.doc files freeze Finder/Mail, Word hangs on start

[Hari Nair]

I have an iBook (G3, 800 Mhz, OS X 10.3.9) running Office 2004. Lately,
if I receive an email with a Word attachment, Mail hangs (I see the
spinning beach ball). This also happens with Thunderbird.

If I open a folder containing a .doc file, the Finder hangs.

If I open Word, I get the initial screen asking what kind of file to
create, then after I select one, Word hangs. All of the menu items are
greyed out at the top.

I've fixed my disk permissions, removed office, reinstalled office,
fixed disk permissions again, but to no avail.

I removed my Microsoft User Data folder from ~/Documents, and removed
the Microsoft folder from ~/Library/Preferences. I also removed the
Font folder in my ~/Library folder.

Has anyone had trouble like this before?

I may just wipe the disk clean and install Tiger one of these days. We
don't use Word very often; it's just very inconvenient to have Mail or
the Finder freeze up like this.

Thanks for any advice,
Hari

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Consistent and reproducible problems like this usually respond to one of the
standard troubleshooting tips, listed here:

http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/TroubleshootingIndex.htm
(hit refresh a few times in Safari, or use a different browser)

Did you run the Office Remove tool to remove Office?