Word docs reluctant to open

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These last few days I have encountered prolonged delay in getting Word documents to open. On a few occasions when saving changes made to some Word doc then hitting the “Save” tab a pop-up message has appeared saying changes had been made to the basic template – do I want to save them- so not being aware that I have effected any such change I hit the NO button. As for making changes to the said template, I would not know where to start so am baffled why the message appears. Though infrequently, I have encountered this message in the past but have just ignored it. Could this have some bearing on the dreadful slowness of Word docs opening? Incidentally, this problem seems to have coincided with the appearing of the pop up message saying; “This copy of Microsoft Office is not genuine”. Could it possibly be the case that Microsoft is causing this infuriating delay. I followed the advice given by Hans (20 Sep post) but the changes made not difference. Is it possible to identify the update that Microsoft sent out which seems to be the cause of this gremlin and can it be deleted? One further little snipit of info that might indicate something : – Whilst I am waiting for a Word doc to open [& with the computer just ticking over] I have noticed that in the Task Manager the “Performance level” is showing as running at 100%. Going mad with this problem……. any help in solving this “Hair ripping” issue would be most appreciated. Regards Dave.

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Dave,

Take a trip over to the MS Genuine Advantage diagnostic site and see what’s up. Let us know what you find out and if they fix it or have a fix for you.

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/diag/

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Dave,

Take a trip over to the MS Genuine Advantage diagnostic site and see what’s up. Let us know what you find out and if they fix it or have a fix for you.

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/diag/

Thanks for responding so quick Doc. will certainly let you know if they help solve this diabolical problem. Seems I am not the only one to encounter it….. Thanks Dave.

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Thanks for responding so quick Doc. will certainly let you know if they help solve this diabolical problem. Seems I am not the only one to encounter it….. Thanks Dave.

…ps Just logged on to the URL you mentioned and the result of the scan is shown below……. hope this suggests something to you. Thanks a bunch Dave.

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Take a look here and here to see if there is a resolution for your problem.

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I moved this topic from the Windows XP forum to the General MS Office forum because it’s clearly a problem with Microsoft Office, not with Windows XP.

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I moved this topic from the Windows XP forum to the General MS Office forum because it’s clearly a problem with Microsoft Office, not with Windows XP.

Hi Doc…. I clicked the first link but could not make head not tail of the contents of the page so opened the second and followed the instruction. RESULT, as the screen shot shows all the elements get the green light but it has made absolutely no difference with the problem with WORD taking an eternity to both open and close. There is obviously a serious malfunction of the system that operates the WORD element of the package. Serious help still needed.

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Try Phil Rabichow’s [post=”197827″]Systematic Approach to behavioral Problems in Word[/post].

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Try Phil Rabichow’s [post=”197827″]Systematic Approach to behavioral Problems in Word[/post].

Thanks Hans…. tried that but I’m afraid it is way out of my depth. I have learned over my somewhat lengthy lifetime the poignant lesson; “If in doubt do (as we say in the north of England) NOWT” – (nothing for those refined in speech). I thought I would try to boot up in Safe Mode and see if that made any difference but to my dismay, Word docs remains lifeless when trying to both open & close them when they eventually do open. A friend suggested today that I try OpenOffice so I downloaded it and to my surprise when I clicked on OpenOffice.org Writer, a blank doc soon appeared on the screen. Not having even seen OpenOffice before I was totally unaware of how to use it so (experimenting) I clicked on the fifth option in the attached menu and found that (though a little slow) it does open Word docs that refuse to open in Word. SO, as a stop gap measure at least I can create Text docs but will not rest till I resolve the problem.
One further suggestion to try to resolve this matter, seeing I still have the MW 2000 disc, would it be prudent to uninstall the existing one and reinstall from the disc?
Pardon my bending the rules a little but can anyone tell me if it is possible to change the rulers in OpenOffice from millimeters to inches. Thanks for all the feed back, I accept that some I’ll win & some I’ll lose, especially with problems as complex as this one. Regards Dave.

