installing legal office over illegal

[bookworm]

hope you can help, found out copy of office xp pro installed was illegal. Spoke to microsoft uk, very helpful, said I could get product support to help me install and lose none of my data or settings. Problem they are only available dureing my working hours. Have had the retail version a week, still in shrink wrap(almost afraid to open) as I am not confident that I can install.
Upgraded computer(thats how I found out) everything perfect afraid to spoil it. Any help or advice appreciated.

amd athalone 2100+
80GB hd
512 ram
60GB external hd
adsl
cd/rw

[cX_GX]

"if it's not broke, don't fix it" isn't always well known. Should you wish to take my advice: I would return the new office to the store and continue using the old one unless you are absolutely forced to upgrade, such as other people having the new version that is incompatable with yours. I see as a trend with the new office's that comes out is more bloated with a few extra features that are usually unneeded and creates incompatability problems with previous versions.

If I had to upgrade, I usually take the sledgehammer to a fly approach which isn't the best for everyone. I would write down my settings somewhere (I'm not sure how customized you have it). Completely uninstall the old one and install the new one. I usually f-disk and reinstall windows every couple months anyways.

Lastly, MS has gotten more agressive in having "illegal" versions stop working/causing problems so I would strongly recommend backing up your whole hard-drive if you have irreplaceable stuff on it before proceeding just in case.

I hope that helps.