>2) about 6 months ago, my Word quite recognizing .dbf files of any kind: no
>VFP, no FoxPro, no dBase. thank goodness this has not happened at any of the
>client sites. but i have no idea what i loaded (visual studio, updates, etc)
>that wiped out the ODBC from Word to .dbf. Any ideas how I can correct this
>problem?

You upgraded to MDAC 2.1 at that time, correct? You can work around the problem by checking out Q237284 WD97: Error Message: "Cannot Find Installable ISAM".