"Microsoft Word has encountered a problem"

[Richard]

I have posted a similar message on
<microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage>.

For the past two days when I have attempted to start Word I get
an error message:

"Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close. We
are sorry for the inconvenience.. . . . . Please tell Microsoft about
this problem. We have created an error report that you can send to
help us improve Microsoft Word."

After I send the error report and receive confirmation that it's been
sent, I am invited to "Restart Microsoft Word" but when I do, the
above error message appears. This cycle has now been repeated about
20 times over the past two days.

I'm using a Mac G3, 400MHz, PowerPC, with Mac OSX 10.4.9 and a cable
connection to the internet. I installed Microsoft Office 2004 with
Word and
Entourage about a year ago .

BTW, I'm having the same trouble with Microsoft Entourage. Both
Entourage
and Word were working perfectly until two days ago. My internet
connection and other programs are ok. There's been nothing unusual
occurring with my computer until Entourage and Word and Entourage
starting sending
error messages.

ANY SUGGESTIONS?

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Richard -

Did you happen to download & apply the Apple Security Update 2007-005 "two
days ago"?

The first suggestion is to run Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions, which
may be all that's necessary to resolve the issue. This really should be done
both before [according to some sources] & after any OS X updates. If you
still have problems follow what's offered here pertaining to "Unexpected
Quit on StartUp":

http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html

If necessary to reapply the OS X 10.4.9 update make sure to download the
COMBO Updater from the Apple site.

 

[Richard]

CyberTaz,

Thanks for your suggestions. I think I did download & apply the "Apple
Security Update 2007-005" a few days ago and just before I was unable
to access Word and Entourage.

Following your suggestions:

1. I ran "Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions," but that did not
correct the problem.

2. Then I went to <http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html> and
"Unexpected
Quit on StartUp" where it recommends:

Repair disk permissions
Check for add-in conflict
Troubleshoot fonts
Update
Test preferences/settings
Test Normal template

I did reinstall the OS10.4.9 update and then reran "Disk Utility -
Repair Disk Permissions" and downloaded again the" COMBO Updater,"
but that did not fix the problem.

Before I attempt to go through other procedures in "Unexpected Quit on
StartUp" (some of which I can't perform because I can't access
Word), I'm wondering if the error report (Error Reporting UUID:
3C17428C-12F7-11DC-A4FB-000502E19246) that's generated every time I
attempt to start Word and that is evidently sent to Microsoft (or more
likely to oblivion), if seen by an expert could indicate the exact
nature of the difficulty.

According to the error report "thread 0" has crashed and then there
are 66 entries that might mean something to a guru. Well, at least
there's no indication that "thread 1" crashed.The last error report
began:
" Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS
Date/Time: 2007-06-08 11:49:10 -0700"

Does anyone at Microsoft actually see the error reports? If so do they
take any action to correct the problem?

Richard Hake

Hi Richard -

Did you happen to download & apply the Apple Security Update 2007-005 "two
days ago"?

The first suggestion is to run Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions, which
may be all that's necessary to resolve the issue. This really should be done
both before [according to some sources] & after any OS X updates. If you
still have problems follow what's offered here pertaining to "Unexpected
Quit on StartUp":

http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html

If necessary to reapply the OS X 10.4.9 update make sure to download the
COMBO Updater from the Apple site.
--
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

I have posted a similar message on
<microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage>.

For the past two days when I have attempted to start Word I get
an error message:

"Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close. We
are sorry for the inconvenience.. . . . . Please tell Microsoft about
this problem. We have created an error report that you can send to
help us improve Microsoft Word."

After I send the error report and receive confirmation that it's been
sent, I am invited to "Restart Microsoft Word" but when I do, the
above error message appears. This cycle has now been repeated about
20 times over the past two days.

I'm using a Mac G3, 400MHz, PowerPC, with Mac OSX 10.4.9 and a cable
connection to the internet. I installed Microsoft Office 2004 with
Word and
Entourage about a year ago .

BTW, I'm having the same trouble with Microsoft Entourage. Both
Entourage
and Word were working perfectly until two days ago. My internet
connection and other programs are ok. There's been nothing unusual
occurring with my computer until Entourage and Word and Entourage
starting sending
error messages.

ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Hi Richard -

Did you happen to download & apply the Apple Security Update 2007-005 "two
days ago"?

The first suggestion is to run Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions, which
may be all that's necessary to resolve the issue. This really should be done
both before [according to some sources] & after any OS X updates. If you
still have problems follow what's offered here pertaining to "Unexpected
Quit on StartUp":

http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html

If necessary to reapply the OS X 10.4.9 update make sure to download the
COMBO Updater from the Apple site.
--
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

I have posted a similar message on
<microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage>.

For the past two days when I have attempted to start Word I get
an error message:

"Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close. We
are sorry for the inconvenience.. . . . . Please tell Microsoft about
this problem. We have created an error report that you can send to
help us improve Microsoft Word."

After I send the error report and receive confirmation that it's been
sent, I am invited to "Restart Microsoft Word" but when I do, the
above error message appears. This cycle has now been repeated about
20 times over the past two days.

I'm using a Mac G3, 400MHz, PowerPC, with Mac OSX 10.4.9 and a cable
connection to the internet. I installed Microsoft Office 2004 with
Word and
Entourage about a year ago .

BTW, I'm having the same trouble with Microsoft Entourage. Both
Entourage
and Word were working perfectly until two days ago. My internet
connection and other programs are ok. There's been nothing unusual
occurring with my computer until Entourage and Word and Entourage
starting sending
error messages.

ANY SUGGESTIONS?

 

[Elliott Roper]

" Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS
Date/Time: 2007-06-08 11:49:10 -0700"

That means the program went insane and tried to jump the fence. OK,
that's too colourful.. it tried to execute an instruction or access
data that it was not permitted to read or write to.
The operating system shot it dead before it could do further harm.

Sadly the causes for that are many. All the way from bad memory, bad
power to a corrupt copy of some part of the application on disk.

If other bits of your system are misbehaving, think hardware.

If it is only Word or Office then the disk copy of some part of the
application might be corrupt. That is extremely unlikely, since the OS
would normally detect the error as it was paged in. If some evil piece
of something else scribbled over your copy of Word in the past
-something also extremely unlikely - then you might consider completely
removing and re-installing Office. This is desperation land, since it
seldom helps.

Before you go to all that trouble, you might consider two related
avenues of diagnosis.

Check your fonts in Font Book. Disable nearly all of them and try again.
I suggest this because Word does a heap of font "optimizing" at startup.
I'm not that impressed by Word's handling of fonts it dislikes. It
could be over-reacting at your machine.

Create a new user without admin privs and check Word's behaviour from
there. If it works, it still might be a font broken, or it could
indicate your main account is in some other kind of mess.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Richard -

Sorry there's no improvement, but I'm a bit confused by:

(some of which I can't perform because I can't access Word)

Word *shouldn't* be running be running when you do most of the things
indicated in those procedures. It would be most helpful if you'd specify
what you _did_ do as opposed to exactly what you _didn't_ do... And don't
get hung up on the error log. For the most part it simply documents what
did/didn't happen & when, but usually gives no clear indication as to *why*.

In addition to the insights from Elliott it may be worthwhile to run Disk
Utility again, but click the Verify Disk button this time.

If it reports any errors you will need to boot from your OS X install disk,
run Disk Utility - Repair Disk from the Utilities menu (possibly more than
once) until there are no errors found.

Alternatively you could use Disk Warrior (or comparable) if you have it.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

CyberTaz,

Thanks for your suggestions. I think I did download & apply the "Apple
Security Update 2007-005" a few days ago and just before I was unable
to access Word and Entourage.

Following your suggestions:

1. I ran "Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions," but that did not
correct the problem.

2. Then I went to <http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html> and
"Unexpected
Quit on StartUp" where it recommends:

Repair disk permissions
Check for add-in conflict
Troubleshoot fonts
Update
Test preferences/settings
Test Normal template

I did reinstall the OS10.4.9 update and then reran "Disk Utility -
Repair Disk Permissions" and downloaded again the" COMBO Updater,"
but that did not fix the problem.

