Office 2003/Win7 "Accept" or "Decline" - SOLVED!

[ChrisGreaves]

My problem is "solved", I just don't know how!

I installed Win7 Home Premium and Office 2003 on my new DELL laptop about three months ago. I used original disks and registered/accepted as required. Typed in all the weird numbers. Ran Windows Update for everything except Internet Explorer.
I’ve been meaning to ask for help (but more important things came up) so for three months I’ve had to choose “Accept” each time I loaded MSWord or MSExcel. It’s a hurdle, not an obstacle. And I figure I am, kind of, pushing the limit using Office 2003 on a 64-bit Win7 system
Last Tuesday the problem disappeared. Who knows why? I don’t. I’d not run any Windows Updates recently.
It just went away. With both MSWord and MSExcel.
By definition “something has changed”, I accept that; but I am not aware of anything that could have caused the change.
My guess is that one of Registry Cleaning, Useless File Cleanup or similar maintenance triggered a cascade of changes that ultimately set the bit OFF. It surely can’t be the continued use of the offline version of the game Bubble Shooter!

[Rudi]

Last Tuesday the problem disappeared. Who knows why?

You FINALLY plugged in the internet cable Chris...

[ChrisGreaves]

You FINALLY plugged in the internet cable Chris...

I'll remember that comment, Rudi.





BTW, what's your postal address?

[Jay Freedman]

Run an Office program "As Administrator" one time and accept the EULA, then shut the program down and restart it (more help in this thread).

This doesn't happen to everybody, but when it does, it's because Word doesn't have the right set of permissions to write the registry entry that tells Office that the EULA has been accepted. Running as administrator solves that. You only have to do it once to get the entry written, and then you don't need to run as administrator any more.

[DaveA]

Does this NEW Dell machine have a "Trial Copy of Office 2010 or 2013" installed?

If so, then the 90 day trial time may have timed out.
If it is there, uninstall it and then do a repair on your 2003 copy.

[ChrisGreaves]

Run an Office program "As Administrator" ...

Thanks Jay; I didn't know this, and had I posted earlier it would have been a blessin g.
If my (sulky DELL) reverts to its previous behaviour I'll give it a whirl.
As I said in my post, it has been a hurdle rather than an obstacle.
I do appreciate your tip.

[ChrisGreaves]

Does this NEW Dell machine have a "Trial Copy of Office 2010 or 2013" installed? If so, then the 90 day trial time may have timed out. If it is there, uninstall it and then do a repair on your 2003 copy.

Thanks Dave.
My initial reaction was "How Stupid he is! I'm not running Office 2010/2013", but then I read your complete reply and thought "How bright Dave is! And how stupid am I?".

Your reply makes sense.
I am sticking with 2003 for now, but I KNOW that sometime in the past 4 months I have double-clicked on a file and 2010/2013 has loaded and tried to install itself.

I bet that's it.
And, of course, Office 2003 didn't foresee 2010/2013 so it wouldn't know that a "different switch" has been set, or that a regular switch had been set by a "different program".