Reinstall Office (XP-SP1 / Office 2000 – SP3)

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I recently updated Office 2000 to Service Pack 3 and something must have gone wrong: the hyperlinks in Help files don’t function anymore (not even the floating tips of the glossary).
Now I’d like to uninstall Office completely and reinstall from scratch.

1.) Are there any precautions I must take before uninstalling ?

2.) Should I use the Eraser utility provided by Microsoft after unistalling, “to remove the files and Windows registry settings that remain on the computer after removing Office” ? The pertinent article in MSKB states that Eraser does not run on operating systems later than Windows 2000 and is not tested with XP.

3.) Is there another possibility to remove remaining files ? Is there anything else I must do besides keeping my fingers crossed ?

Thanks in advance,
Oana

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There was an Internet Explorer patch that disabled the script-powered pop-ups in the Help files. I don’t recall whether a subsequent IE patch fixed this, or there was a registry hack. However, either way, you should not have to completely re-do Office to fix this particular issue.

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I thought so, but I don’t find specifics anywhere, neither the number of the patch nor registry hacks. I found just one person with that identical problem in a French forum but there was no solution offered.

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Hi, try these:

MS03-040: October, 2003, Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer

“As with the previous Internet Explorer cumulative security patch that was released with security bulletin MS03-032 (822925), this cumulative patch causes the window.showHelp method to stop working if you have not applied the HTML Help update.”[/list]HTML Help Update to Limit Functionality When It Is Invoked with the window.showHelp( ) Method (MSKB 811630)

Critical Update to tweak/restore HTML help pop-up functionality[/list]Update Rollup 1 for Windows XP Is Available (MSKB 826939)

Post SP-1a (and some pre-SP1a ?) patches for Windows XP, including 811630 above[/list]Hope this helps.

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Sorry for answering so late, my ISP took a coffee break and reappeared after 20 hours.
I have 811630 installed since June, I made sure of that before asking here for help. I’ll check out the other links.
Thank you.

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Sorry for answering so late, my ISP took a coffee break and reappeared after 20 hours.
I have 811630 installed since June, I made sure of that before asking here for help. I’ll check out the other links.
Thank you.

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Nothing to do.
I had Help Update (811630) already installed when I installed that infamous patch, and I installed it again (just to be sure). Installer didn’ hoot or blast, so I suppose it was OK.
The last thing I downloaded was SP3 for Office 2000, and after that the links in HTML Help ceased to function. I know it’s not plausible and that the culprit must be one of the Windows patches, but I frequently use Help in all 4 Office application so I’m pretty sure about the time it happened.
Please, please, have some more ideas !

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Well… I’ve moved on to Office XP, which uses an odd sort of “parenthetical” glossary rather than pop-up. Doesn’t really help you.

Two thoughts:

(1) Did SP3 replace the relevant hh files with newer files compared with the versions set out in 811630? If so, perhaps that explains why the re-install didn’t work. I don’t know the risks of manually getting rid of those files (or whether the OS will let you do it), but this is a possibility.

(2) Did the kill bit on the HH control get set in the registry? Here’s one path to follow to check:

Using RegEdit, get the GUID for the control from: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTInternet.HHCtrl

Mine is, but yours might well be different: {41B23C28-488E-4E5C-ACE2-BB0BBABE99E8}

Look up that GUID under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftInternet ExplorerActiveX Compatibility

If you find it, check the Compatibility Flags value for “400” hex, which means “disable.” I haven’t located the correct new value, because in my case, this control is not listed! Maybe it’s a dead end, but it’s something to try.

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1.) The relevant hh files are the same as those listed in 811630. Office SP3 didn’t replace them.

2.) The control’s GUID is the same as yours, {41B23C28-488E-4E5C-ACE2-BB0BBABE99E8}.

Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerActiveXCompatibility that GUID is listed indirectly:
I found the key {ADB880A6-D8FF-11CF-9377-00AA003B7A11}
with the String Value
“AlternateCLSID” = {41B23C28-488E-4E5C-ACE2-BB0BBABE99E8} (same as above)
and the DWORD Value
“Compatibility Flags” = 0x00000400 (1024).
So there’s a kill bit set, but is it set for the correct control ?

Now what are the possibilities:
– should I delete the key, or
– should I leave it in place modifying the DWORD Value to 00000000 ? (Is there something as “unkilling bit” ?)

Cheers,
Oana
Tomorrow I’m going to “Kill Bill”

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Mine matches yours. Good sleuthing, but now I’ve really run out of ideas.

Do other HTML help files work correctly (i.e., from other Windows programs)?

