Cursor problems

Hi folks, I couldn't find any answers through a search, so thought I would do a post. I have a 10 month old SL510 with Win 7 32bit. Over the last few months I have had an intermittent problem with my mouse cursor. It first appeared when using Office 2003. Now it happens all the time in Office and usually also in my Outlook email. I don't think I have experienced it on ATT mail.

Here is what happens: I start writing, then want to go back to edit something. I place the cursor where I want to edit and click, and nothing!! The vertical line stays where it was. I even tried the free new version of Office that came with the computer-same thing. It used to be that I could save a doc, reopen it, and the cursor would start working. Any ideas? Thanks, LewBob

 

press windows+r. then type:"regedit" > ok.
hkey_current_user / software / microsoft / office / 12.0 / word
find the "data" key, right click rename "data0", close regedit and check if it works.

 

Wow! That appears to have worked. Thanks you so much. Can you explain in layman's terms what happened. LewBob

 

registry key issue.

 

But how did the error occur? I never get into the registry. Also, the problem has returned. When I get into the registry there now a data0 file and a data file. Is malware a possible source of the problem? In the meantime I will download Open Office, though I doubt that will solve the problem in Outlook.

Thanks again for taking the time to help me. LewBob

 

If I understand the circumstances correctly, you received a SL510 with a trial version of Office 2007 and then installed a retail copy of Office 2003, for which I hope you still have the installation CD and product key. If my understanding is not correct, please indicate so in your reply and ignore the rest of my post.

Although you can install more than one version of Office, it's not recommended and you must install the older version first (see here). Otherwise, the registry keys may become corrupted, among other things. In addition, installing the older version first will ensure that you end up with only one version of Outlook, which is necessary to keep Outlook from becoming unstable.

If all you require is Office 2003, then you need to uninstall both Office 2007 and Office 2003 and then reinstall Office 2003. At that point you should be good to go.

Don

 

Thanks, That is helpful. I can't remember if I loaded 2003 first or installed Office 2010 starter and then went to 2003 when I didn't like the ads on 2010 starter. I don't have 2010 on the computer now, so I will reload 2003 and see what happens. Lew

 

I hope by reload you mean uninstall and install.

Don