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Pardon my bending the rules a little but can anyone tell me if it is possible to change the rulers in OpenOffice from millimeters to inches.

This article might help: Can I change the measurement units from centimeters to inches? – OpenOffice.org Wiki

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You might try uninstalling Word, but you’d have to make sure that all traces are gone before you reinstall it, otherwise the problem might remain. A program such as Revo Uninstaller Freeware can help with that.

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Has this copy of Office been installed on more than one machine, if so explain?

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Has this copy of Office been installed on more than one machine, if so explain?

Thanks gents…. one at a time…. “jscher” I achieved my goal by sifting through the sequence of clicks you proffered then noticed the last line said simply, “Right click on the ruler & make your selection”. simple….. “Hans” I will explore the Revo Uninstaller and – in light of being able to create text messages using OO- MIGHT attempt the uninstall. I suppose to install MW 2000 on the “C” drive necessitates uninstalling the old one first so, as an alternative, is it feasible to install it on the “D” drive and leave the original one alone, then if the problem remains the latter can be uninstalled? “DaveA” regarding your question, the disc I have to hand came with the first computer I ever had which was purchased NEW by my family for me in July 2000, the computer I am currently using I purchased second hand from a local shop having had the HD wiped and all the progs installed. Hope that clears up the background. Many thanks Dave.

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is it feasible to install it on the “D” drive and leave the original one alone

I wouldn’t do that – it is bound to cause problems.

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I wouldn’t do that – it is bound to cause problems.

Thanks Hans…. got more than enough problems to start with without running the risk of causing another. Will heed your advice. Cheers Dave.

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Since this copy came with the first machine, it could be a OEM type and is looking for the required hardware.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Since this copy came with the first machine, it could be a OEM type and is looking for the required hardware.

Hi Must clarify this point, the currently installed version of MO 2000 was installed by the shop owner when I bought the 2nd user computer after he wiped the HD clean due to some ongoing problem I was having after Nero 8 was installed. The computer, as I pointed out earlier- worked just fine till recently when some Microsoft update seems to have messed up the Word prog. I would very much like to get a new computer so don’t want to spend money on this old one, therefore with OpenOffice partially solving the problem I may just stay with it though it seems to lack some of the features of MO 2000. Thanks Dave.

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Hi Must clarify this point, the currently installed version of MO 2000 was installed by the shop owner when I bought the 2nd user computer

This is starting to sound like maybe the error message is correct, and that a recent update has enabled Microsoft to detect that this is an invalid copy of Office.

Did the shop owner provide you with a Certificate of Authenticity to go with your copy of Microsoft Office?

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Hi Must clarify this point, the currently installed version of MO 2000 was installed by the shop owner when I bought the 2nd user computer after he wiped the HD clean due to some ongoing problem I was having after Nero 8 was installed. The computer, as I pointed out earlier- worked just fine till recently when some Microsoft update seems to have messed up the Word prog. I would very much like to get a new computer so don’t want to spend money on this old one, therefore with OpenOffice partially solving the problem I may just stay with it though it seems to lack some of the features of MO 2000. Thanks Dave.

This is very strange. According to the Office Validation section at Genuine Microsoft Software Office 2000 does not need validation. Are you sure you don’t have a newer version of Office installed?

Joe

--Joe

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This is very strange. According to the Office Validation section at Genuine Microsoft Software Office 2000 does not need validation. Are you sure you don’t have a newer version of Office installed?

Joe

Hi gents….. the answer to the first question is simply NO, I was not given any documentation re: certificate of authenticity etc. but more than once since having the HD wiped and reloaded as mentioned earlier, a Genuine Advantage Validation message has appeared on screen and the system passed the scrutiny as being authentic. As for what version of WORD I am running, the screen shot verifies it to be 2000. Does that suffice any questions that may still prevail about the inner working of my M/C?
Hope it does Regards Dave.

ps SORRY, I just realised I failed to attach the screen shot verifying the version of WORD is 2000. Knowing so little about the inner workings of these things I am therefore somewhat puzzled as to how -second from the top of the list – it shows Microsoft Professional Edition 2003. In my vagueness I assumed the latter would have Word 2003 as part of the package! Is this assumption correct or am I sadly mistaken? DD…..thanks for your patience chaps.

