My computer has developed a mind of its own and refuses to let me open word 2000. the system also has slowed down but no viruses appear when I do scan can anyone give me advice please

When you scanned for viruses, had you just run an online update of your anti-virus software to check that it was up-to-date to detect recent viruses?

When Windows ME "refuses to let me open word 2000", does it give you any error message (if so, what is it?) or does it just sit there after you've clicked the icon and do absolutely nothing at all?

What happens if you do the following:
Click the Start Menu
Click Run
Type "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe"
Click OK

Thanks for your prompt response. When I followed your instructions The Word licence box opened and then the following message was displayed:
The system is dangerously low on resources. Would you like to close the following application: Winword (not responding).

When I closed this window a blue screen displayed the following message:

An error has occured etc.,.

Error :OE:016F:BFF8E64B

I had updated my antivirus program two days before. I use AVG

Hmmm. OK, reboot your PC and get into Windows. Right-click on the My Computer icon on the desktop and go to the Performance tab (I'm making this up on the belief that it's the same as Windows 98). Does it give you a percentage of 'system resources free'?

If you've just rebooted and not started any other programs, it should be 80% or higher.

Does it also tell you on that screen how much physical memory (RAM) it thinks your PC has?

Hi It shows 81% and 128MB RAM.

Hope this helps
CBH

OK, that's not too bad.

Reboot and then follow the instructions as before:
Click the Start Menu
Click Run
Type "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe"
Click OK

If you still get a resources message, then Word has definitely gone nuts and will need to be re-installed.