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Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word
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Subject: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Joe Offer Date: 27 May 08 - 03:50 AM OK, so our friend WingDing had a Computer Emergency the other day. She typed out a long document, carefully saving the document every paragraph or so, to make sure she didn't lose anything (sometimes I wish I had done that more religiously). Then, she hit a key that made all her typing disappear, and she doesn't know what she did to make it do that. She couldn't find the missing text, so she shut her computer down and figured she could call for help the next morning. When she closed Word, it asked if she wanted to save the document, and she chose "yes" and saved the two remaining sentences - thereby writing over the document she had so carefully saved so often before. If she had just closed the document without saving, or if she had tried CTRL-Z a few times, all that work might have been saved. I got to her house a few days later, and searched her computer for any trace of the missing typings. I checked deleted documents, temp files, and under "Versions" in Word - nothing. I searched her computer for distinctive phrases she remembered - nothing. Is there anywhere else I should have looked, or was the document lost when she saved two sentences over the previously saved document? -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Rasener Date: 27 May 08 - 04:17 AM Joe I don't suppose she had the backup option on did she? Tools, Options, Save, Always create backup copy. If so, do a search from C: for *.wbk You may well find a version with all the text in. Silly thought, and I am sure you probably checked, but sometimes, just sometimes :-) She didn't select the text and make the text colour white. Na you must have checked that LOL. Is the Pc standalone or on a network? I guees John from Kansas will be on soon to advise on any further possibilties. Cheers Les |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 May 08 - 10:35 AM Click on File and Open and select My Recent Documents from the icons on the left side of the menu. See what turns up. The backup, filename.wbk, if she didn't save it a second time (and if she had it set to save backups) should have the intact document. Save it as a .doc and go from there. Otherwise, have her remember some distinctive word or phrase she used in the document and open the Search box (from the start menu or various other locations) and search for documents with that specific phrase. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: JohnInKansas Date: 27 May 08 - 01:38 PM In the words of the great technical consultant R. Kipling: If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: ... ... The only practical thing you can do is to recommend that she get started immediately on rewriting the document - while it's still fresh in her mind. Since she's had a "dress rehearsal" it should go much more quickly the second time around - if she gets onto it before it goes stale. (She should be getting started even if there might be some hope of a recovery - which there probably isn't in this case. If you really think something might be recovered, of course she should use a different computer.) You've checked the places where there might be a copy of some or all of the file she wants, and it's not there. The places checked are all the reasonable ones, with the possible exception of a backup file made by Word, if the program was set up to make one. In Word 2007, autorecover files can be set to be in a different folder than the working documents, but the last save should have deleted any autorecover files on completion of the save. Rarely, Word will leave one after a save, but it's a "malfunction" if it does. [In Word 2007, Cowsplat|Word Options, at "Save" will show where they should be, just in case you want to look.] If this was a critical piece of evidence meriting forensic methods, a modern version of one of the old-fashioned file recovery programs that lets you "restore" deleted clusters might be able to find some bits and pieces; but it would take you a lot more effort to put the pieces together than for her to recreate the original, even if you had a program that could do it. Since the files probably are binary (depending on Word version) and you probably won't recover the head/tail segments of the original file (they were used for the last save and are now part of the crumpled file), getting the bits back into anything that can read them is an advanced procedure. If you don't already have such a program installed (which I'm fairly certain you don't) installing one on the affected drive would likely wipe out much of what might be there. The old programs that you used to be able to run from a floppy disk can't handle the hard drive sizes common on current kinds of computers, so far as I've seen. Newer programs need to be installed before the problem occurs, or must be installed on a separate hard drive from the one where the problem is located. And they're seldom successful, except in the hands of someone with lots of criminal experience. (You may qualify on the "criminal" part; but it really needs to be a specific kind of experience as well.) For future reference, a friendly discussion on the handling of incidents where "Sh*t Happens" might help the victim. Some discussion of the use of Ctl-Z (Edit|Undo) and advising her to "Save As with a different filename" when there's an unexpected happening might be some consolation and some help in the future. Her response was probably a "natural" one; but some friendly words about better ways to respond to the occasional oops may be helpful, and avoid her fearing that it's going to happen again right away. John |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Rasener Date: 27 May 08 - 01:47 PM The lad never fails to come up trumps :-) Very well put there John |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Joe Offer Date: 27 May 08 - 02:06 PM Thanks, John. You confirmed what I thought. I gave her clear, patient instructions on the use of the "Undo" function, but I don't think she's up to learning how to save files under another name. I may go over and set her computer to save a backup file - that's a good idea. I told her that next time, she should call me before she does anything. She was hesitant to call after 9PM - and as most Mudcatters know, I'm up long after that. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Nick Date: 27 May 08 - 02:12 PM What operating system was she using? If it was Xp Pro and Shadow copy was on might there be a previous version available? If you look on the file properties and there are versions then you might find something. Unlikely but a thought |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Bert Date: 27 May 08 - 02:34 PM You could try a bit editor, but it would be somewhat tedious with the size of modern disc drives. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 27 May 08 - 04:52 PM Joe - I have terrified folks by revealing what is on their company machines.
