Apple AND Microsoft techs stumped; workarounds impractical. I need help.

Question

I've got one that techs at Apple and MS have so far been unable to resolve, except with workarounds that aren't really practical.
The problem I'm going to describe happened first in Office v.X. Not knowing where those discs were to reinstall even if I wanted to, I went out today and bought Office 2004. After installing the new software and downloading all the updates, the problem didn't go away.
Here's what happens, and it only happens with Word and Excel. I can open both programs. The menu bars for each show up across the top. However, the document or spreadsheet window is not there. It simply isn't on the desk top. It isn't "spaced" away. It's not hidden (I've tried turning on and off the hide window, and nothing happens). I can even minimize the window through the drop down menus, and a document or spreadsheet icon will show up in the dock.
What I've done with the techs:
Created a second administrator account. The programs work well in that account. The workaround would be then to migrate all of my 250 gigs of info to that new account, and discard the prior admin account. Whatever is affecting the operation of the MS programs could possibly migrate as well.
MS techs had me delete all of the preferences and the Normal template for the MS programs. Nothing changes.
Reinstall Office 2004. This was a time waster, as the problem existed before the initial installation of Office 2004. Reinstalling it didn't eliminate whatever conflict was happening.
I put an Excel file into my shared folder, and was able to open it successfully in the second admin account I created.
The MS techs had me do a Safe Boot, and that seemed to solve the problem once I restarted in a regular configuration. Except that the document and spread sheet windows disappeared after being open for about 10 minutes.
Please note: The applications are opening, and "believe" that the documents I opened are indeed there. I can even see the info in each spreadsheet cell in the menu bar. It's just that there's no document window. It's not behind my desk top. It's not hidden. It's not spaced. It just isn't there.
I need help please.
Has this happened to anyone else? Is there another place I should look for conflicting files or glitches? I really don't want a workaround. These two programs should work seamlessly with Leopard.

Answer 1

Obviously you have an incompatibility with some previously installed software. Since Office works with a 'virgin' account the problem isn't system wide. It's likely confined to the ~/Library folder tree. So you can start the slow and tedious process of moving files from <badaccount>/Library/* to <goodaccount>/Library/* in a systematic way. After you move a folder, launch and test Word. Then move more folders over. Launch and test again.
Eventually you will break <goodaccount> and the last folder you moved is likely to be the culprit.