Okay, based upon a time you can kinda establish there was no problem, this would indicate something has changed in Word that is more Registry Oriented

If you do the conventional uninstall/reinstall you are simply replacing Word with a newly installed Word with the same Registry settings, so you have not really changed anything

If this works, then you can easily return Word to settings you prefer

Otherwise, look how much time you have spent and will spend trying to resolve an issue that may easily be resolved

If the above fails to work, then it will be much easier to explore other avenues

As for doing this with other Office products, are you having problems with other programs?