Right, Mr/Ms Ivillage cleverclogs,
any advice? My IT guy is meant to have fixed this - again - but it is still rubbish.

1. Word 2007 (the new, annoying one where you can't find any of the functions at the top of the page)
If I leave a document open for more than about 5 minutes, if I try to save, or if I try to close the file or whole programme, I am told that there is an error and it crashes :( I suspect the problem is the normal template but I have no idea what to do about it and am sick of waiting for the IT guy to come back. Any tips?

2. Powerpoint (something else newish and annoying)
When I am working on a file and try to save, it will decide to convert whatever I am working on to "readonly" which means I have to save under a new name; this is excruciating as I end up with multiple files of similar names and can't remember which is the most recent. (I also work from home a lot on my mac with an older version of both word and powerpoint so some files are saved there; I don't think that is the reason though. My mac doesn't do this.)

Many thanks
Ex_pat xxxx

Have you tried uninstalling the software and reinstalling? If not, give it a try. When you have uninstalled Word, restart your computer before reinstalling. This will not affect your saved documents.

Which Operating System are you using? Is it stable generally? Opening and closing down ok?

If not, run some scans at Trend Micro Housecall. Make sure Windows updates are right up to date.

If you have another word processing package installed, remove it when you uninstall word and leave it off.

Thanks for the tip. I can't uninstall and reinstall myself but I can ask the IT guy to give it a try. (He has all the software codes for the workplace.)

xx