Try the free word processor in Windows |
9 Comments |
Posted by Marc Saltzman at 5:47 PM | E-mail this post
OK, so it's not Microsoft Word, but if cash is tight and you need a decent word processor that's already built into Windows, try WordPad. Seriously.
Two students this week wrote me to say they've been putting off buying Microsoft Office because they blew their budget on books.
While you can pick up Microsoft Office Student & Teacher Edition at $149 (compared to up to $689 for the professional suite!), don't hesitate to give WordPad a try for all your word processing needs, such as essays and book reports.
To access WordPad, click Start > All Programs > Accessories > WordPad.
Consider WordPad a miniature Microsoft Word with most of the bells and whistles. Formatting text is possible, such as italics, bold and underline, plus you can select from a variety of font styles and sizes. To select a word, double-click it; to select an entire paragraph, triple-click; to select a single line, click once to the left of the line; and to select the entire document, press Ctrl-A.
WordPad will save files in the .txt, .doc and .rtf formats.
Sorry, no spell-checker, though.
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Posted by Marc Saltzman at 5:47 PM in Computers & Software
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| Comments (9)
Daniel on October 22 at 9:32 PM | Report abuse
I think thats a great suggestion for typing out any simple documents, especially useful for quick editing and proof reading any type of material, A great benefit that comes with Microsoft windows, in addition, as mentioned, it free, and quickly loads.
But if you need any serious formats such as using table and/or picture inserts or related, I would highly suggest using open office, its a great comparison with Microsoft Word and plus its free and comes with a spell check.
Decent eh,
Thanks for the tip.
Khalid Al-Amoudi on October 23 at 12:56 AM | Report abuse
Well you can always download OpenOffice over at http://www.openoffice.org. It has the same feel as MS Office and the best thing is that it's free. Though I find it quite limited compared to MS Office.
Jason on October 23 at 2:07 PM | Report abuse
If you are looking for a great office suite that is compatible with MS Office OpenOffice.org offers a full suite that is both functionally 99 % identical to its Microsoft counterpart but it is also 100 % free as well as being able to open a wide variety of file extensions and a save as microsoft or PDF feature makes it verry useful.
Doug Brown on October 23 at 11:00 PM | Report abuse
Just a short Note as above first three comments have told you OpenOffice is a fully operational Office suite just like MS Office for free go to second comment and click on the web site this is another great product supplied by Java.com (Sun Systems)
Paul on October 25 at 9:24 PM | Report abuse
Open Office sucks. It doesn't have the polish of office 2007 (which I have to say Microsoft, well done on the interface). And open office is buggy. Try microsoft's online version of their office tools. Office Online
Khalid Al-Amoudi on October 26 at 9:18 PM | Report abuse
It's prettyy funny how we all seem like spammers lol
Anyway I must agree that, yes, OpenOffice has the old Office interface which makes things tough to find and it is "buggy" as Paul said.
Shawn on October 27 at 12:11 PM | Report abuse
For those who want to use Wordpad in Vista but need a spell checker, just copy and paste your document to a new email in Windows Mail. It has a spell checker. Just paste it back when done, or compose your document in Mail, without any formatting, and move it over to Wordpad when done to make it look purdy.
It begs the question, why the developers did not use the same spell checker inside Wordpad though...
Al on October 27 at 5:42 PM | Report abuse
OpenOffice.org is a great alternative to Microsoft Office, but if you just want a word processor, AbiWord (abisource.com) is a small and light word processor, compatible with Microsoft Word files, that includes a spell check and other features.
Khalid,
"OpenOffice has the old Office interface which makes things tough to find"
It's been my experience that the NEW interface (in Office 2007) makes things harder to find. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually, but until then, I would think OpenOffice.org's "old" interface would be easier.
Clint on October 28 at 1:14 AM | Report abuse
This is the second year that I've seen microsoft offer. It's only available to students enrolled in college or university. You can pick up Microsoft OFFICE ULTIMATE 2007 for $64. The details are listed on the official microsoft website. I suggest searching for the ultimate steal. I did take advantage of this offer last year and truthfully, I'm happy I did!
http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-ca/default.aspx
Clint