Installing Office 2007 after 2013

[GinaWhipp]

ions,

I always buy Dell. (Two laptops, two desktops never had a problem.) First thing I do is uninstall all the *trash* reboot and then install what I want. (Trash includes all trials and any AV they managed to install, free or not I don't want it.) However, I go to Programs and Features because All Programs does not show everything.

On my production machine I have Access installed from 2003 to 2013, everybody in a separate folder of course, still no problems. I also have Office Suites installed for 2010 and 2013 again no problems. I am careful to install lowest version first and reboot between installs.

 

[ions]

Gina,

My previous laptop was / is the Dell M4300. Great Performer. Served me very well for 5+ years. I never called Dell support once.

With this Dell M4800 problems started immediately.

1) The Dell Client System Update driver update software doesn't work. I ran it three times (each time it takes 10 minutes) and every time the updates were not committed. I called in Dell support and we had to install every driver update manually. BTW today I found out this software is being phased out by Dell and is known not to work.

2) Next issue was I noticed my CPU was idling at 12-16 % on a cold boot but 0 % on a restart. I spent about 2 hours with level 1 tech support trying to figure this out, then about another 2 hours with level 2 tech support. When I got angry about the Office 2013 and escalated everything to the manager it was identified in 5 minutes.

http://www.dell.com/support/trouble...KcsArticles/ArticleView?c=&l=&s=&docid=643282


3) I bought a 2 TB HDD for my Acronis Images. Connected the drive during the day and at night shut down my laptop. In the morning my machine would not boot up. I didn't know what the cause was and after about 1 hour of numerous tests I completely isolated the cause. I called Dell Support and their response was that this is a known issue; a HDD above 2 TB connected to the unit will not Boot. This is a driver issue and they expect a fix in October. (Note the M4800 was released in September of last year.) I couldn't believe the level 2 support tech guy's tone... it was like this is absolutely normal... no apology... no concern that I just wasted 1 hour of my time stressing out and had to cancel my morning appointments.

4) One out of the four USB Ports doesn’t work with USB 2.0 devices such as a flash drive or a mouse receiver. Dell said that when I reformat this issue should get fixed.

5) Office 2013. You know this one intimately from my above postings. No apology from Dell. No concern that I will have to spend hours fixing up their mistakes despite the salesman confirming that I will not have Office 2013 on my unit. When this is over I will ask the Manager why would you put a trial on a machine and make it almost completely hidden to the user?

The sad part is I have had these negative experiences with Lenovo as well. I find Apple to be a quality company but I can’t use it at the moment because I am big mouse user and I can’t adapt to the mouse algorithms in OSX. They are much different than Windows algorithms and I get pain in my forearm when I use the Mac.

 

[ions]

Gina,

One thing you may consider on your next Dell purchase is requesting the Dell Direct USB Key which is what is being shipped to me right now. Supposedly this Key allows you to choose what you want to install and enables one to get a "vanilla" image.

If I go through with the reformat and use this Key I'll let you know my experience with it.

 

[GinaWhipp]

I go thru the Business side and usually tell them just send it vanilla, I'm going to strip it anyway. Everyone once in a while they sneak a Trial on there but not a biggie takes a minute to uninstall. I also only deal with one guy direct number, I hate being on hold! I guess sometimes it's just the luck of the draw!

 

[ions]

AccessBlaster,

It's my understanding that the Dell Direct USB Key does bring your machine to the OEM state and allows you to choose if MS office 2013 trial is installed.

http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/ca/en/cabsdt1/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?c=ca&l=en&s=bsd&docid=615851

Dell contacted me yesterday and told me the Dell Direct USB Key is not available for my unit and shipped Windows 7 OEM disk and Drivers disk instead. The disks arrived.

I decided I will completely reformat my machine and will only install Office 2007 on my main image. I will use virtual machines for other Office Versions.

Thanks

 

[ions]

The good news is, if you do enough times you get really good a setups and configurations.

That is True Access Blaster.

"Within every problem or difficulty lies the seed of an equal or greater benefit or opportunity" Napolean Hill.