Windows 8 and MS Word

[mockturtle]

I recently bought a laptop that came with Win8 (I know, I know, but I'm stuck with it). It doesn't seem to like MS Word, on which I have all my documents stored and which I continue to (try to) use. Obviously, they want me to buy MS Office, which I don't want. The main problem is my Word program suddenly closing. And it happens often. Any fixes?

[SRT]

As a happy Win 7 Ultimate user with MS Office 2007, I think I'll stay on it after reading about Win 8. In fact, my computer nerd son is building up a new desktop for me with Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit and using the "new" solid state "hard" drive for the operating system. I figure this will be good for a number of years.

[monkey44]

Well, I sorta highjacked this thread and didn't mean to - sorry - thanks everyone for the comments - lotsa helpful stuff.

I have the Wdw7 disk, and have gotten enough 'lessons' and shut off enough things that I can make Wdw8 work for the rest of this trip. I thought about changing now, but if I do, and have a problem, THEN WHAT?

SO, will leave this one as is, I finally got one of my photo programs to load, although not the best one. So, I can at least process my work - and have gotten Word to work by sending it to myself, opening it in WordPad, and then changing it to a different word program. SO, several extra steps in everything, some of the formatting lost - but at least it keeps the Word and Photo intact, relatively.

And, the drain on my hotspot has diminished somewhat - so, I've still decided to trash can this Wdw8, but will wait until I get home or to a place with an ISP and some assistance - just in case. take care - happy camping - will come back and let everyone know once I make the transition, whenever that is.

[tenbear]

Personally, although I have Word 2000 which works fine, I use Libre Office.

[burlmart]

Quote: Yeah, but I mean their own stuff - every time I open WOrd, it asks me to buy the new Word

this sounds like the trial new Word, not an older verionyou said you installed. ifso, uninstall it and install an earlier version you own

[monkey44]

tenbear wrote:
If you want to get rid of most of the ads, use Firefox and an add-on called Adblock Plus.

Win 8 has no more ads than Win 7 did.

Yeah, but I mean their own stuff - every time I open WOrd, it asks me to buy the new Word, or open a photo, it points me to the new version on the LT - apparently, these ads come built in, and each time I use something, it pops up and asks me to buy it.

Also, what I mean by the ads too, is: look at news here, look at weather here. Look at blah, blah here - and I have to escape it and sometimes it takes three clicks to get back where I was ... it's jsut annoying. Wdw7 never does that ...

Now, having said that - when I bought Wdw7, I also bought a new (faster HD) and installed it clean. SO, I'm guessing all this other junk is something vendors 'pay' to have on in these 'click spots' ... and with a clean install, I don't get that. WE did the same thing in both LT, new, faster HD, and a Wdw7 - should have done it again, but couldn't find wdw7 and was also departing on this trip. SO, the timing was bad-news as well.

[tenbear]

If you want to get rid of most of the ads, use Firefox and an add-on called Adblock Plus.

Win 8 has no more ads than Win 7 did.

[monkey44]

I've don a lot of things to try to cure the frequent downloads ... shut off the tiles (did that two months ago) and now have "always ask me to update", and now did what Strollin just said "metered downloads"

SO, we'll see - it seems like the evolution of the web continues, primarily was intended at it's birth to exchange information between one research institution to another, then from colleges to colleges (students) then suddenly 'individual' ISP, and it was a wealth of info for everyone - NOW, nothing but advertisements, and more advertisements. It's almost a struggle now to get to real information - no matter what you ask, it first hit "yellow pages' then ad pages that put every 'tag' for every subject in hopes you'll hit them ...

What once was a great tool (still is if you can develop your own research style) has now become what television has become - nothing but a way to sell you something with a few patches of acting (loosely labeled here) in between. AND that statement is especially true of Wdw8 -

[strollin]

Monkey, click on the wifi strength bars on the far right of the Task Bar to open Networks then find your hotspot connection in the Wi-Fi list and right-click on it, then select "Set as metered connection". That should cut down on how much data Win 8 downloads.

