OK, I have solved my own issue, after many hours of trial and error.
I post here in case it may be helpful to any others:
1. Set folder options to show hidden files and folders
2. Navigate to your C drive , Program Data folder, Microsoft Help folder.
Delete to place in Recycle bin, but do not Empty recycle bin yet. I suppose
renaming the folder "Microsoft Help_old" may help to, but that is not what I
tried.
3. Open the Office apllications, one at a time, click the help button, and
allow Office to configure the help screen itself.
4. When prompted to reboot, do not, close the application and open all the
others, each one at a time, clicking the help button for each one and
allowing the configuration to finish.
5. Reboot.
6. try the help button in each application to test. Voila! Help viewer
window opens and I can type in my question and get recommended results. :)
7. Empty the recycle bin.
8. My prob was fixed.
I found that the Microsoft Help folder recreated itself, with fresh files,
dated the date the files were created, i.e. today's date in my case.
The previous Microsoft Help folders had help files for the Office programs,
like winword, for example, dated 3/6/2007. I suppose that is the date the
files were originally installed. My laptop dates from March 2007, this
office install was to a new HD since the original failed.
Those "old" help files could have caused my problem. I am surprised that MS
Office did not overwrite them whan I installed, repaired and reinstalled
Office 2007.
I want to stress that you are "on your own" if you attempt my fix. And I
strongly urge you not to empty your recycle bin, until after you have
toubleshooted your fix and found it to work. I also stress that this
solution might only be applicable to my particular situation, OS and
equipment.
Good luck.