New OS (MS) required for wiped laptop what to buy

Merlin

Registered User
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Hi there,
I hope you can point me in right direction. I have recently been made redundant, my employer agreed to let me keep my Dell laptop. In line with the security this machine was wiped etc. and licensing would have been facilitated under the company's volume license agreement.

I have a chromebook which I use for my day to day stuff but I cannot stand Google docs etc and would much prefer MS Office for my upcoming CV writing etc.

Do do that do I need to buy a complete new OS for 135 Euro (Win 10 for home I assume) or can I just buy an office for home package (69 Euro) - as far as I can see I now have Win 7 on this laptop but it tells me that no software updates (incl. the browser) can be facilitated as I have an unsupported Windows version on it.

Thanks so much
Irina
 
Microsoft ended support for Win 7 some time ago, which indicates the lap-top shipped with Win 7 as the pre-installed / licensed OS.

Before you spend any money on a modern OS or Office package ensure your lap-top is of a high enough spec to run it.

You may be able to get a 2nd-hand licence & media for a Win 7 compatible version of MS Office, but what about the free office-compatible packages, e.g.?

http://wps.com/office-free



[broken link removed]

Small footprint for downloads etc.

Before investing in a printer, ensure you can get Win 7 compatible "drivers" for the lap-top. Most modern printers may not ship with them.

HTH
 
Hi Irina,
Windows 7 is still getting updates.
If you are seeing notices about not being able to get any updates at all including browser, your laptop could have windows xp on it which is really old and has been completely unsupported for some time.

If that's the case the laptop probably will not be able to support current versions of windows and you could be wasting significant money trying. You would be better off saving up to buy a cheap laptop instead which might even come with some access to microsoft word etc.

If it turns out that the laptop is actually running windows 7, then microsoft office is supported. Just to note i think the 69 euro cost you reference is an annual subscription. An alternative would be to buy the current office version once off for 149 euro instead https://products.office.com/en-ie/home-and-student
 
Hi mathepac and Fizzy,
Thank you for your help. I just checked again and the current OS on the laptop is Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.
The laptop is not that old and it was new when I got it (about 2 or 3 years ago) so I really want to stick with this one. I will check out the free alternative options (but if they are anything like google docs they will drive me demented).

Thanks for the point re. the one year license Fizzy

Irina
 
If Windows 7 is on your machine, you are fine. If you are not getting updates, check your Windows Update settings in Control Panel. If you need MS Office in a hurry and are short of cash, subscribe to Office 365. This gets you all of the Office programs for €8 per month. Cancel at any time.
 
Thanks so much again to all of you for your help. It seems that the laptop "got over itself" and after a few restarts has indeed ran a number of software updates successfully. I have now downloaded the kingsoft office offering as suggested by mathepac and will see how I get on with this. If I don't I will consider the office subscription as recommended by Paid

While I have all you experts around any idea how I can swap keyboard functions ? My @ is under shift " instead of @ and vice versa ...
 
Ignore - I got it fixed - the language settings got confused probably when the laptop was wiped.
 
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