Leave of absence

[owl]

Our computer is broken. I was deleting some adware and I had to restart it into Safe mode, and after I restarted it back into noral mode Norton Antivirus wouldn't turn on Autoprotect and the internet wouldn't work. It dials up okay but it won't open any pages and after receiving a few bytes of data it won't send or receive anything more.

Does anyone have advice on new computers? What's the best make? Is XP a more crappy or less crappy OS than Millenium Edition? Is it worth £110 to upgrade with Office Basic Edition (Word, Outlook and Excel), or could you cope with Works 7.0 (ie does it have good spreadsheet and word processing programs)?

I won't be around much on LiveJournal or any sites, so if you don't see me that's why.

Comments

[ivylore.livejournal.com]

That sucks!

*hugs*

I know that the Millenium edition was utterly horribly crappy. XP is better. I have Office Basic Addition now and I'm happy with it. I hope you get it fixed quickly.

[owl]

Oh, I loathed it with a great loathing. The System Restore and Norton Antivirus kept interfering with each other. Our copy of Word broke about 3 years ago, and quite often the mouse freezes so you have to move around websites using the tab key.

[shallanelprin.livejournal.com]

For a Microsoft product, XP is fantastic. I would recommend getting XP Pro, not the Home version. Windows ME just completely sucked and should really be avoided it at all possible. But Windows XP in excellent.

[snarkel.livejournal.com]

I could be a smartass and just tell you to get a Mac, if you want. (FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!! (http://www.apple.com/macmini/)) But the software tends to be pricier, there's not Mac tech on every corner, etc etc etc.

XP is fine for an MS product: ME is the crap. Definitely get XP. Office doesn't seem worth the cash to me, but I only use it to make address labels, so...

[lothi.livejournal.com]

ME has been called "Windows Mistake Edition" by IT folks. It sucks hard.

I'd go with XP (preferably XP Pro, if you can spare the extra $100). If you get along fine with Works, and don't need the extra power of the Office products, I'd stay with that. The only problem I see with the Works word processor is that Word won't always open the files, so if you send them to someone (like a beta reader) that has Word, then he or she might not be able to open them.

If you have the extra money, I'd spend it on Office Basic and go with XP Home.

[wahlee-98.livejournal.com]

Windows ME SUX ROX. Seriously, it is teh horrible. XP may be annoying in some ways (like having to get permission from M$ to change hardware, and the default Fisher Price theme), but it is SO much more stable, seriously. Also, Service Pack 2 has a built-in firewall, and they just added a spyware utility.

I can't do a thing with Works, but it depends on what you need it for. I wouldn't use Outlook EVER at home (I use Thunderbird instead, which is far less vulnerable to viruses and has a built-in spam blocker and RSS feed support), but for any word processing other than just the basics, you probably need Word, and Excel is better than any spreadsheet Works will give you. Unless you want to be sneaky like me and use WordPerfect Office instead. :P

My new laptop is a Dell, and so is my work computer. I like them alot. Oh, and if you order from Dell, the WordPerfect Productivity pack comes standard with Dell systems. It includes WordPerfect, Quattro Pro (a spreadsheet), and Corel Address Book (which is pretty much worthless, but *shrugs*. WordPerfect can read Word files no problem and save them in Word format, too, and Quattro Pro is just as easy to use as Excel. So you get a full-function word processor and spreadsheet at a Works price.

[manicwriter1271.livejournal.com]

My friend who works on computers for a living recommends Dell. As far as ME vs XP--everyone who has commented so far is right. My computer is four years old and I have ME. It sucks. Go with XP Pro if you can get it.

[owl]

I'm a Linux gal if I were to go for any OS in the world, but I'll let my university pay for it :)