Web sites think I should install Word 2000

[Swift Loris]

I'm running WinXP3 and just upgraded from IE7 to IE8. Since installing IE8, when I visit certain Web sites, I get a message from Windows Installer: "Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Word 2000." I have Word 2000 (not Office, just Word) installed on the machine, so I have no idea what it wants to configure. If I click Cancel, the message goes away, usually; or it may repeat one or more times, and I have to Cancel again. If I leave it alone, after a few seconds I get another message, this one from Windows 2000, saying, "The feature you are trying to use is on a CD-ROM or other removable disk that is not available." What feature??

This happens only on certain Web sites, but it happens consistently on those sites. I can't think what those sites may have in common. I'm baffled. I have another machine running XP3 with Word 2000 and IE8 installed, and this has never happened on that machine. It's a royal pain in the you-know-what. Any suggestions? (I'm completely updated with Windows Update.)

[Charles Kenyon]

Word 2000 has an installation feature that does not fully install the program to save on disk space. This can be overridden during installation. You have options to install the feature on your hard drive, to only install it when you need it, and to never install it. Your installation apparently set something to install only when needed.

Another possibility is that you have more than one version of Word installed.

[Swift Loris]

Word 2000 has an installation feature that does not fully install the program to save on disk space. This can be overridden during installation. You have options to install the feature on your hard drive, to only install it when you need it, and to never install it. Your installation apparently set something to install only when needed.

Another possibility is that you have more than one version of Word installed.

Thanks for your response.

No, I have only one version of Word installed.

Thing is, on another computer also running XP3 and IE8 on which I also had Word 2000 installed, this never happened. (That machine died a miserable death recently; the one I'm using now is my backup.) As far as I'm aware, the two Word 2000 installations were identical.

And what Word feature could IE8 possibly want Word to install?? What's the connection between viewing Web sites and Word? Especially such an ancient version of Word and such a recent version of IE?

[Charles Kenyon]

Pure speculation. All MS products interrelate. I keep IE installed but use Firefox & Chrome. IE knows you have Word installed. It may be sending out a query for some component to better let it render a web page. Again, just speculation. I know that unless you did a custom install of Word 2000 you didn't install all components. Remember, when that program was written most hard drives were measured in MB, not GB.