Official Word Starter update?

Anonymous
2014-08-16T15:23:38+00:00

When I opened up my laptop this morning (8/16/14) there was a pop-up on the screen telling me  there was an update available for Microsoft Word Starter 2010 and asking me if I wanted to download it.  It did not look like the typical Windows or Office update notification.  I closed the pop-up and opened Windows update and ran it.  There were some updates available, but none that said they were for Word Starter.  IS there a new Update for Word Starter or is this someone trying to get me to download a virus?

***Office Product moved to Office 2010 by the Moderator.***

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Suzanne S Barnhill 279.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2014-11-20T16:27:28+00:00

Microsoft has posted a Knowledge Base article describing and explaining this popup and providing a solution. Find it at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3016799.

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Anonymous
2014-08-20T14:23:14+00:00

Hi everyone,

We heard back from the product group. The dialog is expected for a legitimate Office 2010 starter update. It appears for click to run scenarios where the path is missing a piece of information between the build that the user is running on and the latest available build.

The august update that was pulled is a Windows update, not an Office update.

Thanks!

DK - MSFT support

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-10-24T23:48:27+00:00

    I rec'd a pop-up for an update a few weeks ago and it downloaded with no problem.  A couple of days ago I rec'd another.  Since I had no problem with the first, I clicked to download.  I don't know how many hours my computer was indicating that the download was in progress.....many.  When the download was complete I couldn't open MS Starter 2010 Word or Excel.  I could open the documents folder but when clicking open on any of them I got the window that said that the program needed to open was not installed on my computer.  I read most of the posts here and tried a number of things, and finally went to the control panel and on the list of programs I found Microsoft Office 2010 showing installed 9/11/2013 and Microsoft Click-To-Run installed 7/19/2012 but the only option was to uninstall, not change and repair. But the Microsoft Office Starter 2010-English, installed 7/19/2012, Version 14.0.5139.5005, had the option to uninstall or change.

    I clicked "change" and the option to repair Microsoft Click-To-Run. At some point (I can't recall every word of the process) it gave the option to download Microsoft Word Starter.  I did, and by whatever miracle, the problem was fixed. After the downloading it did give a message about some difficulty and asked if I wanted to run it in "safe mode."  I declined - no problems.

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  2. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-10-24T23:06:03+00:00

    Does the pop up only occur when you are using Word, or one of the Office applications?

    If you go to File>Help, do you see the same as the following or something different?

    You might try repairing the Office installation as detailed in the Knowledge Base article at: 

    http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/repair-or-remove-office-2010-HA010357402.aspx

    and see if that overcomes the problem

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-10-24T15:57:12+00:00

    I really appreciate your trying to help, Doug.  I purchased my Office 2010 Professional through a company agreement with Microsoft.  I have no idea whether it was a Click to Run version, but the Control Panel doesn’t have "Microsoft Office Client Virtualization Handler" listed in case that helps, and searching for that handler via the Start Menu's search function finds no matches.  Searching for "Starter" also leads nowhere, so I really don't think I have the Starter installed anywhere.  Here's what I do know:

    In the Start Menu in All Programs, there is an entry for Microsoft Office which, when expanded, shows shortcuts to all of the Office Programs in the Professional Version (Word, Excel, Access, etc.).  When I follow the path in the Microsoft Office shortcut properties to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office, I can double-click on Microsoft Office and see the same list of shortcuts to Office programs.  When I view the properties of one of these shortcuts, I expected it would find the actual program but it identifies the path as “Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010.”   Does that help identify the version of Office that I have?

    You may have guessed that I am risk-averse when it comes to messing with my software installation.  My only interest is in making that dad-gum annoying pop-up disappear forever, but if I have to live with a few clicks a day to avoid screwing up my PC, I guess I will do that.  Again, thanks for your efforts.  Barb

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