How2 Read Office (Word, Excel, etc.) Files without Buying Expensive Office?

UPDATE: 1-21-2015
I have been using Open Office (see the 3rd option below) now for almost 4 years, over 3 different computers, and as a result didn’t even let the last computer activate Microsoft Office. With the exception of whatever version of Windows Mail/Outlook I no longer use any of the major free (supposedly) versions of Microsoft bundles.
The original conversion of old files is easy but could be time consuming and the learning curve awkward, as the non-Microsoft versions are similar but not the interface is not identical

2-12-09
by Gabe Goldberg
from the ‘Tiplet’ blog

While Microsoft’s Office applications suite dominates the Windows landscape, it’s expensive and not universally used. And if you only need occasional access to Office-format files, you surely don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars to buy software you’ll rarely use, and even then only in limited fashion.

Fortunately, several free alternatives let you

How2 Clean and Erase Your Internet or Chat History

There’s usually three main reasons people want to do this:

• Keep their computer from getting slow and bogged down with too many temporary or cache files
• To make sure their computer activity remains their business, not the business of the websites they visit etc...,
• Or occasionally they just want to wipe the history of their internet activities, downloads and chats to preserve their personal privacy within the home or office.

To view the full article at PCTuneUpTips click here. 

NOTE:  I find information at PCTuneUpTips very useful, but before trying their free scans please be aware that the free scans are part of their sales technique.  The scans will identify problems for you, and will even fix some of them, but the scans main purpose is to sale you the priced version which will fix the remaining problems.   gdl

How2 Tweak Your Windows Vista PC

Top 10 Windows Vista Performance Tweaks

1. Turn off Windows Search Indexing.
2. Turn off Remote Differential Compression. 
3. Turn off Automatic Windows Defender Operation.
4. Turn off Automatic Disk Defragmentation.
5. Add a 2GB or higher USB Flash drive to take advantage of Windows Ready Boost (Additional Memory Cache).
6. Turn off Windows Hibernation. 
7. Turn off System Restore [*warning*]. 
8. Disable User Access Control (UAC).
9. Disable excess Windows Services that Auto-Launch at Startup. 
10. Disable Excess Windows Features

Read the How2 and just as importantly the ‘Why’ at PCTuneups.  Its important