Hello Kimberley,
Thanks for the reply. Please reread the problem as I wrote to Shirley.
In the meantime I found a solution at a different billboard. Word 2003: In the open document: goto format; goto styles and formatting; in the side bar window goto normal and open modify; uncheck automatic updates. It works with me for the time being. There may be a virus present on my machine in a word macro or so that continues changing the normal.dot file. Future will tell.
Best,
Johannes