URGENT- No Word Processors Work!

[TiMeCuBE]

A month or two ago I was opening MSWord to do some homework when a message pops up saying it has to close. I didn't think much of it and retried but after a few seconds same message. It is impossible to type with it because it closes after a few seconds. I asked a friend and he said to DL ABIword... The other day I tried reinstalling Word 2000 because of nuisances with ABI... Same problem even after I reinstall.... Now I try to print something with ABI and I get the same style message. Any ideas what the cause may be/how to fix it?

[glc]

Is your default printer accessible? Word has a nasty habit of doing exactly this if the default printer is not accessible.

Have you scanned for viruses, trojans, and spyware?

[Miz]

With Word closed, earch the harddrive for a file named "normal.dot" (without the quotes). Delete all found and then restart Word.

Deleting a corrupt normal.dot fixes about 99% of Word problems, especially those regarding Word not being able to open.

The reason a reinstall/repair of Word won't fix a corrupt normal.dot is that file isn't installed when Word is installed. It's created the first time Word is opened and Word will created a new one after deleting the old.

[TiMeCuBE]

thanks for the replies... oddest thing the other night it didnt shut off when i tried to use word... it printed fine too... printer is not the problem... it was wordd/abi... i will run virus check later (BTW, what do u guys use.... Norton never finds anything and my subscription is ending in 2 weeks... i have AVG DLed now) Two normal dots... about to delete... thanks guys

[TiMeCuBE]

Ok guys I think GLC was right.... we just got a new printer a month or two ago (when Word problems began) and I did test prints and stuff and it worked(printer is on a different network computer). So I figured it was "accessable"... Well you can only print if that computer is on- Now I can only type documents when that computer is on. A bit of a hassle to turen on that computer everytime but owell, thanks for all the help guys

[andyms18a]

you can get round the printer on problam by adding a geniric text only printer to the computer with out a printer if you run the add printer wizard and select chose printer and find geniric text only it gives you a dummy printer that prints to a file instead of a reail printer word then happley works with out any problams just make shore when you do wont to print you turn on the computer with a printer

[TiMeCuBE]

good call, thanks andy

[andyms18a]

happy to help

[glc]

You can also make the fax driver (if MS Fax or another faxing program is installed) your default printer and that will take care of it.