Monday, May 6, 2013
Microsoft Office Starter 2010 is a cut-down version of the
package which displays ads, and only contains limited versions of Office and
Excel. But by way of compensation you can use it free of charge and
without a product key.
Setup is straightforward, with the tiny installer downloading and configuring all the necessary files for you. Once it's finished you'll find your Programs menu has a new "Microsoft Office Starter" group, with links to Excel and Word Starter 2010, as well as a few basic tools (Clip Organizer, Picture Manager and so on).
Setup is straightforward, with the tiny installer downloading and configuring all the necessary files for you. Once it's finished you'll find your Programs menu has a new "Microsoft Office Starter" group, with links to Excel and Word Starter 2010, as well as a few basic tools (Clip Organizer, Picture Manager and so on).
Launch Word Starter 2010
and, if you're familiar with the full package, you'll immediately notice that
this version appears rather basic. It has fewer ribbon tabs, for instance
(References, Review and View are all missing). The tabs that are on offer don't
provide as many options: click Insert and there are no SmartArt, Bookmark,
Cross Reference, Quick Parts or Equations sections. And as you use the program
so you'll encounter other limitations: no table of contents feature in Word,
for instance, and no PivotTables or password protection in Excel.
The programs also
display ads next to your documents. These aren't too obtrusive, no distracting
animations or anything like that, but the fact that a panel needs to be
allocated to them at all means there's less space available to view your work.
Still, one interesting
bonus here is the inclusion of Microsoft's "Office Starter To-Go Device
Manager", which enables you to create a portable version of the suite
which you can run on any convenient Vista or Windows 7 PC.
And, even cut down
there's still more than enough functionality here for many people. So if you're
looking for a capable free word processor and spreadsheet, and tools like
OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice don't appeal, then Office Starter 2010 is well
worth considering as an alternative.
Please note Office
Starter 2010 will NOT work with Windows 8.
Platforms: Windows 7 (32 bit), Windows 7 (64 bit),
Windows Vista (32 bit), Windows Vista (64 bit)
Version: 14.0.6109.5003
Licence: Freeware
Version: 14.0.6109.5003
Licence: Freeware
Download link:
