Word 2003 has messed up my system

[GB]

Hi I have Word 97 installed on my system. Recently, I needed to install
Office 2003 as well, as I received some docs that were not compatible with
Word 97. I installed Word 2003 and told the installer I wanted to keep my
old installation as well.

Unfortunately, Word 2003 has now been made the default programme for opening
all .doc files, and for some reason I cannot change it back again.
(Right-click the file type and select open with, always opens with word 2003
even if I select the old programme. This is in Windows XP Home.) Any ideas
for how to tame this?

I need to have both versions on the PC, but my preferred version is Word 97
as it does everything I need and is much faster.

 

[GB]

I just came across this:
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-901758.php

Please tell me it can't be as bad as it says!

 

[Terry Farrell]

That's a fair assessment though Word 2003 and Word 2007 may coexist happily,
follow this link for that solution: http://pschmid.net/blog/2007/04/20/110

These days rather than installing multiple versions of Windows in separate
partitions, you can run Virtual PC.

However, if you only need to read the Word 2003 documents, download the Word
Viewer instead.

Though Word2003 was probably the best and most stable of all versions which
in Windows XP was extremely stable and as it can do everything Word97 could
do but better, I am not sure why you want to keep Word 97?

 

[Jay Freedman]

I just came across this:
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-901758.php

Please tell me it can't be as bad as it says!

Well... it can be that bad.

There is a registry fix for running side-by-side copies of two different
versions of Word, but we don't know whether it works for Word 97 (our
sources say it works at least as far back as Word 2000; I don't have 97
handy to test it).

Here are a couple of articles that describe how to set it up:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=762
http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/?s=norereg

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[GB]

Well... it can be that bad.

There is a registry fix for running side-by-side copies of two different
versions of Word, but we don't know whether it works for Word 97 (our
sources say it works at least as far back as Word 2000; I don't have 97
handy to test it).

Here are a couple of articles that describe how to set it up:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=762
http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/?s=norereg

Thanks very much for the prompt response. I'll have a look at those later
this evening.

One of the reasons why Word 2003 is so slow loading (apart from this being a
fairly slow machine) is that Word runs a virus scan every time it's loaded.
I already run AVG. Can I turn off the Word virus scan?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

There is no built-in virus-scanning ability in any version of Word. That is
coming from your AV app (AVG in this case) and must be disabled there.

 

[GB]

Well... it can be that bad.

There is a registry fix for running side-by-side copies of two different
versions of Word, but we don't know whether it works for Word 97 (our
sources say it works at least as far back as Word 2000; I don't have 97
handy to test it).

Here are a couple of articles that describe how to set it up:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=762
http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/?s=norereg

Thanks. I followed that procedure carefully. The result is that I no longer
see the installer when I start word 2003, which is a blessing, so thank you
for that.

I can right-click a doc file and send it to either version of word, so that
works.

However, I still cannot make word 97 the default program for opening .doc
files. If I right-click on the file and select open with word 97, word 2003
opens up instead.

 

[GB]

There is no built-in virus-scanning ability in any version of Word. That
is coming from your AV app (AVG in this case) and must be disabled there.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Ok, thanks. I wonder why I get the virus scanning message only when word
2003 is opening?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Because Word 97 did not have the capability to allow AV programs to work
within it.

 

[GB]

Because Word 97 did not have the capability to allow AV programs to work
within it.

Ah, so how do I disable that capability within Word 2003?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

As previously stated, you don't do anything in Word; you do it in your AV
app. In Norton AntiVirus, for example, you disable the plug-in this way:

1. Open Norton AntiVirus (right-click on the Systray icon and choose this
option).

2. Click on the Options button at the top of the dialog.

3. In the Options dialog, click on Miscellaneous (menu on the left)

4. Clear the check box for "Enable Office Plug-in."

5. OK out and close NAV.

You'll have to figure out the correct way to do it in AVG.

 

[GB]

If I run winword.exe /a it starts up almost instantaneously without the
virus scan message. Also, completely disabling the AVG resident shield has
no effect on the virus scan.

I have made a shortcut to "(full path)\winword.exe" /a This brings up word
2003 really quickly. If I use the standard shortcut, I get about 5 seconds
of the word 2003 splash screen and about 5 seconds of virus scanning. (It's
a slow PC.) If I use my new shortcut, word loads pretty much instantly. Do
you think I am missing out on anything important by adding the /a option? I
have checked the tools... add-in options, and I am not running any add-ins,
or at least I have none of the boxes ticked.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Yes. If you run Word in Safe Mode, it won't remember any of your settings
(such as font, paper size, customisations, macros, anything that isn't
default out-of-the-box Word setting). If you have a slow PC and it is only
taking 10 seconds to open, then that isn't too long.

But other factors that will delay launch are a poor or out-of-date printer
driver. Make sure you have the latest printer driver for you machine and OS
and then delete and reinstall the printer.

But you need to get rid of that virus scan on startup. It should not be
there. Have you ever had Norton AV installed - even as a free trial at
sometime?

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

AVG's website provides instructions on how to disable their Office plugin.

 

[GB]

Ah, light is beginning to dawn. Thank you guys (and guyesses). It does
indeed look like there is a hidden office plugin for AVG. I will investigate
and report back as AVG is a widely used virus scanner, and there are lots of
hits for this problem on Google, so this may be useful for others once I
crack it.