Whenever I open word I get the statement "This operation cannot be performed because a dialogue box is open". Can anyone tell me what this means?

<a href=http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;827732>linky link</a>

that some dialogue box is open... and word can't open because of it... try restarting your computer.

or use the taskmanager and see if you can spot the dialogue box and close it...

But I think restarting is sure to work.

It means you should start using Latex instead ;)

Ahh, many thanks all, the thing is I can't find the program files in my user profile. Oh well.

Check to see if you have any macros in Word. It's possible you could have attracted a macro virus which is only partially formed, and could cause grief like this.

A repair installation of Word may also fix it.

<span style="color: lightblue">Or OpenOffice. [img]smile.gif[/img]

*nods*

Openoffice should open the .doc file.

Alternately, you could try downloading the freely available doc viewer program if all you want to do is read the document.

<span style="color: lightblue">Or OpenOffice. [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>[/QUOTE]OpenOffice is very similar to Word in look and feel, and lacks the distinct advantages that make Latex much better (easy entering of equations and professional look as well as the bibliography management system Bibtex etc.).

Also whatever computer I've installed OpenOffice on, it loads and runs really slowly, even on my work 2.4GHz machine. Therefore I haven't used it much, but people say it's very buggy.

Hmmm...I used to get the same message, though I also got a message complaining about Norton Anti-Virus when I ran Word or the computer started up (anytime Norton was needed) asking me to reinstall it. I reinstalled Norton and now everything is happy.