Argh! PC won't open MS word software... any ideas?

[zipzap]

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

It coincided exactly with my pc being a year and a day old if that makes a difference...

I have a dell pc and just use the basic office Word Starter 2010 it came with. It is now telling me that it can't open because there is a problem - then offers the option of instructions of how to fix. When I follow them it leads me to the control panel > uninstall > change as below, which I have done - several times but each time I then try to start again it just comes up with the same error message.

'Repair Microsoft Office Starter

1. In Windows, click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Under Programs, click Uninstall a program.
3. In the list of programs, click Microsoft Office Starter 2010, and then click Change.
4. Select the check box to Remove all Office user settings related to this product.
5. Click Yes.'

Once it has told me that the software no longer exists on my pc but it hasn't said this recently.

I've tried googling but not had much luck. Seems that whilst others have experienced, a few have found the above instructions work but most find they don't

I've spoken to the Dell Helpline - but they wanted either £119 for a year's software warranty (but only 4 problems in that year mind you) or £69 for a single episode of help. I figured that at that price I'd ask the lovely MNetters first and I could buy a student edition of MS Office rather than rely on the wretched Dell people and still end up with a basic starter edition!

thanks if anybody does have any ideas!

I doubt the people they usually employ would be able to help you anyway.

If the repair doesn't work then you'd need the original installation files. Unfortunately because the starter edition is whats called "OEM only" basically you'd only be able to restore the laptop back to day 1. Which is something you really don't want to do.

Anyway, my advice is basically to either use something like Openoffice which is free and very similar to MS office (but without the annoying ribbon)

Or to pop along to Software4Students and purchase the MS Office for £38. Despite the name, you can qualify if you have a child and you personally do not have to be a student.

thank you niceguy2 - you've kind of confirmed what I was worried about.

I was wondering about getting education/student edition as a cheap solution; despite the fact that ds1 is only 6. I do use my pc for some freelance work but it is also a home machine - do you think they would ever notice (or more to the point will it say it somewhere so if I end up doing a ppt presentation to clients would they be able to see that I've been a cheapskate not got the expensive version?

These days I don't do much work, have 2 little boys that keep me busy most of the time and lots of the freelance stuff seems to crop up in the holidays but I do try to keep my hand in and keep the ability to do the work, often being ready to step into a project at the last minute for a couple of weeks which means I don't then have time to rush off to pcworld and fork out lots for a proper copy. But I'm not really earning enough at the moment to justify running off and buying the real thing at full price, that would wipe out most of my profits for the last few months!). Probably best not to ask for a vat receipt for it - and wonder if they'd think a 6 yr old using visio would be odd...

In the mean time, i'll download open office and see how it goes - thanks again!

No, noone can tell how you bought it since the license you get is for MS Office Professional.

Read their criteria. It sounds like as long as you have a child at school then you are eligible to buy. But you can only use it at home (ie. you cant take it and install it in an office). It doesn't say you can't use it at home to produce commercial work though (not that I can see anyway!)

Eligibility Criteria

I don't think ppl care what version of Office you use to be honest as long as it opens. At work we still use Office 2003 & Visio 2003 and I work for one of the largest tech firms in the world. We do of course buy the later versions but there's no real justification to spend the millions we'd need to to get everyone to the latest version.