It appears I have a solution to my particular version of the Word 2000 quitting error, we'll see how it goes over the next few days. After much searching and posting, I wound up at a Microsoft site with a FixIt for Win7 for Word problems.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/822005
When I first started the Fix it app, it said I had to close winword first even though Word was not open. However, I found four instances of winword active in the Task Manager (I had opened four Word documents earlier, closed them but Task Manager indicated the instances were still active). I manually closed them and ran the Fix it. Upon restarting Word, it now starts up quickly and closes without an error. Fingers are crossed...
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Below is the background on all the things I tried first that did not work:
I've encountered a problem running Word 2000 under Win7 Professional 64-bit. Word runs, edits and saves ok but when I try to quit I get a popup "Microsoft Word for Windows has stopped working"
Word 2000 had worked fine for several years until my desk top crashed several times due to the cpu overheating, later fixed by applying new thermal paste (computer was 5 years plus old). Now Word 2000 works fine in all respects until I go to exit the program when I get the message shown at the top of the post.
If I open a file in Word and then open a second file which causes a second instance of Word 2000 to open, the second instance of Word 2000 will close normally, strange. Note, the second instance of Word opens instantly, the initial instance opens with a 10 sec delay.
Excel 2000 works fine, no issues.
What I've done to date but with no improvement:
1 - Deleted "Normal.dot", the only *.dot* on the computer
2 - Did a repair of Word 2000 through Uninstall/Install in Control Panel.
3 - Ran FSC, no errors noted
4 - Noted that Word 2000 opens after a 10 sec delay, it used to open instantly. Suspecting some com issue, changed from my old HP 2010 laserjet to a new Epson inkjet, no change in issue.
5 - Ran a virus scan of all hard drives, nothing found (Norton)
6 - Ran a malware scan, same result
What made a difference:
1 - Started Word 2000 without add-ins with the "/a" command and word 2000 will exit normally.
2 - - Checked to see if any add-ins were being loaded when started without the /a command, none listed.
I have not yet deleted and reinstalled Word 2000, perhaps that's next. Given that Word 2000 worked fine on my Win7 64 professional installation for years, there must be a way out of this.