Before I attempt to go through other procedures in "Unexpected Quit on
StartUp" (some of which I can't perform because I can't access
Word), I'm wondering if the error report (Error Reporting UUID:
3C17428C-12F7-11DC-A4FB-000502E19246) that's generated every time I
attempt to start Word and that is evidently sent to Microsoft (or more
likely to oblivion), if seen by an expert could indicate the exact
nature of the difficulty.

According to the error report "thread 0" has crashed and then there
are 66 entries that might mean something to a guru. Well, at least
there's no indication that "thread 1" crashed.The last error report
began:
" Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS
Date/Time: 2007-06-08 11:49:10 -0700"

Does anyone at Microsoft actually see the error reports? If so do they
take any action to correct the problem?

Richard Hake

Hi Richard -

Did you happen to download & apply the Apple Security Update 2007-005 "two
days ago"?

The first suggestion is to run Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions, which
may be all that's necessary to resolve the issue. This really should be done
both before [according to some sources] & after any OS X updates. If you
still have problems follow what's offered here pertaining to "Unexpected
Quit on StartUp":

http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html

If necessary to reapply the OS X 10.4.9 update make sure to download the
COMBO Updater from the Apple site.
--
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

I have posted a similar message on
<microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage>.

For the past two days when I have attempted to start Word I get
an error message:

"Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close. We
are sorry for the inconvenience.. . . . . Please tell Microsoft about
this problem. We have created an error report that you can send to
help us improve Microsoft Word."

After I send the error report and receive confirmation that it's been
sent, I am invited to "Restart Microsoft Word" but when I do, the
above error message appears. This cycle has now been repeated about
20 times over the past two days.

I'm using a Mac G3, 400MHz, PowerPC, with Mac OSX 10.4.9 and a cable
connection to the internet. I installed Microsoft Office 2004 with
Word and
Entourage about a year ago .

BTW, I'm having the same trouble with Microsoft Entourage. Both
Entourage
and Word were working perfectly until two days ago. My internet
connection and other programs are ok. There's been nothing unusual
occurring with my computer until Entourage and Word and Entourage
starting sending
error messages.

ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Hi Richard -

Did you happen to download & apply the Apple Security Update 2007-005 "two
days ago"?

The first suggestion is to run Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions, which
may be all that's necessary to resolve the issue. This really should be done
both before [according to some sources] & after any OS X updates. If you
still have problems follow what's offered here pertaining to "Unexpected
Quit on StartUp":

http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html

If necessary to reapply the OS X 10.4.9 update make sure to download the
COMBO Updater from the Apple site.
--
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

I have posted a similar message on
<microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage>.

For the past two days when I have attempted to start Word I get
an error message:

"Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close. We
are sorry for the inconvenience.. . . . . Please tell Microsoft about
this problem. We have created an error report that you can send to
help us improve Microsoft Word."

After I send the error report and receive confirmation that it's been
sent, I am invited to "Restart Microsoft Word" but when I do, the
above error message appears. This cycle has now been repeated about
20 times over the past two days.

I'm using a Mac G3, 400MHz, PowerPC, with Mac OSX 10.4.9 and a cable
connection to the internet. I installed Microsoft Office 2004 with
Word and
Entourage about a year ago .

BTW, I'm having the same trouble with Microsoft Entourage. Both
Entourage
and Word were working perfectly until two days ago. My internet
connection and other programs are ok. There's been nothing unusual
occurring with my computer until Entourage and Word and Entourage
starting sending
error messages.

ANY SUGGESTIONS?

 

[Richard]

CyberTaz and Elliot Roper,

Thanks for your suggestions of 8 June at <http://tinyurl.com/39vt28>.

