SPELL CHECKING -OUTLOOK EXPRESS

Judie Wants To Know About Spell Checking In Outlook Express
My thanks to you for your good advise.  On that advise, I finally stepped into the present century and bought a new computer with Windows XP, which (so far) I like very much. However, on my old Windows 98 I was able to check my spelling while writing email in Outlook Express by highlighting the word and pressing alt F7.  Now that does not work.  I tried to find out why and a search told me that I have to have Microsoft Word, Excel or Power Point installed in order to use the spell check in Outlook Express.  I really don't have a desire to install another pricey program that I probably won't ever use.... so is there a way to get the spell checker to work, in Outlook Express, without these other programs?  (Does this seem a little strange to you?  I feel like someone is twisting my arm to buy additional products.)  Thanks so much for your help in the past, and hopefully with this problem too.  Your information is always great, especially for people like me who, after all these years, are still learning. Keep it up!

Our Answer
Thank you, Judie. In order to use the default Spell Checker in Outlook Express you need to have at least one MS Office program installed (Word, Excel, Access, etc.) if you don't you cannot use the built-in spell checker. However, it was the same with Outlook Express running on Windows 98 as well. This leads us to believe that you had one MS Office program installed on Windows 98. Most often (at least in the past) new computers come with at least MS Works installed. MS Works includes MS Word which satisfies the requirements for having a MS Office program installed. If you had MS Works installed on Windows on your old computer, you should have a packet of  MS Works CD-ROMs. If so, you should re-install MS Works from those CD-ROMS on your new computer. That will allow you to access the Spell Checker in Outlook Express.