Support is ending for office 2003, will service packs still be available ?

ARTHUR

I have just read on the internetthat support for my Microsoft office 2003 is ending in April 2014 and that anyone with this product should make sure that they have all available security updates by this date, I really like office 2003 but I was wondering, I format my hard drive every six months or so, would I still be able to download all the old service packs after this date or would they not be available to download from Microsoft update after this date meaning I would somehow have to put them on a blank c.d or DVD (I don’t know what service pack is on my original office instillation disk but I always update it to the latest one sp3 after a hard drive format)
I know I can get open office for free, but I paid money for ms office and I like it.

skivenov

You can normally download the "Network Edition" of a service pack, which is the full pack in one file.

ARTHUR

skivenov wrote: »

You can normally download the "Network Edition" of a service pack, which is the full pack in one file.

never heard of the network edition of a service pack - where do I find that

Zeitgeist

Office 2003 SP3

ARTHUR

Zeitgeist wrote: »

Office 2003 SP3

Thanks - that look like the kind of thing that I am looking for, will it be available for download after support ends in april 2014 or should I save it onto a disk.
also where would I find the security updates that came after they made sp3

Nilrem

IIRC when support ends you can normally still download patches etc, but they no longer issue new ones (support tends to mean new updates and security fixes in this context).

ARTHUR

good so that means I can still download the old services packs and patches through microsoft update after april 2014, its just means that there won't be any new ones for new threats.
has microsoft ever found a treat so great that they have even made a patch for a out of support piece of software ?

WTFH

ARTHUR wrote: »

has microsoft ever found a treat so great that they have even made a patch for a out of support piece of software ?

No, that's the point of them dropping support. They don't go back and do fixes for old software, they want you to upgrade from something they developed over 10 years ago.

danthemoneysavingman

I'm curious as to why you would formt your hard drive every 6 months???

macman

danthemoneysavingman wrote: »

I'm curious as to why you would formt your hard drive every 6 months???

So am I. But why not make a disk image of the 'clean' system and restore from that?

ARTHUR

I format my hard disk every 6 months to stop my computer slowing down, I backup all my files and folders onto a blank DVD disk at the same time.
computers gradually slow down over time just using them daily so I format mine every so often and find my computer goes faster afterwards