CyberTaz wrote [bracketed by lines "CT-CT-CT-CT. . . . .":

CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT
Sorry there's no improvement, but I'm a bit confused by:

(some of which I can't perform because I can't access Word)

Word *shouldn't* be running be running when you do most of the things
indicated in those procedures. It would be most helpful if you'd
specify
what you _did_ do as opposed to exactly what you _didn't_ do... And
don't
get hung up on the error log. For the most part it simply documents
what
did/didn't happen & when, but usually gives no clear indication as to
*why*.
In addition to the insights from Elliott it may be worthwhile to run
Disk
Utility again, but click the Verify Disk button this time.
CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT

I think you're right that Word should not be running when most of the
procedures listed at <http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html> /
"Unexpected Quit on StartUp" are carried out.
However, one procedure that seems to require the running of Word is
"Test Preference Settings" at <http://word.mvps.org/mac/
DamagedPrefs.html> where the procedure is:

Quit all Office applications.
Navigate to your ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/ folder and drag the
file(s) in question to your desktop.
RELAUNCH Word. The file(s) will be recreated when you do so.
.......................................................
.......................................................

In any case, one procedure that I followed was "Check for add in
conflict at
<http://word.mvps.org/mac/Add-Ins.html>. There it is stated:

"Troubleshooting Procedure: Quit Word and open Word's Startup folder: /
Applications/Microsoft Office (X or 2004)/Office/Startup/Word. Drag
the contents to the Desktop. If the problem disappears, add them back
in one by one until you find the culprit."

I opened "Microsoft Office 2004" on my hard drive and then the
"Office Folder" to find the "Startup Folder," which contained folders
for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. I removed the Word folder to the
Desktop. That did not fix the problem.

The reason may be that the "Word Startup Folder" has nothing in it!
Also the Excel and PowerPoint startup folders have nothing in them. [I
should point out that both Excel and PowerPoint seem to work ok on my
machine.]

How is it possible for the startup folders to be empty??

I also followed your advice and ran Disk Utility/Verify Disk. I have
two hard disks on my machine. HD#1 contains MS Office 2004. Verify
Disk indicated that HD#1 was OK. However Verify Disk indicated that
HD#2 was NOT OK with this report:

"Verify and Repair disk "HD #2"
Checking HFS volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid extent entry
Incorrect block count for file
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking volume bitmap.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Repairing volume.
The volume HD #2 could not be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit"

However,since MS Office is not on HD#2, I would suppose that the
problems on that disk are not the cause of my failure to access Word
and Entourage.

Unless either of you have further suggestions, I'll plug along with
other procedures:

a. at <http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html> / "Unexpected Quit on
StartUp," and

b. as suggested by Elliot on 8 June at <http://tinyurl.com/39vt28>.

I apologize for all the bother I'm creating (or can I blame my machine
or the "Apple Security Update 2007-005"?). Speaking of the latter is
there some way that I can remove it?

BTW, I also posted on the counterpart of this problem for Entourage
at
<http://tinyurl.com/ypc3pg>. Diane Ross was kind enough to offer some
suggestions, but so far they do not seem to have solved the problem.
Richard Hake

 

[Elliott Roper]

Unless either of you have further suggestions, I'll plug along with
other procedures:

a. at <http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html> / "Unexpected Quit on
StartUp," and

b. as suggested by Elliot on 8 June at <http://tinyurl.com/39vt28>.

I apologize for all the bother I'm creating (or can I blame my machine
or the "Apple Security Update 2007-005"?). Speaking of the latter is
there some way that I can remove it?

With great difficulty. Go back to the CDs/DVDs that came with your
Tiger, with an archive and install, then selectively apply combo
updaters. Do back up all your important files safely first. I'll bet
all of London to a burnt match that it is not entirely your problem.
Mine's still fine with that update f'rinstance.
However, Diane's suggestion of a complete OS re-install is a possible
last ditch desperation solution. And it's the same procedure as backing
out of the security update almost.

Back at my original suggestion, since you have created a new user and
the problem persists, you can eliminate all of the fonts in your usual
user's Library/Fonts. They can't be causing it, unless Word's font
cache is even more brain-damaged than I suspect. And I suspect the
worst! Try disabling fonts only in /Library/Fonts if you want to
persevere with my bad font theory.

BTW, I also posted on the counterpart of this problem for Entourage
at
<http://tinyurl.com/ypc3pg>. Diane Ross was kind enough to offer some
suggestions, but so far they do not seem to have solved the problem.
Richard Hake

Do post back with a litany of what you tried and didn't work. With
enough ammo there are wiser people than I here who can narrow your
problem further.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Richard:

Don't apologise: You're the reason we're here Without you, our
loitering would be rather pointless and very suspicious.

