Installing Office XP

[Karen]

I had Windows 98 and had company disks to install Office
97 Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access. I was having some
problems with these programs after installing Windows XP
and could not upgrade Office 97 because I didn't have the
registration information anymore and the company is out of
business. I purchased Windows XP and would like to know
what I need to do in preparation for adding this program.
Do I need to uninstall the previous versions and will I
lose my files?

Please help.

Thanks

Karen