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the screen shot verifies it to be 2000

Which screenshot?

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Which screenshot?

Sorry Hans. Realising I had forgotten to attach the screen shot in post 20 I subsequently did so by editing it, on second thoughts I suppose I should have submitted another post with it on. The water seems to get more muddy by the hour as I have just done some probing and discovered there are two version of WORD installed. NOT MY DOING I can assure you.
The first is that of 2000 and is located in : – C:Prog FilesMicrosoft Office Office ofread9 txt.
The second 2003 is in : – CProg FilesMicrosft OfficeOFFICE111033OFREADME.HTM
When I traced the first one to it’s source & tried to open it, it opened a blank type screen but without tool bars etc. & with “Not Responding” at the top of the screen.
Conclusion…… even the 2003 version which opens when I right click the desktop and choose, “New” is painfully slow to open.
I also noticed that whilst waiting patiently for a Word doc to close. the performance rate in Task Manager is showing at 100%!!!!! Totally frustrated gents…..Regards Dave.

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Sorry Hans. Realising I had forgotten to attach the screen shot in post 20 I subsequently did so by editing it, on second thoughts I suppose I should have submitted another post with it on. The water seems to get more muddy by the hour as I have just done some probing and discovered there are two version of WORD installed. NOT MY DOING I can assure you.
The first is that of 2000 and is located in : – C:Prog FilesMicrosoft Office Office ofread9 txt.
The second 2003 is in : – CProg FilesMicrosft OfficeOFFICE111033OFREADME.HTM
When I traced the first one to it’s source & tried to open it, it opened a blank type screen but without tool bars etc. & with “Not Responding” at the top of the screen.
Conclusion…… even the 2003 version which opens when I right click the desktop and choose, “New” is painfully slow to open.
I also noticed that whilst waiting patiently for a Word doc to close. the performance rate in Task Manager is showing at 100%!!!!! Totally frustrated gents…..Regards Dave.

How many versions of Office do you have installed? And which versions?

Joe

--Joe

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So you have Word 2000 but it doesn’t work, and you have Office 2003 including Word 2003.

Office 2003 is a version that requires validation, so my guess would be that the warnings you get about Office Genuine Advantage are for Office 2003. Do you have a legal CD for Office 2003?

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So you have Word 2000 but it doesn’t work, and you have Office 2003 including Word 2003.

Office 2003 is a version that requires validation, so my guess would be that the warnings you get about Office Genuine Advantage are for Office 2003. Do you have a legal CD for Office 2003?

Hi again….sorry this is turning into a rather prolonged thread, regarding having a legal disc for Office 2003, No but I have been assured all along that the shop owner has a list of licenses seeing he actually builds units on site so I never questioned his integrity. Using Revo Uninstaller I ventured to delete Word 2000 and more than once got prompts indicating the 2000 disc needed to inserted but I just deleted the prompts and eventually it did uninstall Word 2000. However, when it came to Revo cleaning out the registry the list seems endless [over 20.000 remnants] so I left well alone and ignored them. I suspect they will be some sort of drag to the M/C but as the registry for me has a NO GO sign over it I stay completely out of the way. I learned early on in life that “A little knowledge can be dangerous” or in this case, very inconvenient and expensive. Looks like I will either have to go back to the shop about this incumberment or put up with the delay opening existing Word docs with OpenOffice. Thanks Dave.

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For the moment, using OpenOffice is probably your best bet.

If you want to get the MS Office problems fixed, you’ll have to take your PC back to the shop since you don’t have the Office CD yourself.

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For the moment, using OpenOffice is probably your best bet.

If you want to get the MS Office problems fixed, you’ll have to take your PC back to the shop since you don’t have the Office CD yourself.

Thanks to all who have chipped in with advice….. over and out Dave.

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