Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
May 20, 2007

Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter
http://www.terryscomputertips.com
A computer tips newsletter for users of PC's.

Volume 2, Number 49 — Sunday, May 20, 2007

Part 1  | Part 2  | Part 3 | Part 4

IN THIS WEEK'S ON-LINE ISSUE:
   1.   OpenOffice - The Free Alternative to Microsoft Office
   2.   Updates Last Week
   3.   Using OpenOffice Calc instead of Microsoft Excel
   4.   Vista, Parallels & the MacBook Pro
   5.   Visit My Redesigned Blogs
   6.   My Computer Security Software Recommendations
   7.   BlackViper is Back - Windows Services Info
   8.   Recommend my Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter to Your Friends

Welcome to the on-line edition of my Terry's Computer Tips newsletter.

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1.  OpenOffice - The Free Alternative to Microsoft Office

The new version of Microsoft Office — Microsoft Office 2007 — has been on the market for a few months now.

Some people grabbed it quickly because they always want the latest and greatest version of their software. Others bought it because it's the current Office version and they needed Office — and they didn't know any better.

In this case, "better" is OpenOffice, the free open-source office suite that can read and write Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Powerpoint files.

Not only does OpenOffice have its own versions of those programs (Writer, Calc and Impress), it also includes Base, its database program; Math, its mathematical formula display tool; and Draw, its drawing program.

There were some conversion problems in the early (version 1.x) OpenOffice Writer program where things like documents weren't lined up the same way in Writer that they were in Word. In particular, I noticed that bulleted lists in Writer v1.1 were not indented the same in v1.1 as in Office 2003. Version 1.2 solved that. I could save a file in Writer and then open it in Word (or vice versa) and it looked the same.

Of course, now, it's up to version 2.2.

If you haven't tried out OpenOffice, download it and give it a try. You can probably save money by using it instead of Microsoft Office 2007. After all, OpenOffice is free.

Read more at why.OpenOffice.org

 

2.  Updates Last Week

Microsoft (operating systems, email, web browser, office suites):
Microsoft releases almost all updates once per month, on the second Tuesday. No updates last week.

Firefox (web browser, http://www.mozilla.com, free):
Versions 2.0.0.3 and 1.5.0.11 were released on March 20, 2007. Firefox is free.

Opera (web browser, http://www.opera.com, free):
Version 9.20 was released on April 11th. This release of a recommended security upgrade, in addition to having several new features.

Netscape (web browser, http://browser.netscape.com, free):
Version 8.1.3 was released during he week of April 1. Quoting the web site:
  What's new in this version? Security fixes

SeaMonkey (web browser, email, HTML editor, newsreader; http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey; free): Version 1.1.1 and version 1.0.8 were released on February 28, 2007. These are security update and stability releases.

Eudora (email, http://www.eudora.com):
No update last week. Version 7.1.0.9 was released October 11, 2006. Eudora is now free, with no ads and no "paid mode" option.

If you are still running "Sponsored Mode" in a version before 7.1.0.9, it's probably too late now for an easy update. Sponsored mode in the earlier versions expired on March 31st — and reverted to the less-functional "Lite" mode. Fortunately, Eudora is very nicely designed. You can install a new version in a new directory and then copy the data files from the old version to the new.

Mozilla Thunderbird (email, http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird, free):
Thunderbird version 2.0.0.0 was released during the week of April 15th. Quoting the web site: "Mozilla’s Thunderbird 2 email application is more powerful than ever. It’s now even easier to organize, secure and customize your mail."

OpenOffice (office suite — spreadsheet, word processor, presentations, graphics, web design; http://www.openoffice.org; free):
Version 2.2 was released on March 29th.

From the OpenOffice.org web site:

OpenOffice.org 2.2 is an important new release and all should download it, as it resolves security issues and includes significant enhancements. These are both general and specific. A full list of the new features and fixes is given in our release notes, but among them:

• Enhanced text display throughout
• Better support for Pivot Tables in Calc
• Several key improvements in Base
• A more robust Mac version for X11
• ... And many more

Part 1  | Part 2  | Part 3 | Part 4

Volume 2, Number 49 — Sunday, May 20, 2007

Copyright © 2007 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.