It is simple:
Use Sherlock with a MAC or Find with a PC
Select DATE Select TIME One day etc Select CREATED or MODIFIED
BINGO!
Still perplexed - Gibson Research Corporation (no guitars!!! GRC.com) "Spin Rite" has a whole tool-chest that will give you hexdec in a column right next to plain text. AWSOME - things "erased" years ago pop right up. Remember - Mr. Norton began his fortune and empire with a simple device to replace the first integer of a file for recovery. Still Works. The HD manufactor also has utilities for their hardware.
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: EBarnacle Date: 27 May 08 - 05:45 PM Next time, give the file a home. First save should be "save as" followed by a folder or even desktop. After that, hitting "save" will amend the saved file. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 27 May 08 - 07:32 PM I always, always duplicate a copy of whatever I'm working on onto one of those little memory-stick drives that slot into a USB port. Put a shortcut-icon for it on the desktop (on the Mac you get a disc-drive icon the minute you insert it) and just drag your Word-file into it, which will automatically copy itself and replace the previous versions - you can rename or number them if you want to keep the old ones too. You don't have to close the document (just minimise it if you're using your whole screen) though I expect it will only clone the most recent saved version. That way you have a back-up copy that is completely independent of your hard drive. Incidentally, she might think about saving more often - it's easy enough to hit either Control-S or Command-S frequently. It's become a reflex with me now. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Rowan Date: 27 May 08 - 08:01 PM The thread prompted two thoughts apart from the realisation that everything I could have suggested already has been; 1 There are some Mudcatters that qualify for the categorisation of "Mudcat Treasure", and 2 All those of us old enough to have had to deal with old computer languages, Operating Systems and hardware have had enough trials (our own and others') to automatically behave in ways that help maximise conservation of effort, while newcomers are too easily gulled into believing that the computer is there to help in all circumstances. Sigh! Cheers, Rowan |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 27 May 08 - 08:14 PM "too easily gulled into believing that the computer is there to help in all circumstances" ROFLMAO!!!! |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: JohnInKansas Date: 27 May 08 - 08:48 PM Bonnie has perhaps given an inadvertent clue to what may have happened to this particular victim. Using Ctl-S to save places that command immediately adjacent to Ctl-A, so a mis-stroke is quite easy. If this user was using Ctl-S to save the document frequently, as she indicated she was doing, inadvertently hitting Ctl-A instead of Ctl-S just ONCE, would produce the entire result seen. Ctl-A selects the entire document, and the next keystroke replaces the entire document with the one character you typed - with normal Word setup. If you continue typing your document consists only of what you typed after the "select all" command. Since the "new" document was saved, it wrote over the last good copy, so the last good copy no longer existed on the computer. (If this actually is what happened.) [Having had this happen once or twice when I was a Newby user of DOS Word - about a century ago - probably is the reason I prefer the Alt-F,S and Alt-F,A keyboard shortcuts; but that's a matter of preference and habit.] There are any number of methods that one can use to minimize accidents, and sharing secrets can be quite helpful; but it remains necessary for each user to find what works best for them. A key sequence that I use frequently enough in Word to have it quite well remembered: Alt-E, E, ^p^#^#/^#^#/^#^#^#^# ^#^#:^#^# ^?^M, Tab, ^p, Alt-A,Esc - would probably be of absolutely no use to most people; but I've found it helpful at least a half-dozen times in the past month. I'd certainly avoid insisting that anyone learn to use it, since most people would just be confused; and hardly anyone needs to do what it does. Changing filenames and making lots of redundant copies may be a worthwhile method for some, but for people who work on a lot of Word files, esp on many simultaneously, the method may just add more keystrokes and more places to make errors. It depends a lot on "personal style." Word actually is a very reliable program, if used consistently. It's so reliable that I have a couple of files that I know will "break" almost every time I open/edit them, so I use "special care" with them. Those specific file-associated methods would pretty much prevent getting anything useful done if used everywhere though. John |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: EBarnacle Date: 27 May 08 - 09:39 PM Gee, I wasn't even aware of some of those approaches. I just click on file and use the drop down menu. It may be an analog approach but it is hard to get wrong. