The service packs are updates to programs to fix bugs and to extend their
capabilities. Often service packs install functions that are needed by
newer operating systems. It is likely that without any service packs, Word
97 will crash a lot on Windows XP -- it was designed for Windows NT 3.5.1
The version of the program on the disk is the original shipped version,
without any updates.
In the case of Word 97, I recall that there are six service packs that were
issued until they finally got enough of the bugs out of it to make it
useable. Word 97 was the first version of "32 bit" Word, and as such had a
huge number of problems. It has never been reliable.
Word consists of more than 100 separate pieces of program. If you
re-install it, you can overwrite the updated parts that have had service
packs applied to them with versions that are still in the original state.
You then need to re-apply the service packs or you can get a mixture of old
and new versions that won't work together, leading to crashes.
It may be that Windows picked up an update that won't work with one of the
Word 97 modules. A large percentage (as much as 80 per cent) of the time
when you are working in Word, the code that is actually running is part of
Windows: Word makes extensive use of Windows components to do its work.
The other thing that may have changed on December 23 is that you got a virus
or a document corruption, and chances are it's in your Normal template,
which is why I suggest that you eliminate all copies of that file.
There are several things that happen during the first 20 seconds after Word
opens: loading the Normal template is the first of them. The other thing it
does that can cause problems is that it loads up all the fonts. Fonts are
unlikely to cause trouble on Windows. So my guess is that either you have a
missing service pack, or there's something wrong with your Normal template.
Don't worry about getting your question in the wrong group. The Web
Interface is extraordinarily badly designed. We've been complaining about
it for at least two years now, but they haven't fixed it yet. You might
like to try the Google version instead of the Microsoft one: it's a far
better design and makes it much easier to get your queries into the correct
group and to find your answers later.
Cheers
Thankyou for your response. I'm afraid I dont understand why I need the
service packs - what service packs? Word 97 was working quite happily with XP
until about 23 December, and then the trouble began.
I'll search for these service packs, and I'll also try your tip on Normal.dot.
Happy new year - and to Cybertaz who also responded
--
Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie <
[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410
