Can't Access my 2003 Professional

Well, that may or may not necessarily be true ... here's
my problem ...

Installed Office 2003 Professional ... went through the
setup, it said it was fully installed ...

One thing I noted is that there is no 2003 Office icon on
my screen ... don't know if that's an issue ...

So I go into the start menu, find the office listing
there and up pops a listing of the various Office
programs (Word, Powerpoint, etc.) ...

When I click on one of them to run them, a box pops up
momentarily telling me it's preparing setup ... then that
disappears and up pops a larger box entitled "Microsoft
Office 2003 Setup" ... underneath that the
heading "Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003" ... OK,
there's my first issue ... why is it saying "Standard
Edition" when I installed Professional?

Below that is blank fields asking for your name,
initials, organization and the product key (which was
successfully entered upon initial install).

Well, I type in my name ... then I type in the product
key - the same one on the inside of the CD box that the
Office 2003 disk came in (which also worked to activate
Office 2003 initially) ... and it tells me it's not a
valid product key ... this is followed by whatever
application (Word, Excel, etc.) closing up immediately.
In other words, Office is supposedly installed but I
can't use it ...

Help!

Well, that may or may not necessarily be true ... here's
my problem ...

Installed Office 2003 Professional ... went through the
setup, it said it was fully installed ...

One thing I noted is that there is no 2003 Office icon on
my screen ... don't know if that's an issue ...

So I go into the start menu, find the office listing
there and up pops a listing of the various Office
programs (Word, Powerpoint, etc.) ...

When I click on one of them to run them, a box pops up
momentarily telling me it's preparing setup ... then that
disappears and up pops a larger box entitled "Microsoft
Office 2003 Setup" ... underneath that the
heading "Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003" ... OK,
there's my first issue ... why is it saying "Standard
Edition" when I installed Professional?

Below that is blank fields asking for your name,
initials, organization and the product key (which was
successfully entered upon initial install).

Well, I type in my name ... then I type in the product
key - the same one on the inside of the CD box that the
Office 2003 disk came in (which also worked to activate
Office 2003 initially) ... and it tells me it's not a
valid product key ... this is followed by whatever
application (Word, Excel, etc.) closing up immediately.
In other words, Office is supposedly installed but I
can't use it ...

Help!

Hello,

I would advise you to go to the Windows update site and scan for virus and
install all the latest updates, try this also for Office. This is a very
strange behavior (smells little bit like Sasser virus)

--
Kindest regards,

Vincent Schouten - Technical Support Specialist - Microsoft Services
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Go to http://www.microsoft.com/protect and follow instructions today!

Michael,
Try this link:
http://www.support.microsoft.com/?kbid=836178
"Invalid product key error message when you start an Office 2003 program
after you install Office Professional Edition 2003"
This link was also on the latest Office Newsletter.