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One of the most famous pieces of word processing software is that which comes courtesy of Bill Gates' Microsoft... imaginatively named Word. Although it's already been outdated by Word 2003, Word 2002 is a very popular piece of software provided either on its own, or as part of an Office ... Read review
Advantages: Easy to use, Does everything I'd want a word processor to do, Can be obtained cheaply on eBay, Relatively up to date Disadvantages: Expensive to buy from a store such as PC World, Has already been superceded by Word 2003
...who is self-taught in using Microsoft Office I can certainly vouch that Word is easy to pick up and pretty fool proof. The fact that you can undo plenty of actions means that you are unlikely to mess up a document and not be able to get it back to how it was! The easiest way to learn how to make use of the different tools within the programme really is to just play with it. I am currently training to teach ICT, and use Word 2002 at the secondary ... ...programme.
Microsoft Help??
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Microsoft help files are often notorious for being unhelpful. The 'paper clip' and his buddies (the Office Assistants) introduced in previous editions of Office products are still there to pester you, but can be turned off, and unlike in previous version of Word, once turned off (or hidden) they do tend to stay away! (If you have trouble keeping your Office Assistant away, ... more
Chances are if you've got a computer you've got a piece of word processing software somewhere... Chances are, if you've got word processing software you've used it at least once - whether you're just the occasional letter or note writer, the student who types up numerous essays, the business person who types up plenty of reports, the budding novelist, or whatever, there aren't that many people who haven't yet used some form of word processing software.
One of the most famous pieces of word processing software is that which comes courtesy of Bill Gates' Microsoft... imaginatively named Word. Although it's already been outdated by Word 2003, Word 2002 is a very popular piece of software provided either on its own, or as part of an Office pack, such as Office XP.
There's so much to Word that it would be the equivalent of re-writing a manual if I were to mention everything, therefore I'm just going to touch on a few of the main points about the programme, and give a bit of a run down on what's new in this version of the application.
The Looks ************* The general looks of Word 2002 aren't that dissimilar to previous versions of Word, though there are subtle changes. The screen is as you'd expect, with menu bars and tool bars distributed at the top of the screen, and the blank area in the centre of the screen in which you can type. One of the more obvious changes compared to previous versions is the fact that a new menu area regularly appears down the right hand side of the screen - this replaces many of the pop up windows that appeared in previous versions of Word. For example, on starting a new document within Word the New Document menu will appear down the side of the screen - this menu contains options to open previous documents (previous document names are listed and you can open them by single-clicking on the document name as they're listed as hyperlinks), create a new document (the choices of blank document, blank web page and blank email are listed), new from existing document (which lets you select an existing document to create a new version of), or new from template (which lists various templates). This new menu area comes in very handy, because as well as it appearing when you select certain options from the menu bars, or icons from tool bars that require you to choose options from another menu, you can also use a drop down button at the top of this new menu area to go straight to a particular menu (such as Clipboard, Insert Clip Art, Search, Mail Merge etc).
Using Word ************* Word is a simple word processor to use no matter what your level of computer literacy. For the novice user, just being able to type and save or print without even using any of the other functions is a simple task. For more curious or advanced users it is simple enough to 'play' with various options within the program to easily change the look and layout of text.
Word contains a variety of templates to help with certain tasks, such as letters and faxes, though to be honest, if you are confident at using Word and like to create your own documents it's often much quicker to just type your own documents than use a template and then spend your time re-formatting it. For someone less experienced however these can be very useful in assisting the user in creating more professional looking documents without having to know more complicated functions.
As someone who is self-taught in using Microsoft Office I can certainly vouch that Word is easy to pick up and pretty fool proof. The fact that you can undo plenty of actions means that you are unlikely to mess up a document and not be able to get it back to how it was! The easiest way to learn how to make use of the different tools within the programme really is to just play with it. I am currently training to teach ICT, and use Word 2002 at the secondary school where I teach, and I've certainly found that the pupils who are confident enough to click away and make their own mistakes are the ones who can get the most from the programme.
Microsoft Help?? ************* Microsoft help files are often notorious for being unhelpful. The 'paper clip' and his buddies (the Office Assistants) introduced in previous editions of Office products are still there to pester you, but can be turned off, and unlike in previous version of Word, once turned off (or hidden) they do tend to stay away! (If you have trouble keeping your Office Assistant away, click on 'Options' when he appears asking you to type your question, and take the tick out of the box saying 'use the Office Assistant'). The easier way to get assistance while using Word 2002 is to just use the help file, which lets you search either by typing in a question, searching a table of contents, or browsing through an index. The help menu in Word 2002 also links to the Microsft internet site, so if you are online whilst using Word you can quickly link to the Microsoft site to obtain Office updates.
The fact that Word 2002 can directly link to the Micrsoft site also gives you access to a larger clip art library - as well as accessing images that come along with Word 2002, when searching for a piece of Clip Art, Word will also check the Microsoft library and display all the images from there too.
