Hi Peter,
Are you attempting to see how "Automated Safe Mode" works or are you
encountering a problem?
Many of the Office features are "self-healing". If Word doesn't find
an AutoCorrect list then it will create a new one and I believe it
will replace a corrupt AutoCorrect file depending on the extent of the
corruption. More often than when an *.acl file is corrupt you
encounter an error upon trying to use AutoCorrect - not as Word
starts.
Word will create a new Normal.dot if one isn't found but if Word
encounters a corrupt Normal.dot I have yet to hear of Word notifying
the user that it is corrupt and asks the user if it wants to create a
new one.
Nor have I heard of Word finding Registry corruption.
Now if it previously crashed due to an error in a global
template/add-in then it will ask if you want to disable it. However
these occurrences are few and far between.
I'd say the KB article is a plan of how Microsoft 'hopes' Word works,
or worked in a controlled environment, but in reality it just doesn't
work this way. Here's another KB article on how to troubleshoot
problems when Word 2002 has encountered an error:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;290929
Note the steps for creating the Reg keys, Normal.dot, and clearing the
Startup folders. <g>
Head over to word.application.errors some time and check out the slew
of posts for Word 2002 and the inability to start Word. More often
than not the problem is caused by a corrupt Normal.dot, Global
template/add-in, or Registry.
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Word FAQ:
http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine:
http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site:
http://mvps.org/