Will buying Vista help my computer?

Question

My brand new (as of 1/07) computer is constantly "not responding" and closing out the window on its own, and I dont currently have a version of microsoft office, rather I have works. I can't view any PDF files from the internet or send any PDF documents beacuse noone else has works. Should I buy Windows Vista to help with these problems, or will I also have to buy Microsoft office 2007? What should I do to eleviate these probelms, and should I purchase Vista or just Office 07', both, or neither? Please help!

Answer 1

PDF has nothing to do with Microsoft Works. If you want to be able to view PDF files, you need Adobe's free PDF Reader. Get it here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Answer 2

Just to break down things a bit...

"computer is constantly "not responding" and closing out the window on its own" - Sounds like a problem with your OS installation or possibly a hardware problem. Can you check your Event Logs to see if any disk related errors are showing up?

"I can't view any PDF files from the internet or send any PDF documents beacuse noone else has works." - PDF is not a Microsoft format. PDF (Portable Document Format) is an Adobe format. You probably just need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader from http://www.adobe.com (the reader is free, if you want to author files, you'll need Adobe Standard edition which isn't free, or you can author in MS Word and use a free open source application called PDFCreator - available on the SourceForge website).

"What should I do to eleviate these probelms, and should I purchase Vista or just Office 07', both, or neither?" - Most people agree that waiting to upgrade to MS Vista is probably the safer path at this time. Vista has a lot of rewritten code and Microsoft has a tendency to release fairly buggy/exploitable code. I'd wait until at least SP1 is released and tested before even considering an upgrade. MS Office 2007 won't solve any of the problems you mentioned. I haven't seen it but generally the features in the MS Office releases since MS Office 97 haven't been useful enough for me to justify upgrading. If you are only doing basic documents and email, MS Works should be fine.

Answer 3

Wait, you can't view PDFs because you have Microsoft Works and you think installing Vista will solve the problem? Dude, that's the most bizarre and confused question I've ever heard.

1) Microsoft Works has *nothing* at all to do with PDF files (reading or sending them), I can't even imagine where you got that idea.
2) Adobe Acrobat is what you need to view PDF files, it's a free download from here http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/reader/
3) If there are issues with your brand new machine then slapping a whole new operating system in there isn't going to make things any simpler. Not least when loads of people are having issue with Vista anyway. Forget about it for the moment.
4) If you need Office for some actual real reason then yeah, but it by all means, but the fact that you seem to think installing new software is somehow going to magically help you with the unrelated problems you're facing doesn't fill me with much confidence that you've thought this through at all.

Seriously dude, your attitude to this is a bit odd. It's like having engine problems in your car so deciding to go out and spend $1000 dollars on new wheels. You don't just throw cash at random upgrades, you need to look at what's going on and what you need then make a decision.

Answer 4

You most likely have some form of spyware or viruses or a combination of the two from what I can tell from your description. Here's my tip:

First go to download.com and download AVG and Lavasoft Ad-Aware. These are free antivirus and spyware/adware blockers and are some of the best I have.

Second update and run a sweep of both. First AVG then Ad-Aware. This should remove the "not responding" and closing of windows.

As for your problem I recommend Office 200...3 I believe is the year. 2007 is nice, but if you're looking for a sturdy word processor, Access, and PowerPoint presentation combo 2003 is a great package. Vista is a new Operating System so it's not very stable at the moment. I wouldn't recommend buying Windows Vista for another 2 years so that Microsoft can fix a lot of the problems and more programs can become compatible with it.

Answer 5

The answer is yes and no!

Your computer obviously has some issue - they sound like spyware/virus related - you could use a free online antivirus scanner to check this.

Regarding Works and Office, you would still ned to buy office as well as Vista if you wanted that functionality - the same goes for Adobe Reader, howver that is a free download from www.adobe.com

My Suggestion would be to back up your files, reinstall Windows XP - your computer supplier should have supplied some disks and the Key. This will give you a clean installation.

Download a free antivirus from http://free.grisoft.com
Download Adbobe reader from www.adobe.com
You could even download open office which is a free Office suite which will allow you to create documents and spreadsheets which are readable in standard office.

This will save you the cost of Vista and the hassle of having to learn a new Operating system! I would wait if you do want to get it until the first service pack is released.

Answer 6

Vista is still in it's infancy. Stick with the OS you have, it's likely more stable. Your pc obviously has issues that need to be resolved - you might want to try cleaning it of viruses, spyware & other problems (avast, avg antispyware, spybot, ad aware > all free). Use cleanup & ccleaner > free. You might also want to try rolling back the pc to a more stable time, or reinstalling the os to work out any windows related issues. Then make sure to update everything,

Download adobe reader for viewing pdf's - pay version lets you create pdfs. > free

Download open office. It's fully compatible with MS office > free

Answer 7

Sounds like you just need to reinstall the software and/or drivers. Have you got the latest version of Adobe? I would highly reccomend downloading the latest Adobe reader and acrobat to see if that resolves the PDF issue, If anything Vista will cause more problems with the system. And if all else fails, you know what tech will tell you, run an operating system reinstall.

Answer 8

initially i became into against the finished Vista mess. i at present rebuilt with living house appropriate and that i'd desire to declare i like it. practice for countless updates over the 1st few days, in spite of the incontrovertible fact that it style of feels to artwork with each and every thing I had on XP. I run quite often 32 bit stuff ( video games) so I caught with the 32Bit Vista. Many say the 64Bit runs better.. i think of living house windows 7 will go through in the commencing up launch like each and every living house windows releases do and would have matters till provider packs fix the a million.0 bugs. So I say swap now.

Answer 9

I am a litle confused by the question. PDF documents are created by Adobe products and not Microsoft. If it is PDF documents that you are having problems with, I would recommend removing and re-downloading Adobe Reader.

Answer 10

vista is still beta version! if your pc is at least a 3.0 maybe.. but i wouldnt spend the money! go with xp pro or home. unless your pc is a P3 then you will need like y2k or some older!