I cannot open MS Word 2003

[word novice]

I need help!!!!!!!

I am not a super user, so please do not overwhelm me.

I am using a Toshiba laptop with Windows XP Home SP2

Office 2003.  I think it is Professional because it has word, exel, access, powerpoint, outlook and everything else you can think of.

The Problem....I have numerous word documents on the laptop, however as of last night I cannot open any of the docs using Word.  I noticed this when I was sent several 4 word files from a trusted source.  A virus scan was performed before downloading the docs however I was not able to open the docs usign word.  I was able to open several old & new docs using word pad this morning, therefore I presume that  my  documents are OK.

I still have the Word listed in the programs  however when i click on the icon or the software in programs nothing happens....when I double click on a word doc on my desktop, nothing happens....when I right click on a doc on my desktop & choose "open with" ,  I can open the doc with wordpad but not word.

After reading some other forums & this forum I tried to find the Normal.dot file through the search feature....the search came back with no results for this search. 

This is a licensed copy of Office.     

What am i doing wrong?   Can someone help me........be gentle, I am a true novice, can use the software but do not know how it works............

[Szpixman]

I am certainly NO expert on this stuff...but the first thing I would try is to un-install Office...then reinstall it.
It worked for me when I had pretty much the same problem.  (Mine was 2003 as well) 

Good Luck.

[TheEmperor]

Before you start uninstalling and re-installing open Word and click on Help, Detect and Repair and see if that solves the issue.