What software will be able to use my ME OS user files?

Thanks to all of you for your help. I'm going to look at the OpenOffice
softwear to see if it will do what I need. I'm live in Arizona. Don't think
I could take the cold in Canada.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

Windows ME isn't a word processor. The closest you can come is WordPad,
which is also part of Windows XP ( I don't know about Windows Vista, but I
presume it has something quite similar. Is WordPad the application you're
talking about, or do you have some other word processor installed? Microsoft
Word? WordPerfect?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"gfogg" wrote in message
...
My computer is dying. Its old and pretty grumpy. I want to buy a lap top
with a more up-to-date OS but I have years of personal files saved in ME
word
processing. Can Vista or some other OS open, modify and close these old
files or am I just out of luck when my old computer dies?

On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:00:06 -0700, gfogg

My computer is dying.

Details?

Its old and pretty grumpy.

Them ain't details ;-)

I want to buy a lap top with a more up-to-date OS but I have years
of personal files saved in ME word processing. Can Vista or some
other OS open, modify and close these old files

You've been dumbed down too much by the Windows UI :-)

Vista is an OS, acting as floorboards for your furnature
(applications). It is applications that "open" word processing and
other files. So what you need to know is:
- will your existing applications install and work on Vista?
- do you have the disks, product keys etc. to install these apps?

You also need to do an inventory of:
- all your data files; where they are, etc.
- all the apps needed to use these files
- your installation disks etc. for these apps

Some apps are so tightly bound to thier data, that prising the data
out of them is a difficult business. Consider:
- favorites, bookmarks, address books, other "embedded" data
- accounting packages
- Outlook

Some apps chain your data to them, so that nothing else can "open" the
files. Further, some apps chain data to a specific version of
themselves, e.g. an old vresion of Outlook may not be able to read
data from a newer version of Outlook.

It gets worse; some apps are themselves chained to other application
packages (e.g. Outlook is chained to MS Office) or the OS (e.g.
Outlook Express XP is chained to XP, won't work in Vista).

Usually, a newer version of an app can convert data from an old
version of itself (e.g. Outlook Express 5 converting mail stores from
Outlook Express 4) but this is almost always a one-way process (e.g.
Outlook Express 4 cannot read Outlook Express 5 mail stores).

Usually, apps can import data from other apps as long as these are
older (e.g. Vista Mail may import mail stores from Outlook Express,
but you cannot go back). Sometimes they can convert data to an open
standard, at the cost of some lost "frills" (e.g. Word Perfect could
save its documents as Rich Text Format, which MS Word can read).

So it's a bit of a minefield, and until you tell us what apps you use,
we can't really be more specific. When choosing an app, it is this
behind-the-scenes detail that may be most important, rather than "can
I use emoticons in 'rich' messages" etc.

I've applied that logic to my own choice of apps, which is why I have
never used MS email apps for anything I need to see again.



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To one who only has a hammer,
everything looks like a nail
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On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 09:28:02 -0700, gfogg

I have MS Works Word Ver 6.0. When I buy a new computer,
what softwear should be on it to allow me to use all my old files?

Works is tricky; MS doesn't really want it stealing sales from MS
Office, so it tends to use incompatible data formats etc.

Two approaches suggest themselves:

1) Install MS Works 6 on your new PC

Need to know:
- whether it works on Vista
- whether you have the installation disks etc.
- whether these disks work, i.e. are defect-free

2) Convert data files to a form the new PC can use

Works includes a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database, and a few
other fluffy little things.

The word processor should be able to save as Rich Text Format, which
Vista can read and edit without extra sware added.

The spreadsheet may be able to save as CSV files, but that';s a
messier process, and you'd need some sort of spreadsheet (e.g. Open
Office) installed on the new PC to use the files.

The database and fluffies would be more of a challenge :-)



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To one who has never seen a hammer,
nothing looks like a nail
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