ok tried that, mine is unchecked... when i check it the dotted lines appear...
what button should i uncheck to get rid of the placeholders?
it should be obvious ( i notice it is not picture placeholders as yours is unchecked yet they are still there)

Here's the thing, when I uncheck text boundaries it all goes including the TL & TR corners. I cannot get any document to just show those corners.
All I can suggest is deleting the normal.dot and see if that fixes it.

interesting...
if i delete the normal.dot will that not affect anything else?

if it messes other thigns up can i then just move it back in from the recycyle bin?

No it shouldn't affect anthing else. Once you delete it, shut down the comp and reboot. Word will create a new normal.dot to replace the missing one and there should hopefully be no guide lines anywhere.
You can leave the old one in the bin if you feel easier about it until you're happy everything is working ok.

ok, thanks ill give it a shot.
if this does resolve it.. wonder what went wrong with it...