Installing Office 2003 is a mess

I purchased Office 2003 on disk and I installed it on my old XP machine.

When I used the same disk to install Office 2003 on my new Vista machine, I
was taken by surprise when I was asked if I wanted Office 2007. I said yes,
thinking that it was a free update for Vista.

Now I have the following 3 problems, of which I have solved only the first
one:

1. When I open a Word file by double-clicking in Explorer, the file opens
under Office 2007 and asks if I want to install it, which I do not. I solved
this problem by first opening Word 2003 with the icon on the desktop and now
all my Word files open with this version and I don't get Office 2007
messages. Solved.

2. When I follow the same procedure with Excel 2003, the trick doesn't work
i.e. I can't open an Excel file under Office 2003 by double-clicking. The
file always opens under Office 2007 and asks me if I want to buy it.

3. The PowerPoint icon is not on my desktop and I can't find the Powerpoint
2003 version anywhere. The disk installed it on my XP machine, so why not on
my Vista machine?

I never had such installation problems with a software. Normally I buy the
software and I say yes to everything and everything I paid for is installed.
I must say that I am extremely irritated with the change to Vista, as I have
already lost many hours fooling around with taking ownership of my own
computer, changing properties all over the place, etc.

I could now try to uninstall all Office versions and hope that it works
better with a new installation. What do I have to look out for, so that I get
the same installation result as I got on my XP machine?

Well you could try Open Office which works well for me and millions of
others, it may get you by this bad spot if only temporarily.

http://www.openoffice.org/

It is completely free and may buy you time to sort out the other
problems, for which I don't know the answer.

You could check the file associations for XLS files to see if there is a
problem there.


Charlie Tame



Lancelot wrote:
> I purchased Office 2003 on disk and I installed it on my old XP machine.
>
> When I used the same disk to install Office 2003 on my new Vista machine, I
> was taken by surprise when I was asked if I wanted Office 2007. I said yes,
> thinking that it was a free update for Vista.
>
> Now I have the following 3 problems, of which I have solved only the first
> one:
>
> 1. When I open a Word file by double-clicking in Explorer, the file opens
> under Office 2007 and asks if I want to install it, which I do not. I solved
> this problem by first opening Word 2003 with the icon on the desktop and now
> all my Word files open with this version and I don't get Office 2007
> messages. Solved.
>
> 2. When I follow the same procedure with Excel 2003, the trick doesn't work
> i.e. I can't open an Excel file under Office 2003 by double-clicking. The
> file always opens under Office 2007 and asks me if I want to buy it.
>
> 3. The PowerPoint icon is not on my desktop and I can't find the Powerpoint
> 2003 version anywhere. The disk installed it on my XP machine, so why not on
> my Vista machine?
>
> I never had such installation problems with a software. Normally I buy the
> software and I say yes to everything and everything I paid for is installed.
> I must say that I am extremely irritated with the change to Vista, as I have
> already lost many hours fooling around with taking ownership of my own
> computer, changing properties all over the place, etc.
>
> I could now try to uninstall all Office versions and hope that it works
> better with a new installation. What do I have to look out for, so that I get
> the same installation result as I got on my XP machine?

Uninstall all, reinstall what you want.
Office 2007 varies not at all from 2003 other than the ribbon of abomination
and automatic drop down boxes in word if you create complex form templates.
The slipshod laziness of Microsoft programmers, evident in all Microsoft
programs, persists in small details like Word 2007 allowing clicking to your
choice of default storage file whereas in Excel 2007 you have to enter that
manually.
Lest anyone think Win7 shows any less laziness see what happens when you
drill down a file tree in a Windows Explorer file tree.