If you haven't caught onto the problem by now, we need to know exactly what
you have done. The suggestions on the Troubleshooting page are actually a
procedure. Each step depends on the one before it.

If you skip and dance around in there, we may need you to repeat the whole
thing from the start, in sequence. However, I think you are now beyond
that. I think one ore more of your preference files has gotten itself out
of synch.

You could go on with trouble-shooting, but it will actually be quicker to do
a "Remove and Replace".

In your Microsoft Office 2004>Additional Tools folder there is an
application named Remove Office. Run that TWICE (to ensure that it found
all instances).

Then re-install from your CD and re-apply the latest updater from Microsoft.

The Remove Office tool will remove all the preference files. I suspect they
are the problem. Each Office application will rebuild its preference files
when it next runs.

That will take about ten minutes, and will probably cure the problem, even
if we don't know what it was

Cheers

CyberTaz and Elliot Roper,

Thanks for your suggestions of 8 June at <http://tinyurl.com/39vt28>.

CyberTaz wrote [bracketed by lines "CT-CT-CT-CT. . . . .":

CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT
Sorry there's no improvement, but I'm a bit confused by:

(some of which I can't perform because I can't access Word)

Word *shouldn't* be running be running when you do most of the things
indicated in those procedures. It would be most helpful if you'd
specify
what you _did_ do as opposed to exactly what you _didn't_ do... And
don't
get hung up on the error log. For the most part it simply documents
what
did/didn't happen & when, but usually gives no clear indication as to
*why*.
In addition to the insights from Elliott it may be worthwhile to run
Disk
Utility again, but click the Verify Disk button this time.
CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT

I think you're right that Word should not be running when most of the
procedures listed at <http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html> /
"Unexpected Quit on StartUp" are carried out.
However, one procedure that seems to require the running of Word is
"Test Preference Settings" at <http://word.mvps.org/mac/
DamagedPrefs.html> where the procedure is:

Quit all Office applications.
Navigate to your ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/ folder and drag the
file(s) in question to your desktop.
RELAUNCH Word. The file(s) will be recreated when you do so.
......................................................

......................................................


In any case, one procedure that I followed was "Check for add in
conflict at
<http://word.mvps.org/mac/Add-Ins.html>. There it is stated:

"Troubleshooting Procedure: Quit Word and open Word's Startup folder: /
Applications/Microsoft Office (X or 2004)/Office/Startup/Word. Drag
the contents to the Desktop. If the problem disappears, add them back
in one by one until you find the culprit."

I opened "Microsoft Office 2004" on my hard drive and then the
"Office Folder" to find the "Startup Folder," which contained folders
for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. I removed the Word folder to the
Desktop. That did not fix the problem.

The reason may be that the "Word Startup Folder" has nothing in it!
Also the Excel and PowerPoint startup folders have nothing in them. [I
should point out that both Excel and PowerPoint seem to work ok on my
machine.]

How is it possible for the startup folders to be empty??

I also followed your advice and ran Disk Utility/Verify Disk. I have
two hard disks on my machine. HD#1 contains MS Office 2004. Verify
Disk indicated that HD#1 was OK. However Verify Disk indicated that
HD#2 was NOT OK with this report:

"Verify and Repair disk "HD #2"
Checking HFS volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid extent entry
Incorrect block count for file
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking volume bitmap.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Repairing volume.
The volume HD #2 could not be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit"

However,since MS Office is not on HD#2, I would suppose that the
problems on that disk are not the cause of my failure to access Word
and Entourage.

Unless either of you have further suggestions, I'll plug along with
other procedures:

a. at <http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html> / "Unexpected Quit on
StartUp," and

b. as suggested by Elliot on 8 June at <http://tinyurl.com/39vt28>.

I apologize for all the bother I'm creating (or can I blame my machine
or the "Apple Security Update 2007-005"?). Speaking of the latter is
there some way that I can remove it?

