Reformatting - OpenOffice?

[Fifty]

HI!

So my computer has been running utterly crappily for awhile now. This may be due to the fact that I haven't reformatted it ever, even though I've had it for over 2yrs.

The only problem with reformatting is I don't have word/excel/ppt/etc. on a disc.

So I'm thinkin' bout downloading OpenOffice to use after I reformat. Is it any good? Is it compatible with the major file types used for microsoft stuff (like excel files, word files, powerpoint files, etc.). Anything I generally need to know about it?

As a side note, is there anywhere I can get reliable directions on how the hell to reformat a computer? I have Windows XP if that matters.

 

[felagund]

Openoffice is probably one of the best free software programs out there... and yes, it is compatible with word, excel and powerpoint. Sorry, I don't know a whole lot about reformatting a computer, but I think I have heard that you can try booting off your Windows XP CD, and follow the setup instructions from there.

 

[Strider]

OpenOffice is fine. You can save a file as any of the Word, Excel, etc. formats (and even based on the year). It may take some getting use to if you used Word for awhile, but it's for the most part the same.

As for re-formatting, it's fairly easy. Restart your computer and go into the BIOS and changed to boot order where it boots from the CD first (your have to look for that yourself). Plug in your windows CD and it should go through all the options (asking if you want to erase the HD etc.)

That's the least complex method.

 

[chinesefireball]

And remember to back up all your stuff BEFORE you start formating

 

[GenMarshall]

OpenOffice is fine. You can save a file as any of the Word, Excel, etc. formats (and even based on the year). It may take some getting use to if you used Word for awhile, but it's for the most part the same.

As for re-formatting, it's fairly easy. Restart your computer and go into the BIOS and changed to boot order where it boots from the CD first (your have to look for that yourself). Plug in your windows CD and it should go through all the options (asking if you want to erase the HD etc.)

That's the least complex method.

I always thought you can do that with a Command Prompt mode.

 

[Macha]

I always thought you can do that with a Command Prompt mode.

WinXP's command prompt isn't DOS, it's a winxp program, and a program can't delete itself (or windows)

 

[Padma]

OpenOffice does an excellent job with Office 2000 files and earlier, and a very good job with Office2003. The more recent version of MS Office you have, the worse the compatibility. (Although I think it still does at least "good" with Vista's Office 2007.) Word (.doc) files are probably the safest, with Excel spreadsheets following close behind. Probably the worst compatibility is with Powerpoint slides. That said, if you just do basic formatting stuff with any of the Office products, you're probably safe. If you do a lot of heavy-duty formatting, fancy tricks and tweaks, lots of VBA macros, etc., you will have more difficulty getting it to look/work exactly the same in OO without some manual fixing.

Of course, one has to remember that MS's Office "formats" are not really formats, but instead are a snapshot of the state of the program at that time, including the data. (They originally were going to write actual format specifications, but found that this "snapshot" method worked good enough, and left it alone.) That explains why different computers running even the same version of Office sometimes have trouble reading/displaying a file saved on another computer.

 

[History_Buff]

OpenOffice works wonderfully. The only real problem with it is formating. If you import an MS doc into OOffice, or vise versa, it may come out looking really weird, but that's a fairly minor problem. If you really need to move your OOffice document to another computer without it, just save it as a PDF.

OpenOffice will open all MS documents (that I've encountered anyway), while I don't think MS will open any OpenOffice document. OpenOffice is capable of doing anything MS can do, and I personally like the interface much better.


As for reformatting, you'll need your XP installation disks. Insert them into your CD drive, restart, and then tap whatever button it is to boot from CD (it should prompt you on what to boot from). XP launches its own little text based installation program. Delete your partition (at which point ALL your data is gone), and then create a new one or two or three, etc, and then install XP to one of them. XP does it's thing, and then you may be required to go looking for Drivers for everything.

If your computer is from a major manufacturer, talk to them, they often have guides on what to do.

 

[knez]

open office sucks
alot

office 2007 sucks
alot

office 2003 rules

 

[Fifty]

reformat successful, download successful, and it seems to work great. Thanks for the tips folks.

 

[Phlegmak]

After reading the opening post, I wanted to tell you "Don't bother reformatting if you don't need to." Too late now.