Suddenly MS Word has vanished from my computer. When I click on the Word ikon, I get a prompt saying "insert C-D to download Word," etc. I can't find the C-D...

RadioShack tells me they would have to special order the MS Word C-D, and it costs around $100 bucks.

I Googled "free MS Word," and I found many sites offering free MS Word.

Are the free downloads safe?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Chances are you'll get some sort of spyware or virus if you go downloading something like that, cold day you know where when Microsoft goes offering software for free - and when websites do they usually have an ulterior motive. There are other ways but they are not always safe and we're not allowed to discuss that here anyways.

I would download OpenOffice if I were you. It can open most Microsoft formats and it's totally free (and safe). The program can be downloaded here.

It is illegal to download software that is pirated, even if you once owned word and had the disc, it doesn't entitle you to download it from somewhere else. It is unfortunate that you lost your disc, but those kinds of things happen. Perhaps you can run a demo of office or another word processor until you can get a hold of a legal copy.

I doo need to close this thread down though, pirating(or discussion thereof) is against forum rules.