PCA Forums

My refurbished laptop show Office 2010 in All Programs and Task Bar.

When I clicked on it, it asked for a license key,,, which I don't have.

What would be a good free alternative?
( Attorney sent me a Word doc w/extension ".docx" that I need to save,, )

Thank you!

First of all your attorney is an idiot. He should have sent that to you as a PDF. Not everyone has Office. Not to mention that a Word document can be altered. Most attorneys that I've dealt with use a PDF that's locked so you can read it, but not alter it.

I would ask him to resend it as a PDF. Word can save as a PDF and there's lots of free conversion apps.

If you just need to read or print the Word document, there's a free Word viewer. Microsoft no longer has it for download but you can get it here: http://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/m ... iewer.html

Beware, there might be fool you 'download' ads on that site. Just click on one of the Download Locations and wait for it to start downloading.

If you need a whole office suite, Open Office is free and can read and save Word files: https://www.openoffice.org/download/

Libre Office is also an option and my preferred version.

I used Open Office years ago, so I will go w/that, thank you, FP : )
Thank you Genom, always good to have options.
My husband uses Kings Writer(?),,

I keep using Office 2003. I only use Word & Excel, and it does the job for me. Yes, I have it locked down (macros off, hyperlink text disabled, latest service pack and patches). And with the correct patch it can read and right modern .DOCX and .XLSX files. It loads WAY faster than modern versions, and just does what it needs to do without the bloat. I really despise the modern ribbon toolbar.

Still runs just fine with no issues on Win 10. If they ever somehow break it in a future Win10 feature upgrade, I guess I'll go with Libre Office. I've installed that for residential clients and it seems to work well.

But they'll have to pry my Office 2003 out of my cold, dead hands first

Make sure your attorney actually sent that file, which would be really strange if they did. There's an attack vector used by Emotet that will come in a Word docx. It essentially launches an obfuscated powershell command that downloads the payload to infect your computer and network. Lawyers are big targets. Saw one get hit a couple months ago.

Another + for Libre Office. I also agree with psypher. It could be an attack on your pc. I never recall getting a word document in native format. They always come in a PDF.

I've been impressed with Libre Office also. I've been using it for the last few years.
It's based on Open Office and seems easier to install updates then Open Office. I was having an issue with the spellchecker not working in Open Office.

https://www.libreoffice.org/

Depends on what you need a wp for - all I need is something I can write letters /longer docs with and I use an ancient version of Wordperfect - X4 circa 2009. Runs fine under win10 . Paid about $20 for it somewhere about 10 years ago.

While your lawyer should've send a pdf, as FP previously stated, you can install a trial version of Office 365 and then remove it: https://products.office.com/en-us/try

DO NOT BUY this version. Microsoft has moved to a subscription model and wants us to pay $70 per year for 365. You'll want Office 2019 or preferably an earlier version.

There's also Office online that's supposed to be free and only requires a Microsoft account: https://products.office.com/en-us/offic ... line?rtc=1

I honestly don't much about it and wouldn't trust uploading sensitive material to a cloud.

Anyone know if Google Docs can open Word docs? Never used it .

Pretty sure it does.

FlyingPenguin wrote:Anyone know if Google Docs can open Word docs? Never used it .

In Google Docs, I saved a file on my Android tablet as a Word .docx file, then opened it and it worked fine.

psypher wrote:Make sure your attorney actually sent that file, which would be really strange if they did. There's an attack vector used by Emotet that will come in a Word docx. It essentially launches an obfuscated powershell command that downloads the payload to infect your computer and network. Lawyers are big targets. Saw one get hit a couple months ago.

Yes, it is legit, but thank you for letting me know,,, probably a Temp at the office didn't know to save/send; I've let them know.

I've already installed Open Office, and it does what I need ( for simple stuff, like John ).
I'll keep Libre in mind, though, thank you, everyone!

FlyingPenguin wrote: * * *
But they'll have to pry my Office 2003 out of my cold, dead hands first

lol : )