Now I remember why I bought an Apple...

[Ritchie200]

Ok, bought an HP at Wally World on clearance due to the fact that this model is about a year old.  Desktop running Win7, 23" LED monitor, AMD quad core, 8gig system memory, and a 1T hard drive.  All for $200.00.  I've got an old Dell stepchild that needs to be replaced as it has always been a slow, slow beast.  (Stepchild and slow because it was the only model they made with specialydesignedsuperdedooper system memory that was/is only available for hundreds of dollars per Meg to upgrade - since nobody but Dell and ten other people USED IT!!!!)   I've got some business and equipment software that must run on a Win platform.

Here is where the fun begins....  My great deal came with Microsoft Office Starter (very limited functionality, basically a big advertisement), so I bought Office Home and Business to immediately load.  When I try to load it up, it refuses saying that it has detected a pre-release or beta version and that I need to remove it.  I dumped the Office Starter using the Control Panel and then used about a half dozen Microcrap Fix-It apps the were supposed to "remove all traces of Office".  Each time I re-start and try to load - same error message.  I've spent three days and a total of 9 hours on the phone with first, second, and third tier Microcrap "support".  I have another scheduled session with them tomorrow.  My gosh, I have probably done hundreds of program upgrades over the years and they all have a little app that goes in and removes the old stuff.  What is WITH these guys?!?!?!  It's not like this is their first rodeo!  I could maybe see some difficulties if this was an old system with a bunch of crap loaded onto it - but this is brand fricken new!!  Plus the Microcrap chats are full of people with the same problem.

I have had ZERO problems with my Apple.  Call me crazy, but I may have to put that Apple sticker on my car - I am THAT pissed!

Sorry, just had to vent...
Jim

[loogie]

There's probably some stuff hanging around in your registry that will require some hacks, or if you can live without MS Office install Open Office.  I've used it for years.  Its free and it works.  Reads and writes MS Office files as well.  If there's any bad MS Office stuff in your registry it shouldn't hurt you. 

If you can live without Windows try Ubuntu.  In fact you can dload a bootable image onto DVD and try it without having to install it.  It works very nicely and vaguely resembles Mac OS with its context sensitive menu at the top and little colored balls in the upper left corner of each window.  Where it falls short is Netflix and Amazon video.  Netflix is a pain and I haven't gotten Amazon to work yet which is surprising because it uses Flash which is supported by Ubuntu.  Netflix is Silverlight.

Check out Open Office.  Unless you're doing some really serious MS Office only stuff, like VBA or weird macro shit I would highly recommend it.

[PRR]

> stuff hanging around in your registry

Hell only has seven circles. The Registry is much bigger. Jim shouldn't have to go down there to install a major business software from the same folks who made his operating system.

> It's not like this is their first rodeo!

I often think it is. Not for MS, but for the young kids who do most of MS's work.

If you want a "WTF?! What were they thinking?" story, read the book Writing Solid Code. It's 20 years old, but I suspect little has changed inside MS.

[Ritchie200]

Loogie, Thanks, but again some of my equipment is MS based and would hate to open up another can of worms with compatibility.

PRR, I have found the 8th circle of Hell!  Har!  You always crack me up with your vivid, yet accurate, and appropriate analogies!  Oh, and I have explored the vast catacombs of the Registry - both alone and with a guide searching for remnants.   Scary place and like the Crusades, nothing was found.  I will have to check out that book.  I'm sure that anyone with a clue has long since retired.

Update....  My support dude said he thinks the problem is with my downloaded version(s) - all ten or so that I have downloaded.....in the middle of the fricken night due to the fact that my satellite "service" limits downloads to 500K during normal hours with unlimited downloads between 2am and 7am.  This file is north of 2gig and takes 3 hours to download.  Oh and I've had my satellite "service" mysteriously cut the connection with 22 minutes to go on one of those downloads and with 3 fricken minutes to go on another!!!   SO I have had about 8 hours of sleep in the past 5 days. 

This was my conversation with MS on Monday morning and pretty much says it all, "We are overnighting you a disc. It should be there on Thursday."

I have to laugh to keep from crying....or maybe its just the lack of sleep... 

Jim

[Shrapnel]

Hmmm...

First Part of the problem is: Vendors add a lot of garbage (crapware) to their distros (HP/Compaq is just as guilty as any other big-box Windows PC manufacturer)
Second part of it is: Microsoft dropped the ball.

 I had issues with a trial version of Office 2007 Student. I had to do registry hacks after using "Programs and Features" to uninstall it so I could install regular Office 2007. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928218

You got Starter (2010) on yours. Seems the problems still exist. Some have apparently used CCleaner or Revo to clean the computer registry of the last trace bits of it with some success. (Back up the registry, just in case it gets screwed up.)

[Ritchie200]

Bill, Thanks, but I'll let them do a remote clean if needed so I've got someone to blame if something goes south!

UPDATE>>>>>  They beat their overnight goal and got it to me in two days instead of three!  Woohooo!  The package is marked Office Home and Business 2013.  BUT, the disk is Office Home and Business 2010!!!  Yeeeaaah Microcrap!  I tried to load it anyway and the product code is no good.  They need to send me a new X-Box for all the trouble they've put me through!  Even though I would never use it...  My gosh, are they THAT dysfunctional?!?!?!  This is ridiculous...

Jim

[DummyLoad]

nuke it all. it should have come with a rescue disk, or at least a rescue partition on the HDD. after about a 1/2day of that crap, that's what i would have/would do.

at this point, if it fails, it's someone else's problem doesn't fly - you're out 3 days. how much is you time worth over a $200 PC? return it or start over with a fresh OS install.

respectfully,

--pete

[EL34]

Jim,
It's not the PC, I have zero problems like that with all mine
But I build from scratch or only buy bare bones machines with the operating system only

I'd have to say the opposite, I would never have an Apple
Well only if I wanted to only be able to do 20% of what I can currently do including create and run all the custom windows software I write using MS Visual Studio

The last 3 machines I bought were Cyberpower 8 core gaming machines which only had windows 7 and that's it
I bought these because they were way cheaper than I could build from scratch

I don't trust HP and other vendors that change the basic machine into something that makes it hard to customize

[Ritchie200]

Well, after 3 "new" software discs that were all overnighted (in three days, still haven't figured that one out yet...), the last one loaded up in about a minute - no problem.  Man this computer screams.  I only wish I could download or access my old Outlook Express emails on my new Outlook.  From what I understand, there is no way to do this?  I will just have to keep the old girl in the corner in case I need to pull up an oldie.

Yeah Doug this computer runs like a charm.  I have deleted all the HP add-on crap and cleaned up my home desktop.  All the memory and connections are standard issue!  No high powered gaming graphics card or massive sound card, but screen resolution and sound is really good. Hopefully my good deal will not bite me...

Jim

[EL34]

No, there's always a way to export your addresses from outlook express into some format that outlook can import
I have not used outlook express in quite a while but I do remember exporting all my stuff a few times

I don't use Outlook, I use Thunderbird, but I found this articles at microsoft

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/import-your-messages-or-account-from-outlook-express-to-outlook-HA001094387.aspx

[DummyLoad]

another way is to use the M$ file and settings transfer wizard. you should have all the applications installed on the new computer first and both PCs connected to a network*, or using portable storage media supported by both PCs.

*network can be USB back 2 back transfer cable.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-easy-transfer

i've had best luck in the past with portable media.

--pete