I have encountered some problems with the Microsoft Office. Some Excel functions will not work, Word scrolling and printing is painfully slow, and other Office programs also run very slowly. The version of Office I have is the Student and Teacher Edition, which can be loaded onto three computers. The software works perfectly on the other computers, so I am guessing the problem is something with Windows XP on this computer. However, can this be corrected without losing my configuration and other settings? I am particularly wary of reinstalling Windows only to find my network configuration has been lost, as this is quite difficult to setup. (more…)

When composing a new Word document, I typed about 300 words and then attempted to type a certain name. The name appeared in bold, in a font size larger than the one I had been using, and immediately everything preceding this text disappeared without trace. All that remained of the file was this one name. I then opened a backup file, and attempted to type the same name. However, the same thing happened and the entire backup file disappeared. The computer is running Windows XP with Office 2002. (more…)

How can I open and edit a .SHS ’scrap’ graphic file, as neither The Gimp nor Microsoft Paint are able to open this file type? Also, how can I extract and save a sound file which has been inserted into a PowerPoint presentation? The computer is running Windows XP Home Edition. (more…)

When pasting pictures into Microsoft Word 2003 (for example, images of spreadsheets or graphs from Excel) only the bottom portion of the image is shown. However, highlighting the image outlines the border of the entire image indicating the image has been inserted into Word. This issue only occurs intermittently, but is most frustrating. (more…)

When opening Word, Excel or Outlook the following message appears: ‘An error occurred while trying to launch the Remove Hidden Data tool’. I have tried reinstalling Office using two methods: firstly, by repairing and updating the current installation; and then secondly, by deleting the current installation and completely reinstalling. However, neither procedure has been able to resolve the issue. So, not knowing what the Remove Hidden Data tool actually does, I usually just close the message and continue what I was doing without any apparent negative effect. I have scanned the computer using eTrust Antivirus and Pest Patrol, which doesn’t find any threats. How can I stop this message from appearing? The computer is running Windows XP Professional. (more…)