A question about computers

[Kittycat1977]

Hi there

I know that some people on here are IT aces so thought I would pick your brains.

After 2 weeks without a laptop I have bitten the bullet and bought one. I have got myself a second hand one which was quite cheap and is loaded with free software but I think I need to buy Microsoft Office.

I have had a look around and the cheapest I can get if for is £100 which I cannot afford until I have found a permanent job, I have found a listing on ebay that looks like it could be good and it is a reasonable price. Its not the most up to date version I think it is the 2002 version which is why it is cheaper could you please let me know what you think?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Microsoft-Off ... 175wt_1037

Thanks

[chris.ph]

i use open office which i downloaded for free and ive never had any problems with it

[Kittycat1977]

Thanks for replying so quickly Chris.

That's what I have got but I wasn't sure if people who had windows can open documents properly. I went to get some cv's printed off today and they were having trouble opening the document because it was in open office.

To be honest once I have a job I probably won't even use it I just want to make sure that after spending 3 hours on an application form people can actually open it to read the damn thing.

[chris.ph]

i never had any problems when i was sending out my cv when i was job hunting,but i didnt send that many out luckily

[Tonyblack]

I used Wordpad for ages. It's part of Windows, so your computer will already have it. You can write documents that will be able to be read by Word and it has several features that Word has got. The main thing it's missing is a spellchecker.

You can also open Word documents with it.

Give it a go and see what you think.

[Doughnut Jimmy]

An old version of word might be even worse for opening documents!
Open office documents dhould be fine like Chris says but if that isn't working save as PDFs and send those out

[Conforumist]

The new Open Office products are pretty good.

I was super lucky; when I started my new job, I was able to buy the 2010 MS Office suite for $10!

[The Mad Collector]

Open office is excellent and will do all you need just don't save in the default format if you want to send something to somebody else in an electronic format. You can save files in a older Word format from open office so just use that

[Conforumist]

I was actually surprised at how many companies accepted resumes in Open Office format when I was job hunting..

[ChristianBecker]

As others here suggested, use OpenOffice or LibreOffice (about the same).
Choose "save as" and choose a .doc format in the drop-down menu for "Format" so companies will be able to open your cv with Word.
Alternatively, export as PDF (since they have no business altering your CV, PDF is the best choice since it will look exactly the same on all machines).

Third alternative (since you said you wouldn't need Office for very long:
Download MS Office trial version from www.microsoft.com

[ramtopsman]

Hey the reason why 2002 is cheaper than 2003 or above is to do with the documents after DOC 2002 it was highly incompatible with any of the newer office systems

I use Open office and windows office (From a "special source" ( )

[Kittycat1977]

Thanks for all your help everyone. Looking at the replies I think the easiest option is to save cv's and application forms as pdf's before sending them.

Thanks again.

[Jason]

If you do need to get an official copy of Microsoft Office and you have any students in the house you can get Office 2010 Professional Plus for less than £40 from Software4Students.co.uk

Also if you sign up for a Microsoft Live account you can use the online version of Word.
http://www.windowslive.com

[deldaisy]

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. When I did my last resume at the g/f's house and sent it back to me at home it came back goobly gook all over the place.

QUESTION:

My laptop won't recognise my mouses. I am hopeless without a mouse.

Also..... when I am typing suddenly the cursor will move and put typing in between the text i have already typed ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! So annoying.

Also... I bumped "something" and suddenly my icon thingies are at the SIDE of my screen and not at the bottom ????????????

I have run scans and everything is okay according to them. (Re: mouse) and even uninstalled the mouse driver and downloaded it again. Still won't work. Mouses are both cordfree btw.

[Tonyblack]

Try clicking Start and then selecting Devices and Printers (if you have Windows 7). That should tell you what mouse devices are set up. You may need to install/download a driver for you mouse.

And - good to see you again, Del.