OGA Office Not Genuine Notification

[felly]

An irritating message telling me my Office Application is not genuine appears every time I try to open Outlook. Information on a website tells me how to suppress the message but I have a problem with the instructions. The first step is to run Registry Editor ie press Start and Run. When I press Start on my laptop there is no Run facility. I know there was one on my old desktop but had never noticed it's absence on my new laptop. I have searched everywhere I can think of for a Run facility but without success. Can anybody help me?

[ChuckFickens]

is it a genuine copy of office?

[VHG]

Be VERY CAREFUL of updating your registry.

If you accidently remove something from the registry (or corrupt it in any way) then it can totally stop your Windows working.

If you dont know what you are doing leave it alone.

[felly]

It possibly isn't a genuine copy as my son who has a degree in software engineering installed it for me though I would have though it was. I know I can't remove the update which brought this about but thought it would be safe to suppress the message. It also says that in 4 days Office Applications will be marked as not genuine so assume more irritating messages will appear when I try to open Word etc. At the moment I click on the "Remind me later" box but am worried what will happen in 4 days.

[felly]

Also can you tell me why I can't find a Run facility on my laptop?

[ChuckFickens]

I'd say that is almost certainly not a genuine version.

all I will suggest is finding out for sure if it is genuine or not and if it's not uninstall it and either buy office if you really need it

http://www.amazon.co....qid=1266155281&sr=1-1

Or if you only need it's main features then open office is a good free replacement that's plenty good enough for most peoples needs.

http://www.openoffice.org/

[ChuckFickens]

assuming you have vista or windows 7 there is not a run box as such, it's now a search/run box and it's the little box right above the start button when you click on it.

[felly]

VHG - thanks for the warning. I'm always a bit wary of changing anything I'm not sure of anyway.

ChuckFickens - Thanks for the helpful information. I didn't know about Open Office and it looks good. However if I delete the Office I've got won't this mean I won't be able to use Outlook? Also I tried using the Search box as a Run but it didn't work.

[ChuckFickens]

plenty of free alternatives to outlook too.

my personal favourite is evolution
http://www.dipconsultants.com/evolution/

but there is also thunderbird

if you type notepad for example into the search box it should show notepad at the top of the start menu, it will do the same for every valid thing you type in there (including regedit)
http://www.mozillames...om/en-US/thunderbird/

[ChuckFickens]

opps, link to thunderbird

http://www.mozillames...om/en-US/thunderbird/

[felly]

It's obvious you are much more at home with computers than I am. When I had a desktop (which my son built for me) he always installed things and solved any problems for me but wouldn't take the time to show me what he was doing and so I picked up little knowhow so when I got my laptop I decided I was going to sort everything out without his help and feel much more confident now. However one of the things he did sort for me was Outlook so I am worried about losing the information I have stored there if I delete Office. Do you think I would be competent enough to transfer the information I don't want to lose to Evolution or Thunderbird or should I give in and ask my son :(

[ChuckFickens]

changing from outlook to thunderbird is pretty easy.

http://support.real-t...d/outlook_import.html

the above only shows mail and contact, if you go through the process a third time and select settings it will import your mail settings from outlook too.

changing to evolution is harder as there is no direct route to do it, you have to import into thunderbird as shown above, then export the data in a format evolution can understand, for that reason I'd say try thunderbird first, if you don't like it you can change to evolution in the future.

[felly]

Thanks ChuckFicken for all your help - will mull it over now!

[VHG]

If you still want Outlook then Outlook Express comes free with Windows and has most of the facilities Outlook has.

[keithg]

I would drop those files onto a flash pen (If you have one) then delete them,if things go wrong you can put them back, worth a try.

[felly]

keithg - showing my ignorance again - is a flash pen the same as a memory stick?

[keithg]

Yes

Be sure you where they came from.

[keithg]

Sorry that answer didn't make sense. I mean't make sure where the files come from not the memory stick.

[ChuckFickens]

following the above will still mean you have an illegal copy of office installed on your computer.

As there are several perfectly good and fully legal free alternatives to all aspects of MS office that would be more than suitable for your needs is it really worth breaking the law just for the sake of it.