Clean up after unistalling M/S Office

I have used M/S Office XP pro (with Frontpage) for several years on my win 10 laptop without an issue.

I had suddenly stopped working. e.g. in any of the apps, like Word it shows the desktop icons and taskbar shortcut correctly, but when I try access it, it opens a blank page, which immediately freezes and then closes down. Same in powerpoint, excel etc

I think a recent Win 10 update might have corrupted the Office Suite.

I do prefer the simple version of Word from several years ago.

So I uninstalled the whole suite using right click Start and using apps and features.

I all went away quietly. In then did a full malware and virus check and that came out showing no issues. Then Re-booted

I try to re-install - it all goes well - but the same happens, except now .e.g. Word opens 5 blank documents automatically and the the whole program closes down.

Feels like the uninstall has not done a full clean up and the registry is full of duplicate entries. NO idea where they might reside. I am not too tech savvy.

Any ideas? Do I need to reinstall Win 10 first? Win ver - 22H2 build 19045.2728

Try Running The Official Office Uninstall Tool https://aka.ms/SaRA-officeUninstallFromPC
If Something shows up Select It And Click Next.
When It Deleted Try Again If That Docent Work Or Nothing Shows Up.. On The Office Xp Apps You Wanna Use. Click On There Desktop Shortcut. Right Click And Choose "Open File Location" Right Click The Executable., Click "Properties". Click "Compatibility" Check "Run This Program in Compatibility Mode For" And Select "Windows Xp Service Pack 3" From The Menu And Click "Ok". If That Doesn't Work Select "Windows Xp Service Pack 2" And Click "Ok" If That Doesn't Work Uncheck The Box. And Consider Uninstalling Xp And Using Microsoft 365 They Have Web Publishing Tools Like 'Publisher,' 'Sway', 'Form', Or Probably The Best In My Opinion 'Power Apps' Let Me Know If This Worked.

Try3 said:

I do not know if MS have made the uninstall tool [referred to by Paper Luigi below] compatible with MSOffice XP. They wouldn't have felt under any obligation to have done so.
If you are going to try it, read the main article first and you can download from there or from his identical posted link.
Uninstall Office from a PC - MSSupport
I would make a new system image beforehand.

I do not recall if MSOffice XP had a built-in repair procedure in it or not.
In my MSOffice 2007, it is run from within an individual application e.g. from Excel, {Office button}, Excel Options, Resources, Run MSOffice updates.
In your MSOffice XP, I think it is run from within an individual application e.g. from Excel, Help menu, Detect & repair.

I have only just seen MrEd's contribution above.
I think his post is very useful.
I would also install the latest MSOffice Service Pack on a new / replacement MSOffice installation of my own [even if I had seen no problems]. Windows update should get further MSOffice XP updates afterwards but an SP is so big & significant that it is worthwhile doing it yourself just to get it out of the way.

Have you searched this forum section for other threads about MSOffice XP? Its users might well have useful guidance for you.


Best of luck,
Denis

Cannot use detect and repair as Work never opens properly. It dies after loading 5 blank pages. I am getting the error message "The file normal already exists. Do you wish to replace the existing file?" Not sure what to do.

Yes SP3 has been in there for several years. That is a red herring

Update is up to date, I only install what Win Update offers.

Normal.dot has nothing special. .Whether I say yes or no to the change in normal dot it still just dies after opening Word etc. No program )Word, Excel etc) stays on screen long enough to request detect and repair. I am now on my fifth reinstall!! it gets worse every time.

Should I try starting win 10 from afresh? It seems that one of the latest updates has corrupted the normal.dot template AND the registry. and that applies to every program in Office XP. Can someone recommend a reliable and effective registry cleaner?

File format converter has not worked for several years. I am totally stalled on this one. I understand office 365 is available free for use on line only. That will do. I only need word and excel for a few important files. AT THE END OF MY TETHER

MisterEd said:

Normal.dot or Normal.dotm can become corrupted or contain changes you made by mistake. The recommended way to fix it is to simply delete the original and let Word recreate it. Of course you will lose all customization you made to it but that is the price to pay to fix it.

I wouldn't try any registry cleaner because at best they may do nothing or worse trash the registry.

If I were you and really wanted to get Office working again I would do a complete backup of the computer and reinstall Windows. I realize that will take time but that is better than the constant frustration you are going through now.

BTW, you can buy Office Professional Professional Plus 2021 online for less than 75 USD. That is another option for you.

I have several copies of Microsoft Office but not enough for all my computers. On one computer I run FreeOffice which consists of three programs which are comparable to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It is totally free and just requires you to request a key.

FreeOffice
FreeOffice: The best free alternative to Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office on the Web. It will link with your Microsoft Account and is meant to be used with OneDrive.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/micr...ne-for-the-web

That all sounds good. Does a complete windows reinstall totally clean up the registry? Should I choose option 1 - keep apps and settings or 2 Total wipe out. Does 2 make it like a fresh start computer? This is all new to me. What's the best way ti back up the computer? I have all my documents back up to a USB stick.