Office 365....

[Rossian]

......came as part of the deal when I bought a new PC last year. It has been fine.
However comma I'm now bombarded constantly with reminders that the original subscription has expired and I now need to "re-validate" it, (no price mentioned)
Is there any way of getting rid of these irritating messages without paying more money?
Yes, I've read all about the alternatives but SWMBO is OK with what we have and regards having to start with a new system as a PITA.
Any help appreciated.

The Ancient Mariner

[G0ULI]

This appears to be the new Microsoft business model where you rent the software on an annual basis. The idea is that they generate a constant income stream rather than have users buy or be provided with an updated copy every five or so years.

As far as I am aware, the software will continue to work indefinitely with the nag messages as that was part of the deal making it acceptable to commercial users. The only way of preventing update/upgrade messages from appearing appears to involve editing the registry entry of Microsoft Office. This is not for the faint hearted and beyond the scope of this forum. Basically it only involves changing a couple of settings from a 1 to a 0, but if you get anything wrong in the procedure, you could end up rendering your computer inoperable.

Precise details and step by step instructions can be found using the usual search engines.

Disabling updates and upgrades will prevent new security features and updates from being installed and may put you at risk from malware.

So three choices, put up with the nag messages and just delete them when they pop up, pay for the update, or, hack the registry to remove the messages permanently, but potentially expose your computer to a risk of malware infections.

[Tech Guy]

I dumped 365 and went back to Office 2010. Much better solution. :)

[Heiken55]

I have used office 365 for the first time. Though it was looks dazzy but after using 2-3 days looks good.

[Background Noise]

We use 365, paid annually with no annoying reminders. Have the latest version of Office on up to 5 Mac and/or windows PCs as well as a number of mobile devices. Seems pretty good.

[ExSp33db1rd]

I dumped 365 and went back to Office 2010. Much better solution.

Office 2007 in my case, worked fine until recently when Outlook was compromised, will flatly refuse to subscribe to anything so long as there are free alternatives around, but guess that won't last forever.

I was happy with Win 96 and Word 97 ( or whatever they were in those days ) why do they have to keep changing everything - yes I know .... Big Business Rules OK ?

[yellowtriumph]

We use 365, paid annually with no annoying reminders. Have the latest version of Office on up to 5 Mac and/or windows PCs as well as a number of mobile devices. Seems pretty good.

Me too and I agree.

[pax britanica]

Much as I hate the cynicism of large (mostly American) corporations and their imbecilic drive to earn more money each and every year I find 365 very good. It sets the world standard for Word/Excel and PP functions , so much so that Apple now accommodate them rather than push alternatives. They provide new and usually better features every year and 365 includes the 1Tbs cloud storage per user and Skype so you get something for your money directly.
Also much to my surprise , having just had to use it, their online text chat customer help/tech service function worked really well for me when i changed PCS

I get occasional rather than constant reminders but they really do push to get everyone onto Win 10 asap which could be annoying if youwant to hang onto tried and trusted Win7.

So I am happy with them, despite my aversion to such organisations (that is until we learn the CIA have a copy of everything we ever wrote).

Pax B

[Procrastinus]

I don't suppose Open Office or Libre Office will do the same job, but are free?

[ChickenHouse]

I was very reserved against the subscription model of M$ Office365 at first, but have to admit the annual fee is less than I paid before keeping up to date with the purchase model (some is due to the inclusion of Skype calls into the subscription though).

A word to the open source solutions - only go that way if and only if you never will be forced to archive anything electronically, you cannot make sure the files are readable after a certain time. If you have that need, you have to have a separate virtual machine setup to archive an environment in which the files are readable as well.

[le Pingouin]

What one earth are you talking about ChickenHouse? Files don't degrade, media does.

[Rossian]

.....I couldn't stand the permanent niggling popups any more and bought the next years subs. Does it make me like MS any more? NO it bloody well doesn't!
My 15 yr old grandaughter, however, can make the system sing and at enormous speed. I watched her, late in the evening, divvy up round 400 photos from Mum's camera and her iPad between the iCloud, her iPad, Granny's iPad special friends, facebook and some for her school art project. The pointer was flashing around the screen like, like - I don't know what. All the while explaining to me the complications of being a teen age girl in the 21st century.

They didn't make 15 yr old girls like that in my youth - I'm certain I couldn't have coped.

The Ancient Mariner

[Capn Bloggs]

Files don't degrade, media does.
Ping, he's talking about outdated formats, I think. Try opening an Ability file now...

[le Pingouin]

Is that open source or closed source?

I'd put my money on being able to read a file created by an open source program than a closed source one any day.

[Philoctetes]

I'd put my money on being able to read a file created by an open source program than a closed source one any day.
Seems to favour Procrastinus' idea:

I don't suppose Open Office or Libre Office will do the same job, but are free?

[Jet II]

Open Office can save files in Microsoft Office format if you are that worried. Its native format is OpenDocument format which practically every Office suite (including MS Office) can open.