Hi gang,

Non-tech here who wants to get back to XP / Office 2000 if I only could.......... need some charting help, my main activity is in Excel but nothing too deep. I don't go near Word with a 10-foot pole, and OneNote used to be useful to me, but I don't know what it is now.

Anyway, been using the above combo at employer and home for as long as they have been around. New laptop in April 2014, Windows 8.1 / Office 2013. Zero productivity since. Even employer was smart and kept their old stuff.......rant over now, sorry.

Comfort level with Excel 2000 and XP was extremely high, but now running ClassicShell on Windows 8.1 just to get along. Excel 2013 is the problem; I'm completely lost, like I got dropped into an alternate universe. Sort of familiar, but nothing works.
- Chart templates that are never the same twice
- Popups that won't go away when trying to change chart configs.
- Colours I cant seem to change to old-style or visually differentiate between, therefore charts are unreadable.
- Combination charts are a complete pig.

What to do? Walk away now and learn OpenOffice? I know that changing a culture is a lot harder than starting fresh, but from the same manufacturer's material? I am ready to give up Microsoft altogether due to complete and total user unfriendliness. I'm more at home now on an iPhone, Ipad, and an old Toshiba netbook that is running Lubuntu with said OpenOffice. Also, I just dusted off my old laptop and cleaning out files on the old howler - aaaaah.......XP.

Any and all suggestions appreciated, as even Microsoft language does'nt come across as English, and even since Windows 3.1, Microsoft help has never helped an iota. Not yer average dummy, just frustrated with no productivity and doing endless fiddling instead. I have no time for endless upgrade courses that would only be useless on the next so-called upgrade; I just want something that works. If there's no backdate, update, patches or improvements, please let me know and I'll wallow in my buyer's remorse. Thanks all, for at least listening/reading.