Old Lady Installs September 7 Updates: Outlook and Word now Gibble

[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 icons are kind of faded out and
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

 

[Graham Mayor]

Frankly I don't know of any mechanism whereby a working installation of Word
2003 could be 'updated' to Word 2002 sp3.
Did you have both versions installed at some time? Are they still both
installed?
Can you start Word 2003 (winword.exe) from the folder C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11
Is there still a folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE10
containing winword.exe (Word 2002)
If so, you need to uninstall Word/Office 2002 and repair Office 2003 ideally
from the CD.
You can then allow Office 2003 to update to SP3 is it has not already done
so..
--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[cdelune]

Graham,

I don't know of such a mechanism, either, but it happened. When I tried to
start Winword.exe it said it was missing a file. I put in the CD and then the
icons in the word folders looked normal, as they had before. However, when I
reopened a Word document, it was still Word 2002 SP3. You say to repair
Office 2003 from the CD but it doesn't show anything about how to do that.
When I put in the CD I didn't get any kind of menu to do something and when I
opened what was in the D drive I just see folders, nothing that says how to
repair Word.

Could you be a bit more specific about how to fix Word 2003? I don't know
how to do it from the CD.

Thank you.

cdelune

 

[cdelune]

Oops! Okay, with the CD still in the drive I tried Winword.exe again and
Word 2003 opened up. I don't know if this means it's repaired, or if I have
to have the CD in the drive, at this point, but I do have Word 2003 back,
which is comforting!

I tried taking out the CD, and then reopened Word, but it was Word 2002
again. So right now 2003 is only working when the CD is in the drive. I guess
until I know how to repair it, I'm stuck and frankly, I'm not prepared to
uninstall Word 2002 until I am sure that Word 2003 is working properly.

Any thoughts?

cdelune

 

[Graham Mayor]

The Office 2003 CD should autorun to allow you to install Office when you
insert it in the drive. If it doesn't run setup from that disc. You will
then be given an option to reinstall of repair. Repair!
Office 2002 and 2003 share some rehistry entries which can make running them
both on the same PC problematic - see
http://www.gmayor.com/Toolbars_in_word_2007.htm for the registry details.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[cdelune]

Graham,

Last time I inserted the CD nothing came up on the screen. How do I "run
setup from the disc"?

Incidentally, when I searched for the Office 10 folder I did NOT see
Winword.exe in there.

Claire

 

[cdelune]

Graham,

I just wanted to let you know that all is well. Last night when I shut down
the computer it was installing updates again. Today when I booted up Outlook
was using Word 2003 and when I opened a Word doc it was also 2003. Since I
didn't, as far as I know, actually click on anything at all (didn't get any
prompts) when the CD was in the drive, I'll have to assume that perhaps the
updates didn't install properly the first time or whatever, and last night's
updates appear to have solved the problem--hallelujah!

Thank you for your time and attention to my problem. It was much appreciated.

cdelune