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Got Office XP? If you're using Microsoft's latest office suite, you know all about the activation process. Lots of people are annoyed at having to activate Office XP in the first place. As if that weren't bad enough, there's also a problem with the Activation Wizard. Here's how the process works: The wizard retrieves an authorization code so it can activate the product. (You can do this online or by calling Microsoft.)

You don't have to set the wizard in motion immediately--you can launch Office programs a total of 50 times without activating it. But when those 50 chances are up, you can't use Office XP unless you run the wizard. ( Find more details on the Activation Wizard.)

If you choose to activate over the Internet, you type in your Office XP product ID (a string of numbers on the CD). The wizard then connects to Microsoft's server to validate the number, at which point you should get the following message: "Please wait while the wizard initializes..."

Unfortunately, the Activation Wizard can freeze and leave you hanging. The problem? The wizard needs certain script files to do its job. If those files are missing or damaged, the wizard stalls. The crucial files may have gotten corrupted, or you might have deleted them by accident. Files can become corrupted in various ways. For instance, they can be damaged by viruses or by system crashes. Another potential source of trouble: Bad sectors on your hard drive can render parts of the files unreadable.

To get the Activation Wizard back on track, according to Microsoft, you should update the script files by applying a patch. Visit Microsoft for a link to the download (make sure you select the right version based on your machine's operating system). Jump to Microsoft Support for additional details on the activation problem itself. Finally, if the patch doesn't work, you can activate Office XP over the phone by calling Microsoft at 800/836-8282. In the meantime, you can continue to use the suite--as long as you haven't reached your usage limit.

No Can Do: Word and Excel

A separate snag has arisen recently in Microsoft's Office 2000 family. Some people, Microsoft says, have problems getting Word 2000 and Excel 2000 to run.

If your computer returns "out of memory" error messages when you attempt to open Word 2000 or Excel 2000, you may have a corrupted Office application file. (You can't overlook this problem, because neither program will load.) The diagnosis: One or more files needed by Word or Excel are damaged and cannot run.

The files in question are Mso9intl.dll, Msohelp.exe, and Msoffice.exe. Microsoft recommends that you rename all three files and then run Office Setup to reinstall Office 2000 and replace the corrupted file (or files) with clean copies. Visit Microsoft Support for the set of instructions.