Resolved Recommendations for a lap-top

Frank, let us know much fluff is installed on the Dell. Dell makes good desktop PCs, but I have never tried their laptops yet.

Sounds like you got a pretty good buy.

 

James:

I think it's a pretty good buy. I'm not too impressed with Fry's - their website is difficult to navigate. My son-in-law thinks the company is owned by the British comedian/actor Stephen Fry, but I haven't seen anything except the name to suggest that. If it's true, I'll be sending him a "snotty-gram" about their poor website!

The computer should get here Wednesday, then it's "Katie bar the door" as far as computer-based activities go. Learning the complications of Win 8.1 will be a real challenge, given my prolonged exposure to Office 3.0 at Boeing and my reluctance to move beyond XP.

I know I'll have to either switch my financial records to Microsoft Money or get a later version of Quicken, since the one I have doesn't fly with Win 8.1. I've been managing with MS Office 2003 until now, but I had increasingly run into difficulties when people sent me ".docx" stuff, so I guess I'll be buying Office 2013. I'm not a fan of $20 a month payment to use a cloud-based version.

I'll be on guard for "fluff ", James, but I don't expect Fry's will have piled on the kind of **** that Best Buy does. The "delete" key is very powerful if you find any stupid garbage.

I'll file my experiences with the new device under a new mesage header.

 

I can't confirm it, but MS Money may not run on Windows 8.1. There is a dedicated Money forum that you can inquire about it though...

https://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home?forum=money



Switching from Office 2003 to 2007 was a big deal for me. While I was in school, I took an Office 2007 class that introduced me to the *ribbon*. I haven't used Office 2010 or 2013 yet, but I think both programs still use the ribbon.


Some programs you may be interested in when the laptop gets here...

PC Decrapifier

Should I remove it?

Lets hope your new Dell doesn't come with too much fluff software though.

 

Microsoft no longer supporte MS Money. However, you can still find it on line. I have been running it for years and I have Win 8.1.

It is called "Money Plus Deluxe Setup" Google " USMoneyDixSetup" It's still out there.

Bill

 

That's good to know, Bill!

I'm a die-hard Money fan (Money 2004), and thank God I can still download ofx files from our banks.

 

We've been using Quicken since God was a Corporal. Unfortunately, the version I currently have isn't compatible with Win 8, so it's time to go get a new version. I'd rather do that than have to learn the Microsoft equivalent.

Since the new lap-top doesn't have an optical drive, I guess I'll have to get used to downloading software instead of buying the CD/DVD version. Alternatively, I am considering making the DVD/CD drive in my old box a stand-alone with a USB output so I can still use the old method of loading software.

Are any of the software manufacturers selling their software on thumb-drives?

 

I have a Samsung external DVD writer that works perfectly. However, I use a 7 port powered USB. They do not work well plugged into the USB port on the computer (not enough current supplied). I got both of them from Amazon.com.
Bill

 

Bill:

My son-in-law found a Samsung SE-S084 "Super Writemaster" at his local Goodwill store. It was still in its factory wrapping and had never been opened. Retail shows on line as $69.99. He got it for $3.99!!

I'm still working to get the Dell up and running. With s-i-l's recommendation, I got the "Classic Shell" program so that I'd have some idea what was going on.

Still a work in progress, in between cardiac maintenance gym classes and physical therapy for a minor whiplash injury from a fall. Boy can things get complicated when you're over 70!

 

If they have an iso for download, you could either mount it with mounting software and treat it as a virtual optical drive, or you could burn the iso to a USB flash drive with programs like Rufus.