Intruder software NeatOffice

Nikiya

Hello,

I have been using Libre Office since MS started charging annually instead of selling their Office software.

Some time ago I started seeing documents saved in a different format.
I thought it was a basic version of MS since there is always a sign asking me to buy the full version.
It turns out is is another software called Neat Office and I have no clue as to how on earth it showed up and installed itself.
I do not play games and have not installed anything.

The problem is now my software is compromised. Pages are terribly slow and the Draw function of LO is not working anymore.
I am concerned if I uninstall NO I will loose access to my documents, since I have been reading online and some users report this issue.

Can you please advise?
Thanks!

Vitor

Neat Office isn’t malware and your system isn’t compromised.

It’s a legitimate but aggressively bundled program that often installs via pre-ticked options. It hasn’t taken ownership of your documents and uninstalling it will not make you lose access to files. Problems reported online are usually just file associations being changed.

Uninstall Neat Office, reboot, then reset file associations back to LibreOffice. If LibreOffice is slow, restart it in Safe Mode and reset the user profile.

Keep_pedalling

Removing LO will not harm any of your existing files. It sounds like NO now your default app for your Office type files except Draw. 

Get rid of NeatOffice first then install the latest version of LO. What file formats is NO saving as? What version of LO are you on?

Peter999_2

Microsoft Office is still available to buy outright as it always has been.   The annual Microsoft 365 is just an additional option that includes OneDrive space.

Nikiya

Thanks! Had no Idea MS Office was still available in the usual manner, will reserach that.

Regarding NO, I know it is not spam but LO, which was never brilliant, has now become too slow and as I said lost some of its functions, which were never great as stated before.

My concern is that some of my documents have been automatically saved as NO docs. It is totally random how they get saved, it does not give me a choice. I thought it depended on what software the sender was using, and since sometimes I cannot open certain files with LO I thought it was a resource to bypass that.
So will I loose those if I delete NO? As I said, I did some internet research and found people complaining of not being able to access their docs after uninstalling NO.

I do not know which version of LO I have. It does not say.

Someone recommended Only Office as being better, any thoughts on that? 

Keep_pedalling

Nikiya said:

Thanks! Had no Idea MS Office was still available in the usual manner, will reserach that.

Regarding NO, I know it is not spam but LO, which was never brilliant, has now become too slow and as I said lost some of its functions, which were never great as stated before.

My concern is that some of my documents have been automatically saved as NO docs. It is totally random how they get saved, it does not give me a choice. I thought it depended on what software the sender was using, and since sometimes I cannot open certain files with LO I thought it was a resource to bypass that.
So will I loose those if I delete NO? As I said, I did some internet research and found people complaining of not being able to access their docs after uninstalling NO.

I do not know which version of LO I have. It does not say.

Someone recommended Only Office as being better, any thoughts on that? 

In order to check your version number click on the help tab, and select About LebraOffice from the dropdown list. The current stable version is 25.8.4 which you will be miles behind if you have not updated for years.

https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download-libreoffice/

I have no experience of OnlyOffice, but have been a user of LO since it stated (OpenOffice before that and StarOffice before that). LibraOffice is pretty rock solid these days but I suspect you are on a very old version. 

If you are a heavy user of Draw, then MS Office and Only Office have no equivalent app, so you should stick to LO.

As for Draw slowing down this may be due to your PC rather than the software. 

Ergates

Nikiya said:

My concern is that some of my documents have been automatically saved as NO docs.

They haven't - NO doesn't have it's own file formats.  All the office suites these days use common document formats (i.e. they can all read the same docs).

What has happened is that *some* document formats have become associated with NO rather than LO.  This means that when viewing the documents it will have an NO icon next to it rather than an LO one.   But the document itself is unchanged.   You can just re-associate the document with LO instead (right click choose "open with", select the app to open it with and choose "always") 

mksysb

I have used Libre Office for years and it just keeps getting better, so make sure you have an up to date version.  Having said that I am now transitioning all my Spreadsheets to Google Calc.  You might want to try that,  It's free so you can try it and see if it opens all your files correctly