MS Office 2003 Basic

cammac49 · Sep 6, 2021

Hi all...

Does anyone still use Office 2003? I installed this today and it totally breaks Windows Update. The program itself installs OK. But there are tons of security updates through Win Update. It installs many then abruptly stops working and the WU screen flashes off. I attempted to uninstall those updates one by one but it made no difference. WU won't work. I then uninstalled the entire program and WU is still broken. I know that MS doesn't support Office 2003 any longer, but it has worked on all the Win versions and builds up to this point. I am using dev 22449.1000. Will it do any good to report to MS thru the Hub? I'm sure I cannot be the only one that still uses Office 2003. Thanks for any help.

SlicEnDicE · Sep 7, 2021

I would not report this to MS. This app is almost 20 years old and a lot has happened since then. Most MS Office users most likely have O365 subscription by this point. You get most Office apps + 1TB of OneDrive storage or in case of Home subscription you get 5 seats which equals 5 x 1TB OneDrive Storage and 5 users that can use O365 linked to their own account. (...or was it 6 seats. MS changed this and I never remember if it went from 4 to 5 or 5 to 6

)

SlicEnDicE · Sep 7, 2021

Ok, I checked the available O365 family seats for Home users. It is 1 + 5 = 6 seats in total. Great deal IMO.

win11ADM · Jul 27, 2024

cammac49 said:
Hi all...

Does anyone still use Office 2003? I installed this today and it totally breaks Windows Update. The program itself installs OK. But there are tons of security updates through Win Update. It installs many then abruptly stops working and the WU screen flashes off. I attempted to uninstall those updates one by one but it made no difference. WU won't work. I then uninstalled the entire program and WU is still broken. I know that MS doesn't support Office 2003 any longer, but it has worked on all the Win versions and builds up to this point. I am using dev 22449.1000. Will it do any good to report to MS thru the Hub? I'm sure I cannot be the only one that still uses Office 2003. Thanks for any help.

Hi. You are not alone! I was using MS Office 2003 until I upgraded from Windows 7 to 11, and my Word started freezing. Then I bought MS Office 2016, but I do not find it a very good program. It just shows how market powers do not always cause innovation. Or it shows how our capitalism isn't true capitalism, as large corporate use government force to protect their 'copy rights', blocking innovation? I do not think any office after 2003 was better than MS Office 2003 and imo 365 is technically a good application but it takes away one's sovereignty, so I do not want to use that.

In fact I am searching how I can run MS Office 2003 smoothly on Windows 11, if anyone can tell me I would be happy because it pains me to use Office 2016 tbh.

Kees · Jul 27, 2024

@win11ADM
It seems to me, you'd better start your own thread instead of hijacking a very old thread for your own problem!

SlicEnDicE · Jul 27, 2024

Sometimes it is better to just accept change and move on. Office 2003 is so full of security holes that I can not recommend it to anyone. You might as well install Windows XP to host Office 2003 then and have your computer fully open to hackers, malware and scammers. Good luck fighting that. The moment you get connected to the internet, you have already been attacked, compromised and hacked without you even knowing it. A few moments later your computer is rendered unusable and you have to reinstall everything. Office 2003 does not even support latest office document standard. You will have a lot of issues with many files...

antspants · Jul 27, 2024

win11ADM said:
It just shows how market powers do not always cause innovation. Or it shows how our capitalism isn't true capitalism, as large corporate use government force to protect their 'copy rights', blocking innovation? I do not think any office after 2003 was better than MS Office 2003 and imo 365 is technically a good application but it takes away one's sovereignty, so I do not want to use that.

That’s just rubbish.
And I’m sure you’ll achieve your goal if you persist, breaking everything as you go. But that’s what we’re here for, to bail you out. With answers like “Reinstall Windows and burn your copy of Office 2003”

jimbo45 · Jul 27, 2024

win11ADM said:
Hi. You are not alone! I was using MS Office 2003 until I upgraded from Windows 7 to 11, and my Word started freezing. Then I bought MS Office 2016, but I do not find it a very good program. It just shows how market powers do not always cause innovation. Or it shows how our capitalism isn't true capitalism, as large corporate use government force to protect their 'copy rights', blocking innovation? I do not think any office after 2003 was better than MS Office 2003 and imo 365 is technically a good application but it takes away one's sovereignty, so I do not want to use that.

In fact I am searching how I can run MS Office 2003 smoothly on Windows 11, if anyone can tell me I would be happy because it pains me to use Office 2016 tbh.

The obvious way is to run it in a Virtual Machine -- Install Win7, or win 10 as a VM and then install office 2003 on the Guest.

Depending on what you do with Office there's not a huge amount of improvements after Office 2010 (IMHO) -- apart from EXCEL if you are a power user and some other "collaborative" projects. Typical Word docs and power point slides haven't changed much in Donkeys years. Security improvements have been made too but if you run your Virtual Machine through a "proxy server" for internet access you can get the security to be essentially controlled by the host.

You might find either Office 2007 or Office 2010 better bets if you can source those --Office 2010 will actually install and run on W11 (better to choose the 64 bit version when installing on W11). You might find some old LEGAL copies out there for literally nothing.

