Windows 7 or 8 or 8.1

[kirisute]

windows 8 takes round about 13 gig of install size.

easiest way to set up the system for yourself:

open desktop mode

right click taskbar and choose:

PROPERTIES>NAVIGATION

tick the top box under "start screen" which says something like: when I turn on or close all apps go straight to desktop.

this will boot your pc into desktop mode right away.

 

next right click the desktop (anywhere other than an icon)

choose PERSONALISE

choose CHANGE DESKTOP ICONS

now tick whichever ones you fancy: usually COMPUTER, USER FILES

 

now to show amount used on drive: double click COMPUTER then right click your C drive and click properties...that will show your disk usage.

 

next: head to METRO interface (bring up charm bar and click start or go bottom left hand corner and click start)

click DOWN ARROW at the bottom of the metro apps interface (this shows all installed "apps")

now right click one of your Office shortcuts and choose OPEN FILE LOCATION

this will open a windows in your program data folder which essentially installs all your program shortcuts.

jump back a couple of folders til your just at the START MENU folder....you should now have a folder in your window called PROGRAMS; right click and choose SEND TO DESKTOP

this basically gives you an installed program list so you can quickly find software or shortcuts and crate them on your desktop if you so wish.

 

 

few things you might enjoy using:

I use a couple of Stardock products: Fences and ObjectDock....both are superbly helpful for keeping a tidy desktop or handling shortcuts without a start button/menu

http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/

http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/

 

fences is a really cool virtual window system to keep your desktop tidy. there are free versions of toolbars like ObjectDock as well...try one called RocketDock

http://rocketdock.com/

the "fences" you can see are actually scrollable windows in and of themselves...for instance I can scroll up and down in the "programs" section to see all the shortcuts in there....about 50 I think! LOL

Edited February 3, 2014 by kirisute

[Steve Burke]

Cheers, Kiri!

 

I'll have a look at the 2 products you recommended as soon as I've got everything else sorted out. They look very useful.

 

Seems as though much of the space is taken by Windows and Office.

 

We may be dumping Office before support for Office 2003 expires in April as it's pretty expensive to replace. We've been looking at Open Office, Libre Office, and Kingsoft, all of which are free. So far we like Kingsoft best, that also has a more advanced low cost version. It offers both the menu system we're used to in Office 2003, plus can be switched to a ribbon interface as in Office 2013. It also has some features that even Office 2013 doesn't have! Additionally it uses up very little disk space.

 

We're looking at how compatible each of these products are. So far Kingsoft is the best and is behaving impeccably. Peggy's also downloaded a version for her Android phone and is checking how well it synchronises with her PC. (There's an iPhone version as well).

 

If it works out OK with Kingsoft I just may get an Android phone myself. (I've not got a Smartphone yet but want one to be able to work when I'm at Wingham). However I'm hoping to borrow a Windows phone and see how that compares before deciding.

 

Thoughts anyone?

Edited February 3, 2014 by Steve Burke

[kirisute]

here at the school we make extensive use of Google Docs; depending on your usage of the product it might suit your needs; though the spreadsheet system is quite limited compared to Excel. there is a new version though which is supposed to be better.

the sharing; collaborative sides of Google docs makes up for a bit of lack of features though to be fair; integrating calendars,documents, forms and suchlike really makes for an efficient working system if you can get past some of the "niggles".

tested it on ipad, windows phone and android and they all behave well.

also the purchase of a chromebook for £200 gives a pretty good "on the go" platform to work from using offline files which can then sync automatically once a connection is made again. though the chromebooks themselves are limited to what you can do with them.

[Steve Burke]

One of the problems we have is a poor mobile signal in some places around my lakes at Wingham. At home it's even worse. Even our broadband at home is pretty slow, although it improved recently when BT fixed a long term fault.

 

I'm therefore loathe to use any word processor and spreadsheet that may be affected by this. And if for any reason we couldn't connect to the internet at all at home it could be very costly.

 

Am I right in thinking that these problems could affect Google Docs? If not it's another option to look at.

 

Bearing in mind the connectivity problems and the need for synching between home and round the lakes does anyone have any other comments or suggestions?

Edited February 3, 2014 by Steve Burke

[kirisute]

on a chromebook or other device that isn't linked to the internet at any point then you can use google docs in "offline" mode...which can then be synced the next time your connected.

the sync will upload or download the latest version of whatever file your working on.

 

the only drawback is there does need to be an initial sync to ensure all the docs are located locally.

once that's done then your free to go.

 

we have a few members of staff who have chromebooks and they seem very good at what they do; the only drawback is they lack dvd drives, no easy video output options and are very limited in terms of extra applications you might require such as video editing etc

but for an on the go access to google docs and android based system they are pretty good

[Steve Burke]

Yes, I'd been looking at that, Kiri, since your previous post.

 

However I also read that spreadsheets and word processing in Google Docs and similar are slower than products such as Kingsoft and Microsoft Office. Is that so both online and offline?

 

For me speed is an important factor. In fact lack of time is one of my biggest problems at present. Perhaps it's the business consultant in me!

Edited February 3, 2014 by Steve Burke

[kirisute]

Offline is as fast as it needs to be. Online can chug if your internet speed isn't up to the task of the 1 min save and document change save system google docs uses...it ensures the current doc is always up to date. It's only a slight delay occasionally though on a very poor internet speed.

I believe google are about to release a new improved version of their spreadsheet software, but i have yet to test it personally though I have heard it is very good.

 

To be honest though none if them are a true patch on Office for functionality and features.

Edited February 3, 2014 by kirisute

[Andy_1984]

Google docs. Can you really trust them not to scan your documents for a little bit of targeted advertising and letting nsa getting hold of it

[kirisute]

I doubt we can truly trust anyone with our data to be honest

Edited February 9, 2014 by kirisute