I've never opened a Microsoft Word document using Word Pad. I use the Word
Application directly. Do you have Microsoft Office (or Microsoft Word)
installed on this computer?
Microsoft Word is not included with Microsoft Windows XP. If you do not
have Word, you can download a free Word viewer from http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=889347 "Description of the Microsoft
Office Word Viewer 2003". The viewer lets you view and print Word
files, but you cannot edit Word files with it.