Office Upgrade to MS Office 2000 Pro

[Puzzled in need of help]

Outlook Express on my Win 98 had been a bit bumpy anyway,
somtimes locking up etc, even after upgrading to IE
Service Pack 6 (with Outlook Express 6).
My system also had an upgrade to MS Office 2000 standard,
from the Office that came with Win98. A few months back,
an Outlook MVP advised me that this was a problematic
upgrade. So the other the day I uninstalled Office 2000
and installed MS Office 2000 Pro. Since then the PC has
been very unhappy. Any attempt to open an email in
Outlook Express comes with the Illegal Operation, program
shut down message. It does this every time. Outlook isnt
working right either. Also shuts down. Cant open address
book and some Word docs have become read only. Does
anyone have any idea how to resolve this? Ive tried the
repair in IE Service Pack to no avail. The only thing I
didnt do before installing MS Office Pro, was uninstall
Outlook 2002, which had come bundled with Ipaq Pocket PC
software. I could sure do with some ideas for getting OE
and Outlook working again. tks in advance.

 

[Don MI]

Outlook Express on my Win 98 had been a bit bumpy anyway,
somtimes locking up etc, even after upgrading to IE
Service Pack 6 (with Outlook Express 6).

Ok, so?

My system also had an upgrade to MS Office 2000 standard,
from the Office that came with Win98.

Office version may have come with your computer but it did not come with
Windows 98.

A few months back,
an Outlook MVP advised me that this was a problematic
upgrade. So the other the day I uninstalled Office 2000
and installed MS Office 2000 Pro.

The only difference between Office 2000 {whatever perhaps Standard} and
Office 2000 Professional is the applications installed. I have no idea why
an Outlook MVP advised you that Office 2000 was a problematic upgade with
Windows 98. They are compatible. Perhaps there is another reason you are
not stating.

Since then the PC has
been very unhappy.

Always nice to have happy PC. Did you get any error message or other
indications of your PC's depression?

Any attempt to open an email in
Outlook Express comes with the Illegal Operation, program
shut down message. It does this every time. Outlook isnt
working right either. Also shuts down. Cant open address
book and some Word docs have become read only. Does
anyone have any idea how to resolve this? Ive tried the
repair in IE Service Pack to no avail. The only thing I
didnt do before installing MS Office Pro, was uninstall
Outlook 2002, which had come bundled with Ipaq Pocket PC
software. I could sure do with some ideas for getting OE
and Outlook working again. tks in advance.

Different versions of Outlook tend not to like each other. Uninstall one of
the Outlook versions. Not sure which one, IMO I would uninstall Outlook
2002. While Outlook 2002 is better than Outlook 2000, the rest of your
Office is 2000 level. Then I would do a repair of IE and Office.

Don

 

[still puzzled]

Don thanks for the reply.

Your right the office version just came with the computer.
the upgrade to 2000 standard was purchased when the
computer was upgraded, as i recall.
Now I dont want to digress too much, but the MVP who
advised me about the problems of the IMO upgrade was I
believe called Russ Valentine. He was very helpful and
supportive but had to give up eventually because I wasnt
up to editing the registry (though i did it) and messing
around with Outlook Identities and Address books.
What had happened then was that when we installeed Outlook
2002 (which came with Pocket Pc 2003) it wiped out the
Share Address book facility, which the MVP said was unique
to the IMO upgrade. It also removed the ability to address
envelopes as the addresses had vanished from Word. It was
during this that he advised that this upgrade was not
really very satisfactory. Ill dig out the email for you if
you like. (We ended up emailing rather than posting and I
was really grateful for the time he devoted)

Anyway ive now tried installing MS 2000 Pro. Perhaps I
should have uninstalled the original Office 97 (or 8) as
well as the 2000 standard?
I shall try uninstalling the whole thing, including
Outlook 2003 and just reinstalling 2000 Pro. If I do, and
it works better, should I then reinstall the Outlook 2003?
or will that fight the Outlook 2002?

Appreciate your help.

 

[Don MI]

Don thanks for the reply.

Your right the office version just came with the computer.
the upgrade to 2000 standard was purchased when the
computer was upgraded, as i recall.
Now I dont want to digress too much, but the MVP who
advised me about the problems of the IMO upgrade was I
believe called Russ Valentine. He was very helpful and
supportive but had to give up eventually because I wasnt
up to editing the registry (though i did it) and messing
around with Outlook Identities and Address books.
What had happened then was that when we installeed Outlook
2002 (which came with Pocket Pc 2003) it wiped out the
Share Address book facility, which the MVP said was unique
to the IMO upgrade. It also removed the ability to address
envelopes as the addresses had vanished from Word. It was
during this that he advised that this upgrade was not
really very satisfactory. Ill dig out the email for you if
you like. (We ended up emailing rather than posting and I
was really grateful for the time he devoted)

Anyway ive now tried installing MS 2000 Pro. Perhaps I
should have uninstalled the original Office 97 (or 8) as
well as the 2000 standard?
I shall try uninstalling the whole thing, including
Outlook 2003 and just reinstalling 2000 Pro. If I do, and
it works better, should I then reinstall the Outlook 2003?
or will that fight the Outlook 2002?

