Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 Review + GiveawayI’ve been using an outdated version of Microsoft Office for about, oh, 6 years or so now, so it was definitely time for an upgrade. I was given the opportunity to review Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010, and jumped on it. I’ll be honest, I held off on upgrading for so long because I was used to my old version, and change freaks me out. Change is inevitable, though, and I really need to learn to adapt. After using the 2010 MS Office for about a week, I’m really glad I took the plunge and upgraded! Even though it does take some getting used to, the Suite has so many great features that I’ve been missing all this time and really does make life easier.

 

Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 Features

  • Comes with: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook
  • Use OneNote to store and share ideas with anyone
  • Access and edit work from just about anywhere with Office Web Apps
  • Check all your email accounts from one location with Outlook
  • Create amazing presentations with PowerPoint and SmartArt graphics
  • Use Excel to create budgets, track business expenses, and much more.
  • Save info from the internet with a single click. No more copying, pasting, saving, and searching for documents!

My Thoughts

As a freelance writer, I rely heavily on Microsoft Word, so this is the feature that I tried out the most extensively. It’s also the one that I was most freaked out about when it came to an upgrade. The 2010 version is definitely different than the 2003 version I was using. I had to learn where all the tools were, and did spend a good five minutes trying to find the “track changes” feature. Of course, it was right in front of my face the whole time. I think I was making it a lot more complicated than it had to be, because once I got going with the program, I realized that everything is in a pretty intuitive place.

I love that I can see the word count of a document with just a single glance to the bottom of the screen. Before, I had to go through at least two steps to find it. Since I write to word counts quite frequently, this tiny change actually has the potential to save me loads of time. I’m also thrilled that I can very easily download templates right from the program. There are tons of different templates from which to choose, and I was able to make a new resume for myself in minutes.

I was also really excited to try OneNote, as that was one part of the Suite that I was missing out on in the older version. I’ve heard great things about it from other writers. I’ve been using it to brainstorm blog post ideas, and collect tidbits related to those ideas. It’s very diverse, so you can use it for collecting info on a research paper, planning a garden project, or just about anything else you need help planning. Of course, there are loads of templates available online to make your notes prettier or more organized. You can even easily paste images onto your OneNote board by copying the image and pasting it. Plus, you can access your project from anywhere if you choose to save it on the web to your Sky Drive. There are tons of other features, and I’m still in the process of exploring them. I’ll definitely be using OneNote a lot in the future!

Enter to Win Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010

Enter to win a boxed version of Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 by following the directions on the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway ends April 9th at 11:59PM, and is open to US and Canadian residents age 18+. Winner will be notified by email and has 48 hours to respond. Void where prohibited.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 Review + Giveaway