Why Office 365 Activation Again?

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hlewton
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Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by hlewton »

I guess I need to vent a little. Because of the great Microsoft I had to change things I have done for years. I use an Excel file to keep track of all my passwords and other important links to the Internet. Never a problem until today. First let me say that my subscription to Office 365 is paid up until September 2019 which is over a year from now. When I tried to open Outlook today Office 365 asked me to sign into with my Office 365 using my password to activate it again. So guess what I did. I tried to open my Excel file to see what password I had used and it too would not open until I signed into Office 365 again. Luckily I tried a password and it was correct but believe me my guess just a guess a lucky one at that.

Since I have so many passwords to remember I had to try to revive an old computer and put my Excel file on it in case this happens again. I sure hope it doesn't and what I can't understand is why Microsoft is doing this. They sure know when anyone's subscription will expire so why make things so complicated and inconvenient for those of us who have chosen the Office 365 route?

So if I have a question it is this, how could I have seen my Excel file to retrieve my password or is that too must to ask of Office 365 and Microsoft?
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hlewton

JoeP
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by JoeP »

If you store the file on OneDrive, you can always use Office online to access it. Office online does not require any subscription.
Joe

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HansV
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by HansV »

Alternatively, use a text file or a Word document to store your passwords. WordPad comes with Windows and it can open Word documents.
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Hans

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StuartR
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by StuartR »

HansV wrote:Alternatively, use a text file or a Word document to store your passwords. WordPad comes with Windows and it can open Word documents.
But text files don't support encryption, so the passwords would be more exposed to attacks.

Why not use a password manager like 1Password, LastPass or Roboform?
StuartR


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hlewton
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by hlewton »

JoeP wrote:If you store the file on OneDrive, you can always use Office online to access it. Office online does not require any subscription.
Thanks for the suggestion. However, maybe I'm paranoid, but I do not feel safe or secure with anything that is stored in the cloud.
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hlewton

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hlewton
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by hlewton »

StuartR wrote:
HansV wrote:Alternatively, use a text file or a Word document to store your passwords. WordPad comes with Windows and it can open Word documents.
But text files don't support encryption, so the passwords would be more exposed to attacks.

Why not use a password manager like 1Password, LastPass or Roboform?
Thank you both for the thoughts and here is what steps I decided to take.
1. I mentioned my old computer. OS = XP. I put my updated Excel file on that machine where I am not using Office 365. I'd have to check but I'm pretty sure it is Office 2010 for which I own 4 licenses. It is slow when booting up and waiting for it to become active but it eventually will open that Excel file.

2. I put only my Office 365 user name and password on my cell phone so I should be able to find it quickly no matter where I may be if this ever happens again, since my phone is always with or near me.

I'm not at all sure how password programs work of if they can be searched quickly but I am familiar with how to use the Excel file I created and would like to be able to continue using it as I have done for the past 15 or 20 years. My Excel file is almost 700 lines long and password protected and can easily be searched.

I just do not understand why MS is doing this and making things more difficult than they need to be. I know they can check easily to see if my subscription is current and I would think that is all that would be necessary for them.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions.
Regards,
hlewton

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StuartR
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by StuartR »

I have three PCs running Office 365. After this month's updates two of them were fine, but the third one forced me to log in to my Office account to validate the license.
StuartR


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HansV
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by HansV »

See Patch Lady – Office 365 eula is due to update.

I have a non-subscription version of Office 2016, but I also had to accept the license agreement again after an update earlier this month. Just clicking "Accept" was sufficient, I didn't need to provide the license key.
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by StuartR »

I now have an odd situation. The PC that forced me to log in to my Office account insists on remaining logged in, with my OneDrive files visible etc. The other two are fine to work while logged out, but if I log this one out then it prompts me for my credentials before it will let any Office application run.
StuartR


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hlewton
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by hlewton »

StuartR wrote:I have three PCs running Office 365. After this month's updates two of them were fine, but the third one forced me to log in to my Office account to validate the license.
I tried multiple machines and all asked for the password. However, once I supplied it to on one of them all the other 3 worked as well.
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hlewton

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hlewton
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

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HansV wrote:See Patch Lady – Office 365 eula is due to update.

I have a non-subscription version of Office 2016, but I also had to accept the license agreement again after an update earlier this month. Just clicking "Accept" was sufficient, I didn't need to provide the license key.
I got that message a week or so ago but didn't have to do anything accept click the "Accept." Yesterday I had to supply my password which I think is ridiculous.
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hlewton

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hlewton
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

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StuartR wrote:I now have an odd situation. The PC that forced me to log in to my Office account insists on remaining logged in, with my OneDrive files visible etc. The other two are fine to work while logged out, but if I log this one out then it prompts me for my credentials before it will let any Office application run.
I don't use OneDrive and now have even more reason to not use it.

