Bob,
No, I don't have MS Word and that's why it's telling me it cannot open MS
Word 6.0 files.  But, I've never had MS Word and that's why this is so odd.
I DID have Word Viewer, though, to open Word files people used to send me.
I think the Word Viewer changed my documents somehow that has made them
appear to be Word 6.0 documents to XP.  These documents that won't open were
created in WordPad in Win98SE and were .doc files.

When I do the Shift-right-click and 'open with' operation, I get the same
message, "Can not load Word for Windows 6.0 files."    I've tried notepad
too, and I can read them, but they're  not printable and also difficult to
read.  But, if it was information I just had to have, I can do that in the
meantime.

I think the file association was changed with the Word Viewer I had before.
I have thought that from the beginning, I just don't know how to reassociate
them to WorPad again.  That was what I didn't like about Word Viewer, now
that you mention it!  I had downloaded it simply so I could read Word docs
sent to me and yet it changed all my existing WordPad docs so I could no
longer edit them.  That is the big drawback to that program, at least for
me, because I need to alter many of my documents. (Usually by adding to
them.)  Now I KNOW I don't want Word Viewer again.

You mention Microsoft Works and I DID just have that in my last version of
Win98SE, so possibly that is what has done all this?  (Changed those
documents so they're no longer readable in WordPad.)

It just seems like a big glitch to me in these programs, especially the
Viewers, that they would do more than just view.  You know they have to be
altering your documents, when they make then so they can no longer be
edited.

I think maybe I'll look for Microsoft Works, if the next download of O.O.
doesn't help the documents problem.
Thanks,
Carol Hanson


> Hi Carol,
> I don't fully understand the problem. Do you have MS Word installed on
> your new computer? Look in "Control Panel" - "Add/Remove Programs". Maybe
> it's just a matter of "associating" the proper program with those files.
> My Wordpad V5.1 files are .RTF files and I see no option to change that.
> My MS Word V2000 files are .DOC files. I can read my .RTF files with
> either Word or Wordpad programs.
> Try Shift/Right click the file name in Explorer, and choose "Open with".
> Then try Wordpad and Word, if you have it. If you're desparate, you may be
> able to read the contents with Notepad. I hope they're not corrupted, just
> need the proper program to read.
>
> If you don't have the necessary program, Here is a link to download FREE
> Microsoft Word (2003 & earlier) Viewer. Perhaps it is the "program" you
> had before. It won't let you write or modify those files, but you should
> be able to read them. It's an 11.7 MB download, big if you're using a
> phone modem. There are similar "viewers" downloadable FREE for MS Excel
> and Powerpoint. These viewers should not corrupt any files, but the file
> "association" may be changed.
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=95e24c87-8732-48d5-8689-ab826e7b8fdf&DisplayLang=en
>
> Another alternative: look on EBay for MS Works 2005 which includes MS Word
> 2002. Looks like you can "buy it now" between $30-40. Or Pricewatch.com
> has Word 2000 about $30. So it's not necessary to pay $ hundreds for a new
> version of MS Office.
> Hope this helps, Bob Lendrim
>

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