Thank you Microsoft

[DCLane]

Mrs Lane's MS Outlook's gone down this evening - working fine at 5pm, now very dead. No clue why.

 

[tom73]

It’s free, has 1TB of cloud storage and 1 hour of free external Skype calls a month and retains the best compatibility with the majority of the worlds users.

yes it’s free as long you have it that way as for compatibility it really is not an issue.
ive free access don’t mean you use it though.
l‘ve had more than enough cloud storage long before this come along

 

[Wobblers]

Mrs D is in the final year of her OU degree, and today was one of her designated study days. She sits down at her desk and 2 minutes later theres a panic - Microsoft Word (which by a delicious coincidence rhymes with tu*d) isn't working!
I calm her down and have a look. It's a Windows machine and has just updated. A quick Google reveals that it's quite common for Office and its sub programs not to function properly following such an update. If it's such a widely known problem then why do Microdot still allow it to happen?
Anyway, I run a repair and it does the trick. However, Office now requires some password or other (not the activation key, tried that) from when it was installed. Seeing as the laptop was bought for her with that already installed we have no idea what the set uo password and email address might be.
I'll be fornicated if Micropore think I'm paying to buy a years subscription to get it working, so I have lent her my laptop which I use fro SAR work and which runs Libre Office - I'm not a heavy user of the office suite of software so this does me well and is free.
Meanwhile, Mrs D, who is an Apple girl at heart anyway, has lost all faith and ordered herself a Macbook pro instead. That's up to her, but I can't help but wonder at what a bunch of idiots work for Microdot if something as basic as an OS update renders paid-for software unusable. You'd be pretty narked if the garage updated your car's software and you then had to pay for a new set of tyres for no reason at all, so I can't see why Microphone think it's a acceptable.

As an OU alumini myself I can well understand the panic when your pc becomes recalcitrant with a looming TMA deadline. Most laptops come with Office 365 these days - are you sure that isn't what she's using? In which case,, suggest that she try her Microsoft account password. Failing that, just install Libre Office. As you say, it's perfectly up to the task.

 

[tom73]

Yes good old TMA's key is in the planning mostly made up of do you do it before midnight or after. Or so i've heard
Just for fun they even have a song

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_uoc7wq7qA

 

[SteveF]

Mrs Lane's MS Outlook's gone down this evening - working fine at 5pm, now very dead. No clue why.

I had a similar issue, Outlook simply would not start.. cured it by deleting the "Outlook" profile (control panel > mail > profiles) then when I started outlook again it asked for the email details (as per 1st time use)

 

[crossfire]

I presume the work is backed up? If so any of the word alternatives could work, though my daughter has student Word and says all her work has to be on Word so tutors can read it.

 

[Drago]

Aye, fortunately I've been nagging her to back it up and she actually listened for a change

 

[DaveReading]

I presume the work is backed up? If so any of the word alternatives could work, though my daughter has student Word and says all her work has to be on Word so tutors can read it.

Most, if not all, WP applications can read and write RTF. It's a much more portable format than Word.