Are you still using Microsoft Works for word processing, spreadsheets or databases?

If you’re using Microsoft Works you must stop using it. Not Today. Not now. YESTERDAY.

That’s because Microsoft Works was phased out five years ago and there are some major compatibility issues which will make it impossible to open your Works files on newer PCs with the latest versions of Microsoft Office.

So what do you do?

Open every single Works file you have — Word processing file, spreadsheet, database, etc and then use SAVE AS to save that file as either a Word Document (.DOC), an Excel spreadsheet (.XLS) or Access database (.MDB).

Then start using Office — any version of Office — so you maintain full access to all of your files and your work with an eye on the future.

Works is a dinosaur on the brink of total extinction. It’s time to say goodbye to this Dodo bird and step into the future with Microsoft Office.

Remember – you want to do this YESTERDAY.

As I continue working with Windows 8 I continue to be impressed by it.

Yes, the new Metro User Interface will make most people crazy, but the more I use Windows 8 the more I see the good outweighing the bad.

In my last post I documented how much faster my oldish laptop boots. With Windows 7 it took roughly five minutes from the time I powered on my laptop to the point I could actually start using it. Now with Windows 8 I’m up and running and working in exactly one minute and ten seconds.

But that’s not the best part…

The battery in my tired old laptop now gives me over 2 hours of solid running time. That’s roughly DOUBLE what it was before I upgraded to Windows 8.

I already knew the battery was on its last leg and didn’t hold the kind of charge it used to. On airline flights I had to make sure I got whatever I wanted to do done within an hour before the battery died.

This past week on the ride back to Matawan on a New Jersey Transit Train I worked from the moment I boarded the train at NYC’s Penn Station to the moment the train doors slid open at the Matawan Aberdeen station. I did a solid hour of work.

As I went to save my work and shutdown Windows 8 I glanced at the battery status on my laptop. My eyes almost popped out of my hand.

Why?

Because I still had approximately one hour and twenty minutes of battery power left!

The geek in me can only speculate that Windows 8 is much more efficient in every single aspect; from how long it takes to load (vis a vis boot time) to how many background processes are running that are draining the battery without me even realizing it.

That’s my only working theory to explain how my laptop battery can suddenly run more than twice as long as before.

Other leading hunches include magic elves, fairy dust, hidden alien technology or a solar power module in my laptop I’ve been unaware of all these years.

At the end of the day I can tell you that you’re going to love Windows 8 but it’s going to be a gradual process as all that’s new in Windows 8 slowly grows on you to the point you take a liking to it.

“What the hell happened to the laptop?!” my wife screeched, easily heard a few rooms away.

Oh wait, that was HER first impression of Windows 8. Here’s mine.

My first impression is a little more kind. But just a little.

First the good news — Windows 8 is FAST. As in fasten your seat belts fast. How fast, exactly?

I installed the Windows 8 Consumer Preview to my laptop and was amazed.

My aging Acer Aspire 5100 laptop — approaching its fifth birthday — boots to the Windows 8 login screen in exactly 45 seconds.

In a total of one minute and ten seconds I am booted up, signed in and ready to work. That’s very impressive.

What’s not so nice is what you see when you sign in.

Windows 8 Metro

My wife was immediately agitated. Where’s the desktop? Where’s the start button? How do I run programs? How do I get on the Internet?

All valid questions. With fast but not simple answers.

Welcome to the world of the Windows 8 Metro User Interface.

Why Microsoft decided to throw every Windows users in the world such a harsh curve ball is not clear. I can see the Metro advantage on a tablet PC with a touch screen (think an iPad killer) but Windows 8 takes quite a lot of getting used to for the mouse-and-keyboard masses of computer users.

Can you do away with the Windows 8 Metro interface and go back to the Windows desktop you’re used to? Sure. But not on your own. There are several complicated steps involved which is far beyond the technical abilities of most people.

Don’t panic! I can do it for you inside of 30 minutes.

As unsettling as it may be at first, Windows 8 is here to stay.

I wouldn’t run out to the store and purchase the Windows 8 upgrade the day it comes out — several months from now.

But your next PC will likely have Windows 8 pre-installed so just make sure you’re mentally and emotionally prepared for the good and the bad.

And don’t worry — all of your Windows Vista and Windows 7 software will run just fine on Windows 8. Every program I launched after the Windows 8 upgrade ran flawlessly.

At the end of the day Windows 8 has much more good than bad.