Old lady finding September 7 updates messed up Word and Outlook!

[cdelune]

Yesterday my computer told me it had updates to install, I agreed to them,
being they were from Microsoft, and no, I didn't read the whole consent form.
Today when I opened Outlook to write an email, it told me it couldn't use
Word any more to format an email because it wasn't a compatible version with
Outlook--huh? When I went to My Documents, all the documents are in rather
faded out-looking icons that definitely look different from the way they were
before the updates. When I opened Word it also looked different--when I
checked I found it is now Word 2002 SP3. I had Word 2003 as part of the
Office 2003 suite installed! What the heck happened?

Should I try to uninstall the updates (no idea how!); do I restore the
system to prior to the updates? (Don't know how!) Should I reinstall Word
2003 or the whole Office suite?

This is freaking me out because I am just about to do a final edit on my
dissertation for final approval and if it's approved, to print it. I can't
afford weirdness on my computer right now and have no clue how to get Word
back the way it was--I'm afraid to mess with the computer because my
experience has been that it always has nasty repercussions (even when Make It
Work doing it!!)

Please help!

Thank you.

cdelune

 

[Clive Huggan]

Ah, the tribulations of Windows!

Sorry to hear about your problem...

'Fraid you've landed in a discussion group for users of Mac versions of Word
(not your fault: it's a charming foible of MS's "discussions" web interface,
which I see you used). Mac versions differ variously from PC versions.
Although several people here use both PCs and Macs and may give you an
answer soon, it's likely that more people in a PC group have experienced
your specific problem. Here's where all the groups are listed:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/FlyoutOverview.mspx

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[cdelune]

Thank you, Clive for the heads-up. I have taken my problem over to a Word
group.

cdelune