Setting it as a metered connection has the following effects according to MS:

• Windows Update will only download priority updates.
• Apps downloading from the Windows Store might be paused.
• Start screen tiles might stop updating.
• Offline files might not sync automatically.

I'm kinda curious about the "might" do this stuff myself, seems they should be able to prevent the downloads completely.

[burlmart]

"Live tiles" means they are constantly updating. You could disable each tile app that you never plan to use - right click on tile, I think.

You may only have disabled Windows OS updates so far.

I am not certain of this, just saw lots of vids

[tenbear]

There have been a lot of updates for Windows 8. Just yesterday, after being on the road for a couple of weeks when I didn't update anything, I downloaded several hundred MB of Windows updates. I also didn't download several Adobe updates. So 627MB in 8 days doesn't seem out of line.

I think your limit of 5KB is probably wrong. KB is 1024 Bytes, MB is a million plus bytes. Your limit could be 5GB. Win8 tells be I have used 3.85GB in the last 60 days.

[monkey44]

OK - now that I see what you asked - I'd done this before. I told it to check for updates, but allow me to choose when to do it.

Now, it shows - automatic, so I changed it again.

SO, now my Q is: Does any of these other "freebie" tiles or items download itself too. Seems like every time I'm working on something, an item pops up and asks me to 'update it' or use it, or something. I've also got "popup blocker' set too. And I've shut off or deleted anything I can find that I' don't use or will never use.

But my Hotspot still runs quicker than ever - I've generally used about 40%-50% of my hotspot per month (ABOUT FIVE YEARS) - my use does not change much. But, the past three months (since Wdw8) I've gone over every month? Any clues?

My GF travels with me, we both use it - she much less than me, and this is a three-year travel together issue. So, it's something in the Wdw8 that creates hotspot use over our normal use.

As of today, according to the use meter - we've used 626.94 MB in eight days. We have 5KB program ... what does that tell anyone? I believe if I multiply 626 x 4 (32 days) I should get 2504 MB which is half of 5 KB limit - so we should be using half or so ... but sometime during each month, something is eating the other half, and kicking us over the limit.

[strollin]

Monkey, try this on your Win 8 machine. Go to Start screen, type update, then click on Settings in the list on the far right. You'll now see all of the links pertaining to updates, the first in the list should be Windows Update.

Even easier, press the Windows key + W, type update.

[tenbear]

monkey44 wrote:

tenbear wrote:

monkey44 wrote:

tenbear wrote:
Monkey44, you can change the way Windows handles updates by going to Control Panel -> Windows Updates -> Change Settings.

I go to control panel - there is nothing that says "Windows updates" anywhere on any category on that panel?

Mine is probably set to come up with a different screen than yours.

In the upper right there is "View by: Category". Click on the dropdown arrow and select either option, large or small icons. The last item in the resulting list is "Windows Update".

The view by category has two items: Small icons, large icons ?

This is what Monkey means about getting help - when I do what anyone says, MY LT never does it. It's like this 'gremlin' reads the post right before I do, and hides in my LT and laughs.

Click on either one, small icons or large icons, The result will be the same list, only the size of the icons will be different. The last item in the list is Windows Update.

[monkey44]

tenbear wrote:

monkey44 wrote:

tenbear wrote:
Monkey44, you can change the way Windows handles updates by going to Control Panel -> Windows Updates -> Change Settings.

I go to control panel - there is nothing that says "Windows updates" anywhere on any category on that panel?

Mine is probably set to come up with a different screen than yours.

In the upper right there is "View by: Category". Click on the dropdown arrow and select either option, large or small icons. The last item in the resulting list is "Windows Update".

The view by category has two items: Small icons, large icons ?

This is what Monkey means about getting help - when I do what anyone says, MY LT never does it. It's like this 'gremlin' reads the post right before I do, and hides in my LT and laughs.