Free Alternative to Microsoft Word Starter 2010

Greetings Ya'll,

This is my 1st post, & since I'm trying to be a "sponge" on how Windows 7 operates, I imagine that I'll have many more.

I've been using Microsoft Word Starter 2010, up until it started freezing my PC. I actually had to hit Control/ Alt/ Delete in an attempt to get out of Word, & free up my PC. That took me to a screen that showed me that OFFSPON.EXE was not responding.

I ran a web search for this & found that it was somehow tied into the "Ads" that are supposed to come up on Word Starter 2010.

The document that I was putting together is frozen, anytime I click on to Word, & I have to repeat the process of Control/Alt/ Delete all over again.

My question is, ..., What is a recommended "Free" alternative for Word Starter 2010?

I do not want to store my data online, or on a "cloud", but on my PC.

I've also been reviewing several sites that offer Free software, & there seems to be good results with "Libre", & "Open Office", but, I'm also seeking more input on these two, or possibly any other alternative.

Any thoughts?

Thank you Strollin,

I appreciate your reply Sir.

You might be interested in this:
OpenOffice vs. LibreOffice: What?s the Difference and Which Should You Use?

See the section named The License Situation.

On the other hand, LibreOffice has some features — like font embedding — that don’t appear in OpenOffice. This is because the two different licenses only allow a one-way transfer of code. LibreOffice can incorporate OpenOffice’s code, but OpenOffice can’t incorporate LibreOffice’s code. This is the result of the different licenses the projects chose.

In the long run, this means that big improvements to OpenOffice can be incorporated into LibreOffice, while big improvements to LibreOffice can’t be incorporated into OpenOffice. This clearly gives a big advantage to LibreOffice, which will develop quicker and incorporate more features and improvements.

Thank you for the welcome, & help ThrashZone, & thank you UsernameIssues, & Strollin, also for the help. I'll checkout Libre, & I just thought of something. Can I save documents to my PC, or will they go to the Internet,(Online), when using Libre? Again, I want to thank all of you, & I sincerely appreciate it.

LibreOffice saves documents to your local drive(s).

During the installation, you can tell LibreOffice to always save documents in a format that is compatible* with MS Office files. (e.g. documents written in LibreOffice's Writer app will be saved in the DOC file format.) You can switch the default "save file" format at any time.

*mostly compatible. Complex Impress (PowerPoint) documents won't be perfect.

The real open office I'd very good. I don't like the new kings version.