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victoria4504
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September 23rd, 2007 03:00
MS Office 2003
When I bought my Dell Computer Dimension 4600, MS Office 2003 came installed. A little bit ago, I downloaded a trial version of MS Office 2007. When my trial time expired, MS Office 2007 disappeared as well as my MS Office 2003. It is no longer on my computer. I've tried all the installation disks that came with my computer, but none of them have MS Office 2003 on them???
I must have accidentially deleted my MS Office 2003 when I asked to try the trial version 2007. How can I get my MS Office 2003 back???
Please help!
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Posted September 23rd, 2007 04:00
I didn't "actually" purchase it, but it came installed on my PC and it wasn't a trial version. I think I'll try contacting Dell tomorrow and ask very politely if they can send me a disk to reinstall it.... :)Thanks!772
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Posted September 23rd, 2007 12:00
if you didn't "actually" purchase it, it's highly unlikely that you had a full (non-trial) version of Office pre-installed on your PC.it couldn't hurt anything to try contacting dell... but assuming that fails, there's an alternative Office Suite "clone", FREE and legitimate, called OpenOffice, by Sun MicroSystems, which you can download from:be advised the download is about 100 MEG in size !!It includes a Word Processor [Writer], SpreadSheet [Calc], Database [Base], Presentations [Impress], Drawing Tool [Draw], and Mathematical Function Editor [Math].Writer and Calc are very-near-"clones" of Word and Excel, respectively... there may be some subtle differences... but for the price (FREE), you can't beat it772
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Posted September 23rd, 2007 21:00
Thanks ky331...I'll try that if I can't get my MS 2003 back. Won't tech know if it came install on my computer when I bought it?Also, is OpenOffice compatible with MS 2003?772
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Posted September 23rd, 2007 22:00
Someone in DELL (from "sales" [or some other appropriate division] i would think, rather than "tech" ) should be able to retrieve your invoice/records to know exactly what you purchased.When I said that OpenOffice is a "clone" of Office [2003], I did imply that it will be able to open, read, edit, and save files created by Word 2003 and Excel 2003.i'm not happy with the presentation program (openOffice's version of "powerpoint" ), and I have no idea how compatible openOffice's database program is with Access. But for free, you can try and experiment.
Message Edited by ky331 on 09-25-2007 12:11 PM772
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Posted September 23rd, 2007 22:00
Tech Support won't know if it was installed or not. And if warranty is up, they'll want $ to discuss software issues. You're better off contacting Customer Service ahd have your invoice number and/or account number available.
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/contact_us_options?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~tab=2
Ron
Message Edited by RoHe on 09-23-2007 04:59 PM
772
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Posted September 24th, 2007 02:00
My original warranty is up but I've paid big bucks to extend that baby...so someone better be able to tell me what happened and what I had on my system when I purchased it.... :) Their service is very good except it'd be nice to get someone that actually speaks English as a first language. I have nothing personal against other nationalities, it's just that I have a very hard time trying to understand English, over the phone, spoken with a heavy accent. And it seems everytime I call, I get someone I can't understand :(Also, thanks ky, for expounding on the "clone" issue. Sometimes, obviously, I don't understand English all that well either... lol772
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Posted September 24th, 2007 22:00
Ditto-victoria 4504!I have a Dell Dimension E520 with VistaGood Luck! I have just registered on this forum hoping to find answers to this very issue. I hate to tell you this but, I have been dealing with the same problem for not just weeks, but, months. Your story is mine--word for word. I have (tried) to talk to Dell customer service, and been told call Microsoft. They say call Dell. Back & forth, back & forth. I give up for awhile, then something with this same problems crops up and I start over. I too, am having difficulty explaining to the customer service reps exactly what the problem is.Just recently I received an email with an attachment. When I tried to open the attachment, I get the pop message to enter my 25 digit product key of Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003. Another problem I have encountered is I have gone to websites and tried to click on a person's name to send them an email and again had this pop up message.I know this came pre-installed. And apparently wasn't a trial version. About a month ago I had to have Dell support walk me through wiping out all my programs and start over from factory status again. (Different issue). It is still there, so it wasn't some trial thing I downloaded.Are we going to be forced to break down and buy one of these programs to resolve this problem? I too, paid big bucks for extended warranty and At-home service.I have been extremely disappointed with the whole works--Microsoft & Dell.Maybe somebody will give us some answers!772
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Posted September 24th, 2007 22:00
Sorry to break your bubble, but Dell pre-installs a free TRIAL of Microsoft Office on every Dimension PC. You didn't pay for it and it gives you 30(?) days FREE use of MS Office. When the trial is up, you either have to stop using and remove Office from your PC or anti up the bucks to pay for it. If it's asking for the product key, your free subscription has expired.
Resetting the hard drive to the way Dell shipped it (Ctrl-F11 for XP machines, F8 menu for Vista) wipes everything off your hard drive and gets you back to the the way it was on Day 1, including the free trial of MS Office that Dell installed.
Sooner or later, you're going to have to pay for MS Office and get the product key, or use something like the Open Office suite which is free and can read MS Office files.
Extended warranties do not cover the purchase price of software or any software problems.
Obviously you must have Word set as your default application to compose emails so every time you click a link to send an email, Word is going to launch and ask for the product key before letting you write that email.
There is no free lunch, especially when it's Microsoft! ;)
Ron
Message Edited by RoHe on 09-24-2007 05:10 PM
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Posted September 25th, 2007 00:00
OK--I have been properly scolded for thinking I was getting something for nothing. :smileysad:I guess it goes without saying that I am very technology challenged. I work for a small school district and am accostumed to the tech guys coming in and loading my computer with what programs I need and I get to work.Where I am running into a problem is with my home computer. As I mentioned earlier, if I go to a school campus website and try to send an individual an email I get the popup about the product code.For my home and personal use I email, send and receive photos of grandkids, shop online, use excel program and surf the web.I am not opposed to buying the software if it will allow me to do these things. My question now is do I buy MS Office for Small Business 2003 or get a more recent edition?I would appreciate your input RoHe, as you seem to have a vast amount of knowledge in these areas.Thanks!ckn247
RoHe
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772
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Posted September 23rd, 2007 03:00
Ron