Appreciate your help.

The point that I was trying to make is that except for applications specific
files {such as those for Access}, the Office 2000 files installed by Office
2000 Standard and Office 2000 Professional are identical. Thus any
incompatible in one edition would also be in the other. I expect that the
MVP that was helping you was correct, but it appears your problems is other
than which Office 2000 edition.

I suspect your best approach now, as you suggested, is to uninstall
everything and install the upgrade version of Office 2000 Professional. You
will need your Office 97 CD to insert in the drive when asked for a
qualifying product. Just point to the Office 97 CD and the installation
will continue. You do not need to install Office 97.

Then check that everything is working better.

General comments on these newsgroups is that two version of Outlook are not
compatible when installed at the same time.

You could choose to live with Outlook 2000. I that works for you, I would
follow the "If it is not broken, don't fix it" rule.
If you desire to install a later version of Outlook, first run Office 2000
setup again and uninstall Outlook 2000. If I recall correctly, when you run
Office 2000 setup again you will get several choices one of which is
Add/Remove Components. Choose that one {or one that is similar} and go to
Outlook. If you choose Not Available for Outlook, it will uninstall.

Then install the later version of Outlook.

When you go to Office Update, you should get updates for Office 2000. You
will also get updates for the later version of Outlook your installed and
for the version of Office {XP or 2003} that included the version of Outlook
you installed. You should install both the Outlook and Office updates.
Even though you do not have the later version of Office, Office XP for
example, the Office updates include updates of the version of Outlook you
are using. When you do so, only the portion of the Office update that
applies to your version of Outlook will be installed. I suspect the above
is confusing which is why I suggest that it less confusing to keep Outlook
2000.

There may be some reason your Pocket PC requires a later version of Outlook
that Outlook 2000. If so, you have not choice but to install the later
version.

Hopefully someone will point out any errors I have made.

Don

 

[slightly less puzzled]

thank you for all that. I dont quite see why when
reinstalling Office 2000 Pro, I will need to refer to
Office 97 when asked for a qualifying product or whatever.
The Office 2000 pro is a complete system, not just an
upgrade, so I'd have thought it would be a clean install.
In the meantime, another good samaritan has told me I
should completely uninstall IE Explorer 6 and Service
Pack, (And Outlook Express 6) and re download it from the
Microsoft. Would you disagree with that? I dont want to do
it unless necessary. But it may be what the pc needs.

 

[Don MI]

Sorry, I misread your post. Office 2000 Professional {none upgrade} does
not need a qualifying product. The upgrade and full product are identical
except for the installer requiring a qualifying product for the upgrade
version.

No opinion on uninstalling Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. However,
Outlook does use some Outlook Express files. IMO, I would first try not
uninstalling. If you decide to uninstall, you may want to read:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;293907

Don

 

[Even more puzzled]

Thanks Don. I did read the article and here's the
depressing story of what's happened today.

The evidence is that MS Office 2000 Pro is corrupting OE
for whatever reason.
I uninstalled Outlook 2002 (in case of a conflict with the
OUtlook version bundled with Office 2000 Pro). Before
uninstalling anything else, I tried creating a new email
in OE. It said it couldnt locate address book. It then
gave another error message and said OE needed to be
reinstalled.
I uninstalled OE and IE6, restoring to a previous version
(IE5). I then ran OE5 but it had exactly the same problem
as OE6 and I was again advised to reinstall it. This time
I went further and uninstalled MS Office 2000 Pro. After
this OE was fine, but the Address Book contents were all
but wiped out (only 4 entries). I reinstalled IE6 (by
downloading from the MS website). Again OE6 worked fine,
but no address book. (Also Computer not shutting down
properly, and kept hanging). With OE creating new emails
again perfectly well, I decided to reinstall Office 2000
Pro again. This was a bumpy install, requiring several
attempts, and afterwards OE had the initial faul - error
messages etc - back again. So I thnk Im going to have to
abandon Office 2000 Pro? I am now attempting to use Go
Back to get PC back to a pre-Office 2000 state - and
hopefully rediscover the Address Book.

 

[Puzzled but pleased]

Don,

I dont know if you're still reading this thread.
Just before I gave up on 2000 Pro, I did a couple of
things and made progress.
Several times I tried a clean install but it kept locking
up requiring a power off, reboot etc.
Once when it finished, I tried opening Outlook and it
said files were missing. I tried another clean install
and it still said files were missing. So as I final act I
hit Repair. This time when I opened Outlook it all opened
fine. Everything was there, including my Contacts. Even
better Outlook Express also worked fine and I was
delighted to see that the Share Contacts option was still
available on Pro 2000 so I call my addresses back in
Address Book. I understood from the Outlook MVP that the
Share Contacts facility was only available on the Office
IMO upgrade and had since been done away with? Is it
still available on later versions of Office. I think it
is a great feature.
Anyway, all seems to be working. I dont feel great about
the way I got it working. But if it works...
One slight hangover. The pc has a tendency to hang when
trying to close down. Im not sure if this a consistent
problem. If it is any suggestions?