Virus damage to Winword.exe, patch file to repair, delete missing or damaged

[Artful_Dodger via OfficeKB.com]

I've recently been hit by a virus that attached to Winword.exe, which has now
been quarantined by my Trend Micro virus program. (Trend says it can't be
cleaned, so I daren't restore it.) Word 2003 is part of Office 2003 and I
have the original installation CD.

When I try either the "repair" or "delete" option under Add/Delete Programs I
get a message to the effect that the patch file can't be found so I've been
frustrated in my attempts to repair or (probably better) uninstall Word (or
all of Office if I have to?) and reinstall.

I've had Windows XP since I bought my desktop about 4 years ago or so and the
prospect of making a clean reinstall of XP doesn't perturb me a whole lot
since starting with a clean system might be nice and faster.

THE QUESTION: However, since that does entail a lot of work and expediency
has its appeal too, can anyone suggest how to go about dealing with the Word
problem for now, please?

This might show that the virus damage was limited only to Word and save me
the hassle of a reinstall. My system as is is certainly not slow or
otherwise unreliable. (I do have a maddening appearance of a Windows
Installer or OmnipageSE popup when I try to copy, move, or delete files but
this hasn't been a serious threat to my sanity so far . . . . So far.)

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

 

[Artful_Dodger via OfficeKB.com]

I forgot to mention that the virus or viruses also attacked my system restore
files, which were accordingly quarantined and uncleanable by Trend Micro. I
couldn't restore to an earlier happier time and even the two surviving
restore points were only to yesterday and the day before and that latter
restore option failed when I tried it.

A third party diagnotic TuneUp also could not restore to any earlier time as
it appears to piggy back on the O/S restore points.

Also, I attempted to use Windows Update to download the Windows Malcicious
Software Removal Tool but I've been able lauch Update.

Two additional reasons to think that the virus damage was more extensive than
I thought.

Btw, the two likely sources of infection are

1. Sites (astronomy) to which I was sorta kinda directed after I installed
Firefox 3.0 and an addon called "StumbleUpon."

2. Clicking on an ecard ostensibly sent by a friend. The salutation to me
used a nickname used by my well wishing friend that WOULDN'T have appeared in
her email address book, so a real live friend probably sent me the card, but
she may not have known that the site was a bad one.

Don't know for sure, and I'm sure this is more than anyone wants to know
about viruses and sources of attack. (For some reason, Trend didn't detect
anything as it came down the pipe but I fortunately ran a scan soon after I
notice some odd behavior and then it did. It's otherwise been a good virus
pgm.)