More Microsoft Corruption

[Spike Jones 5 2002]

I have written here about problems Microsoft update caused to my laptops.
I used Word Perfect 10 Suite on it for over 5 years. After a unwanted MS update it stopped working. I get a failure to install to “drive E” notice. I took to 2 computer repair shops. None could correct the problem. The last one, that resides in LaPorte suggest I got to, Discount Computer Warehouse - 2402 N State Road 39, La Porte, In.
The first thing the sales girl told me that my DVD drive is bad. The needed to replace it and will reinstall the W.P. 10 Suite for me.
I picked up my Computer Friday 08/17. $50+/- for new DVD drive, $50+/- labor. The installed W.P.
When I got home I found out they installed a different version of W.P.. When I began to use it. I found out there was no “Spell Check” or “Dictionary”.
Saturday morning or Sunday morning I turned on my laptop. M.S. began to update my laptop. “Warning do not turn off your computer”. I let it download and install.
The W.P. was missing.
Monday 08/20 I took my laptop and the original version of W.P. 10 and Paradox. Which I paid for.
The first time I took it to “DCW”. I took my homemade copy. A copy I used many times to install on my computer.
I received a call from “DCW”. She told me that the Original version of “W.P” is a “16 Bit” and my Laptop is a 32 bit machine. It will not work on my machine.
“It has been doing it for over 5 years”.
Every time I mention that several programs stopped working after M.S. did an update. She responds, That has nothing to do with it.

Right now I am using the SAME W.P. 10 suite on my 6 month old Laptop to write this Thread.

 

[jkaetz]

Every time I mention that several programs stopped working after M.S. did an update. She responds, That has nothing to do with it.

This statement is correct. As for the version of WP, "10" is indeed very old, released in the Windows 95 era. Having software that old work with a modern version of Windows does not have good odds. Sometimes it will, most times you'll be unhappy. If you want to stick with WP, you should look into the newer versions that were written in this decade and are still supported by Corel. X9 is the latest version, Corel themselves doesn't support anything below this (AKA they don't guarantee it will work). If you were closer to Indy I'd tell you to stop by and we can take a look at it as it sounds like you've gone a few rounds with the issues.

You seem to have a deep seeded hatred for Microsoft but they really aren't causing your problem. If you want to be rid of them you have some options but they too have difficulties that go with them. You do want the updates that Microsoft, or any OS vendor, releases. If you do not take them, your computer will be vulnerable to attack and likely be used to attack others all unbeknownst to you.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Does word perfect still exist? I would think wordpad would get you where you need to be.

Or some of the free word processors out there. But Word really is a good product

 

[fullmetaljesus]

I know you've said you want to ise what you paid for etc.... But that was 5 years ago. Let it go man. Move on to libre office.

 

[Double T]

Openoffice.org, it's free, and works decently.

I pay for microsoft office, 100 bucks a year. I don't use it frequently, but I also get updates every time I log on to use it. While I understand your frustration, you're now blaming a hardware failure on a software update. It's like blaming an update on a failed hard drive partition that you didn't back up, yeah, it may have been the final straw, but if you have important **** you need to have multiple copies. Hardware fails, and software becomes outdated and unsupported.

 

[WebSnyper]

Most laptops now are also 64 bit to allow handling of more memory, etc and can run either 64 or 32 bit apps, etc.

I tend to hold on to hardware for a while myself, but probably time for you to buy a new laptop, with a 64 bit processor, and a some newer software (both for usability as well as support and security purposes). I would not dump any more money into the one you have (I probably would not have put the $100 that you did into it).

 

[Spike Jones 5 2002]

I never blamed the failure of the DVD on an update.
That was the first thing out of "DCW",s clerk when I first presented my problem.
The (Clerk) she immediately said The DVD was bad. $50.00 replacement.
Every tine I mentioned that after an update my programs failed.
She kept insisting they had nothing to do with the failures.

I just picked up my laptop from "DCW".
Again she said that I can not run the old programs on a new machine, (16, 32, 64) bit machine.
I looked at her and said, I have been running this (pointing to the W.P. Disk) on this laptop for 5+ years.
The machine did not MORPH from 16 to 64 bit.
I am presently running this W.P. on new W10 machine.

