is the right one or if you see a better deal, get it elsewhere.

 

[mrsv98]

I suggest you look into Open Office. It is a free suite of programs that are almost identical to Office. It is an open source program and it is powered by Sun Microsystems so you know it is legit, not some hacker site. I have been using it for years and it is great. You can work in the word processor program and then when done, save it as a .doc file (or .xls, .ppt, you get the idea)

Go here: http://www.openoffice.org/ and read up on it. Much better than spending big bucks IMHO!

 

[Feej]

You can get Office "Home & Student" edition in Oz (http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/suites/FX101674081033.aspx), so I'm sure you can pick it up there. Try starting with http://office.microsoft.com

It has Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. OneNote is fantastic for students.

 

[JR6ooo4]

check with the school. surely you are not the first person to ask...

they may have good deals also.

Mikeeee

 

[dawson5]

I second the Open Office. My sons have been able to use it for their school projects. The only drawback is the help is not as easy to find as with a Windows product, but there are less headaches.

 

[golfgal]

Most schools have discount programs to buy Word/Office. I can get Office 2007 for $44 through our kids' school-is is something like $200 at the store. Check your school website or call the office. If they don't know anything about it at the middle school, call the high school. Get the entire Office Suite. The kids will need excel and powerpoint for sure.

 

[ndelaware]

I bought Microsoft Office Student 2003 about 4 years ago. My daughters are in 8th grade and use it constantly.

 

[Starbrite]

check with the school. surely you are not the first person to ask...

they may have good deals also.

Mikeeee

Most schools have discount programs to buy Word/Office. I can get Office 2007 for $44 through our kids' school-is is something like $200 at the store. Check your school website or call the office. If they don't know anything about it at the middle school, call the high school. Get the entire Office Suite. The kids will need excel and powerpoint for sure.

I never thought to check with the school.

Thank You

 

[crazelion]

You have works. Under the save as button when save document there is options list as:
.txt
.doc
Word versions 2000,08, 09

Something similar to that. You don't need Office to save a document for Word. There is options in Works Word processor for that. I know just help my cousin with the same exact problem. I know it works because all I have my computer is MS Works and save my documents in Word all the time.

OpenOffice.org is good option besides MS Office.

 

[3boymthr]

I'm switching to MS Home & Student edition. Which seems to have almost everything a student will need.

I have Office 2000 which includes Excel, Word, and Publisher and a couple of other programs but it doesn't include powerpoint. Twice last year oldest DS had to do projects that required powerpoint . First project was fine he was did the entire project at school during study hall - no problems. Second project was much more extensive and he didn't get it handed in on time as he didn't have enough time during study hall to get it done before it was due. He never said anything to me as he knew we didn't have the program. I got a lovely e-mail from the teacher saying he was going to get an F for the quarter if he didn't hand it in "very soon". Luckily, he was able to use my work computer to finish it up on that but what a hassle.

I will say that we did use Publisher to create a brochure last year for his math project (it's also great for making birthday cards for kids parties). But I figure there are enough other programs out there that work on a similar basis that we can get by without it.

 

[LisaR]

We have used Open Office for years and didn't have any complaints. DD just got a new computer and it came with Home and Office 2007. It is so nice. I love the looks of it and the functionality. I think this will serve her very well through all her school assignments.