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General discussion

Shoot, I lost my Office,,

Nov 26, 2005 2:21PM PST

Recently, I've fiddling around my computer, and I guess I deleted something that made my computer not be able to run Windows XP Pro. So I had to use my recovery CDs (Windows XP Home) in order to set everything back up again. Of course I lost all my software, including Microsoft Office 2003. I bought this computer at Ebay, and all the software including the OS was already included in the computer, but I had no XP Pro CD, or Office 2003 CD. I can live with Microsoft Home, but the thing is, how do I restore the Microsoft Office that I had all along? Obviously it's gone to oblivion, so right now I'm trying to get all the Office files from another computer, and trying to get it onto my computer. But the thing is, I don't know how to install this thing. Is there an install package somewhere in the harddrive? I've been trying to find it on another computer, but I can't find it. No way would I want to pay money to get Office, but right now I'm pretty desperate in trying to find a copy so I can do my school work. If anybody could give me advice, that would be great. Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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Sorry, but I am afraid
Nov 26, 2005 3:09PM PST

you are out of luck as far as Microsoft Office is concerned. This is the price you pay when you buy a system without all of the disks. Actually, your copy may have been illegal if the previous owner kept the disk and installed it on another machine.

No, you cannot copy the Office files from another machine -- they must be installed so that the registry is properly configured, and that requires the Office CD. To use another's CD, or in any way install their copy of Office on your machine would be piracy.

But there is an out -- download and install Open Office. It is an open source suite with most of the the features of Microsoft Office, and it is free. Some users feel that it is generally superior to the Microsoft package.

Back to lessons to be learned: Besides insisting on all appropiate disks when purchasing a used system, another act might have saved you this problem. Had you made a Ghost or Acronis image of the entire disk onto a bootable CD, you might have been able to reinstall your entire system, including MS Office.

Hope this helps

Frank

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I've been trying to find it on another computer, but I can't
Nov 26, 2005 10:10PM PST

"I've been trying to find it on another computer, but I can't find it."

That is by design to prevent piracy. It all started back in 1995 with a rather famous new version of Windows (95) which introduced the registry, shared DLLs and more that makes copying a Windows program near impossible for casual owners.

OPEN OFFICE will do most of the needed chores without the cost.

Bob

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Neophytes (like me) be careful
Dec 6, 2005 5:32AM PST

Toke: You have my sympathy, which isn't worth much, but I also have a suggestion. This reminds me of the time I was reading a magazine about how to do some easy tweaks to speed up your performance. To make a long story short, I stupidly deleted the Client for Microsoft Networks from my network connections. I thought I had more network adaptors than I needed or used. Kids, don't do this at home! It cause a cascade of errors and after spending hours and hours on the phone with support techs at my ISP and then Dell, we decided the only thing to do was to reformat the hard drive and start over. That can be a good thing depending on the circumstances, but because I was "fiddling around with my computer" it cost me about 16 hours of work (on the phone with techs and reinstalling all my software and backup files, etc, not to mention the files I lost. So be careful out there. Now for the constructive suggestion I have for you: last year I bought a Microsoft Office 2003 Student/teacher edition on Ebay for $85. You can find some great deals and possibly do better with patience and by keep trying. There were many packages to try if you can find one where idiots don't bid the price up too high. The advantage of the student/teacher edition, besides the fact you actually have the disks, is that you can legally install it on up to three machines. That's nice if you have kids and multiple PCs in the house. Good luck.