An XP Home Edition computer bought new 3 years ago came bundled w/Office 2003. Lately, Windows Installer has been inferfering with Excel, Word, and My Documents.* The computer in question is 2,000 miles away from me! (My daughter's computer) I have been trying to troubleshoot her problems with her over the phone. This is an incredibly tedious process that keeps leading us nowhere since she did not receive the Office installation CDs with the computer (and the solutions I find invariably involve using the CD). She is pressed for time -- must work with important files created in Office 2003 this weekend for a professional trade show starting on Monday. I advised this workaround: Buy Office 2007 Standard Full Version at her local retailer tonight, do NOT buy the upgrade, uninstall Office 2003, and install Office 2007 Standard. Is this the advice Forum Experts here would also give her? Anything in particular that she should watch for if she does this? Will her data created in Office 2003 (including her Outlook msgs and contacts) remain even when she uninstalls Office 2003? (I've always thought so but I want to ask anyway.) What about the fact that Excel has a new file format and all these programs have changes in them? Are these changes in 2007 going to prevent her from making use of her 2003-version files right away w/o having to learn an entirely new way of doing things? *The original problem has to do with the Windows Installer starting each time she clicks to open a file in My Documents. The Installer also starts when she clicks the Desktop icons to open Word and Excel but, after a delay, these programs DO open; however, the files inside of My Documents still do not open even when clicking File/Open from within these programs. Time is of the essence before she buys a $399 Office 2007 product tonight. Any insights would be much appreciated.
