Word Cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc

Since the latest security updates, we are now getting this error whenever we
open a word document.

Any ideas or suggestions?

See if this helps:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973904

If not, please post back with your version of Word and Windows.

make the change, but Microsoft Word opens documents with lots of little
pictures (drawings)

Have a look at the link : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973904

There are 2 solutions. If you don't want your machine to be vulnerable then just go ahead with this option:

When a file has the ".doc" file name extension, but the content is a plain text file or another kind of file that is not a Microsoft Word binary file, and that file is opened in Microsoft Word, you may receive the following error message up to three times before Microsoft Office Word successfully opens the file:
Word cannot start the converter mswrd632
To resolve this issue, an affected user can unregister the mswrd632 converter by editing the registry as follows:
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Text Converters\Import\MSWord6.wpc
On the Edit menu, click Delete.
Click Yes.
Exit Registry Editor.
This change will effectively unregister the converter and disable it for third-party applications and for Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office will use its own text converters to open these kinds of files.

Since the latest security updates, we are now getting this error whenever we
open a word document.

Any ideas or suggestions?

I made the change to the registry, but now the files open with only
unprintable characters. Any updates?

Change the Reg hive back

I tried both the manual fix and the automatic fix as mentioned in KB 973904.
Neither has solved the problem. Grateful for any advice you can give.