Vista, word docs issue

I have Vista 2007 Home Premium. I have saved word docs from my previous system. I can physically open them, but they lose all formatting, and there are about 20 rows of random characters at the top, and pages of random characters at the bottom. How can I open older word files in Vista so that they look like they did when I created them?

This is because of formatting not accepted by the current version of your Microsoft office. There are two options you can try. First open the file as read only. Then save as the file. Again try to open it. If this does not work, you will have to manage an older version of Microsoft Office. Like Microsoft Office 2003. And then open the same in it. This looks issue of compatibility.