WORD path problem

[charles cashion]

Beginning about the first of December, when I double
click a shortcut to any *.rtf or *.doc document,
I get three popups error messages.

Today, I am clicking on a shortcut to
"C:\Documents and Settings\
Charles Cashion\MY_DATA\House%26Home\Fuse-Panel.rtf"

popup 1:

****************************************************************
* Microsoft Word *
* Word cannot open the document *
* Try one or more of the following: *
* * On the File menu, click Open to open the document. *
* * Make sure the document has a .DOC extention. *
* (C:\DOCUMENTS.DOC) *
****************************************************************

popup 2:

****************************************************************
* Microsoft Word *
* The document name or path is not valid. *
* Try one or more of the following: *
* * Check the path to make sure it was typed correctly.*
* * On the File menu, click Open. Search for the file *
* using the dialog box. *
* (SETTINGS\CHARLES) *
****************************************************************

popup3:

****************************************************************
* Microsoft Word *
* The document name or path is not valid. *
* Try one or more of the following: *
* * Check the path to make sure it was typed correctly.*
* * On the File menu, click Open. Search for the file *
* using the dialog box. *
* (CASHION\...\FUSE-PANEL.RTF) *
****************************************************************

I have checked file associations and *.rtf and *.doc are
both mapped to Microsoft Word.

Microsoft Word is at
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\WINWORD.EXE

I see two clues.
(1) The problem started in December.
(Did I change something in December?)
(2) There is an error for each space in the path.

After clicking through each popup, I get my file.
So this is obviously not a critical problem.
Just an annoyance.
Thank you for any help.
Charles