Very Strange Shortcut Problem

[PiedPiper70]

On a Win 7 64 bit machine I recently upgraded Office 2003 32 bit to 2010 32 bit. But I then had to downgrade it back to 2003 - long story. Today something suddenly triggered an error condition suddenly such that if I start any Access program on my desktop I immediately get the famous error "There was a problem sending the command to the program", and try as I might I can't solve it.

But I just discovered something weird. The above error occurs when the program is on my desktop. If I right click and create a shortcut on my desktop - same error. However, if I create a shortcut but this time I fully spell out the path to msaccess.exe followed by the file itself then NO error.

So, can anyone help me figure out what is going on, and hence how to solve this?

Many thanks
Dave

 

[Pat Hartman]

You need to COMPLETELY uninstall all office apps. Then reboot and check the installed files again. Make sure all MS Office is gone. Then reinstall Office 2003.

 

[PiedPiper70]

Pat, when you emphasize the word COMPLETELY what do you mean. Is there something over and above just removing a program in the normal way that I should be aware of?

 

[Pat Hartman]

No. Just all components of Office. Some might be listed separately in the installed programs list so look for them.

 

[PiedPiper70]

Thanks Pat - all done. Completely removed Office 2003 Pro, rebooted, installed Office 2003 standard followed by Access 2010 32 bit full version. All errors gone, and my machine now mirrors my client's set-up except that they have Access 2010 32 bit runtime. The reason they have this lop-sided setup is not of my doing - I'm stuck with it.

 

[Beniejeanly]

Then reboot and check the installed files again.