MS Word in the Vista OS environment

[Woodbear99]

I am having all sorts of trouble trying to open my MS Word files that were
created in my old computer with WinXP and from an Office 2003 application.
Dell gave me MS Works to go with my Inspiron 530 p/c that has Vista OS (much
to my chagrin) and Works doesn't even begin to match the capabilities of
Word...at least as far as I have been able to use it. I have tried
installing WinWord from my old computer files and I get the message: 'The
operating system is not presently configured to run this application'. I
tried installing the trial version of Office 2007 and I get messages 'that an
error was encountered during installation' and it aborts. I am overwhelmed
and don't know which way to go next. The MS Word user-created files are
invaluable records to me and can't be duplicated without considerable effort.
What will it take, what application, to be able to open those files in the
Vista environment? I am about to give up and go back to the old limited
(40GB) computer with its WinXP OS and a working Office 2003. HELP!

 

[macropod]

Hi Woodbear99,

You can't simply copy the Word program files from one computer to another - you have to go through the install process, using the
original CDs. Word versions 2000-2007 all work with XP so, if you've got anything from that period (you mention Word 2003), it
should install OK. Remove the program files you copied across first, though.