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General discussion

MS Works Suite 2005

Jul 9, 2005 10:10AM PDT

Hello I hope someone can help with this very confusing situation. I have Microsoft Works Suite 2005 and I installed it on my new computer. My new PC came with these preinstalled software programs to do with MS Office: Office 2003 Trial HTML page launcher and Office Student & Teacher Edition 2003. Now I have no idea what is connected to MSWS 2005 as far as MS Office is concerned. I have searched everywhere online, that I can think of, to find out if MS Office in anyway comes with MSWS 2005. Is it a part of MS Word 2002 or MS Works 8 (both programs in MSWS 2005)? If MS Office has nothing to do with MSWS 2005, is it ok to delete anything I find on my computer that is connected to MS Office??? I hope this message isn't as confusing as the situation is. Any help w/b much appreciated. I am asking because I have ctfmon in my startup menu and it is checked. I have a new Compaq Presario SR1234NX with Windows XP.

Discussion is locked

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Two different product lines...
Jul 9, 2005 1:31PM PDT

Microsoft currently offers two different product lines...MS Works and MS Office.

The MS Works is Microsoft's "basic" productivity pack, which contains a basic word processor, spreadsheet, and database, as well as a Powerpoint viewer. MS Office is their "advanced" productivity offering, which includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and depending on if you have Standard, Professional, etc, several other great programs. These two offerings are complete independent of eachother, although they are somewhat compatible. For a complete listing of all MS Office versions, and what programs they include, click here.

However, MS Works Suite offers the basic Works programs, as well as Word 2002 (one of the programs included in MS Office) and a few other "bonus" Microsoft programs, which are otherwise sold independently. This enables you go have the basic programs, while still enjoying the advanced features of MS Word. (Which they wope will get you to purchase the entire Office suite as well.) For a comparison of MS Works and MS Works Suite, click here.

As far as I can tell, your copy of MS Office (S&T edition) is only a trial...it will expire after 60 days. Thus, you should not delete MS Works Suite, as you will need it after the MS Office trial expires. However, after thes tral expires, you will still be able to use MS Word, as it was included in both software packages.

If you have already, or plan on purchasing MS Office, I'd still recommend keeping MS Works Suite installed (provided you have space on your hard drive), as any documents you created with MS Works programs may not open properly in MS Office (and vice-versa). They will still be readable, but the formatting will probably be off. Thus, it is best to choose one or the other (Works or Office), and create all of your documents using its respective programs.

Note: Your MS Word documents won't be affected, as it's included in both "packages." Thus I'd suggest typing all of your documents in it (instead of Works' word processor), as it is more advanced and compatible, no matter what you end up deciding to use as your primary productivity "suite."

Hope this helps,
John

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MS Office vs MS Works Suite 5
Jul 10, 2005 6:02AM PDT

Thanks, John. I read all the info about the differences between the 2 programs and I think, for the time being I will leave all as is and wait for the MS Office trial to be finished. I use my MSWS5 for everything anyway so all is OK. Do you know if when the trial version of Office is over, the files in the registry be will be deleted? Will the stuff in my startup and start menu be gone, too or will I have to take that out myself?

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After the trial expires...
Jul 10, 2005 8:17AM PDT

After the tiral ends, the program will go into a kind of lock-down mode, where you can view your old documents, but cannot edit them or create new ones. At that point you'll have to uninstall it by going start->control panel->add or remove programs. The uninstall wizard should completely remove all MS Office files automatically.

However, some traces may remain. You may have to remove items from the start-up menu (just right-click and select delete) and main program folder (local drive:\program files\microsoft office). In order to remove the remaining registry files, I suggest downloading and running the free utility RegCleaner. After that, there will be no noticable traces of MS Office on your computer. (Of course things like the history of having it installed will remain until your reformat your hard drive.)

Hope this helps,
John


P.S. After you uninstall MS Office: If MS Office was set to be the default program for a task, you will be prompted to select another program (MS Works) the next time the task launches.