Lost Programs

I am new to this forum and not particularly computer literate. I recently purchased an ASUS computer with Windows 10 installed. The old computer had Windows 7 on it. Because of all the noise about Windows 10, I opted for 10 rather than 7. So, I downloaded all the files from the old computer and re-installed them on the new computer. But I can't open the old files because apparently there is no program on this new computer to open Word docs, etc. Where do I even begin?
Thanks for the help.

If you don't have MS office then you coukd install the free Open Office
Apache OpenOffice Product Description

Programs can't be migrated by copying like regular files can. All software would need to be reinstalled on the new computer, so if you don't have the mean to reinstall it, such as a CD, etc, then you will either have to purchase the software again, or use a free alternative.

bagiocop said:

I am new to this forum and not particularly computer literate. I recently purchased an ASUS computer with Windows 10 installed. The old computer had Windows 7 on it. Because of all the noise about Windows 10, I opted for 10 rather than 7. So, I downloaded all the files from the old computer and re-installed them on the new computer. But I can't open the old files because apparently there is no program on this new computer to open Word docs, etc. Where do I even begin?
Thanks for the help.

It's been a long-standing fact that files created by any program need such a program installed on a new computer and there's many third-party programs that don't automatically come with the computer. Sometimes a user has the disc or the download for the programs to install from, some programs that worked on Win7 or Win8/8.1 will work on Win10, sometimes they won't. It's a bigger problem going from WinXP or WinVista to Win10. The largest issue I see in setting up a number of Win10 Upgrades is finding drivers for older Printers and Scanners, about half I've done had to 'bite the bullet' and get a new device.

Hey bagiocop-

Another option to consider might be LibreOffice (free).

This is what I used when I upgraded to a newer system (without MS Office). You can configure it to open Word Docs as the dfefault program, and all honesty, I think it's as good as MS Word, just cheaper- free!

I did see that iceferret suggested Open Office, which is good too. I can't remember exactly why I opted for LibraOffice over Open Office, but I think Open Office had some type of a side bar with an upgrade request that I found annoying. (Going on memory though)

b1rd

b1rd said:

Hey bagiocop-

Another option to consider might be LibreOffice (free).

This is what I used when I upgraded to a newer system (without MS Office). You can configure it to open Word Docs as the dfefault program, and all honesty, I think it's as good as MS Word, just cheaper- free!

I did see that iceferret suggested Open Office, which is good too. I can't remember exactly why I opted for LibraOffice over Open Office, but I think Open Office had some type of a side bar with an upgrade request that I found annoying. (Going on memory though)

b1rd

I gave up on OpenOffice because sometime around when IBM bought it and late version 3.x or 4 the support for Works files was dropped. Such support still lives in LibreOffice, great for some of my older clients who created recipes in Works which was dropped a few years ago.

At some point in time, Apache's OpenOffice was not being supported by management and development slowed to a crawl. LibreOffice was born and branched out, and is now at version 5.0.4, with 5.1.0 in the pipeline.

I used Sun Micro's Star Office more than a few years ago, before it became OpenOffice. I've had LibreOffice since version 2. Development was started back in about late 2000. The old Lotus programs, 1-2-3 and WordPro [formerly AmiPro] and others, were bought by IBM, republished as IBM Lotus Symphony and appear to be similar to both OpenOffice and LibreOffice and also free. I have version 3 and seems development stalled with version 4 BETA.