I have used this freeware open source software suite for many years.

Here is a link that might be useful: Open Office

Shax you already have a word processor on your computer. It is not as good as Word but for the average person with minimal needs it is entirely suitable.

Click Start/Accessories/Wordpad - or Start/All programs/Accessories/Wordpad in Vista and there you are. It will open .doc files but will not create them. BUT it will save as .rtf (Rich Text Format) which is recognised by almost all processors. Give it a whirl.

Whilst I understand your frustration with MS and HP it is only clever advertising and it does get a lot of folk to part with their money. Much like your Holden ads on the idiot box, they show upscale models loaded with bells and whistles to convince you they are the best :~)

Take a careful saunter through your Startup menu. When I purchased my HP with Vista several years ago I too got the trial version suite. However, Microsoft Works was included separately.

I was not promised a full version of Word nor was the system advertised with such. So it was not a big thing to me as I don't expect any more or any less than what I paid for. I personally would not expect a suite of value to be included for free. I considered the trial version just advertising.

My experience with using the trial version was you clicked on register later and you could still use Word, but not a full featured version.

As I have reported before I use OO her at home, and between work and home without concern.

DA

Shax definitely OPEN OFFICE is the best free alternative out there as stated. I now have it on every one of my computers. My netbook also came with that teaser trial version of office but I never even tried it just went and got my open office. If you have office on other computers and you have the install cd you can use that on your new computer, I actually do own MS office but instead use OO.
When you use OO you can choose from a drop down list as to what type of file type you want to save it as, I always save mine as a .doc windows file so that if I need to send it to someone with MS office they can open it just fine.

Probably somewhere on the info with your pc it said trial version or student trail version of Office I have never had one that came with the full MS office on it for free, you can purchase it and have it installed when ordering a pc.
Here is another download link, always be sure you check that the version you are getting is the one for your operating system especially in the case of some of these type programs because there are also linux versions.
OpenOffice.org 3.1.0

As others have already noted, Open Office is a good free program that is very compatible with MS Office.

Another free office suite that is based in part on Open Office Code and in part on proprietary code is IBM's Lotus Symphony

If the only part of MS Office that you use is Word, you could also buy Microsoft Works Suite (note that you have to get the Suite). It includes an older version (2002) of MS Word. I've seen Works Suite 2002 on Amazon for $5 plus $3.99 shipping.

shaxhome-
It's very uncommon to get anything but a trial version of Office software, unless you decide to pay extra for it at the time you buy the computer. Think of it this way: if it came with the computer and you had no choice about it, you would have had to pay more for the computer. Now you have a choice...and some of the choices are free.

I suspect that, since you probably don't have frequent need for extremely sophisticated word processing capability, the many alternatives pointed out above will be more than adequate, and maybe even easier to use than a full version of Word.

My first PC had works and I still use it. When I buy a shelf computer I delete all trial versions, games and stuff I know I will never use.

When I bought this laptop in July, I too had a trial version of Office and I uninstalled it since I had no use for it. I am a grandmother who has long since passed the need for writing politically correct form letters. Open Office serves my need perfectly and not mention it will open PowerPoint attachments that Windows Power point viewer refuses to play even though I have the correct version of it. I am using Windows Vista Home Premium.

For those of you who might be in need of an industrial strength fully featured yet easy to learn and use professional page layout software that is also pretty dang good for even the simplest of documents, I suggest that you get Scribus.
It is free for the download and it is available for MacOSX/MSWin/Linux operating systems.
The link will take you there, just make sure you get the right one for your choice of Operating Systems
Then again, there is always "Google Doc's"...Software that several HS and ComCol and Univ students I know of use seemingly exclusively. To use that, just go to Google.com, then click on "even more", and it's the 3rd item down in the "Communicate, Show & Share" section on the right hand side of the page. Google Docs is definitely worth looking into, IMHO it is anyway....
HAGD!!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Better than MS-Word.....

delicious.com , or del.icio.us , either one, is a great source of help and links to almost anything imaginable

Click on the link below for somewhere around 1700 different links to/for/of/about Scribus software.

Hope this helps...........

Here is a link that might be useful: Scribus pages at delicious.com

Thank you all for your advice! But I did expect that with the cost of my new computer and having Vista Home PREMIUM, that it would be inclusive of MS Office...silly me!

I went ahead and downloaded OO (150Mb, 4 hours!)

Seems to be a good one, though!

Sorry for the vent...

Quick question, though...should I uninstall my MS Office trial programs, or would that upset the apple-cart?

Regards,
Shax

Vista home premium is the Operating System (OS). MS Office and MS Word are applications. They're separate things. There may be other trial programs installed as well.

That's how the manufacturer can sell the computer so cheaply.

