software question

[networkmom]

I have excel, word and publisher installed on my computer which I use regularly. I lost the disks to the programs but wonder if I lose my hard drive but have a back up on an external drive if I will still have these programs or will I need the disks to reinstall these programs?

Thanks
Denise

[Mike Paul]

Do you have a backup of your documents or a backup of the program? The easiest solution would be to have a second drive that you "mirror" with the data on your primary drive. An exact copy, not a backup.

There's several pieces of software that can do that for you, my favorite is Norton Ghost.

[networkmom]

I do not think it is a backup of the programs since I installed them from a disk. I just back up my hard drive onto my external hard drive, sounds like I am probably out of luck since I do not have the software, right?

Denise

[Oregon Coast Guy]

Denise,

Just as an aside, you may want to look into Open Office. This is an open-source suite of tools, very similar to Office. You can download it direct, so no need to worry about losing discs. The major advantage is that it's all free, but a lot of the tools rival office, IMO.

You can find it at

[networkmom]

Will it be compatible with excel and word files?

Thanks again,
Denise

[Oregon Coast Guy]

Yes, it is. One of the thing about Writer (the equivalent of Word) that I like is that you can save a file in multiple formats, including PDF.

"WRITER can of course read all your old Microsoft Word documents, or save your work in Microsoft Word format for sending to people who are still locked into Microsoft products."

Calc is like Excel:

"Of course, you are free to use your old Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, or save your work in Excel format for sending to people who are still locked into Microsoft products. If all they want to see is your results, then use Portable Document Format (.pdf) - no need to buy any extra software."

[networkmom]

Great, thanks I think I will give this a try.

Denise