To clarify, when the problem occurs with Outlook, Word does NOT open; as I said above, "Ultimate 2007 setup screen appears." I am currently in conversation with MS tech support. Last Friday I spent about 2 hours on the phone and with internet linking to my computer and they were unable to fix the problem. If I didn't already explain, previously when this problem started I did a complete uninstall and reinstall of office. I have confirmed twice that the problem goes away when I uninstall AC. I did a complete reinstall of the system software on advice that there was conflict with a previous version of Office. All I can say is it is definitely related to the Office 2007 .docx and .dotm file types. For example, if I remove the normal.dotm files, Word will open fine without errors (unless I am opening a .docx file). I can open .doc files (without any errors if I've deleted the normal.dotm file, with errors if I haven't, though the file does open eventually). MS is supposed to call me tomorrow morning to see if they can figure anything out. Not sure what is unique about my system, Compaq Presario V2000 running Windows XP pro, again it is MS Office Ultimate 2007.
