Can't uninstall Word 2002

[mike carrington]

I've purchased Word 2003 and want to uninstall Word 2002 but can't. I've
gone to Add or Remove Programs, found Word 2002 and clicked on "Remove" but
the computer keeps coming back with the error message: "This patch package
could not be opened. Verify that the patch package exists and that you can
access it, or contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid
Windows Installer patch package."

I've just downloaded and installed the latest Microsoft installer and get
the same error message. Word 2002 is current with a number of Updates and
Security Updates. I'm running XP and am current with all updates and SP2.

Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Mike

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

FWIW, there's no good reason to uninstall Word 2002. You can install Word
2003 over it (and indeed, if you bought an upgrade version of Word 2003, you
will *need* to install over it, as the installer will look for a previous
version). All your settings will thus be transferred to the new version.

 

[mike carrington]

FWIW = huh?

A good reason to install it is that it takes up space on the disk, registry,
and elsewhere, no matter how big a system I have. It's old, unneeded
technology that has no purpose on my computer. I didn't upgrade, I bought
the whole Word package rather than the Microsoft Works Suite 2003 which
contained Word 2002. When I installed Word 2003 it didn't install over the
old Word 2002. So, I'm interested in un-installing the old version. I'd
appreciate some help in moving forward on this.

Mike

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Ordinarily when you install a newer version you have to go to some trouble
to avoid overwriting the old one, but perhaps the fact that this was
standalone Word as opposed to Word in Works Suite was enough to make the
difference.

 

[mike carrington]

Perhaps. Nontheless, I now have Word 2002 (from Works Suite) installed as
well as Word 2003. There is no need for Word 2002 and I'm back to the same
question: How can I uninstall it? Please read my original post. It gives
the error message I'm receiving when I try to remove it the normal way.

Mike

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Your original message did not say that you had already installed Word 2003,
only that you had purchased it, which is why I suggested that it was not
necessary to uninstall Word 2002. Perhaps the solution to your problem can
be found in the MSKB article "You receive the 'This patch package could not
be opened' error message in an Office program" at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=295823

 

[mike carrington]

Bingo! It did a great job of uninstalling Word2002. Thanks Suzanne. Sorry
if I misled you.

Mike