BTW, I also posted on the counterpart of this problem for Entourage
at
<http://tinyurl.com/ypc3pg>. Diane Ross was kind enough to offer some
suggestions, but so far they do not seem to have solved the problem.
Richard Hake

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Richard -

John & Elliott have provided useful suggestion to continue with but I wanted
to clarify a few things:

1- Testing the preferences requires that Word *not* be running when you
remove the folder. The last step is to launch Word to see if it then starts
up OK. It will build a new preferences folder at that time.

2- The Start Up folders typically *should* be empty. They are provided as
places to put add-ins and other specific files *if* one chooses to do so. If
the folder is empty, then it isn't the source of an add-in conflict.

3- If HD#1 is your startup disk & is where your applications are installed
it's good that it got a clean bill of health. That's just one step in the
troubleshooting process. Once the current issue is resolved, however, I'd
suggest you continue to address the problem with HD#2 - It may be corrected
by running the Repair Disk utility a few more times or you may want to
invest in a program such as Disk Warrior.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

CyberTaz and Elliot Roper,

Thanks for your suggestions of 8 June at <http://tinyurl.com/39vt28>.

CyberTaz wrote [bracketed by lines "CT-CT-CT-CT. . . . .":

CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT
Sorry there's no improvement, but I'm a bit confused by:

(some of which I can't perform because I can't access Word)

Word *shouldn't* be running be running when you do most of the things
indicated in those procedures. It would be most helpful if you'd
specify
what you _did_ do as opposed to exactly what you _didn't_ do... And
don't
get hung up on the error log. For the most part it simply documents
what
did/didn't happen & when, but usually gives no clear indication as to
*why*.
In addition to the insights from Elliott it may be worthwhile to run
Disk
Utility again, but click the Verify Disk button this time.
CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT-CT

I think you're right that Word should not be running when most of the
procedures listed at <http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html> /
"Unexpected Quit on StartUp" are carried out.
However, one procedure that seems to require the running of Word is
"Test Preference Settings" at <http://word.mvps.org/mac/
DamagedPrefs.html> where the procedure is:

Quit all Office applications.
Navigate to your ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/ folder and drag the
file(s) in question to your desktop.
RELAUNCH Word. The file(s) will be recreated when you do so.
......................................................

......................................................


In any case, one procedure that I followed was "Check for add in
conflict at
<http://word.mvps.org/mac/Add-Ins.html>. There it is stated:

"Troubleshooting Procedure: Quit Word and open Word's Startup folder: /
Applications/Microsoft Office (X or 2004)/Office/Startup/Word. Drag
the contents to the Desktop. If the problem disappears, add them back
in one by one until you find the culprit."

I opened "Microsoft Office 2004" on my hard drive and then the
"Office Folder" to find the "Startup Folder," which contained folders
for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. I removed the Word folder to the
Desktop. That did not fix the problem.

The reason may be that the "Word Startup Folder" has nothing in it!
Also the Excel and PowerPoint startup folders have nothing in them. [I
should point out that both Excel and PowerPoint seem to work ok on my
machine.]

How is it possible for the startup folders to be empty??

I also followed your advice and ran Disk Utility/Verify Disk. I have
two hard disks on my machine. HD#1 contains MS Office 2004. Verify
Disk indicated that HD#1 was OK. However Verify Disk indicated that
HD#2 was NOT OK with this report:

"Verify and Repair disk "HD #2"
Checking HFS volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid extent entry
Incorrect block count for file
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking volume bitmap.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Repairing volume.
The volume HD #2 could not be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit"

However,since MS Office is not on HD#2, I would suppose that the
problems on that disk are not the cause of my failure to access Word
and Entourage.

Unless either of you have further suggestions, I'll plug along with
other procedures:

a. at <http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html> / "Unexpected Quit on
StartUp," and

b. as suggested by Elliot on 8 June at <http://tinyurl.com/39vt28>.

I apologize for all the bother I'm creating (or can I blame my machine
or the "Apple Security Update 2007-005"?). Speaking of the latter is
there some way that I can remove it?

BTW, I also posted on the counterpart of this problem for Entourage
at
<http://tinyurl.com/ypc3pg>. Diane Ross was kind enough to offer some
suggestions, but so far they do not seem to have solved the problem.
Richard Hake