It’s really difficult to change to a new software program when you’ve used the same one for years. I knew I would need to get Office 365 when I bought my husband a new computer and I went to use Word to bring up one of my Dropbox files. Oops, no Microsoft Office program came installed on his device. I’d been using Office 2010 on mine for a decade. But now the death knell sounded for this ancient but steadfast program.

I did my initial research to learn 365 Personal would suit my needs. But still I put off the dreaded day of upgrades. Would it mess with my Outlook inbox or my Word files?

And then the unthinkable happened. I got a message from Malwarebytes, one of my security programs, that it had fended off a bit of ransomware. I’d been getting a number of email spams lately too, making me wonder if my computer was compromised. Then all of a sudden, I couldn’t access Word anymore. I got an error message that said, “Your device can no longer support this App.” Huh?

I restarted the computer, scanned the system files with Malwarebytes and Norton, and Word still wouldn’t open. I could always try to reinstall Word 10 with my old disk. But why bother? I had to upgrade anyway, and updated programs are supposed to be more secure. So I took the plunge and subscribed for $69.99 per year.

Installation was easy, and all my prior files seem accessible. The same functionality exists although I may have to hunt for one or two items on the nav bar. Otherwise, the programs look similar to my old ones and yet different.

Outlook automatically signed in to my email server and changed to an IMAP account. My old one is a POP account and it’s still here. So now I have two Outlook accounts, which means duplication of all incoming posts. I’ll have to copy my folders from the POP to the IMAP account and then delete the older version. Let’s hope that goes well.

Upgrading can be difficult, but it’s more often the mindset that is the obstruction rather than the program itself.  I hope this will be the case here. I’m also hoping I don’t have a lingering virus or malware that disrupted things initially. Time will tell. At least this new version of Word is up and running. Whew!

The lesson learned is that if you need to upgrade your software program (or your computer, for that matter), don’t delay. Do it sooner rather than later.

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