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Warning all Microsoft Office users

Jesse Berst AnchorDesk

Published: 29 Mar 2000 14:34 BST

If you haven't downloaded the patch for Office 2000 released last week -- read this first. I'll tell you about the problems it's causing. I'll also pass along the latest expert tips and tricks for supercharging O2K. WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD APPS
The AnchorDesk team as a rule thinks Office 2000 -- released in June -- is a decent product. Managing Editor Nicci Noteboom raves about improvements to Outlook. Associate Editor Neil Strother tells me the version he's using on his home PC has been relatively bug-free and reliable -- much appreciated since his whole family uses it. What SR-1 adds to the suite is mostly housekeeping:

Patches for all the core Office products
Security updates for Excel, Outlook and Internet Explorer
Y2K updates
Updates to bring O2K up to par with Windows 2000

Auto Update and a Save My Settings wizard are the only new features. THE UPDATE NIGHTMARE
Microsoft says it took extra precautions with SR-1 to ensure they wouldn't screw it up like they did with Office97. (Remember how they had to recall and patch two service releases?) My friends at ZDNet Help are shaking their heads over that one. They're already writing about shut-down problems, workarounds and other annoyances. And what appears to be a simple update has turned into an installation nightmare for many users. Read their report before you attempt it. Meanwhile, here's a quick take on lessons learned:

As always, make sure you have a complete backup before you start
Don't install SR-1 over the Internet; it's a big file and the long download leaves too much to chance
Make sure your operating system is up to date
Allow a lot of time if you decide to uninstall SR-1
BUILD A BETTER O2K
Even if you're generally satisfied with Office 2000, there are always nifty tricks for improving performance. For instance: Word 2000 peeves: The new "usability" features in Word are proving annoying to many users. Here's how to take advantage of them -- or turn them off. Click for more.

Outlook 2000 secrets: Office expert Woody Leonhard says the latest version of Outlook is the best yet -- though still far from perfect. He has, however, discovered a number of ways to improve upon its shortcomings. Click for more.

Office tweaks: The Software Library is loaded with add-ons and utilities to boost Office performance. Among them:

DocLauncher makes working with docs and apps easier, and it takes up less space and is more versatile than the MS Office Shortcut Bar
Wordware is a collection of useful Word add-ons, including a bookmark keeper, project manager and font lister
Power Utility Pak adds 50 general-purpose utilities to Excel, plus 40 custom worksheet functions

What's your take on Office 2000? Use the TalkBack button to laugh and cry with other Office 2000 sufferers!