WORD PROCESSORS INSTALLED ON WINDOWS

 

Most Windows systems have several Microsoft word processing software packages available. Which ones depend on the make up of a particular computer?

They are:

Notepad

WordPad

Works word processor

Word 2003

Word 2007

 

THE FREE WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE  

All windows computer have two word processors built into windows itself. These are identified as Notepad and WordPad.

Notepad is very basic and probably should not be called a word process rather a text editor.

WordPad is much more like normal word processing software but it has one big difference from MS Works and MS Word software and that is that it lacks a built in speller.

These programs can be found by clicking on the Start button then opening Programs or All Programs, then sliding up to Accessories and then you will see them on the Accessory pop out menu.

The suffix for Notepad is .txt

The suffix for WordPad is .RTF (Rich Text Format - but it will have a Word identification icon in a storage device)

 

WORKS WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE

Microsoft Works Word Processor software comes free with many new computers, however if not, the cost of Works software is about $50.00.

Works Word Processor is a very good package and is useful for all but the most powerful users. It has a built in speller, you can imbed a graphics, and you can link to web sites directly from an open word processing document. For the average user it is a perfect substitute for Microsoft Word that is included in Microsoft Office and the price is right.

Works has a .wps suffix

 

WORD WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE BUNDLED IN MICROSOFT OFFICE

Microsoft Word word processing software comes in many different packages, but the usual way is that it is bundled with Microsoft Office. The best deal for the average person is to purchase the Microsoft Office Student/Faculty version for about $130.00. the regular version of Microsoft Office is in the neighborhood of $300.00. Word 2007 comes in a package of Microsoft Office Home and Student version for about $125.00

 

WORD 2003 AND 2007

Word now comes in two versions 2003 that was popular on Windows XP and the newest version Word 2007 that is for Windows Vista.

Both versions are very powerful but the 2007 version exceeds anything I have seen to date.  Many of the popular features of 2003 are changed in 2007 so it appears that we will be way back on the learning curve again.

WORD 2007

Some of the features of 2007 are that the familiar Menu bar is absent; it has been replaced by seven Tabs across the top of the screen. When clicking on each of the tabs a different tool bar is presented with almost endless possibilities.

ONE OF THE BIG DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WORD 2003 AND 2007

Word 2007 has a .docx suffix when save as a Word 2007 document, but it is possible to save Word 2007 documents with a .doc suffix. Word 2003 has a .doc suffix

 

WHY ARE SUFFIXES IMPORTANT

FIRST LET’S VIEW THE DIFFERENT SUFFIXS

The suffix for Notepad is .txt

The suffix for WordPad is .RTF (Rich Text Format - but it will have a Word identification icon in a storage device)

Works has a .wps suffix

Word 2003 has a .doc suffix

Word 2007 has a .docx suffix when saved as a Word 2007 document, but it is possible to save Word 2007 documents with a .doc suffix.

 

WHY ARE SUFFIXS IMPORTANT – THE REASON

Suffixes are important because the operating system software (Windows) uses this suffix to determine what word processing software to open and use when you open a document directly from a storage unit like the hard drive folder - (My Documents or Documents) or a flash drive.

 

Every software package assigns a suffix to its stored documents – Excel uses .xls

Web documents use .htm or .html suffixes depending on what computer operation system is used