Windows 7: Office issue

Hi Everybody,

I am also new to this forum and many other similar forum. That means I only have very limited computer knowledge.

I have followed the tutorial here to install a dual boot system with Vista and 7. My pc is an Hp and so the os Vista is pre-installed. I added an old hard drive and installed the windows 7 to the old hard drive. The first 2 or 3 times were not successful. Finally it was done and I got what is expect and I can choose to boot into Vista or 7. But when I boot into Vista, I could not open my Microsoft Outlook. When I could open Outlook, then it is a blank new Outlook like I was opening Outlook for the first time. I also could not open my Word and Excel files. It said something like either the path was wrong or I need the permission to open them. When I open windows explorer, I can see all the files. I even can open all those files from another computer in the same network. Also, there are some new folders created under the C drive. Could somebody please help me to solve the problem?


I do not mind installing both os again if that helps. For the Vista, since it is pre-installed, I only have the recovery disks. Can I use the recovery disks to re-install Vista with doing anything on windows 7 on the other hard drive?
One more question regarding installing software/programs. If I install the same Microsoft Office onto Windows 7 as in Vista, will Microsoft treat that as second installation and does not allow me to activate.