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All documents changed when installed? How to uninstall.

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 2:23 am
by imgja
Welcome beginner. Please answer all of the questions below which may provide information necessary to answer your question.
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Which version of OpenOffice.org are you using? Brand new install today from the website...2.4?
What Operating System (version) are you using? Windows XP
What is your question or comment? I just installed today...did not realize that all my current documents were going to be changed in the process. OK, I'm a rank beginner; but we all are at one time or another. Then when I tried to get on the internet, clicked on my Windows icon, and the WARNING page about no security certificate? So, I thought I'd just uninstall OpenOffice to solve the problem. Can't figure out how to uninstall, and what will happen to all my current documents which have not been "converted". Is there some way to un-convert them & disable whichever part of the program did that?

Re: All documents changed when installed? How to uninstall.

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:27 am
by acknak
OpenOffice does not convert any documents, nor does it modify your Internet connection.

Can you tell us for sure what web site you accessed to install OOo?

Can you please explain exactly what you are trying to do, how you are doing it (what button, icon or menu you're clicking), and what happens?

I'm sure it's something that can be fixed, once we know clearly what the problem is.

Re: All documents changed when installed? How to uninstall.

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:11 am
by imgja
acknak wrote:OpenOffice does not convert any documents, nor does it modify your Internet connection.

Can you tell us for sure what web site you accessed to install OOo?

Can you please explain exactly what you are trying to do, how you are doing it (what button, icon or menu you're clicking), and what happens?

I'm sure it's something that can be fixed, once we know clearly what the problem is.
Okay, let me try...I accessed and downloaded directly from the OpenOffice.org website. It was recommended to me by one of the expert forum helpers on TechGuy.org. I had received a .doc that I couldn't open, and they recommended OOo as the best option out there; and it's free. I trust them, so here I am.

I was going into the Start menu and clicking on the Internet Explorer icon (big e). Once I said to ignore & trust the website--I haven't had the "security website alert in red" turn up again. But, I had never had that show up ever before--before I downloaded OOo anyway. ADDITION: After I clicked "submit" on this post, I went to my "home" icon in the top toolbar of IE, and the security warning showed up again --"There is a problem with this website's security certificate"-- obviously, it isn't solved after all. Maybe I need to just do a restore?

I have probably 30 documents that have been created over the past few years, in the "Rich Text" format, stored in my "My Documents" section using whatever comes standard with WinXP. After the OOo download (when I must have clicked something I shouldn't have), I accessed one of the documents so I could print out a list of my dahlias. OOo apparently accessed all my documents & put them in what I am assuming is the "Write" format. Whenever I open any document there are two rows of options above the document--most of which I don't even recognize, or have a clue what to do with. I'm use to just having a simple little listing show up that I can add to or not, and then click "print" and I'm done. Is there some way to un-convert them? and just go back to my simple little rich text documents the way they were, or do I need to uninstall & reinstall making different choices during the install? Where did I go wrong? I feel so stupid

Re: All documents changed when installed? How to uninstall.

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:24 am
by Hagar Delest
Don't worry, OOo has associated your .rtf files with itself I guess. So their icon is now the same as OOo but they haven't been changed (try to open them with another application).

See that post.

Thanks to add '[Solved]' at beginning of your first post title (edit button) if your issue has been fixed.

Re: All documents changed when installed? How to uninstall.

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:40 am
by keme
Possible reasons why your "home page" is reported as insecure:
The site admins have forgotten to renew their security certificate, and the expiry date coincided with your OOo install date.
They have at one time changed their site name, so you're now accessing the site through a "deprecated" name (a name that's no longer listed in their certificate).
They are using a certificate authority that's not in your "Trusted authorities" list. (Running Windows update may help)
You are using higher security that before (may be caused by running Windows update. Internet Explorer 7 is more explicit about security issues than previous versions.)

As for "changing your files", that didn't happen. When installing Open Office, it will automatically be selected as the default application for opening RTF files, as Hagar de l'Est explained. No change to the files, but the icons look differently, and OpenOffice may render the content differently from other applications.

Re: All documents changed when installed? How to uninstall.

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:35 am
by imgja
My homepage is MSN, would there be a problem with their security certificate? That seems odd.

Re: All documents changed when installed? How to uninstall.

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:04 am
by keme
Maybe not with MSN site certificates, but they have the odd ad inserted. In the odd occasion that I visit www.msn.com, I invariably get a warning about insecure content (nothing very harmful I guess, mostly cookies belonging to third party domains). Didn't think that would cause a security certificate warning, though, so maybe your browser (or your internet connection) is hijacked. (It's been known to happen.)

What's the exact URL? (barring any login-specific info, of course. If there are question marks in the URL, you may not want to show us anything after the first question mark)
Do you connect securely to MSN? (https://... ?)

Re: All documents changed when installed? How to uninstall.

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:39 pm
by a101mjo
I too have had this problem. It occured after I installed Open Office and told it to be the "default" for opening Wordpad and Wordperfect files. Because we decided Open Office was not what we wanted, we then uninstalled the program. Now whatever I open is gibberish, even if I choose the "Open with" option and open them in the appropriate program. What's happened? .doc files and .rtf files are both gibberish. I'm just pretty sure the problem is connected to the Open Office install/uninstall. Help!
Melinda

Re: All documents changed when installed? How to uninstall.

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:08 pm
by foxcole
a101mjo wrote:I too have had this problem. It occured after I installed Open Office and told it to be the "default" for opening Wordpad and Wordperfect files. Because we decided Open Office was not what we wanted, we then uninstalled the program. Now whatever I open is gibberish, even if I choose the "Open with" option and open them in the appropriate program. What's happened? .doc files and .rtf files are both gibberish. I'm just pretty sure the problem is connected to the Open Office install/uninstall. Help!
Melinda
Hi, Melinda, Do you have a sample file you'd be willing to post here?