Word 2000 hangs when opening

I am working on a friends old computer. It was right full of junk and I managed to get it all cleaned out, after 14 hours of work on it, except one issue. When you open Word 2000, it takes about 60 seconds to open. All the other office applications open in seconds. I have looked around and found info that the normal.dot template is corrupted. If you delete the file the program opens properly. However, when you go to open it a second time the isssue has returned. I understand that the new file that automaticaly replaces the deleted one should be correct, yet it apears every new file is showing up corrupted. I have uninstalled and reloaded windows to no avail and ran the auto-fix feature as well to no success. I also made sure that there are no addons running and nothing in the start folder at all. What gives. How do I either stop the program from saving a normal.dot file with every close, or how do I fix the issue?? I have run out of ideas. This computer is an old one, Windows 98 second edition, 128 ram, office 2000 premium. Its all they can afford so I am doing what I can here to help. Any suggestions???