New for Word 2002 ************* As already mentioned, visually, Word 2002 looks very similar to previous editions, however there have been quite a few additions to the application. The following are just some of the changes - you'd be bored if I listed them all! ~ Auto-Correct Options Smart Tags - these make it a bit easier to control those things that Word does automatically to your document when it thinks it's trying to be helpful, for example, when it automatically changes the first letter in a word you've typed to a capital - a tag appears next to the amendment Word has made - by hovering your mouse over the blue line that is the tag it expands into a button, clicking the drop down arrow next to this button gives you various options such as to stop Word from making this type of amendment or to undo this occasion etc. I've found this to be a really useful addition! ~ Multiple Document Interface - since Word 2000 word has opened each document you've wanted open in a separate window - this option lets you open multiple documents all within the one Word window. ~ Name, Address, and Date Smart Tags - Word 2002 recognises names, addresses, and dates and tags them so you can obtain additional information relating to these from the Web or other Office applications. Personally I've found little use for this feature so far. ~ Table of Contents - Word 2002 can automatically detect headings and can generate and update a TOC without the user having to apply styles etc. ~ Translation - Word can translate words within a document (so long as you install the feature from your disc) - this is limited to dictionaries that are installed, but can be useful - probably not best to solely rely on it for homework purposes though! ~ Watermarks - you can now easily select a picture, logo, or custom text to apply as a watermark in the background of a document. ~ Easier to Review / Share Documents - there are many updated features within Word 2002 that make it easier to review documents and share them between users, for example the Reviewing Toolbar makes it easy to filter documents for changes and to accept and reject changes. Similarly when sending a document to others for review Word 2002 automatically turns on the correct reviewing tools so that on its return the document owner can quickly merge all the feedback received.
The Verdict ************* I've always been a fan of Office applications, so perhaps am a bit biased, but I have to say that I do find Word 2002 really easy to use. The additional tweaks and features make it a simple programme to find your way around and it's quite easy to create really good looking documents. The help file is generally helpful in answering questions on how to do things, but until you are familiar with certain terminology it can be a bit more difficult to find what you want. Microsoft will always have its criticisers, and I'm sure there will be people who read this who would avoid Microsoft products as much as possible, but I'm happy with this product and would highly recommend it. If you've already got a fairly recent version of Word (e.g. 2000 onwards) it's probably not worth looking into upgrading to this, however if your Office products are any older you might want to consider changing to this new updated version. I've certainly found it doesn't crash quite so often as previous versions!
You can get hold of a copy of Office XP (which includes Word 2002) in auctions starting from £1.00 no reserve on eBay - I got my copy of Office XP, brand new and unregistered, on eBay for around £60. Ok, so for this price they're probably not being obtained or sold quite how Mr Gates hoped they'd be, but it's the genuine article and it works fine. Word 2003 (the next version on) will cost you around £169.99 on its own from somewhere like PC World, and Office 2003 will cost you about £349 for the standard edition (unfortunately I'm unable to find prices for the 2002 versions from these from PC World as they only have the most up to date products on their website it seems, but this is just to give you an idea that you can get just as good a product much more cheaply if you're prepared to shop around - I'm happy to recommend the ebayer whom I bought my Office XP CD from should you wish to know!).
I'm torn as to whether to give it just 4 stars, or to go for 5... For me, it does all I want it to do and a bit more, so I guess it's going to be 5 * * * * *.
(Please note, the value for money rating I have given is based on the fact I purchased my copy relatively cheaply)
Product Information for "Microsoft Word 2002 Media" »
System requirements
OS Required
Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional , Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP6, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
Min Processor Type
Intel Pentium - 133 MHz
Min RAM Size
72 MB, 128 MB
Min Hard Drive Space
150 MB, 200 MB
Peripheral / Interface Devices
CD-ROM, Mouse or compatible device, CD-ROM, SVGA monitor
System Requirements Details
Microsoft Windows 98 - RAM 32 MB - HD 150 MB
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition - RAM 32 MB - HD 150 MB
Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition - RAM 40 MB - HD 150 MB
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP6 - RAM 40 MB - HD 150 MB
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional - RAM 72 MB - HD 150 MB
Manufacturer's product description
Microsoft Word 2002 is the application of choice for creating and sharing documents in print, through e-mail, and on the Web. Word 2002 incorporates the productivity and collaboration innovations of Office XP, such as Smart Tags and Send for Review, making it easier to create, share, review, and publish your important documents. Word version 2002 makes it easier for users to discover and use existing functionality and provides intelligent new ways for users to work with their documents. Word now also makes it easier for users to share and review documents with others without changing the way they currently work. Microsoft Word version 2002 empowers users to discover and use more of the new and existing functionality in the application. This goal is achieved through new tools such as Task Panes and Smart Tags that are shared throughout the Microsoft Office suite, as well as through improved technology for working with formatting, styles, bullets, tables of contents, and more.
