Hello cindygoco,
The most significant danger of using counterfeit/unlicensed software is that it might contain unwanted malicious programs. The best option when correcting a situation where the software is pirated/counterfeit/unlicensed is to uninstall the program from the cmputer. In the case of a nongenuine Office, it's best to restart the computer twice after uninstallation, then do a fresh installation from genuine CDs. Once that's done, visit
www.microsoft.com/genuine and click on the Validate Office button to clear/update the OGA Notifications utility.
Office 2003 has a handy Save My Settings Wizard, so run the Wizard before uninstalling the nongenuine Office, so that you con bring your settings back into the genuine Office once it's installed.
However, if you absolutely, positively cannot do the above, you can follow this MS KB article to attempt to change the nongenuine Office Product Key to a genuine Product Key:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/895456
For great advice on all topics XP, visit http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp
