Technology - Did You Know?
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Opening and Writing Documents
Question: I have just bought a new "Windows" computer, do I need to buy Microsoft Office just to read (and write) Microsoft Word documents?
Answer: NO, a new Windows computer will have Windows 11 installed. The good news is that you don't need to buy Word or Office to open or write "word" documents. The latest Word files are in "docx" format. By default Windows associates docx with the program Microsoft Word and if Word isn't installed it says it can't open it. This is all a bit sneaky because Windows 11 provides a program called WordPad that will open and edit docx and a lot of other document formats as well. You might have to search the installed "Apps" to find it.
Start WordPad and then File-Open and find where the docx file is. E.g. it might be in the Downloads folder or in the Documents folder. To write a new document just start typing, then remember to save it. The first time I did this WordPad tried to confuse me about how to save the file. I used Save As and then chose Office Open XML Document format. Subsequent files when opened didn't have this problem when saving.
Updated 5/1/23
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WhatsApp
You can link your PC or a Laptop with your WhatsApp account on your phone. This can make using and administering your account more convenient e.g. deleting multiple WhatsApp messages and/or moving photos onto your PC for storing or editing.
To start, download the WhatsApp Desktop App (on a Windows machine look in the Microsoft Store). Then on the phone, in the starting WhatsApp window, touch the 3 dots and then WhatsApp Web.
This does depend on the computer and the phone both being connected to wi-fi.
Peter Barnett, 20/4/20