I have had to take my computer back to factory

I disagree with the other experts in that I have had good luck with Microsoft and they have been willing to work with me to get new product keys.

To obtain a new product key for your Office program in the United States, call 1-800-936-5700 and speak to a Microsoft customer service representative. Outside of the United States, call the number that appears in the activation wizard.
When you call Microsoft for a new Office product key, have the following items available for the customer service representative:

The product CD-ROM

The computer on which you want to install Office

The readable parts of your original product key (if available)

The ProductID information in the registry

Give it a try...what's the worst that can happen? You won't get a key.

Hi there,

Concur with Milleraba, he is steering you in the right direction.

I use Open Office myself. No problems with it at all. Opened every MS-Office doc.

I highly recommend it.

Mike

I'm sorry to hear that you have lost your key for MS Word 2002.

In my experience, there is no sympathy to be had from M/S under such circumstances and ... in a manner of speaking, I think you would agree, how can you fault them for trying to protect their intelectual rights.

MS may offer you a discound on a product upgrade but there will probably be some cost involved.

May I suggest Open Office as a software package you may wish to explore. Open Office is a public domain open code parallel product to MS Office. There is no fee, restriction, no evaluation period.

If you are interested in this suite of programs, please visit http://www.openoffice.org/. While there is no cost for this product, you may encounter requests for donations. If you want to donate now or in the future, the developers will appreciate your support, but you are under no obligation to donate to them to get the software.

Thank you for posting your question on FixYa.com

a