Falling out of love

I have been a contented user of Microsoft operating systems since the 1990s, at which point I was using my first 386 PC. Since upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10, though, my views have changed. All was well at first, but then I found that the Edge browser didn’t work with certain websites. So I switched to Firefox. Then my copies of Word Starter and Excel Starter 2010 had times when they would refuse to open. After Word Starter had done this

three times my patience ran out and I tried Word Online, but it only took about ten minutes to realise that this program was far too basic even for my simple needs. So I installed LibreOffice instead. Writer is not as good as Word, but there is much to like about LibreOffice and I find that I now use it even when Word or Excel are behaving themselves.

Since upgrading to Windows 10, my PC sometimes now asks me to log in with a password even though I haven’t set one up. I don’t know what the password should be but luckily a restart has cured this problem so far. My laptop also joined in the fun with a period when the Settings button stopped working.

I have gone from being someone who would recommend Windows to someone who finds himself gradually making his way out of the Microsoft ecosystem. I have never wanted to go over to Apple, but maybe I would be happier there now? Richard Lund

Editor-in-chief Tim Danton replies: Have you walked past any black cats recently? More seriously, all OSes have their quirks and annoyances; even if you switch to a Mac or Linux, you’ll need a username and password to log in. Your problems with the Edge browser are less expected, but they may be addressed in the forthcoming Windows 10 Creators Update, which is set to include functional improvements to Edge and, who knows, perhaps some behind-the-scenes compatibility tweaks.

There’s much to like about LibreOffice and I find that I use it even when Word or Excel are behaving themselves