I'm using Windows XP and 2003 MS Word. My problem is that when I open a blank Word document and start typing, the font appears bolded even though the bold option is not selected. When I hit bold, it only becomes bolder! This started about a week ago and to my knowledge I haven't changed any settings. It says the font is Times New Roman 12, but the text doesn't appear that way when I type! Does anyone having any idea what is going on here? This is driving me crazy! Thanks.

I'm guessing that your normal template file (it is the one that creates the blank startup page in word) has been corrupted.

The fix is very easy.

You need to set your system so that you see the file extension type. To do that, open the "My Computer", then click on tools. Click Folder Options and then the "View" tab. Uncheck the option "Hide file extensions for known types" (if it is checked) and click OK.

Then:
1. Close MS Word
2. Do a search for the file "normal.dot". (Start/Search)
3. When you find the file (or files), select and delete it (or them, if you see more than one).
4. Once that is done, open your Word program.
5. Word will automatically restore your normal.dot file and you should see just a blank page with the font set to whatever is your default selection.

If this doesn't solve the problem, please post again.

Dwight

I searched for the file you listed, and there were no results found. Is there anything else I can try? Thanks!

If you're using MS Word, the file is there. You may need to change your search to include hidden or system files, but the file is there.
Dwight

Ok, I found two Normal.dot files and deleted one of them. The second one is actually named "~$Normal.dot" and will not delete. When I try to delete it, an error message pops up that says "Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk." I opened Word after deleting the first file, and the font still appears bold. Now what?

That "~$Normal.dot" file will not delete because is seen as running by the computer. The $ in file name tells you that.

Close everything and restart your computer. When the computer restarts don't start Word.

Then go through the process of looking for the normal.dot file and again delete all that you find. You probably will not see the "~$Normal.dot" file listed because it isn't running. But if you do see it (because it somehow got saved), you should be able to delete it.

I hope this helps. I will check back back here in a bit to see if you need anything more.

Dwight