Can't open Word or Excel

I was working on Excel, saved a document, then tried opening both Excel and Word on Finder (or on dock). On finder, see new Device entitled \]gv which I know nothing about. Possibility that when I was saving, I hit a "normal" document button. I am senior and I would appreciate any help you can give me to rectify this. Have Lion

Simple things first. Let's see what's running. CLick on the Apple logo top left corner of the screen, then Force Quit. That should open a little window to show what's running. IF Excel and/or Word are running, select them and then click Force Quit.

If they aren't there, try rebooting and when prompted, make sure you tell the system NOT to re-open any apps.

EDIT: I don't think Lion prompts for re-opening apps, in which case just shut down and then restart.

Word and Excel not opening

OK I did that - they were running

If you Force Quit them, try restarting them.

Restarted

There you go! Need anything else?

Still not opening in Finder; still says not a valid pathway, sometimes says "The Open XML file Normal.dotm cannot be opened, and I still have the \]gv device showing on my devices and on my desktop (which I don't know what this is).

If you have a backup of Normal.dotm, you can restore it. If not, you'll need to reinstall Office.

as for the strange "\]gv device" how do you know it's a device? Or did you mean "file" and not device?

If it's showing up in Finder under "Devices" what happens when you click on it? And does it have the little eject icon on the right? If it's empty when you click on it, just click the eject button and it should go away.

Sorry, eject button?

The little symbol to the right of the device name. Triangle with a line underneath. That's the eject button.

There is no triangle with line to the right of the device name on Finder

At the bottom of Finder there also is a pen with a cross through it (if this helps)

Is there a device called Macintosh HD? If so, try rebooting. If not, post back. Something created or renamed a device that is un-ejectable, which should not happen.

In Finder, the ONLY device I have listed is this strange \]gv device

Ok, that's strange. Open Finder, click on the Finder name in the top bar of the screen, then Preferences and then Sidebar in the little window that open. At the bottom of the resulting window is an area labelled Devices. What is checked in that area? I'm getting concerned about the potential that your hard drive has been renamed somehow.

There are 4 entries: #1 is my son's MacBook Pro (which is now mine) - it is unchecked. #2 is Hard disks (checked), #3 External Disks (checked) and CDs, DVDs and iPods (checked). Also FYI I also have an Ipad Mini and iPhone. You can't believe how helpful you are being.

Also, don't want you to think I'm lazy. My son is travelling and is unreachable or I would try and get answers from him.

OK, when you clicked on the strange device in Finder, was anything on it? Did anything appear in the big finder window on the right? I'm just trying to see if anything is there before we try to eliminate it.

Nothing happens except it appears in the middle top as if I was trying to get on it. Don't see it anywhere else. Don't know what the "big" finder window on right is but if it's the list, can't see it either. Don't forget the Finder window has a pen crossed out (don't know what that means)