Win xp home: MS works Word dialog box

Hi, all. I have a very important MS word doc I need to open. When I try to open it, it says "the command cannot be performed because a dialog box is open. Click o.k. and then close open dialog boxes to continue." I click o.k. but I see no open dialog box to close.
I have another problem that is probably related to the dialog box problem. When I tried to install NJ star (app.) the dialog box comes on with no writing on it. The box only has the header with the title. Same thing is happening with my bit tornado application. Nothing but the title header. Some dialog box pops up with only the header. When I try to "maximize" it I can't. I could only close it or hide it.
I'm using Windows xp home edition on Compaq AMD Athlon 512 mb ram. I just noticed something bizzar. It says that I already spent 7.8 gig of hard drive! I got this computer Sunday which is a couple of days ago. I just got online today. There is no way I spent that much hard drive space. Just ran add and remove and there is nothing that big there. WHAT GIVES??? Thanks.

 

Does this fit

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;827732

 

Hello, MFD. Thank you so much for the info. I accidentally solved my problem by registering MS office trial version. For some reason all the problems mentioned went away as soon as MS office was registered. Thanks again.