Can anyone help please? Major problems..

philproc

Why do you not use some of the excellent free software instead of buying it? (XP excepted) AVG (antivirus and anti malware) is excellent Open office is good if your skint or Star office.

Aren't we supposed to be saving money here?;)

sandieb

I would also recommend OpenOffice, AVG Anti-Virus and Anti-spyware and ZoneAlarm Firewall all free.

I was sceptical about Open Office before I downloaded it, thinking it would be very basic. Not at all - it's excellent.

My experience of Vista on my new computer has been good, also.

Do back up important files and photos as soon as you can - you only have to lose them once to realise how necessary it is.

Hope it all goes well.

Lizbetty

I've already bought the Microsoft security suite which was £27 (instead of £37), and it needs internet explorer 7 to be downloaded to be able to work properly. I'd take the bloomin thing back but of course the seal's broken now. We have all OH's work docs (LOADS!) on Word, and I wouldn't have chance to redo them onto a new programme as I have 2 kids under 2 and the youngest is getting more of a handful than she was when I did them in the first place! Sigh. Anyway, thanks for your advice everyone.

Fifer

OpenOffice will read Word documents perfectly well. It isn't a problem. There are plenty of perfectly good free internet security programs available too.

Is your XP installation still working? If so, forget about the Windows security tools and Internet Explorer and download (as suggested above) Firefox, Zone Alarm, AVG antivirus and Open Office. All are free, easy to use, effective and perfectly compatible with XP and all your existing Office business documents. People here will help you with the install if you need it.

superscaper

Lucyeff wrote: »

We have all OH's work docs (LOADS!) on Word, and I wouldn't have chance to redo them onto a new programme as I have 2 kids under 2 and the youngest is getting more of a handful than she was when I did them in the first place!

As Fifer says, noone is suggesting you redo all your files. That's WHY people were suggesting open office, just so you can use your existing files. You can open, edit and save Microsoft files with it.

theallpowerful

Lucyeff wrote: »

I've already bought the Microsoft security suite which was £27 (instead of £37), and it needs internet explorer 7 to be downloaded to be able to work properly. I'd take the bloomin thing back but of course the seal's broken now.

Does anybody know the legality of the situation here? If PC World sold her the programme, and once she tried to install it she found it wouldn't work on her computer, is she entitled to return it for a refund?

I'm no lawyer, and don't know how consumer law works around this, but I bet if you return it and tell them it doesn't work on your computer they'll refund anyway (all they have to do is re-shrink wrap it and put it back on the shelf anyway!)

They'd probably rather give you a refund and return to buy other stuff than be arsey and lose a customer...

Give it a try anyway! The worst that can happen is that they say no, and then you've not lost anything...

Millionaire

theallpowerful wrote: »

Does anybody know the legality of the situation here? If PC World sold her the programme, and once she tried to install it she found it wouldn't work on her computer, is she entitled to return it for a refund?

I'm no lawyer, and don't know how consumer law works around this, but I bet if you return it and tell them it doesn't work on your computer they'll refund anyway (all they have to do is re-shrink wrap it and put it back on the shelf anyway!)

They'd probably rather give you a refund and return to buy other stuff than be arsey and lose a customer...

Give it a try anyway! The worst that can happen is that they say no, and then you've not lost anything...

The problem is system requirements are printed on the packaging. So if you take it back opened and say it doesnt work due to you pc not having I.E 7. they wont take it back.

Being unable to install I.E 7 also hints at a user using an illegal copy of microsoft software as it checks your software before installing.

The unbroken seal is to stop people buying the software, loading it on there pc/copying it and then returning it for a refund. Its normally outlined in the refunds policy

superscaper

theallpowerful wrote: »

, but I bet if you return it and tell them it doesn't work on your computer they'll refund anyway (all they have to do is re-shrink wrap it and put it back on the shelf anyway!)

I don't think that in itself is enough because it's the pc that's the problem, the software works fine in the way it's meant to. I think the closest thing to claim is that you were mis sold it and weren't informed of the requirements that you can't meet and hence isn't fit for your purpose. Under those conditions (if they stand up) then I don't think breaking the seal makes a difference as far as consumer rights go and should be entitled to a refund.

superscaper

Millionaire wrote: »

Being unable to install I.E 7 also hints at a user using an illegal copy of microsoft software as it checks your software before installing.

This does make things more difficult, the crux of it not working is having illegal software which doesn't really make you entitled to anything. I think the only thing that is independant of the illegal software in this case is the salesman's advice about kaspersky Vs onecare (which would come under missold clause). But whether that is enough to justify a refund is rather dubious.

Mist001

I'll stick my tuppence worth in here.

The way I would go about this is first of all, find someone who is studying at college, university, or further education. Buy a _student_ licence of Windows XP in their name. It's far cheaper to do it that way. Don't install it on their machine, keep it for your own PC. This isn't illegal, it's a loophole in MS licencing and it's legitimate to do.

Go to your own PC, create a new folder and copy all your important documents and files into the folder. Go online and download Open Office (Free), AVG Anti Virus (Free), and Zone Alarm firewall (Free).

Copy these downloads into the same folder as where you have saved your important documents and files and then save the entire folder as a whole, either to a USB key drive, or just burn it onto a CD so that you don't lose them.

Now, switch off your modem, so that you have no internet connection and then depending on your technical ability, insert your XP CD and format your hard drive (or get someone in who knows how to do it.)

Once the hard drive is formatted and XP is installed, insert the CD on which you burned all your documents and files and the first thing is to install Zone Alarm Free. Once that's installed, switch on your modem and enter your log in details, so that you're connected to the net. Zone Alarm is a firewall, so you're protected as soon as you go online.

Next, install AVG Anti Virus, and download all the updates for it. Once these two things are done, you're protected from hackers and viruses.

The rest is up to you. You can go and download any Microsoft updates that you need, or install various drivers and so on, install Open Office, copy your files back from the key drive or CD, whatever way is easiest for you to proceed.

The important things are that you have a legitimate copy of XP, and you're fully protected from any attacks via the net.

HTH.

Michael.