G4 Crashes and scanners (perhaps too heavy for a Sunday :-)

[Sue Rodriguez]

I have a dual processor, G4 Apple computer.  It is partitioned--if that
means I EITHER open in OS 10 or OS 9.2.2.  A few weeks ago, all of my
Microsoft Office '98 application changed icons to Microsoft Office X and
gave me an error message to the effect that the application needed to be
opened in the OS X environment.  Since I also have Microsoft Office 2001 for
OS 9, I thought I might be able to solve (part of) the problem by installing
that.  That lead to a new set of problems.  I could not use Entourage--it
would crash after downloading about half of whatever was the first download
from the server--and I am able to open the Word documents only after I have
launched Word.

This weekend I bought a HP Scanjet 3970 and installed it.  I can only get
the HP Director to launch, nothing opens from the icons on of the HP
Director or pushing the buttons on the scanner itself.  And half the time
the computer freezes.  I get a Error 1 messages (I got an Error 3 message
with Entourage), both of which are memory messages and I tried increasing
the memory on both and this made no difference.

When I loaded the scanner software (and BTW I got a successfully installed
message), I had a disk in my zip drive.  It was named and it appears to be
undamaged, but I get a zip error message, telling me to install
"iomega"--which was not the disk's name.   Now I get that message everytime
I start my computer.

And as if that isn't enough, I tried to load the scan software onto my older
iBook.  I got the same successful install message, had basically the same
problem with the scanner, but now I also get the zip message on the iBook
everytime I boot it.

My questions:

As for the G4, some of its problems predate the scanner.  Can I reinstall
the software without losing the information I have on the computer (I know a
clean install wipes everything)?  Does it sound like it would be better to
do a clean install?

Is there some small thing I am doing wrong with the scanner?  And because
the zip message also appears on the iBook, have I damaged the install disk?

How do I get rid of the zip message?  I threw away the preferences and
zapped the PRAM.

Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated, and TIA.

Sue aka Totally Clueless