Unable to open files in Office 2000

Hi folks,

This is a question from my Dad. He was taught by Tom Kilburn and worked on
the London Atlas mainframe in 1962. I hoped that you folks would get a kick
out of that and feel inclined to help out.

I'm usually his expert, but I'm stumped by this one. Here is his message to
me verbatim!

As best as I can I describe my symptoms. Operating System is Windows XP.

Office 2000 files are not accessible from Office programmes but are visible
in Windows Explorer for example and can be transferred to another machine and
work there.

Other programs seem to have no trouble and can open and save files happily.

Thanks for your concern

Dad

----------
WORD

Open a Word or .txt file by any method
! "The file filename is not available"
Click "OK"
Close Word
! "The file Normal already exists. Do you want to replace the existing
file?"
Click "No"
"Save" window pops up wanting to save 'Normal' in folder 'Templates'
Click "Cancel"
Close Word a second time
! "Changes have been made that affect the global template, Normal. Do
you want to save those changes?"
Click "No"
Word closes
------------

WORD

Open Word with new document
Type something
Save that document
Close Word

Open Word again and try to access the newly written document.
Same "not available" symptoms as previously.

----

EXCEL

Open a file by any method.
! "Unable to read file"
Click "OK"
Close Excel
Excel closes

----

POWERPOINT

Open a file by any method.
! "The path or file name for path\filename is invalid. Please check
that the path and filename are correct."
Click "OK"
Close Powerpoint
Powerpoint closes

------------------
OFFICE 2000

Insert Office 2000 premium disc 1 of 4 in CD reader
CD drive starts but no auto-run of "Setup"
Enter using Explorer
Select File Setup
"Preparing to install" message flashes up then
"Windows Installer"
"This patch package could not be opened. Verify that the patch
package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor
to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer patch package"
Click "OK" and it exits

-----End of Dad's messages -----

Disable the Office plug-in in Norton Anti-virus.

"DaveFroMelandra" wrote in
message ...
Hi folks,

This is a question from my Dad. He was taught by Tom Kilburn and worked on
the London Atlas mainframe in 1962. I hoped that you folks would get a
kick
out of that and feel inclined to help out.

I'm usually his expert, but I'm stumped by this one. Here is his message
to
me verbatim!

As best as I can I describe my symptoms. Operating System is Windows XP.

Office 2000 files are not accessible from Office programmes but are
visible
in Windows Explorer for example and can be transferred to another machine
and
work there.

Other programs seem to have no trouble and can open and save files
happily.

Thanks for your concern

Dad

----------
WORD

Open a Word or .txt file by any method
! "The file filename is not available"
Click "OK"
Close Word
! "The file Normal already exists. Do you want to replace the existing
file?"
Click "No"
"Save" window pops up wanting to save 'Normal' in folder 'Templates'
Click "Cancel"
Close Word a second time
! "Changes have been made that affect the global template, Normal. Do
you want to save those changes?"
Click "No"
Word closes
------------

WORD

Open Word with new document
Type something
Save that document
Close Word

Open Word again and try to access the newly written document.
Same "not available" symptoms as previously.

----

EXCEL

Open a file by any method.
! "Unable to read file"
Click "OK"
Close Excel
Excel closes

----

POWERPOINT

Open a file by any method.
! "The path or file name for path\filename is invalid. Please check
that the path and filename are correct."
Click "OK"
Close Powerpoint
Powerpoint closes

------------------
OFFICE 2000

Insert Office 2000 premium disc 1 of 4 in CD reader
CD drive starts but no auto-run of "Setup"
Enter using Explorer
Select File Setup
"Preparing to install" message flashes up then
"Windows Installer"
"This patch package could not be opened. Verify that the patch
package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application
vendor
to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer patch package"
Click "OK" and it exits

-----End of Dad's messages -----