word-processing using xp

[Mary]

Can anyone help with instructions on how to get good word-
processing from windows xp. I am more used to the older
software (98, 2000) but my new home computer came with
xp, and as I need to produce nice, well spaced ,
correctly spelled, tidy documents for work, I am finding
wordpad completely inadequate. Is it possible to have
the above mentioned qualities as well as being able to
produce tables, graphs, etc ? Or do I need to buy more
software. Any and all ideas welcome.

Thanks Mary

[Nicholas]

Office 2003 Editions: Compare them to Previous Versions
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/editions/compare.asp=20

Microsoft Office System Pricing Information
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/pricing/default.asp


--=20
Nicholas

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"Mary" wrote in message:
...

| Can anyone help with instructions on how to get good word-
| processing from windows xp. I am more used to the older=20
| software (98, 2000) but my new home computer came with=20
| xp, and as I need to produce nice, well spaced ,=20
| correctly spelled, tidy documents for work, I am finding=20
| wordpad completely inadequate. Is it possible to have=20
| the above mentioned qualities as well as being able to=20
| produce tables, graphs, etc ? Or do I need to buy more=20
| software. Any and all ideas welcome.
|=20
| Thanks Mary

[Rob Schneider]

Mary wrote:

> Can anyone help with instructions on how to get good word-
> processing from windows xp. I am more used to the older
> software (98, 2000) but my new home computer came with
> xp, and as I need to produce nice, well spaced ,
> correctly spelled, tidy documents for work, I am finding
> wordpad completely inadequate. Is it possible to have
> the above mentioned qualities as well as being able to
> produce tables, graphs, etc ? Or do I need to buy more
> software. Any and all ideas welcome.
>
> Thanks Mary

You need to obtain more software. The functionality you expect is not
provided by the Windows XP operating system product.

Some Alternatives:

Cost $$: Microsoft Word:
www.microsoft.com/word
Cost $$$$: Microsoft Office (Office Suite which includes Word)
www.microsoft.com/office
Cost Free: Open Office (full functioned suite of applications)
www.openoffice.org
Cost Free: Abiword (terrific word processor emulating Word, but current
versions do not have good table support)
www.abiword.com

More word processors: see
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Word_Processors/

[Ken Blake]

In ,
Mary > typed:

> Can anyone help with instructions on how to get good word-
> processing from windows xp. I am more used to the older
> software (98, 2000) but my new home computer came with
> xp, and as I need to produce nice, well spaced ,
> correctly spelled, tidy documents for work, I am finding
> wordpad completely inadequate. Is it possible to have
> the above mentioned qualities as well as being able to
> produce tables, graphs, etc ? Or do I need to buy more
> software. Any and all ideas welcome.


Word processing is not a function of the operating system, but of
the word processing software you use. Wordpad, as you correctly
say, is not really a word processor; it's just a glorified text
editor.

If you want word processing facilities, you need to get a word
processor. There are lots of choices. My personal favorite is
Corel WordPerfect, but you can also buy Microsoft Word,
StarOffice, and several others. You can also download the free
OpenOffice.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

[Ally]

"Mary" > wrote:

> Or do I need to buy more software.

"More", yes, but not neccessarily "buy". I can't tell you whether
that's the right solution for you or your job. But before you rush
out and pay hundreds of $$$ for MS Office or something like that,
give OpenOffice.org a try. It's a fairly huge download
(http://openoffice.org), but it's completely free. It does word
processing, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics, and handles
Microsoft's .DOC format -- I just don't know how well. Anyway, it
won't hurt to try.

~Ally
--
Never send a monster to do the work of an evil scientist.

[Frank]

Mary wrote:

| Can anyone help with instructions on how to get good word-
| processing from windows xp. I am more used to the older
| software (98, 2000) but my new home computer came with
| xp, and as I need to produce nice, well spaced ,
| correctly spelled, tidy documents for work, I am finding
| wordpad completely inadequate. Is it possible to have
| the above mentioned qualities as well as being able to
| produce tables, graphs, etc ? Or do I need to buy more
| software. Any and all ideas welcome.
|
| Thanks Mary

Office suites, home office suites or just plain old word processors
are not part of the operating system. Any of the applications that
were on an older PC should have been moved to the new PC if
they were not OEM bundled. Shop around. I noticed a lot of
the older office suites etc etc on price watch for really fair prices.
Shop around for what you need.
good luck

[Harry Ohrn]

Like Ally says Open Office is a good alternative to MS Office and is free.
The download is over 50MB but you have a nice collection of apps that you
can easily set the Options for it so that it will open and save directly as
Microsoft documents making your files easily transferable to system that use
Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint. No spyware, no nag screens, no popup
just a good solid software app.
http://www.openoffice.org/product/

see how to set the Options here
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/images/writer2.jpg

The speller doesn't integrate into Outlook Express but this free spell does
http://www.geocities.com/vampirefo/

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


"Mary" > wrote in message
...
> Can anyone help with instructions on how to get good word-
> processing from windows xp. I am more used to the older
> software (98, 2000) but my new home computer came with
> xp, and as I need to produce nice, well spaced ,
> correctly spelled, tidy documents for work, I am finding
> wordpad completely inadequate. Is it possible to have
> the above mentioned qualities as well as being able to
> produce tables, graphs, etc ? Or do I need to buy more
> software. Any and all ideas welcome.
>
> Thanks Mary