Is It Safe to Use Older Office Programs?

.Dear Computer Lady,

Thank you for being such a Godsend over the years. You have helped me so much.

My grandson-in-law recently replaced my computer with XP operating system to one with Windows 7 Home Premium. He downloaded Open Office on it.

I had lots of Excel files on my old computer. He showed me how to save items in the Open Office spreadsheet program in Excel format, but it is still not 100% compatible; some of the info in the cells which was formatted to wrap is not spaced correctly in the spreadsheet program.

A friend of mine uninstalled Open Office and used my original discs from my old computer to install Microsoft Word 2003 and Excel on the Windows 7 operating system so that I could proceed with work that had to be done.

Since support has ended for XP and Office 2003, am I any better off at this point than I was with my old computer. I am so frustrated – I hope you can advise me.

Thanks so much, Jean

Dear Jean,

Yes, you are much better off using Windows 7, regardless of which office program you are using.

The Windows operating system is the part of the computer that provides security and protects you from the dangers online.

Your office program deals with documents, which have far less potential for infection.

Just add a good internet security program, and you should be all set.

Elizabeth

 

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Elizabeth Boston is a Web designer, Social Media Consultant and managing editor of, “Ask The Computer Lady”.
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