Why does the system prompt me for a username and password when I use Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) to open a Microsoft Word document on a computer with Office 2003?

A. When you open the Word document, IE tries to write the document name to the list of most recently used files. However, before IE can add the document name to the list, it attempts to obtain Read/Write access to the document, which can result in the username and password request. To resolve this problem, you must configure your system to not add Word documents to the most recently used files list by performing the following steps:

This problem also exists with Microsoft Office XP. The solution is the same, except you navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice10.0WordOptions registry subkey in Step 2 and you must request a patch from Microsoft Support (make sure you reference Microsoft article "WD2002: Password Prompt When You Close a Word Document You Opened in a Web Browser,"--no patch is needed for Office 2003).