I will bet no one here can guess what she said?

Well the Microsoft update must have changed something in your laptop.
I walked out.
I drove to the other computer repair shop in LaPorte. I asked them if they could test the so called defective DVD drive. I am waiting for the results.

 

[Spike Jones 5 2002]

Does anyone know a good class action lawyer?
I would like to start a class action law suit against Microsoft.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

Does anyone know a good class action lawyer?
I would like to start a class action law suit against Microsoft.

Yeah good luck with that one.

Computers are not like cars where you can buy one and use it for 20 years.

 

[Haven]

Does anyone know a good class action lawyer?
I would like to start a class action law suit against Microsoft.

Just to play devil's advocate here, why Microsoft and not Wordperfect Corporation (or their successor Corel)? They didn't update the software to allow it to run on Microsoft's newer operating system. As far as sueing Microsoft, this has been tried before against Microsoft and Apple, iit didn't work last time.

I am guessing the machine is a 64bit machine, since they haven't been making 32bit machines in the past few years. You may have Windows 10 32bit, which may run a 16 bit program. If you have Windows 10 64bit, then it won't. Check out the directions at https://www.groovypost.com/howto/enable-16-bit-application-support-windows-10/

Hope this helps.

 

[jkaetz]

I will bet no one here can guess what she said?
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Well the Microsoft update must have changed something in your laptop.
I walked out.
I drove to the other computer repair shop in LaPorte. I asked them if they could test the so called defective DVD drive. I am waiting for the results.

That's outstanding. You were probably right to get a second opinion.

Does anyone know a good class action lawyer?
I would like to start a class action law suit against Microsoft.

I hope this was supposed to be purple. You're suggesting a class action suit over a piece of software you purchased designed for an ancient operating system because it no longer works with a current operating system? You could have working current version of word perfect for under $100 in a matter of minutes if it is that important to you. Do let us know how it turns out.

Computers are not like cars where you can buy one and use it for 20 years.

You can, if you never connect it to the internet and don't install any new software. I have a system from the DOS 6 and windows 3.1 era that I fire up every so often for giggles.

 

[halfmileharry]

10 was created to make everyone using Microsoft to jump through their hoops.
Good business. I dumped all of my 10 software including the OS.
I now have minimal costs to run my PCs, laptops, etc.
Best of all I no longer have Software headaches.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

10 was created to make everyone using Microsoft to jump through their hoops.
Good business. I dumped all of my 10 software including the OS.
I now have minimal costs to run my PCs, laptops, etc.
Best of all I no longer have Software headaches.

What are you running now?

 

[churchmouse]

Does anyone know a good class action lawyer?
I would like to start a class action law suit against Microsoft.

Me thinks you are a bit upset and not seeing this whole thing clearly. Many in here have offered up reasonable fixes. These folks are all IT based and I would trust them with my gear if need be.

You might give them a chance. JMHO.....

Or not. Your call.

 

[femurphy77]

Does anyone know a good class action lawyer?
I would like to start a class action law suit against Microsoft.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Computers will always do the same job you bought them for. They just will. The problem is they stay the same and our expectations change over time.

 

[DCR]

A heartfelt empathy for you Spike. I've been thick in the M$ wars since forever. You can't buy a computer without windows already installed? I want OS/2 ! So ya gotta either set up a dual boot partition or wipe the drive and start over. Hey I installed a windows update and it uninstalled Netscape. UNINSTALLED. You don't want Internet Explorer? Sorry, it's embedded in the O/S now. neener neener. I lament the marketing failure of Lotus 123. winNT was released with 65,000 known bugs.

Compared to all that, Spike, your 10-year-old software just fell through the cracks. I know you're ticked, but it wasn't malice, but neither was it oversight. How about this one? You pay $800 for a color laser printer, M$ comes out with a new O/S which you install and now your printer won't work because it's 5 years old and HP didn't write any drivers for the new O/S.