You're probably thinking that $zzz isn't cheap, but it wasn't all that long ago that it took about $2000 to get an entry level computer.

If I were you, I'd uninstall the trial programs.

Ummm, went to Revo to uninstall...is it Microsoft Works that I want to zap?

Also have MS Office Live Add-in 1.3, MS Office Outlook Connector and MS Office Powerpoint Viewer 2007...

Take a careful saunter through your Startup menu.

I not only learn valuable computer tips on here, I also get a lesson on vocabulary!
Gotta have my ole Webster along side of me when damccoy educates me. (smiles)

NO! Works would be one you want as it is apparently installed.

The Microsoft Office Suite is a bugbear to remove. Your REVO installed application report will show many Office entries, perhaps up to ten. Each one would have to be removed individually.

The last time I removed an Office Suite from a system as I recall REVO reported 21000 registry entries collectively.

Urlee,

You gave me my morning smile here at work.

DA

Shax if you want to leave it. you will only lose some space on your hard drive since it is apparently not even installed, did you try going to your add remove programs area in vista and look for it there? I think in my netbook it is listed there and does say something to the effect of trial version.

works and word are definitely 2 different things you usually get works free so you want to leave it alone and keep it.

We need to know also exactly what version they put on there as the trial version because there are different ones, there is the full office suite, the student version, home version etc, it should tell you in the info that came with your pc but you can also run a belarc and get the info there.

this is one MS KB article dealing with the pain of removing office 2007
How to manually uninstall the 2007 Office system if you cannot uninstall it by using the "Add or Remove Programs" feature

Belarc

I have decided after reading page after page of people going through removal hell for that trial program to just leave mine right where it is and ignore it, I never opened it never installed it never used it. My Open office is working just fine.

May I suggest that you consider making OO the Default Application for all file types and protocols that it can open. Or at least associate .doc with OO. This can be accomplished via the Control Panel.

DA

DA...I've seen the error of my ways!
I should have taken your advice and sauntered, instead of charging in like a bull at a gate on his way to the china-shop!

I now realise that Works is installed separately and that it should suffice for my minimal needs, as it is.

HOWEVER, since I now have OO, I'll use that as my default, forget about uninstalling anything, and start whistling my way through life once more!

Thank you all for your valuable (and much valued) input!

Regards,
Shax

you will likely need OO in the future for say a power point show or something in a spreadsheet format someone may send you so now that you have it you are all set. It does it all pretty much.

Ahax,

You are more than welcome.

As I have reminded others before, in OO when you save a published document which you want to be Word compatible when initally saving you have to change the "Save File As" from the default .odt to the .doc format of your choice. It's easy and no biggie.

DA

What is Belarc?

Belarc is a free application which when installed will prepare an intensive enternal report on your computer system, peripherals and software. It's been around a long time and has been recommend on this forum for as long as I can remember.

A print out of the report is an excellent piece of reference to have on hand.

DA

I put belarc on every windows pc, I also print out an original belarc report for every pc so I know exactly what each had on it brand new, occasionally I do an update print out so it shows anything new. Great resource to have handy if you can not access the pc and need to know something about it or what is on it. Plus it will also tell you about your windows updates and what might be missing. And gives a report on the hard drive health.

I find myself in another situation with OpenOffice. I cannot uninstall it and cannot find instructions on how to uninstall. It is not listed in Program and Features and I am stuck.

I was having trouble with Internet Explorer freezing on me continuously and downloaded Mozilla Firefox and somehow OO came with it and wants to be my home page.

I feel intimidated when I cannot get rid of a program. Any suggestions?

You missed an OO offer with a checked box during the FF installation. When you didn't remove the check you got OO too. "Free" toolbars are like that too. You have to look between all the wording.

Have you tried REVO Uninstaller to remove OO? It is regularly recommended here at this forum.

You can reset your homepage in FF at Tools>Options>Main tab.

DA

I have never seen Open Office offered in firefox install has anyone? I have seen it offered in some other updates like java and flash in the past.

also make sure when you do firefox updates and the browser reopens to a new page other than your homepage to close it and reopen it again because it only does that the first time to let you know that it did update properly it does not change the homepage the next time you reopen it will be to your usual home page. It will do the same thing if you had any updates for your add-ons it will open to that page to let you know the update was successful.

If you did install Open office it will be listed in your add remove programs list in control panel.

I just happened to think there is an add on for firefox called open office which works with OO, if you happened to somehow have installed that add on to your firefox then that would not show up in add remove programs since it is only an extension for firefox it would be located in your firefox >tools> add ons list where you can eliminate it but that is not the open office program, it would have opened to that open office extension page though if you had just done an update for firefox and there was included an update for the extension
Firefox OpenOffice.org extension