WORD 2002 compatibility

I installed my WORD (2002 VERSION) software when I got my new Acer notebook recently and I am now finding that I cannot use it. I am told it is a compatibility issue. I uninstalled it and re-instlled it but it makes no differece. The latest Version is 2007 with a free up-grade to 2010 Version of MS Office, if purchased in the very near futrure from Amazon. However it is still about £75 and I would rather not buy it again if I don't have to. Without using too technical a vocabulary, can anyone tell me if I can download some service pack from MS or similar and if so WHICH ONE????? I am at a loss to know exactly what I should do. You need to be aware that I am a bit of a technophobe.
HELP!
Sue

This is another case where VirtualPC XPmode may be an adequate solution. If you are running Professional or Ultimate you can use the downloadable version providded by Microsoft...
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/vir.../download.aspx

You would install this and then install your Word inside the Virtual PC.

If you have Home Premium or if you don't like MS's product, many here recommend VirtualBox.

In fact, VirtualBox is a better app, but you do need an OS (XP, 2K, Linux?) to install within it. If you dont have 7 Pro or above, you still have a shot at this. Go to the forum interface, the long black bar with all of the forum's options. Click "Search", make sure that "threads" are checked. Type in "vm lite" w/o the quotes, click OK. About a dozen or so threads down, there is one titled "XP Mode in Windows 7 w/o Hardware Virtualization". That's the one you want.

Read the first post carefully, what you'll be getting is the same XP Pro SP3 (pre-activated for you) that comes with the Windows program that requires you to have Pro or above. There are two parts to this, as you'll see. The first, VMLite Workstation, you'll have to register to get, but it's free. You'll need this first, so go ahead and download it. The next (XP Mode) is a long download, depending on your connection, if it's slow, bedtime would be a good time to download it.

There's also a tutorial or two to download, too. They may be helpful, especially if you've never ran a VM before. In fact, it was my first one. I installed it to help a fellow member here, as I recall. The member, like yourself, had an older program to install within the VM, and it worked out well for the member.

suenay, should you require further assistance, always feel free to post back. As you've seen, there's plenty of help around here. Good Luck!

Cat

Absolutely, it works and can be done. Simple - - I did it today. I loaded MS Suit 2003 - and picked out Word 2002 from the disk, then added it to my new SONY VAIO.

Then I brought in my old word files from my desktop - and bingo it works fine...

One key though: Make sure you have the original Suite 2003 disk with Word 2002 on it and the MS "blue box" with the Word Product 25-digit code need to log in when the downloading process takes place ... if that is in order, you should have no hassle. And, believe me, I love it - I had hundreds of Word 2002 files - and now I still have them - good luck.