Windows XP's WordPad tool can open many Microsoft Word DOC files good enough for you to be able to read most of their contents (be sure to choose the Files of Type Word for Windows (*.doc) when opening files). However, the document formatting may be incorrect as many files require Microsoft Word-intrinsic features that WordPad does not support. And, in some cases, you may not be able to read DOC files at all.

Even if WordPad cannot view particular .DOC files, you should not give up hope reading them. Microsoft has released a Microsoft Word Viewer that displays Word 2000 - 2003 files. With an available add-on, you can view Word 2007 .DOCX files as well:

* Microsoft Word Viewer - microsoft.com

(Note that Microsoft changes their download links from time to time. If the above link does not work, visit Microsoft's home page and search for word viewer.)

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