what is microsoft works word processor?

[nightowl]

is this what everyone uses now? its what came with my new pc and doesnt really look any different to word as far as i can see. if so...how do i get the vertical ruler up? being a creature of habit im finding it hard to adjust to the page layouts!! (ok its a pain and im lazy)

I've never found it as good as Office. Not got the functionality. It's the free version of it, I reckon.

I've got XP on my new pc. It has word processor instead of word but I haven't really used it yet although it does look the same. Still trying to find my way around the rest of it!

yeah it came with xp but id never heard of it before..i havent played around with it too much but the page layout seems a bit long winded to change. if its not the same thing can i get word on xp? dont need excel or anything like that really.

It is sort of a stripped-down version of MS Word. A lot of new PCs come with Microsoft Works. I don't know if it has all the layout stuff like rulers that word has.... possibly not. Sometimes works comes bundled with word, just to make it more confusing. It might be worth checking you don't have a copy of word as well. You can check by clicking start, then run and type "winword" (without the quotes) in the little box that opens up. Then click OK in that box. If word is installed on the PC, it should fire up.

thanks tech, tried what you said but it appears i dont have it on this pc. how much does it cost to buy or do i really need it? anyone know?

MS Office is dear - over £300 - but you can get Student and Teacher Edition for about £95 from amazon. That has word, excel and powerpoint (but not the access database). To qualifiy for that price, you're supposed to be a parent or guardian of a full time student over five years old, and it's supposed to be for their educational use.

by the way if you don't know if you need it, you probably don't . Works can open office files that other people send you and you can save in works as a word document if you want to send stuff to other people.

£300!!! slightly over my budget im afraid. so yes i dont need it ..thanks tech.