Locked documents office 2003

I have been using office 2003 pro for 2 years. only recently I reformated C drive (Sony laptop) using restore disks. I reinstalled office 2003.
All was going well till I started to use Word 2003. I can read but not able to edit my own documents I get the message "This modification is not allowed because the document is locked"Even a new documents cannot be done. I get same message
whatever I do is not working. I removed office completly then reinstalled it and still the same proble.
I even looked at the files properties in (my documents) and made sure that the properties is set to read/write.
I'd appreciate your advice.
Thank you in anticipation

boot into Safe Mode; login as Admin
find the directory containing the files
(may be more than one; if you only store docs in your My Documents dir, then use it)
right click->properties
click the Security Tab->Advanced->Owner
take ownership of the directory (As Admin)
[select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects]

go to Permissions
Now ADD user and give FULL CONTROL
[select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects]