Question from a reader: I am using XP and have downloaded the Office Professional 2010 trial. I can't get used to this program and want to go back to Office XP. I can reinstall Word, Access, Excel and PowerPoint, but Outlook doesn't work. When I try that, red crosses appear in the parts list. Can you advise me how I can solve this? I'm not getting anywhere with Microsoft.
Our answer: Did you uninstall the Office 2010 beta before attempting to install Office XP? If Office 2010 is still on your system, it is correct that you cannot install Outlook. Multiple versions of Office side by side is no problem, but Outlook can only be installed once. If Office 2010 is still installed, uninstall it first and then try installing Office XP again. If you have already uninstalled Office 2010 and the installation of Office XP still does not work, an uninstaller such as Revo Uninstaller may help. Revo Uninstaller removes programs according to the standard procedure and then sees what remains are left behind. This can be file leftovers and registry settings. Launch Revo Uninstaller and see which MS Office components are still present on your computer. Then remove it from your system via Revo Uninstaller. If the Office 2010 Beta uninstall procedure is no longer listed, please reinstall Office 2010 Beta. Use Revo Uninstaller to uninstall Office 2010 beta and reinstall Office XP. Experimenting with betas always entails risks, because the programs are not yet completely finished. This can cause the strangest computer problems. A good way to avoid this is to try beta software on a virtual computer first. With a program like VirtualBox you can install Windows 'in' your current Windows version, and experiment with it without affecting your computer.
