I have a most annoying problem with Word 97. As I always want a backup, I check the ‘Always Create Backup Copy’ box in the ‘Saves’ menu. However at random intervals, sometimes after behaving itself for several weeks, the box is cleared and the ‘Allow Fast Saves’ box is checked. And certainly not by me. I could manually save the file every time before working on it but this should not be necessary, according to the menu. I’ve tried uninstalling Word then reinstalling the original Word 6 and applying the Word 97 upgrade, but no improvement. As a side issue, the upgrade CD seems to be the entire Word 97 (it doesn’t even ask for the original Word 6 floppy disk number). Is this normal?

Firstly, try enabling ‘Always Create Backup Copy’ and ‘Allow Fast Saves’ together and see if this makes a difference. If the problem persists then, if you already haven’t, try enabling ‘Always Create Backup Copy’ but no ‘Allow Fast Saves’. If the problem still persists then all I can suggest is that you manually make a copy of each Word document you save. If any other readers have any suggestions for Mike’s problem please send them in. Regarding your second query, the Word 97 upgrade may not ask for your original Word 6 disk as it has already found a previous version of Word on your hard drive. However, if you try to just install the Word 97 upgrade without a previous version on your hard drive, it probably will ask you for your original disk(s). This is the procedure for installing the Windows 95 upgrade if the computer detects that a previous version of Windows is not installed. My apologies for the delay in responding to your question. The reason being I have been asking some of my colleagues about possible solutions to your problem.