Question for the computer geru's

[no-logic]

I recently had to restore my system to it's original factory state. It does not have Office which I had and want back. I have an upgrade CD but it tells me that the version of Windows that I have is newer and the only way to load it is to restart and boot from the disc. (I have XP Home and the upgrade is XP Pro.) It tells me this:

 

"Warning: The default setup options will replace your existing version of Windows with this version. If you wish to keep both versions you must select a new destination folder for this version of Windows. If you decide to delete the newer version of Windows that is currently installed on your computer, the files and settings cannot be recovered."

 

What files and setting will I lose? What should I back up?

[HackedByChinese!]

Whatever the case may be, upgrading from XP Home to XP Pro is not going to put Office back on the machine.

[silmaneero]

Whatever the case may be, upgrading from XP Home to XP Pro is not going to put Office back on the machine.

 

Sadly this is true. Some computers are sold with a recovery disk, or a recovery partition, that has MS Office (or some other software) pre-installed. If this was the case for your computer then restoring the original factory state would bring back MS Office among the other stuff. Otherwise, it won't, as Windows and Office are separate products

 

You could try OpenOffice.org if you need to work with MS Office documents in the meantime. It's free, and the compatibility is getting better all the time.

[Renfield]

 

You could try OpenOffice.org if you need to work with MS Office documents in the meantime.

 

 

This is the route I went when faced with a similar dilemma. I'm fine with it, prefer Office more, but they are practically the same for 95% of users.

[no-logic]

Sadly this is true. Some computers are sold with a recovery disk, or a recovery partition, that has MS Office (or some other software) pre-installed. If this was the case for your computer then restoring the original factory state would bring back MS Office among the other stuff. Otherwise, it won't, as Windows and Office are separate products You could try OpenOffice.org if you need to work with MS Office documents in the meantime. It's free, and the compatibility is getting better all the time.

It didn't have Office on it when I got it back in 2006. My wife bought this upgrade disc from school to do some of her classwork. And I thought I used it to upgrade mine as well. That's why I was surprised to see that message when I tried to install it again. I miss Office. So there is no way to use this upgrade?

[Fireball_73]

You will like this: http://www.cracked.com/photoshop_8_30-error-messages-you-never-want-to-see/

[HackedByChinese!]

 

It didn't have Office on it when I got it back in 2006. My wife bought this upgrade disc from school to do some of her classwork. And I thought I used it to upgrade mine as well. That's why I was surprised to see that message when I tried to install it again. I miss Office. So there is no way to use this upgrade?

 

 

You can use it, but all it'll do is change your Windows version to XP Professional, not install Office. In order to get Office back on the PC, you need a separate installation CD for Office and a key to activate it, assuming that you were using Office 2003 or later.