Can't install MS Office - advice?
so I've been trying to set up a new-ish computer and reached the stage of installing software, but Windows won't let me
I'm trying to install Office 2013 (which I own). I've never installed the Microsoft 365 garbage on this computer, but the installation package is giving me an error that says the machine already has a pre-release or beta version of Office installed. and a new machine certainly doesn't come with non-rent-seeking software
because I can't uninstall something I never installed, I've had to delete the files and folders where they hid all the Office 365 elements, removed all traces from the Registry, disabled everything via Group Policy, and went Command Line Admin to directly strip that garbage from the drive
I even pulled out my old external DVD and installed Office 2000, in hopes that uninstalling that one might clear up whatever is going on with Office 2013. (interestingly, it wouldn't install using the newer Dell drive, but did using the older Samsung one)
and yet. still the error code. MS help offers nothing useful, and even drilling to the depths of Reddit user forums cannot help me
can you help?



















