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[B L McAllister]

As things fell apart (e.g. Microsoft announcing that they're about to abandon support for XP) I realized that it's come to new computer time again. So now I have an ASUS running Windows 8.1. Microsoft Office, including Word, still fails and won't transport  to the new computer anyhow (no, I don't imagine it would suddenly begin to work if I managed to move it), so I'm stuck with OpenOffice. That's fine on my old computer, and I can work with all my files just as well as with Word (after a little adjusting, of course: they ain't all the same system), but, when I move my stuff to the new computer, Open Office will sometimes work and sometimes not. When it does not, and this is the source of this query, it says this process requires elevation. Nowhere can I find out what elevation means in this context. Some on-line person said it means Microsoft is reserving that process for administrators. Well, I'm the administrator, so I don't think that conjecture can be correct. Has anybody out there run into this problem? If so, can you please tell me how to "elevate"? I'd sure appreciate it!

[B L McAllister]

Hoooo, boy! I think I've learned a solution. When opening Open Office, if I right click, I get a menu with a chance to click on "run as administrator." Since I'm my own administrator, that looked redundant, but I'd found a spot on the web that suggested I try it, and I did. After that, I could direct OpenOffice to open pretty much anything I wanted to open, and it worked. Yes, even under all the supposed improvements that make Windows 8.1 so hard to workk with (for us non-game-playing addicts+, Once again I learn that persistence can pay off, even though my unaided persistence wasn't going anywhere. Isn't there some song or other that includes the lines, "I'll get by / with a little help from my friends."? (I can't identify the friend whose answer I ran into, but I'm grateful, just the same.)

[Old Bill]

Glad it worked out for you, BL. I hate the look of the new Win 8 but I guess Microsoft will drag us old guys kicking and screaming into the appy world whether we like it or not. 

[Lance Charnes]

Just because Win8 is the latest doesn't mean you have to go straight to that. Win7 is stable, looks to have a fair amount of life left in it, and is still widely available online. I upgraded from XP a few months ago and have been happy with the results.

Byron: I don't know which version of Office you have, but I've run both 2003 and now 2010 under Win7, and both work fine. You can get cut-down versions of Office 2010 for pretty cheap online.

[B L McAllister]

Just because Win8 is the latest doesn't mean you have to go straight to that. Win7 is stable, looks to have a fair amount of life left in it, and is still widely available online. I upgraded from XP a few months ago and have been happy with the results.

Byron: I don't know which version of Office you have, but I've run both 2003 and now 2010 under Win7, and both work fine. You can get cut-down versions of Office 2010 for pretty cheap online.

Too late. The new computer has 8.1. Wife's computer has 7, and she kinda likes it (not quite as good as XP was, but usable). I'm adjusting to 8.1. It has mucho wasted crap, but one can nearly always avoid it. They warned me I faced a learning curve, and sure enough. As for MS Office, the one on my old computer  simply quit working. Except for the note-taking thing, which I have no occasion to use. Why would I buy a new microsoft office that might quit again when OpenOffice is learnable and free?

[John Connor]

Dropping this in as a sort of 'last comment' - but instead of OpenOffice - go for LibreOffice. There has been too much political junk around Oracle and OO - then selling it to Apache, etc. Libre is on a far quicker, and more stable release route, plus it reacts to user comments/bug fixes far faster than OO ever will.

The problem with most of it is how the source code is licenced. Libre can use OO code, but it's not transferrable the other way - the Libre Licence model is different. Apache chose the route it's gone down, even though it's become a disadvantage.

Give LibreOffice a go and you'll see a mass of improvements.

(And yeah, I'm an IT Manager in real life... )

[B L McAllister]

Correct: LibreOffice is even better. So far it hasn't given me a bit of trouble of any kind.  Hasn't even demanded that I do the so-far undefined act of "elevation." (I live at ca. 4500 ft.; maybe that's sufficient for LibreOffice?)

[Lirios]

As a California Libran formerly dwelling at the Four Thousand Foot Level, I can tell you, I ain't movin'.