Problem with Word 2008 after system repair

I recently had a new HD installed on my MacBook Pro (Thanks Applecare!) and have restored all of my documents and important apps from an external. Here's the problem: Microsoft Word 2008 will no longer allow to open any files saved as a '97-2004 doc. I'll double click on a document in Finder and receive a message that the file type is blocked and that if I trust the source I should try to open it directly from Word. That doesn't work either. I get another message saying "Word cannot open this document. The document might be in use or might not be a valid Word document."

I created these documents IN Word 2008 before I had the HD replaced. Any ideas?

You might want to first try moving or deleting the Word Plist file:

/Users/your user name/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.Word.plist

You can move it to your desktop or delete it. But don't empty the trash until you're certain that Word is fixed.

Post back and let us know.

Didn't work.

Nevermind! Restarted the system and all is working fine. Weird.