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@krtweaver wrote:
We've been having a problem lately with Word. The original CD's came with my computer from Dell and were included in a packet of Microsoft Work CD's. When I go to "save as" documents in Microsoft Word, the hourglass stays there and the program hangs. Not sure why. In short, unable to save documents. Someone suggested I uninstall and reinstall Microsoft Word. So, I found the original CD's and attempted to unintall from them. I get a message as follows:

The patch package could not be opened. Verify
that the patch package exists and that you can
access it or contact the application vendor to
verify that this is a valid Installer patch package.

I got this same message when I attempted to uninstall from the Add/Remove Programs in the control panel.

So, in short, I can't uninstall and thus can't reinstall. I am baffled.

Does anyone have any ideas of what I might be able to try to address this issue?

Thanks,
Karen

Try the REPAIR option when you are in Add/remove programs. 

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@NODEL4ME wrote:

otherwise, it would probably be easier to buy the necessary software from and office supply store, and install new software.  it's really great that computers come with pre-installed software these days.  but it makes things a little more difficult when stuff like this comes up.  good luck!

This doesn't make sense to me as the OP says they have the original CDs...