word-processing using xp

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mary
  • Start date Start date
M

Mary

Can anyone help with instructions on how to get good word-
processing from windows xp. I am more used to the older
software (98, 2000) but my new home computer came with
xp, and as I need to produce nice, well spaced ,
correctly spelled, tidy documents for work, I am finding
wordpad completely inadequate. Is it possible to have
the above mentioned qualities as well as being able to
produce tables, graphs, etc ? Or do I need to buy more
software. Any and all ideas welcome.

Thanks Mary
 
Office 2003 Editions: Compare them to Previous Versions
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/editions/compare.asp

Microsoft Office System Pricing Information
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/pricing/default.asp


--
Nicholas

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"Mary" (e-mail address removed) wrote in message:

| Can anyone help with instructions on how to get good word-
| processing from windows xp. I am more used to the older
| software (98, 2000) but my new home computer came with
| xp, and as I need to produce nice, well spaced ,
| correctly spelled, tidy documents for work, I am finding
| wordpad completely inadequate. Is it possible to have
| the above mentioned qualities as well as being able to
| produce tables, graphs, etc ? Or do I need to buy more
| software. Any and all ideas welcome.
|
| Thanks Mary
 
Mary said:
Can anyone help with instructions on how to get good word-
processing from windows xp. I am more used to the older
software (98, 2000) but my new home computer came with
xp, and as I need to produce nice, well spaced ,
correctly spelled, tidy documents for work, I am finding
wordpad completely inadequate. Is it possible to have
the above mentioned qualities as well as being able to
produce tables, graphs, etc ? Or do I need to buy more
software. Any and all ideas welcome.

Thanks Mary
Click to expand...

You need to obtain more software. The functionality you expect is not
provided by the Windows XP operating system product.

Some Alternatives:

Cost $$: Microsoft Word:
www.microsoft.com/word
Cost $$$$: Microsoft Office (Office Suite which includes Word)
www.microsoft.com/office
Cost Free: Open Office (full functioned suite of applications)
www.openoffice.org
Cost Free: Abiword (terrific word processor emulating Word, but current
versions do not have good table support)
www.abiword.com

More word processors: see
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Word_Processors/
 
In
Mary said:
Can anyone help with instructions on how to get good word-
processing from windows xp. I am more used to the older
software (98, 2000) but my new home computer came with
xp, and as I need to produce nice, well spaced ,
correctly spelled, tidy documents for work, I am finding
wordpad completely inadequate. Is it possible to have
the above mentioned qualities as well as being able to
produce tables, graphs, etc ? Or do I need to buy more
software. Any and all ideas welcome.
Click to expand...


Word processing is not a function of the operating system, but of
the word processing software you use. Wordpad, as you correctly
say, is not really a word processor; it's just a glorified text
editor.

If you want word processing facilities, you need to get a word
processor. There are lots of choices. My personal favorite is
Corel WordPerfect, but you can also buy Microsoft Word,
StarOffice, and several others. You can also download the free
OpenOffice.
 
Dispatcher said:
On my XP Home, it has MS Works. I use it for creating all sorts of
documents. Is MS Works not a normal part of XP?

Bill
Click to expand...
*snip*

I'm pretty sure Microsoft Works is part of OEM software packages offered
as part of the hardware they sell you. It's so ubiquitously offered,
e.g. Dell, Toshiba,, etc. that it's easy to conclude it's part of XP,
but I don't think it is.
 
Nope, WORKS is an application. It is a home user version
with similar functions as found in MS OFFICE, but not the
same.


| On my XP Home, it has MS Works. I use it for creating all
sorts of
| documents. Is MS Works not a normal part of XP?
|
| Bill
|
|
| | >
| > > Or do I need to buy more software.
| >
| > "More", yes, but not neccessarily "buy". I can't tell
you whether
| > that's the right solution for you or your job. But
before you rush
| > out and pay hundreds of $$$ for MS Office or something
like that,
| > give OpenOffice.org a try. It's a fairly huge download
| > (http://openoffice.org), but it's completely free. It
does word
| > processing, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics,
and handles
| > Microsoft's .DOC format -- I just don't know how well.
Anyway, it
| > won't hurt to try.
| >
| > ~Ally
| > --
| > Never send a monster to do the work of an evil
scientist.
|
|
 
Greetings --

No, Microsoft Works is a completely separate application. Some PC
manufacturers and vendors do provide it pre-installed on new PCs, and
include its cost in the purchase price of the PC.

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
No, it was added on by the company who built your computer. It used to be
very common for manufacturers to include an office suite of some sort with
their computers, but now that so many are competing on price many systems
come with very few extras since that's an easy way to trim costs.
 
Mary wrote:

| Can anyone help with instructions on how to get good word-
| processing from windows xp. I am more used to the older
| software (98, 2000) but my new home computer came with
| xp, and as I need to produce nice, well spaced ,
| correctly spelled, tidy documents for work, I am finding
| wordpad completely inadequate. Is it possible to have
| the above mentioned qualities as well as being able to
| produce tables, graphs, etc ? Or do I need to buy more
| software. Any and all ideas welcome.
|
| Thanks Mary

Office suites, home office suites or just plain old word processors
are not part of the operating system. Any of the applications that
were on an older PC should have been moved to the new PC if
they were not OEM bundled. Shop around. I noticed a lot of
the older office suites etc etc on price watch for really fair prices.
Shop around for what you need.
good luck
 
Like Ally says Open Office is a good alternative to MS Office and is free.
The download is over 50MB but you have a nice collection of apps that you
can easily set the Options for it so that it will open and save directly as
Microsoft documents making your files easily transferable to system that use
Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint. No spyware, no nag screens, no popup
just a good solid software app.
http://www.openoffice.org/product/

see how to set the Options here
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/images/writer2.jpg

The speller doesn't integrate into Outlook Express but this free spell does
http://www.geocities.com/vampirefo/
 
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