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: JohnInKansas Date: 27 May 08 - 11:23 PM EBarnacle - You're apparently still using one of the old versions (or not doing anything very complex?). After 20+ years using Word, I was finally forced to install the new Office 2007. The menus are such a mess that for the first time I'm now using keystrokes to the almost total exclusion of trying to find anything useful in the menus. Previously, I only looked up the keyboard shortcuts for a few "special things." The problem is that the keystroke methods still work for menus that NO LONGER EXIST in the new version, so there are no "hints" on how to complete the most useful commands once you start one. But remembering a 7 stroke keyboard sequence from an earlier version still beats consulting five separate menus, boring down three levels deep in each, to complete a what used to be a two-step operation. No criticism of your methods, of course, as long as they do what you want to do. John |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie Date: 28 May 08 - 12:43 AM Joe-- This is exactly why I hate ... no, my grandmother wouldn't want me to hate, so I won't say I hate Mr. Gates. I'm just saying that if I ever come up behind him in a dark alley at night, it's going to be a case of pistols for two, breakfast for one. And I don't care about all the good deeds he does with the money he makes with his patronizing, condescending, "I know what you want better than you do yourself" software. Or, in technical language, "Pfffffffft" to you, Bill. :) I didn't address your problem, did I? But I feel better. CC |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: JohnInKansas Date: 28 May 08 - 02:14 AM There are some who are saying that Vista is an Edsel. My opinion is that if Vista is an Edsel, then Office 2007 is a Spruce Goose. If you're not old enough to know what either of those were, then you might be illiterate enough to like either program. There's some hope that you might grow up, but Office 2007 will remain the one that can't be flown. John
-Joe Offer- I visited the Spruce Goose twice - once in California, and once in Oregon. It's a remarkable airplane, right up there with the B-36. Oh, and I've always wanted to own a two-tone Edsel. Did they come in a single color, or only in two-tone? |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: pavane Date: 28 May 08 - 03:06 AM Although WORD files are binary, and contain a lot of control info, they also often contain clear text. If you can find the deleted clusters, undelete them and load them into NOTEPAD or similar, you can often recover a lot of the text, though maybe not in the right order. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 28 May 08 - 09:15 AM Word files can often also contain many versions of the document - or at least early Word versions did. And the when you used the 'Generate HTML file' thingy - you could get gibberish.... :-) |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: EBarnacle Date: 28 May 08 - 11:01 AM JIK, they certainly do meet my needs. It's Word 2003 with XPPro and everything I have heard about Vista and Word 2007 reinforces my decision to stick with what I've got. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: JohnInKansas Date: 28 May 08 - 12:02 PM EBarnacle - I was perfectly happy with Office XP, which contained Word 2002. Unfortunately, Microsoft decided that Word 2002 was obsolete and it wasn't necessary to assure that new Windows patches were compatible with it, so about a year or more ago Word 2002 began to simply "crumble" and various functions began either to not work at all or to give erratic and unpredictable results. When Word 2002 finally became too crippled to be functional, the only thing available was Office 2007. When Office 2007 is installed, you have the option of leaving an existing Office version on the computer. For everything except Word I can use the Office 2002 (Office XP) version or the Office 2007 version "interchangeably." If I open Word 2002, however, it requires a "reconfiguration" that takes about 15 minutes before the program comes up. If I then go back to Word 2007, it takes about 20 minutes to "reconfigure Word" before the program comes up. While I'm reluctant to abandon my customary jolly optimism, and hate to make dire predictions, based on my experience with Word 2002 you may expect your Word 2003 to begin to "lose functionality" beginning sometime within about the next dozen "WinXP Security patches" and the loss will be progressive until it quits working almost completely. The more arcane functions likely will go first, so you may not notice it for some time though. Lin has Office 2003 on her WinXP computer, and hasn't noticed any deterioration - - yet; but she doesn't "push the envelope" by using many of the advanced features I was accustomed to having in my Word 2002. There are sufficient changes between the 2002 and 2003 versions that I'd have