Ask A Geek

Q: Where can I purchase a download of Microsoft Word 2003, cheap?

Q: On Windows XP, where do I find my Microsoft Office 2010 (14) icons so I can change them with my office 2010 icon pack?

Q: My new PC came with a trial version of Office pro. I purchased a full version of Office Standard and it won’t accept code to activate. Do I have to uninstall trial version and install new Office standard or what?

Q: I recently put MS Office 2007 on my computer alongside Office 2003. Now, every time I start Word 2007, it goes through the configuration process. What should I do to get Word 2007 to pop up like it should. I have already gone to Control Panel and ran repair but to no avail.

Also, when I try to open one of my Word 2003 documents, Word 2007 opens it. I like 2003. How can I make Word 2003 my default processor or at least be able to open my docs with it?

Q: I recently used McAfee to clean up my computer ie. temp. files and stuff like that. I chose the “shredder” method for deletion. However, this time around my icons for MS Word, Excel, etc. disappeared. I can still access my current documents and can open new documents thru the existing ones, but I can’t find the icons to directly open a new file. How do I get them back?

Q: Should I allow Microsoft Office 2007 to make changes to the win.ini file on my computer when it is being installed?

A: The win.ini file is used to store boot up information in older versions of Windows. Some applications also use it to store  application information as well. The reason for this is that the win.ini is the main configuration file used in Windows before the registry was created.

So it is safe to let Microsoft Office 2007 modify the win.ini file but I would suggest making a backup of it first. I am pretty sure any application that modifies the file will make a backup but it never hurts to make your own.

Q: Should I allow changes to win.ini when installing office 2007?

Q: I have an HP Mini which does not have a CD drive. Due to the lack of a CD drive  I can not install my Microsoft Office software without first purchasing an external CD drive. I really don’t want to buy something I won’t use that often. Does anyone know if OpenOffice and Microsoft Office documents are compatible!

A: You can download Microsoft Office 2007 from Microsoft if you own it and then use the “product key” that came with your disc to switch from trail mode to licensed mode.

If you own an older version of Microsoft Office then OpenOffice would probably be the easiest solution for you. OpenOffice can open most Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, and can save to a variety of Microsoft Office formats. Unless you need to save to Microsoft’s new Office 2007 formats (you probably won’t for several years) or open Microsoft Office documents that contain macros/scripts (not an issue for most home users), then OpenOffice is definitely something you should consider.

Do NOT download software from P2P or torrent sites, as such software often contains viruses/malware.

Q: I have a registered copy of MS Office Ultimate 2007 loaded on my computers but my disc is gone. If I ever have to dump and reload my computer I won’t be able to reload Office. I can’t seem to find a trial version of Office Ultimate to download so that I can enter my product code to make it work.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can have access to my software if I have to reload it? I called Microsoft and they were no help. They wanted me to appear in the same store where it was purchased with a receipt in order to get another disc. It was purchased in WA and I live in OH.

Q: We are using OpenOffice but our templates were all created in Microsoft Office 2003. When I edit the templates in OpenOffice and save them back as MS office files the TOI and other formatting is not working well. Am I missing any feature to use to not let this happen?