Does the Office installer let you uninstall and reinstall just the Help components?

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No to both questions.
But I solved the problem, and you put me on the right track !

For the record, in case anyone else suffers from Help-deprivation and 811630 doesn’t do its job: I deleted the key with the kill bit, i.e.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerActiveXCompatibility
{ADB880A6-D8FF-11CF-9377-00AA003B7A11}

and the thumbnails and links in all Help-files function again without a hitch.

Thank you very much, Jefferson.

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That works, but… be careful opening any strange HTML help files.

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That works, but… be careful opening any strange HTML help files.

Reply | Quote

No to both questions.
But I solved the problem, and you put me on the right track !

For the record, in case anyone else suffers from Help-deprivation and 811630 doesn’t do its job: I deleted the key with the kill bit, i.e.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerActiveXCompatibility
{ADB880A6-D8FF-11CF-9377-00AA003B7A11}

and the thumbnails and links in all Help-files function again without a hitch.

Thank you very much, Jefferson.

Reply | Quote

Mine matches yours. Good sleuthing, but now I’ve really run out of ideas.

Do other HTML help files work correctly (i.e., from other Windows programs)?

Does the Office installer let you uninstall and reinstall just the Help components?

Reply | Quote

1.) The relevant hh files are the same as those listed in 811630. Office SP3 didn’t replace them.

2.) The control’s GUID is the same as yours, {41B23C28-488E-4E5C-ACE2-BB0BBABE99E8}.

Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerActiveXCompatibility that GUID is listed indirectly:
I found the key {ADB880A6-D8FF-11CF-9377-00AA003B7A11}
with the String Value
“AlternateCLSID” = {41B23C28-488E-4E5C-ACE2-BB0BBABE99E8} (same as above)
and the DWORD Value
“Compatibility Flags” = 0x00000400 (1024).
So there’s a kill bit set, but is it set for the correct control ?

Now what are the possibilities:
– should I delete the key, or
– should I leave it in place modifying the DWORD Value to 00000000 ? (Is there something as “unkilling bit” ?)

Cheers,
Oana
Tomorrow I’m going to “Kill Bill”

Reply | Quote

Well… I’ve moved on to Office XP, which uses an odd sort of “parenthetical” glossary rather than pop-up. Doesn’t really help you.

Two thoughts:

(1) Did SP3 replace the relevant hh files with newer files compared with the versions set out in 811630? If so, perhaps that explains why the re-install didn’t work. I don’t know the risks of manually getting rid of those files (or whether the OS will let you do it), but this is a possibility.

(2) Did the kill bit on the HH control get set in the registry? Here’s one path to follow to check:

Using RegEdit, get the GUID for the control from: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTInternet.HHCtrl

Mine is, but yours might well be different: {41B23C28-488E-4E5C-ACE2-BB0BBABE99E8}

Look up that GUID under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftInternet ExplorerActiveX Compatibility

If you find it, check the Compatibility Flags value for “400” hex, which means “disable.” I haven’t located the correct new value, because in my case, this control is not listed! Maybe it’s a dead end, but it’s something to try.

Reply | Quote

Nothing to do.
I had Help Update (811630) already installed when I installed that infamous patch, and I installed it again (just to be sure). Installer didn’ hoot or blast, so I suppose it was OK.
The last thing I downloaded was SP3 for Office 2000, and after that the links in HTML Help ceased to function. I know it’s not plausible and that the culprit must be one of the Windows patches, but I frequently use Help in all 4 Office application so I’m pretty sure about the time it happened.
Please, please, have some more ideas !

Reply | Quote

Hi, try these:

MS03-040: October, 2003, Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer

“As with the previous Internet Explorer cumulative security patch that was released with security bulletin MS03-032 (822925), this cumulative patch causes the window.showHelp method to stop working if you have not applied the HTML Help update.”[/list]HTML Help Update to Limit Functionality When It Is Invoked with the window.showHelp( ) Method (MSKB 811630)

Critical Update to tweak/restore HTML help pop-up functionality[/list]Update Rollup 1 for Windows XP Is Available (MSKB 826939)

Post SP-1a (and some pre-SP1a ?) patches for Windows XP, including 811630 above[/list]Hope this helps.

Reply | Quote

I thought so, but I don’t find specifics anywhere, neither the number of the patch nor registry hacks. I found just one person with that identical problem in a French forum but there was no solution offered.

Reply | Quote

There was an Internet Explorer patch that disabled the script-powered pop-ups in the Help files. I don’t recall whether a subsequent IE patch fixed this, or there was a registry hack. However, either way, you should not have to completely re-do Office to fix this particular issue.

Reply | Quote