to spend a month on her computer to get familiar enough to see whether the problems I had are beginning to appear there, and haven't bothered to do that since she's still happy with what she's got. After about 9 months with Word 2007, I may just go back to notepad. It's simply NOT A FUNCTIONAL program, for anyone experienced in wordprocessing and accustomed to doing more than typing straight lines of text. It does make it really easy to do the "amateur" things that people who like to publish "ugly" are so fond of; but it makes it almost impossible to do a "professionally acceptable" publication. John |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Gulliver Date: 28 May 08 - 02:11 PM On my laptop, where I've resisted the temptation to install Office or even Word, I generally use Jarte for text processing, or for small texts, Metapad. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Sorcha Date: 28 May 08 - 03:40 PM Look, at least you still have Word. I have an icon on my desktop that says Word....and if I try to open it, I get a box that says Installing (it's already INSTALLED). If I just X that box closed, I can get a new blank doc, and all my other stuff is saved in My Docs. I have tried to Uninstall (but can't because it isn't INSTALLED) I have tried to override with the disc, but can't because it IS installed) I have come to the conclusion that my only option is regedit. Right now, I have a work around that I can use. I am NOT doing regedit without someone holding my hand. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Rasener Date: 28 May 08 - 03:43 PM JIK will hold your hand Sorcha :-) |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Sorcha Date: 28 May 08 - 04:32 PM He'll come to MY house? LOL |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Tangledwood Date: 28 May 08 - 06:38 PM "After about 9 months with Word 2007, I may just go back to notepad. John" Have you looked at any of the open source alternatives e.g. Linux based? I haven't had the need to myself but it sounds as if they do a good job. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: JohnInKansas Date: 28 May 08 - 07:51 PM Sorcha - A "Reconfiguring Word" message, taking a long time to run, is the expected behaviour if you've installed Word 2007 and left an older Word version (or pieces of it) on the computer, when you change from using one version to the other. The message, as I've seen it, refers to "configuring" rather than "installing" but there may be variants. Once one version is configured, opening the other version will get the "reconfiguring" message. Returning to the first version will get it again. Is it possible that the desktop shortcut you're using is pointing to a previous version of Word? It's possible that even with the old version removed, a shortcut to where a different version is expected might kick off an attempt to install/configure which would of course fail if the program isn't there. If your initial installation didn't complete all of its setup, you might get an attempt to "finish installing" when you open the program. To make any rational suggestions, it will be absolutely necessary to know: 1. What specific Operating System is on the computer. 2. What specific Office version you're trying to use, and/or the specific version of Word if Word was obtained as a stand-alone or upgrade single program. 3. What prior versions of Office, Word, and/or Works were installed on the computer, and whether they have been removed. 4. What, if any, prior Office versions/programs were left in place when the current Office/Word version was installed. Observations: Once Office 2007 is installed, all desktop shortcuts to Office programs, whether new or old ones, no longer show the file location in the shortcut properties. (Right click the icon, properties, shortcut tab). All you'll see is "Microsoft Office xxxx" grayed out and NOT EDITABLE. (It is in fact quite difficult to find where the files are installed.) This "new behaviour" probably occures if you install even one separate stand-alone Office program, but I can't confirm that. The "shortcut" pointer will (or at least should) indicate the Office version in which the program is included. This should give you a rough check on whether you have an obsolete/broken shortcut. In Control Panel | Add or Remove Programs, all Office programs are shown in one lump as "Microsoft Office xxxxx" on my WinXP machine. It is apparently NOT POSSIBLE to remove just one Office program(?). If you look for "Word" or even "Microsoft Word" in Control Panel you won't find it, so it may look like it's not installed. On my Vista laptop, it was necessary to UNINSTALL Works (it came with the machine) in order for installation of Office 2007 Professional to finish the installation and setup. NO INFORMATION FROM MICROSOFT indicates that you need to do this, but my new Word didn't turn on at all until I did it, and Microsoft insisted my FRP Office 2007 Professional was counterfeit and wouldn't update it until I got rid