AutoRecovery + Word on a shared workstation

[benc]

Here's a tricky question for you friendly Word geniuses out there.
I'm having trouble with MS Word's AutoRecovery function not working in
a multi-user situation where remote login connections are occasionally
dropped. My system set up is as follows:

Word 2003 is installed and licensed for multiple users on a
workstation running Windows Server 2000. A couple dozen users use a
remote connection (i.e., Citrix) to do their word processing on the
shared workstation. All of the users have AutoRecovery enabled and
configured to save every two minutes in the default location. For all
users, the "AutoRecovery save of (Document Name).asd" file is
consistently being created.

The problem is that, due to the occasional network issue, a user's
connection drops every once and a while. Even with periodic saves,
some data is always lost; the AutoRecovery function would be a Godsend
if it worked properly. The .asd file is being properly saved, but it
is not coming up automatically when Word is restarted once the user
reconnects.

Apparently when the remote connection is dropped, Word is not
interpreting it as an application error, and therefore decides to
silently ignore the presence of .asd files in the AutoRecovery
directory.

Now, I did find this on Microsoft's office assistance site:
(http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP051891691033.aspx)

You might need to open the recovery file yourself: When the
AutoRecover feature is turned on, Word typically opens recovery
files when you restart Word after a power failure or similar
problem. If for some reason Word did not open the recovery file,
you can open it. By default, the recovery file is located in the
Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Word
folder. If you changed the location for recovery files, check
the new location on the File Locations tab (Tools menu, Options
command).

This is really a workaround, not a solution. Furthermore, many of the
users on this system aren't comfortable with navigating around inside
their profile directory.

My question is this: is it possible to somehow simulate an application
error, or do *something* to force Word to pay attention to the
presence of .asd files in the AutoRecovery directory?

Thanks,
--benc