Word 2002 crashes when saving document

[rod.S.]

When I open a session in word 2002 the first time I go to
save the document I am working on of click "save as" it
crashes.
Subsequently if I re-open Word & then create & save it
works fine.
At the moment every time I wnat to use word I have to
open it, go to save as, let it crash & then re-open it to
keep working.
Any suggestions? It's driving me nuts.