Problem with Word

[Osc]

When typing letters and other documents, I use Microsoft Word Starter 2010 which is what was installed on my laptop when I got it almost three years ago. I have lots of different things saved in various files as you can imagine. However, since yesterday anytime I have tried to open any of these documents, I get a message telling me that the Microsoft Office Product I need to open the document is not installed on my computer and offering me various Office products, none of which I need or want. Therefore I have been opening them by selecting Wordpad. Any ideas? This is a screenprint of the message I get - I've tried to open documents dating back a few years with the same result.

[Workingman]

Rosie, I do not know why this happens as MS Office 2010 Starter products are supposed to be time unlimited, but.....

Try Control Panel>>>Programs and Features>>>Find the MS Office/Word 2010 Starter entry and right click on it. From the pop-up select Change and in the new window choose Repair.

[Osc]

Thanks Frank - I tried that as you suggested, but it didn't make any difference - although should I then have restarted? What I have done for the moment is select Wordpad as the default programme to open the documents, and hope that they will still print ok for me whenever I need to print anything.

[Aggers]

I had problems with Word starter some time ago, so I installed Libreoffice, as suggested by Workingman.
It is very good, I am very pleased with it and have I had no problems. You can download it free.

This is it.....

http://www.libreoffice.org/

[Diflower]

Osc it should be fine, so yes restart; if that doesn't do it, then have you tried microsoft help?
Or literally google the exact problem and see what comes up, that's how I've fixed most things.

[Osc]

Mmmmm - thanks for the advice everyone. Googling/looking on MS forum seems to conclude that not too much works beyond uninstalling/reinstalling and that won't necessarily work either. It was preinstalled on my laptop as it is on many others and although it is supposed to be time unlimited, that doesn't seem to be true. Aggers, that's a good idea about Libreoffice, might have a good look at doing that. I basically don't need any bells and whistles, just a straightforward programme for doing letters and other documents and saving them.

[Workingman]

Rosie, take a look at this: http://www.freeoffice.com/ It reads/writes .doc .docx. .xls and .xlsx for all your letters and spreadsheets. I got it as a free version in 2007 and was so impressed I bought the (now free) 2010 version.

I am pretty sure that MS auto updates break some things. XP Sp3 was a monster for resettting things as MS thought they should be and in the process 'broke' loads of software - and some hardware - which then needed to be updated to work with Sp3.

If MS Word Starter was preinstalled it should have an installation package, probably in a manufacturer's hidden HDD partition. This can usually be accessed from the computer's eRecovery system or similar.

[Osc]

Thanks Frank - pardon my stupid question, but if I download something like that, will it still work with all my existing documents, which I think are .docx?

[Workingman]

Yes, the FreeOffice is compatible with MS Office documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

[Kaz]

Osc I have had the same issue with MS, Mick offered to pay and install this new version of Office for me but TBH I find Wordpad adequate for my (very limited) needs. Perhaps if and when I get back to my hypnotherapy I will upgrade. It is a flaming cheek though, when the free version was supposed not to be time limited