MS Word documents open but aren't visible

I've suddenly started having a very strange problem in Word and can't find a post describing a similar problem on either the Apple or the Microsoft Word support discussion fora.
I can open documents, either within Word or directly from my Documents folder, but when they open they aren't visible. I know that they are open because they appear on the list of open windows, both on the menu bar and from the dock. Once I've closed the documents down, they also appear on my Recent Items list under the Apple menu. Worse still, the problem has now spread to my MacBook Pro, so I'm wondering if the problem was caused by a recent software or security update.
I've tried everything that I can think of to fix this problem (changing the document view, using the arrange documents command under the Windows menu tab), short of reinstalling Office. I don't think that the documents are corrupted, as I get this problem with every Word document that I open (and they open fine in Pages).
Any suggestions to try and fix this problem would be gratefully received.

I had a problem with windows disappearing in Word and other applications. I found the problem was the System Preferences “Expose/Spaces.”
I tried Spaces after I installed Leopard and decided I wouldn’t use it, so I unchecked the Enable box. But Spaces mysteriously re-enabled itself. It would show the application menu bar but no window, even though the file was listed in the Windows menu.
When it happens, you can try cycling through Spaces by using the Control-arrow or Control-1,2,3 or 4 keys. If you ever tried Spaces and then thought you disabled it, this may be happening to you also.
To completely disable Spaces, go to the System Preferences, click the Expose/Spaces icon, click on the Spaces tab, check the Enable Spaces box, and select the applications in the spaces. Then click on the minus button at the bottom of the window. After removing all the applications, uncheck the Enable box again.
I don’t know if this is the problem with your computer or not. It seems unlikely it is a virus, as others suggested and from what you have replied. Checking the Spaces System Preferences and trying what I did to remove the applications from the Spaces function couldn’t hurt, unless you really want to use Spaces. In that case, try using the Control-arrow or Control-1, 2, or 3 key combinations when it doesn’t show the document window.
This method worked for some others:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6202441#6202441
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6183939#6183939

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