Cheers
jimbo

cereberus · Jul 27, 2024

win11ADM said:
Hi. You are not alone! I was using MS Office 2003 until I upgraded from Windows 7 to 11, and my Word started freezing. Then I bought MS Office 2016, but I do not find it a very good program. It just shows how market powers do not always cause innovation. Or it shows how our capitalism isn't true capitalism, as large corporate use government force to protect their 'copy rights', blocking innovation? I do not think any office after 2003 was better than MS Office 2003 and imo 365 is technically a good application but it takes away one's sovereignty, so I do not want to use that.

In fact I am searching how I can run MS Office 2003 smoothly on Windows 11, if anyone can tell me I would be happy because it pains me to use Office 2016 tbh.

So you do not like Office 365, it is capitalism?

It takes away your sovereignity?? Pure nonsense.

If you do not want to lease it buy an updated version instead of using a crappy 20 year old; insecure version.

XxXxX · Jul 27, 2024

i dont have MS Office i have MS Works 9 (2009) with Word 2003.
Word 2003 undated via WinUpdate except for one update KB907417 which sent WinUpdate into never ending loop.
so i downloaded KB907417 from the MS update catalogue and installed KB907417 manually.

Microsoft Update Catalog

after that everything else just updated and all is working just fine on 2 systems running Win 11.

hope this is of help, best of luck. Steve ..

SlicEnDicE · Jul 27, 2024

lol...not sure Works 9 is any better than O2003...both very old apps and Works is so stripped down that I'm not even sure what one could use it for today.

antspants · Jul 27, 2024

Hilarious

XxXxX · Jul 27, 2024

SlicEnDicE said:
lol...not sure Works 9 is any better than O2003...both very old apps and Works is so stripped down that I'm not even sure what one could use it for today.

i just use Word 2003 which happens to come on the MS works 9 CD.
Word is all the wife and i need and use. Word 2003 does the job and we are both familiar with using it.
this way i dont have to use any online word processors or have to pay a repeating subscription.

i would use OpenOffice but you cant just install the word processor you have to install the whole suite.

i do have Word 2003 blocked by the firewall so in cant get or connected with anything online.
just because its old doesnt mean its not unusable which for myself and the wife Word 2003 is ideal.

i hope this is of help to you, best of luck. Steve ..

Berton · Jul 27, 2024

I have Office 2000 on a Notebook, works fine, at least for the basic needs. Did have to install the Compatibility Pack so as to be able to use documents from Office 2007 and later.

Forgot to mention, that Compatibility Pack is for Office 2000, 2002/XP and 2003.

Edwin · Jul 27, 2024

I've had Office Pro Plus 2021 for over 3 years..., purchased it for $29.99...,

works perfectly..., doesn't owe me a damn thing.

win11ADM · Jul 29, 2024

cereberus said:
So you do not like Office 365, it is capitalism?

It takes away your sovereignity?? Pure nonsense.

If you do not want to lease it buy an updated version instead of using a crappy 20 year old; insecure version.

I think you did not get my point. I am saying that big corporates use government intervention to protect their intrests. In my opinion that isn't free market, far from it, in fact it is the opposite. It don't matter wheter it is big tech or gov. If you believe in liberty you do not let anyone control you and make sure to feel responsible for your actions at all times. MS Office 2003 respects your liberty, MS 365 does not. If we, ofcourse decide ourselves to give up our liberty, in exchange for comfort and so called 'needed security' then that's our fault, not Microsofts. I just find it absurd how people say they believe in capitalism and then rely on Google, Apple and Microsoft to regulate their lives, while these companies function much like modern USSR ministeries.

antspants · Jul 29, 2024

You do realise that it's a business and not a charity, yeah. And you do realise that your soap box story has nothing to do with this persons problem and to the thread in general, right?

win11ADM · Jul 29, 2024

antspants said:
You do realise that it's a business and not a charity, yeah. And you do realise that your soap box story has nothing to do with this persons problem and to the thread in general, right?

It has to do with it in the sense that big tech forces people to constantly upgrade software that is largely working perfectly. They create problems where there were none and then people have to put money on the table again to solve these problems. I think that is questionable. It is questionable that big tech controls the market in so much that they can take away people's ability to operate their systems in the way they want it. And the reason they can do it has to do with the way how gov protects property. In a truly free market their should not be any government intervention. It should be perfectly fine to crack windows software so that people can use it the way they want it, just like when I buy a table I can put an extra leg, or take one away, paint it and resell it.

pparks1 · Jul 29, 2024

win11ADM said:
It has to do with it in the sense that big tech forces people to constantly upgrade software that is largely working perfectly.

Tons of people still use old copies of Microsoft Office, and Adobe Photoshop.

win11ADM said:
It is questionable that big tech controls the market in so much that they can take away people's ability to operate their systems in the way they want it.

Systems have to progress and change. Security is a much bigger thing in 2024, than it was when Windows XP was released. We used to all run our machines as admins and didn't have much of a care in the world to be on the Internet. Not the same experience these days.

win11ADM said:
It should be perfectly fine to crack windows software so that people can use it the way they want it, just like when I buy a table I can put an extra leg, or take one away, paint it and resell it.

Windows is sold to you as closed source, with an End User License Agreement. Microsoft is a for profit organization and can do what they want with their intellectual property. You have a license enabling you to "use" the software, you do not OWN the software.

Might I suggest you try some open source systems that are wonderful and available. Also offers great alternatives to Microsoft Office.

Berton · Jul 29, 2024

win11ADM said:
In a truly free market their should not be any government intervention

So let's take away the laws of Copyright, Patents and Trademarks so people can't make any money from things they produce so as to make a living off of them?

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