Bill wrote:
>
> "Alias" wrote:
>
>> Bill wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Service Pack 3 flummoxed me completely, and I was unable to recover XP
>>> thereafter. Accordingly, I reformatted the disk, :-( , and re-installed XP
>>> Pro.
>>>
>>> I purchased this machine from a former employer. It had a fully licensed
>>> copy of Office 2003 Professional (and a lot of other useful software!). Any
>>> idea how I can go about recovering or legally re-installing at least the MS
>>> Office Suite?
>>>
>>> This is on a Dell C-840 laptop.
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>>
>>> Bill
>> If you don't have the Office CD and Product Code and your former
>> employer won't give it to you, you're SOL and will need to buy a used
>> copy of 03 or a new copy of 07. Or, you can download Open Office from
>> www.openoffice.org and use that. It's free but doesn't come with an
>> email/calendar/task program like Outlook.
>>
>> Alias
>>
> Thanks, Alias, I was afraid of that. You correctly note that it's Outlook
> and it's relatively robust address and calendaring functions that I'm
> interested in.
>
> The Open Office programs are magnificent, but Outlook Express is weak, weak,
> weak.
>
> Can anyone suggest a solution to missing the full Outlook program, other
> than another purchase? Apple, perhaps?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bill

Yes, Thunderbird has an add on called "Lightning" which will give you a
calendar. Backing up T-Bird is very easy. You copy the three files in
the T-Bird folder and when you have to reinstall, just nuke the three
new default files and replace them with the back up. Unlike Outlook, it
backs up all your email and news groups accounts. The only thing it
doesn't back up are the passwords.

Get it at http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird

Alias