Maryann said:
I have used Word 2000 for 5 years and I love it and am very
comfortable with it. Lately, however, a lot of stange things are
happening. My AutoRecover doesn't function properly. I loose my
CD-W drive in my list of save devices. Sometimes I get errors
messages saying I can add words to my custom dictionary. I hate to
reinstall it because I have hundreds of short cuts saved in my
AutoCorrect and Have no way of finding that file to save and transfer
back. I would really appreciate any tips you can give me on what is
happening to this program.
Hi Maryann,
You have some reading to do.
To save your AutoCorrect entries (which you ought to do anyway as part of a
regular backup), get the template you can download from
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/ExportAutocorrect.htm.
Also read and follow the steps at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/FilesToBackup.htm.
Do yourself a big favor and *never* save directly to CD-RW or floppies or
any kind of removable drive. Also never open an existing file directly on
one of those drives. Use Windows Explorer to copy document files to and from
the hard drive, and work on them only on the hard drive. Any other method
risks corrupted files that give weird errors or won't open at all.
Uninstalling and reinstalling Word rarely solves problems like these,
because by design it doesn't remove and replace files that were changed
since the last installation -- such as the normal.dot template that contains
your customizations. It also doesn't fix many problems that occur in the
Windows registry, or remove misbehaving add-ins. For troubleshooting steps
that (usually) don't require reinstalling, see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm.
If you do get to the point where you need to uninstall and reinstall, here
are two important tips:
1. Before you uninstall, make absolutely sure you have the 25-character
product key required to run the installer. It should be on a yellow sticker
on the case of the CD or on a certificate of authenticity. If you can't find
that key, at least make sure you have some proof of purchase, and then visit
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=823570 for instructions on getting a new
key.
2. Go to
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=239938 and download the
eraser2k.exe package, and read the instructions for using it. This is a
utility that you run after using the Add/Remove Programs dialog to remove
Office, and it gets rid of all the leftovers that the uninstaller missed.
Then run the installer.
