Word 2010 Starter Broken? Read Me.

So I arrived at work this morning, confronted by a desktop full of little orange icons like the one to the right. Clicking one brought up the “handy” screen below.

A quick perusal of my program list showed Word 2010 Starter still installed, so why was it no longer the default? Why was Microsoft insisting I buy it?

“No problem,” I thought. “I’ll just right click one of those icons and reset the default program.” (Right click > Open with > Choose default program.) Unfortunately, Word 2010 doesn’t show up under C:Program Files nor C:Program Files (x86). Instead, a new Microsoft Office > Office14 folder displays in each. I’m guessing a recent OS update screwed things up.

Fortunately, there is a way to restore Word 10 as a default. Here’s the process that worked for me:

1. Right-click your MS Word Starter shortcut.
2. Click “Properties.”
3. Highlight and copy the contents of the “Target:” window.
4. Right-click one of the orange file icons.
5. Click “Properties.”
6. Click the “Change” button next to “Opens with.”
7. Click the “Browse” button.
8. Paste in the contents of step 3 into “File Name.”
9. Click “Open.”
10. Click “Okay.”
11. Click “Okay” again.
12. You’re finished.

Post a comment or send me a message if this helps!

—Les