Thanks.
Regards,
hlewton

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DaveA
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by DaveA »

We have 365 on 3 machines and do not use OneDrive and we have not been asked for a password as of yet.
Knock on Wood!
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hlewton
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by hlewton »

DaveA wrote:We have 365 on 3 machines and do not use OneDrive and we have not been asked for a password as of yet.
Knock on Wood!
We are running Windows 10, 8.1 and 7 on the different machines.
All four of my machines are running Win 10 either Pro or Home. I was asked on both a Pro and a Home Version but, again, only had to verify once. Still that is once too often, as far as I am concerned.
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hlewton

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RonH
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by RonH »

Office 365 clearly has benefits for business but as retired home users how useful is it? Our needs primarily revolve around Word and Excel.

I recently booted up a new W10 pc for my lady, ignored the boot up of the 365 'offer' and installed our purchased ageing Office 2010 using the download facility still available from Microsoft. No cloud, passwords whatever to deal with and files saved monthly on ext HD's. No annual fees but perhaps less security, though it is still supported by MSoft. Am I wrong to continue with 2010?

As an example, a friend of ours, not computer literate other than as a user, regularly contacts me to say she can't open an att word. doc to an email and sends it to me to convert to say pdf. She then has to spend to get her pc supplier to sort out what she may have messed up, in error maybe. She lives too far from us for our possible free assistance.
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HansV
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by HansV »

As long as Office 2010 serves your needs, it is OK to keep on using it. The newer version of Excel (for example) has some useful new features, but you probably don't need them.
Best wishes,
Hans

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RonH
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by RonH »

HansV wrote:As long as Office 2010 serves your needs, it is OK to keep on using it. The newer version of Excel (for example) has some useful new features, but you probably don't need them.
Yep, our Excel needs are pretty basic, primarily to record information that eventually is useful for the annual taxation and other reports. Retirees still mostly pay tax :grin: Word is probably the most useful plus the quite separate pictures folders with apps and email using Thunderbird.

Will continue with 2010 whilst we can.
Hope your excellent ladies cyclist (Marianne Vos) wins again. Gosh, she is good.
Cheers Ron
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hlewton
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

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HansV wrote:As long as Office 2010 serves your needs, it is OK to keep on using it. The newer version of Excel (for example) has some useful new features, but you probably don't need them.
I totally agree. The problem I had and why I eventually choose Office 365 was the number of computers I keep running and the cost to purchase enough valid licenses for those computers. I'm not talking a lot but I do have 4 computers running Win 10 and even at a conservative estimate I figured I could pay Office 365's fee for 15 years at least and probably closer to 22 years before I was losing money. The other "benefit," which I often do not consider a benefit, is I always have the latest version of office even though I do not always want it. So my decision was more or less based on cost to me in the long run because I would have had to purchase all professional versions of Office since I use a lot of Access programs.
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hlewton

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RonH
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

Post by RonH »

Understood ... we just use 2xpc which is not a licensing issue given that I purchased the disc and still have it with the needed codes. But 365 will be used by us some day when I can no longer download and install 2010 to another new pc. Doubt I will concern myself with lack of security updates when M'soft no longer support the product. Even then Pro Office Suite which I use on Android might be a good option with the pc version.
CYa Ron
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hlewton
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Re: Why Office 365 Activation Again?

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RonH wrote:Understood ... we just use 2xpc which is not a licensing issue given that I purchased the disc and still have it with the needed codes. But 365 will be used by us some day when I can no longer download and install 2010 to another new pc. Doubt I will concern myself with lack of security updates when M'soft no longer support the product. Even then Pro Office Suite which I use on Android might be a good option with the pc version.
I have a question for you. I have and still do 3 licenses for Office Pro 2010 but 2 of the machines it was installed on have now been scrapped. I still run Office 2010 on an old XP machine but only plan on using it in an emergency to retrieve passwords from my Excel file if I can't get into Office 365 for the reason cited in this thread.

My question is; since I scrapped the 2 old computers using 1 lenience each are you saying I could still use those licensees even though they were once activated on other computers? I do still have the DVDs plus the lenience keys for each installation but I thought MS kept track of those keys and would not allow activation on other machines.
Regards,
hlewton