? for Computer Gurus

[Johnny Reefer]

Hey there,

I bought a new computer a few months ago.

It came with a trial version of MicroSoft Office Student/Teacher 2003.

It was to expire Aug 31.

My old computer had MicroSoft Office 97 Pro edition.

I had a data transfer done from old computer to new computer.

Consequently, MS Office 97 was transfered.

For some reason, I thought that the trial version, MS Office 2003, was overriding the 97 ed. and that the 97 ed. was history, even though it was still on the computer.

In anticipation of the trial version expiring, I went out and bought MS Office Student/Teacher 2003 and installed it.

I then started getting a dialog box pop up when ever I went to open a Word document.

It said "The command cannot be performed because a dialog box is open. Click OK, and then close the dialog boxes to continue."
It's kinda BS 'cuz no dialog box is open other than the dialog box saying I have a dialog box open.

I then click OK and the document opens. So, this is not preventing access to the document. It's just a pain in the ol' behind.

It seems that 97 and 2003 are conflicting with each other when it comes to opening up a Word document. I don't know. (Shoulder shrug).

(Excel is fine and does not generate this annoying dialog box).

Also, when I go to Start Menu/All Programs/Microsoft Word and try opening a new word document, I get this:
"The windows registry has reported that one or more required files are damaged or missing. To correct the problem run the word setup again".
So, I go to run word setup again and I get "The setup configuration file 'C:\PROGRA~1\MI933~1\OFFICE\SETUP\OFF97Pro.STF' is missing or corrupted. Try running Setup again from where you originally ran it."
Admittedly, I didn't read the file name detail, at first, and didn't notice the "OFF97" part.

Anyhoo, I tried removing MS Office 97 and got what I think was the same message. I didn't make a note of that message at that time and now I don't want to try removing MS Office 97 again because.....
I removed MS Office Student/Teacher 2003.

So now with Student/Teacher 2003 removed, (both trial and the one I bought), I can open Word documents again without the annoying dialog box popping up. Seems MS Office 97 Pro is working fine with 2003 outa the way.

All this now leads me to believe that MS Office 2003 wasn't the one running all along, but rather, the old MS Office 97 Pro was in control. I don't know. (Shoulder shrug).

So now I don't know what to do.

I blew $200.00 on the new MS Office 2003 and kinda want to make use of that software to justify the expense.
A few questions then, (finally, and thanx for staying with me on this)...
1) Think I should I just stay with MS Office 97? (And eat the $200)
2) Is there much of a significant difference between 97 and 2003 Word and Excel?
3) Could I remove MS Office 97 safely, without risk of losing all my MS Word and Excel documents? (I would like to remove 97, if it will let me, and then reinstall the 2003 ed. But between that, there would be no Office program on the computer and I'm concerned about losing all my documents).

Any ideas and advice on this will be greatly appreciated.

Thanx much,