2000-to-2003 upgrade questions

[Guest]

I have Word 2000 that came as part of the software package pre-installed on
my Dell computer. I am considering an update to Word 2003, in part because
2000 has become unstable and in part for new features. I have two questions
about this:

1) Is the pre-installed "OEM" Word 2000 valid for upgrading as such?

2) What is the best way to install the upgrade? Should I uninstall 2000
first, or install 2003 'over' 2000?

Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you,
Josh

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi

2000 has become unstable

Word itself doesn't deteriorate over the years. This indicates a problem
with the set up of your machine. Installing a new version of Office won't
necessarily solve these problems, so it might be worth trying to work out
what the problems are first.

If it's a Word-specific problem, post back here. If it's a more a
whole-of-computer problem, then post to one of the Windows newsgroups.

1) Is the pre-installed "OEM" Word 2000 valid for upgrading as such?

I don't believe so, but licensing is a complex area. I suggest you telephone
your local Microsoft office to be sure. After all, you don't want to buy the
Upgrade version and then discover that you can't use it!

2) What is the best way to install the upgrade? Should I uninstall 2000
first, or install 2003 'over' 2000?

Given that your computer sounds like it's got a few problems, I would
uninstall 2000 first. However, even when you uninstall, Word does not delete
some of the settings that might be causing problems. Don't rely on this to
solve your instability problems.

Other hints:

- make sure you have an appropriate version of Windows to support Office
2003 (see the Microsoft website for details)

- if your machine is old, consider buying some more memory to run Office
2003

- info on what files to back up is here:
What files do I need to back up?
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/FilesToBackup.htm

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[Guest]

Shauna,
First, thanks for your very thoughtful response. I will provide more
complete information.

My System:
-Dell Dimension 4100
-1GHz Pentium III CPU
-256MB RAM
-WinXP Home Edition, SP2 (upgraded from original WinME that shipped with the
machine.
-MS Word 2000 is part of the 'Works' package that shipped with the machine,
but it's a full version of word.

MS Word 2000 Problems:
-Basically, it's very slow to open and close documents - slower than it used
to be. Especially when quitting out of the application, it can take a minute
or more for the application to close.
-Note, in the past I have tried unistalling and reinstalling, but it doesn't
seem to help.

Other applications seem to run OK, tho the machine is not blazing fast. I
will upgrade to 512MB RAM, the machine's maximum, as you suggest. If you
have any other suggestions I shall be grateful.

Thank you,
Josh

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Josh

First, I can tell you that your machine will run Office 2003 OK - I had a
4100 with the same specs as yours for some time, and it ran Office 2003. I
upgraded to 512MB RAM, and it did make a difference. Since memory is cheap,
that might be worth doing.

On Word being slow, start with the following (don't be put off by the
title - its troubleshooting steps apply to lots of Word problems)
Problems opening Word
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

If the problems occur with specific documents, or a group of documents, then
see
How can I recover a corrupt document or template - and why did it become
corrupt?
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[Guest]

I went to the links you suggested and ended up renaming the Normal.dot file
to Normal.old. That seems to have made a tremendous difference in the speed
with which Word 2000 opens and shuts down.

Also, I intend to purchase a memory upgrade and Word 2003. Thanks for your
help!
Josh