of the other (Works) program(s). John |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: JohnInKansas Date: 28 May 08 - 08:03 PM Tanglewood - A couple of the open source wp programs are reported as being "pretty good." For normal users they may even be as good as prior versions of Word. Specific Word features that I've used a lot, and that I've looked at in a couple of them are not as useful as in older Word versions; but since some of those features have been removed, or others remain but don't work at all in Word 2007, further study is indicated. For business reasons it probably is still necessary for us to keep some form of Microsoft Office functionality, but it's Lin's business and she's getting too old (and grumpy?) to work much anyhow - so the incentive is weakening. John |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: My guru always said Date: 29 May 08 - 01:06 AM Got so panicked just now that I've checked my Word version & it's OK, it's 2000. Phew! Don't understand a fraction of the stuff here, but just very glad that you guys who do undestand come to our rescue when we need you. Thanks in anticipation of future assistance!! |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Sorcha Date: 29 May 08 - 03:41 PM John, yes, and therein lies at least part of my problem. As follows: 1. What specific Operating System is on the computer.--WinME 2. What specific Office version you're trying to use, and/or the specific version of Word if Word was obtained as a stand-alone or upgrade single program.--Office 2000 3. What prior versions of Office, Word, and/or Works were installed on the computer, and whether they have been removed.--None that I know of 4. What, if any, prior Office versions/programs were left in place when the current Office/Word version was installed.--None that I know of. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: EBarnacle Date: 29 May 08 - 10:25 PM Let's all switch to OpenOffice and get off the treadmill. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: JohnInKansas Date: 30 May 08 - 12:22 AM Sorcha (& Mgas re Word 2K) The generic bad news is that I believe that Word 2000 (and Office 2000) have dropped out of the "supported versions" list for updates from Microsoft. WinME also is unsupported. I haven't found confirmation, but since my old Word 2002 went, the older Word 2000 probably did as well. A complicating factor for outdated programs is that WinME did receive a number of OS updates while it was current. I didn't have WinME running since beginning of automatic updates, but Win2K (with Office 2K) received a couple of OS "critical patches" that needed complementary Office patches for compatibility. If you succeeded in reinstalling Word 2K from original disks, the Word installation would possibly be lacking updates needed to make it compatible with OS security changes that you might have on your WinME, and I frankly don't know(?????) if you can get Microsoft to give you previously issued Office program updates if Word 2K is "out of support." Note that I haven't checked recently on the status of Office 2000, and have been unable to find anything on what Microsoft policy is with regard to retrieving patches/updates issued while obsolete programs were still supported. 1. Assumption: "Word isn't installed" means that you've looked in Control Panel|Add or Remove Programs and it isn't there. (?) Caution on Control Panel: a. Word may not be listed separately, but may be included in an "Office" install even if it's the ony Office program you have. b. If listed, it could appear as "Word," "Microsoft Word," "Office xx," or "Microsoft Office" or almost any variation of these "somewhat likely" names - or as something else. 2. Question: Have you looked at Start|Programs for Word, Office, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Office, etc and confirmed that it doesn't appear there? If it does by some chance appear there, a right click and "Send to Desktop" would create a new shortcut that might work better than the one you have. (The shortcut could be corrupted.) 3. Question: Can you locate where Word 2K was/(is?) installed? Since you can workaround the error message and get a new doc open, the "executable" for the program is probably still present, and Windows Explorer should be able to find it. You'll likely need to inclde "search hidden and system files" on the "advanced" search button (remember that I've forgotten what WinMe/Win98 Explorer looks like). The actual "program file" probably is called "WINWORD.exe" since that's been the usual name for all versions that I've seen since Word 6.0 for DOS. Searching for filenames containing "Word" should find it. I would EXPECT it to be at C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT OFFICE\OFFICE xx\. Re the "Office xx": Office 2007 appears as "OFFICE 12" and Office 2002 as "OFFICE 10." Other versions appear to have overlapping numbers, but I don't know of a place where their identities are given so that you can really tell what you've