Do I REALLY have Microsoft Office 2003??

D

D Wilson

I'm having all kinds of problems with Word. First it was automatic
pagination. Now it's changing margins and working with Normal.dot and having
found TWELVE folders with the name Normal.dot in them (don't know what to do
with them). Then, I opened a Word doc I had wriiten sometime ago and it
started transporting data from a doc I just did today! AND, when I closed
the older doc, it said (paraphrased) "Microsoft Office 1997 can't support the
selected options for this doc." Where on earth did that come from?? I
installed Microsoft Office Professional 2003 a few weeks ago and this
computer is only three months old so couldn't have Word 1997 stored anywhere.
(I bought the Office suite separately from the computer -- maybe big
mistake).
 
S

Susan Ramlet

Hi, D

Go to the Windows Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs applet to see what
versions of Office, Word, and/or Works are installed.

Do you have a virus checker that is up to date? Do you perhaps have
Microsoft Works installed?
 
D

D Wilson

Yes, I already checked "control panel" and it did stay Microsoft Office
Professional 2003 WAS installed but I still don't understand where the "1997"
stuff came from.
 
D

D Wilson

Also, there's no mention of Microsoft Works. How would I tell? And, yes, I
do have an up-to-date virus program.
 
S

Susan Ramlet

It would say "Microsoft Works" in the Add/Remove Programs applet.

The odd behavior sounds suspiciously like some kind of virus, but it's hard
to tell. Was the computer pre-owned? If so, I think I'd consider formatting
it and install everything from scratch, because you wouldn't know what the
previous owner might have had on the system. (Make sure you have disks for
all your software before formatting, though.) Did you purchase Office retail
off the shelf or from some other source?

Outside of that, I believe I would try these:

Uninstall Office
Delete all those normal.dot files
Delete the contents of c:\temp and c:\windows\temp (or c:\winnt\temp)
Update your virus checker
Run a virus check on the system
Run a scan disk
Run a disk defragmentation
Re-install Office
Ensure it has all its patches

It's a lot of work, but those are good ways to clean up things. Hope that's
helpful...I don't envy you the effort of figuring out what's going on.
Otherwise, you might want to take it into a computer tech to let them have a
look.
 
D

D Wilson

Thank you Susan,

No, this is a brand new Dell (two months old). I bought Office from Dell
and installed it about two weeks ago. I reinstalled it yesterday. Ran disk
clean up. Deleted cookies and temporary Internet files. Ran defrag. Ran
McAfee virus scan. Ran Spybot.

I'm sorry but I don't know what "patches" are. Can you tell me, please?
Thank you so much.
 
D

D Wilson

I forgot to mention I did all these things before your kind suggestions.
This computer is still under warranty. It froze yesterday and I had to hard
boot it by unplugging it. You're right, it DOES look suspiciously like a
virus. No, I don't have Microsoft Works. I do have WordPerfec Office 12
which is published by Corel. I could uninstall that.
 
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