Your new Vista PC came with a Trial of Office, uninstall any/all Office
versions shown in Add/Remove, together with the Activation Assistant,
reboot, then install your paid for version

"Lancelot" <> wrote in message
news:24EEC312-A128-4AE2-ACAD-...
>I purchased Office 2003 on disk and I installed it on my old XP machine.
>
> When I used the same disk to install Office 2003 on my new Vista machine,
> I
> was taken by surprise when I was asked if I wanted Office 2007. I said
> yes,
> thinking that it was a free update for Vista.
>
> Now I have the following 3 problems, of which I have solved only the first
> one:
>
> 1. When I open a Word file by double-clicking in Explorer, the file opens
> under Office 2007 and asks if I want to install it, which I do not. I
> solved
> this problem by first opening Word 2003 with the icon on the desktop and
> now
> all my Word files open with this version and I don't get Office 2007
> messages. Solved.
>
> 2. When I follow the same procedure with Excel 2003, the trick doesn't
> work
> i.e. I can't open an Excel file under Office 2003 by double-clicking. The
> file always opens under Office 2007 and asks me if I want to buy it.
>
> 3. The PowerPoint icon is not on my desktop and I can't find the
> Powerpoint
> 2003 version anywhere. The disk installed it on my XP machine, so why not
> on
> my Vista machine?
>
> I never had such installation problems with a software. Normally I buy the
> software and I say yes to everything and everything I paid for is
> installed.
> I must say that I am extremely irritated with the change to Vista, as I
> have
> already lost many hours fooling around with taking ownership of my own
> computer, changing properties all over the place, etc.
>
> I could now try to uninstall all Office versions and hope that it works
> better with a new installation. What do I have to look out for, so that I
> get
> the same installation result as I got on my XP machine?

The reason being is that your new Vista contained the Office 2007 Trial.Uninstall
the Trial and the Activation Assistant and all of Office 2003 and then reboot and
then re-install your Office 2003

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

"Lancelot" <> wrote in message
news:24EEC312-A128-4AE2-ACAD-...
>I purchased Office 2003 on disk and I installed it on my old XP machine.
>
> When I used the same disk to install Office 2003 on my new Vista machine, I
> was taken by surprise when I was asked if I wanted Office 2007. I said yes,
> thinking that it was a free update for Vista.
>
> Now I have the following 3 problems, of which I have solved only the first
> one:
>
> 1. When I open a Word file by double-clicking in Explorer, the file opens
> under Office 2007 and asks if I want to install it, which I do not. I solved
> this problem by first opening Word 2003 with the icon on the desktop and now
> all my Word files open with this version and I don't get Office 2007
> messages. Solved.
>
> 2. When I follow the same procedure with Excel 2003, the trick doesn't work
> i.e. I can't open an Excel file under Office 2003 by double-clicking. The
> file always opens under Office 2007 and asks me if I want to buy it.
>
> 3. The PowerPoint icon is not on my desktop and I can't find the Powerpoint
> 2003 version anywhere. The disk installed it on my XP machine, so why not on
> my Vista machine?
>
> I never had such installation problems with a software. Normally I buy the
> software and I say yes to everything and everything I paid for is installed.
> I must say that I am extremely irritated with the change to Vista, as I have
> already lost many hours fooling around with taking ownership of my own
> computer, changing properties all over the place, etc.
>
> I could now try to uninstall all Office versions and hope that it works
> better with a new installation. What do I have to look out for, so that I get
> the same installation result as I got on my XP machine?

Bill Yanaire wrote:
>
>
> "Charlie Tame" <> wrote in message
> news:#...
>> Well you could try Open Office which works well for me and millions of
>> others, it may get you by this bad spot if only temporarily.
>>
>
> Hey idiot - He purchased Office. He doesn't need that INFERIOR Open
> Sores Office. Get a brain.
>
>
>> <SNIP LINK>
>>
>> It is completely free and may buy you time to sort out the other
>> problems, for which I don't know the answer.
>
> So your response is to ignore the problem that he has and put an
> INFERIOR Office Suite on his PC?
> He needs to uninstall Office 2007 and Office 2003. Then reinstall
> Office 2003.
>
> He doesn't need that shitty OO that is about 10 years behind the times.
>
>
>

So, hot shot, what's your solution to the OP's problem or are you here
just to diss Open Source software?

--
Alias