got. (Lin's Office 2003 - original OEM installed - has both OFFICE 10 and OFFICE 11 components.) If you can find the Winword.exe file, and if Word opens okay when you double-click it, you could just have a corrupted shortcut on the desktop. Right click on the Winword.exe file and either "send to desktop" or create a shortcut and drag the shortcut to desktop - should work. Assuming that a new shortcut from the Start |Programs menu didn't help, a fresh new shortcut from the Winword.exe location might. If the failure to open happens when you click/double-click on a document file, it's possible that a "filetype association" is misdirected to a wrong location for the Word startup, or that the file extension** has been changed or is incorrect. In recent Windows versions, click on any folder in Windows Explorer, click Tools on the menu bar, on the File Types tab check what program is selected for .doc/.dot and other Word variants. ** This probably is an unlikely thing, but if your Win Explorer is set to Hide Extensions for Known File Types (which I think was an option even in WinME) you might not notice if the file actually is a .docx, .docm, or other "new file format" that may have come from someone running Word 2007, or might have had it's extension changed when the filename was edited. In Win Explorer, click on My Computer, Click Tools on the top toolbar, Folder Options, View Tab, and make sure that hidden & system files are displayed and that file extensions are NOT HIDDEN. (Note that I don't have WinME to check where the above settings are, but they should be similar to what I've described. – maybe.) If you have a .docx or .docm file, and DON'T have the filters to convert it to a Word 2K .doc format, Windows might assume that you have a Word 2007 program that needs to be installed. That's not a documented behavior, but Word 2007 is such a bundle of crap (only a personal opinion) that I'd believe it could happen. Office 2007 (Start|Programs|Microsoft Office 227) includes a "Microsoft Office Tools" with a subutility called "Microsoft Office Diagnostics." I don't remember anything of this sort in earlier Office versions, but if it, or something like it, happens to be there it might help. IF you can find a folder with "lots of Wordy stuff" in it, especially if the winword.exe is there, you might look for a program-specific "uninstall" file that you could use to clean out an existing semi-installed Word version to allow a clean new install (assuming you have original disk(s)). Office programs don't usually have one, but it won't hurt to look. As a last resort method, you could just delete (or rename or move to somewhere else) everything in the folder, which should allow you to reinstall Word 2K from scratch. Note: this is really a last resort, and should wait until you've tried everything else you can think of. Removing program components that are setup in registry keys can leave messy "orphan" keys in the registry. If you can get a "new install," sometimes you can then use Control Panel to do a proper uninstall, which sometimes will clear the bent up registry keys, so that you can then do a fresh install to get things to work. For now, that's probably enough for you to think on, and I can't think of any other easy(?) things to suggest. (Even lots of the above is guesswork, since I've never run WinME and don't have anything close to it to refer to.) John |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 30 May 08 - 05:12 AM I found some 'collected official updates for Win98SE' on the net - not guarranteed - but allegedly a collected pack of all the actual updates packed into a single install file. Worked for me. There MAY be other such 'private packs' for later 'out of official support' Windows versions. There are some people who WANT to keep the older versions 'effectively running almost in the Public Domain' - mainly because those versions work on the older HW - and the programs just keep working sufficently without many updates - especially if such boxes are isolated from the hassles of net connections (viruses, etc). |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Grab Date: 30 May 08 - 06:35 AM Sorcha, you might have installed Word with the option "only install for me" instead of "install for all users of this PC". I realise that option can be useful for admins wanting restrict access to programs on shared machines, but for 90+% of us it's just a PITA. Login as admin, reinstall. Should work in theory. Graham. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: lost text in Microsoft Word From: Sorcha Date: 30 May 08 - 05:06 PM Well, see, it's 'there' in the Add/Remove list....but when I try to remove, it, it says this function only works for Installed programs. When I try to use the disc to Install it, it says the program is already installed and it won't overwrite...but for now, I have a work around and am ignoring the problem. I'll get a new computer one of these days anyway... |
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