Is Open Office safe also is Driver Assist safe?

Hello there, welcome to the Community!
 
Open Office, if obtained from openoffice.org is safe.  It is free, and it does a good job of opening, creating, etc etc Microsoft Office compatible files.
 
Driver Assist is NOT safe from what I can tell.  A quick google about it seems to indicate that it is malware, so I would urge you not to utilize it.  Get rid of it.
 
I hope this helps!

Hi mamadoc52
 
Welcome to the Community Forums.
 
Just to add to what David has advise...there is nothing inherently unsafe about Driver Assist other than the way that it operates...which is essentially that, as you have found, once installed it will scan your computer for drivers that might need an update. However, if you try to fix these issues, Driver Assist will state that you need to buy its full version before being able to do so.
 
This is behaviour that labels this app as a PUA or Potentially Unwanted Application, to some. Whilst it can be uninstalled it is unfortuantely not a simple process as uninstalling the main application does not remove the additional adware-related elements that have been installed when the main app was.  Also, unfortunately these 'extras' are sprinkled about the system that the software has been installed on.
 
There is information avaialble on the Web as to where to look for these remnants but unless you feel you are technically competent  the best thing to do is to Open a Support Ticket & ask Webroot Support to take a look and remove these for you.  There is NO CHARGE for this for valid WSA license holder.
 
I hope that helps some?
 
Regards, Baldrick
 

If it is still relevant, Open Office is safe and free as pointed out. It also has the added benefit of opening documents created in earlier versions of MS Office and saving in the later format. I believe that Libre Office, also free, is more reliable and feature packed than Open Office. Both are open source products and if my memory serves me correctly Open Office developers are obligated to notify and supply the Libre Office team with any updates and /or improvements whereas the converse does not apply.

So far as I am aware Driver Assist should be treated with caution as there are many reports of it potentially carrying malware and/or not doing what it claims without eliciting more precious cash from you.

So far as Open Office is concerned it is safe and completely free and the free download sites may invite you to make a small donation towards the cost of developing the product, since it is open source. There is another free product built on the lines of Open Office that is also open source and that is Libre Office. This is completely free to download, I have just uninstalled it, down loaded and re-installed it just to prove the point. Again you are invited to make a small donation towards the cost of development but can skip that without making the said donation. The great thing about these open source products is that no matter which version of office used to create a document, Open/Libre Office will always open it and you can then save in which ever version of office format you are using. This is something that the Microsoft product will not do for you or even allow you to do. The only thing that you need to be aware of is that the open source apps save in their native .opd format so you will need to 'save as' initially and select the format that you wish to save your document in.

The only caveat with the open source products is the site from which you make your download, but that holds true for any software that you download. The site itself could distribute malware but if you run the Webroot software alongside Malwarebytes you will find that you are adequately protected. I am writing from the stand point of someone who has worked in the areas of IT Security and Cyber-forensics for a good many years.