If I haven't made myself clear, I hate M$ and have many reasons to do so. I curse the name bill gates on a regular basis. I also use their software and have m$ certifications. You can't fight 'em and you can't win, but I feel for you. You're swimming upstream man, maybe it's time to turn around and go with the flow. Sorry.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

A heartfelt empathy for you Spike. I've been thick in the M$ wars since forever. You can't buy a computer without windows already installed? I want OS/2 ! So ya gotta either set up a dual boot partition or wipe the drive and start over. Hey I installed a windows update and it uninstalled Netscape. UNINSTALLED. You don't want Internet Explorer? Sorry, it's embedded in the O/S now. neener neener. I lament the marketing failure of Lotus 123. winNT was released with 65,000 known bugs.

Compared to all that, Spike, your 10-year-old software just fell through the cracks. I know you're ticked, but it wasn't malice, but neither was it oversight. How about this one? You pay $800 for a color laser printer, M$ comes out with a new O/S which you install and now your printer won't work because it's 5 years old and HP didn't write any drivers for the new O/S.

If I haven't made myself clear, I hate M$ and have many reasons to do so. I curse the name bill gates on a regular basis. I also use their software and have m$ certifications. You can't fight 'em and you can't win, but I feel for you. You're swimming upstream man, maybe it's time to turn around and go with the flow. Sorry.

You can buy a computer that doesn't already have windows on it.

https://system76.com

 

[WebSnyper]

Compared to all that, Spike, your 10-year-old software just fell through the cracks. I know you're ticked, but it wasn't malice, but neither was it oversight. How about this one? You pay $800 for a color laser printer, M$ comes out with a new O/S which you install and now your printer won't work because it's 5 years old and HP didn't write any drivers for the new O/S.

So, HP not writing drivers is a Microsoft issue in your opinion and not an HP decision on obsolescence ?

 

[injb]

A heartfelt empathy for you Spike. I've been thick in the M$ wars since forever. You can't buy a computer without windows already installed? I want OS/2 ! So ya gotta either set up a dual boot partition or wipe the drive and start over. Hey I installed a windows update and it uninstalled Netscape. UNINSTALLED. You don't want Internet Explorer? Sorry, it's embedded in the O/S now. neener neener. I lament the marketing failure of Lotus 123. winNT was released with 65,000 known bugs.

Compared to all that, Spike, your 10-year-old software just fell through the cracks. I know you're ticked, but it wasn't malice, but neither was it oversight. How about this one? You pay $800 for a color laser printer, M$ comes out with a new O/S which you install and now your printer won't work because it's 5 years old and HP didn't write any drivers for the new O/S.

If I haven't made myself clear, I hate M$ and have many reasons to do so. I curse the name bill gates on a regular basis. I also use their software and have m$ certifications. You can't fight 'em and you can't win, but I feel for you. You're swimming upstream man, maybe it's time to turn around and go with the flow. Sorry.

To be fair to Bill Gates, he actually felt the same way about Windows!

My understanding of the deal with Windows is that you don't have to learn a lot about computers, but you're committed to a never ending cycle of updates to hardware and software, on a schedule dictated to you by MS. If you don't want that, there are ways to get a stable system where you can keep using the same hardware and software forever, but they generally require you to know a bit more about computers, hardware and OSs. That's the trade off.

Your best bet for Windows backwards compatibility is probably going to be to run an older OS in a virtual machine (VMWare, VirtualBox etc.). I do this to run diagnostic software for my car that only runs on Windows XP. I bought an OEM copy of XP on ebay for around $10, set up a VirtualBox VM, and now I can run it from my modern OS. Setting this up is not hard, and you can always get someone in a computer repair shop to do it, and then once it's set up, it's no different from running any other program. I think this would solve your WordPerfect problem.

An alternative might be to run a physically older computer from the era appropriate for your software, but you probably won't be able to get a modern web browser to run on those older versions of Windows, so you'll probably want to have another machine for doing modern stuff on. Personally I'd stick with the VM option I mentioned above as it's less hassle, and more portable if you have a laptop (the VM will be with you everywhere you go).

The best option of all of course is to use a proper grown up OS like Linux . Linux is the gold standard in backwards compatibility but it's a much steeper learning curve than just running older versions of Windows in a VM (although you run the Windows VMs from Linux if you like.).