The original oxymoron....;)

Ooops, sorry for getting your nick wrong yrag. 

I'm so happy that I have been able to some humor into your lives. 

@Philly:

Possible solution:

Check if Works is still installed on the machine:

Click Start > Control Panel > Programs (Programs and Features) > Check if your "Microsoft Works" is listed in the programs list.

If you find 'Microsoft Works' listed, Right click on it and then click "Repair".

Once the repair completes follow the steps mentioned below to create shortcut for Works applications:

Click on Start > click on All Programs > Click on the 'Microsoft Works' Folder > right click on the Works application > select 'send to desktop'.

Well there is some good information here so thought i would throw another one out for you John.

Open Office 2010 is a very good set of programs. you can even get it in a portable version so just use google and put in open office portable. The download is around 90megs and install is arounf 293. Great thing is download it to a usb flash drive. Then click to install it and it will install on the flash drive. You can run the different programs from there. I read you don't do much with the office programs. but think it open txt files and any Microsoft word or excel file someone my send you. You can also save them in that format. I actually have microsoft office but take my flash drive to friends houses when something is needed. don't take it very much anymore as they all use Open Office from their own flash drives now. You can also just go to Open office and download and install th3e non portable version to your computer.

Just something else for you to think about but it's really time even for an old guy to move away from works. lol.

If mine didn't work (#29), do you have a system restore point before this happened? I'd run an antimalware/antiviral scan before doing the system restore, though.

Yes I do have restore points and that was going to be my next try at fixing the problem Doc, that is unless I decide to just uninstall Works and install Libre Office.  Giving it some serious thought as Libre Office is small (mb size) vs Works. 

Given that all you want do do is grocery lists, I'm still at a loss as to why Notepad isn't enough. 

Microsoft has abandoned all serious efforts at publishing thorough, well-edited Help content, but they still toss out sloppy blurbs like "Open Notepad by clicking the Start button. In the search box, type Notepad, and then, in the list of results, click Notepad." (If there's still a Run command, you can click it, type notepad.exe in the Open box, and press ENTER.)

Not sure what the default file associations are for Win7 or on your rig, but you can always change them so that any .txt file you create will open in Notepad. 

p.s. If you wanted to do your lists with some basic formatting, Win7 apparently also includes WordPad to work with .rtf files instead of plain text. 

GW Swicord I forgot all about WordPad.  I can get rid of Works and not need to download anything else. 

I did try the other suggestion about booting into safe mode and doing a restore, didn't make a difference.  Ran my anti-virus/anti-malware scans and found nothing.  I also looked the Windows Update log, no updates for Works since 2010.   Wonder if Microsoft pushed through one of their 'silent' updates.

MS Onenote? Or OO/Libre Office.

If Office were a drug as enticing as cocaine, I'd accuse you of of peddling crack. OneNote is for people who abandoned Word for PowerPoint and still want something with 'a better experience.'

Philly...if all you want is a shopping list, just use WordPad or notepad and save yourself some hassle.

RedneckDud, reply #34. 

That's me, alrighty.  

You might also try Open Office. I've tried Libre Office, which, as I understand it, is a different path of the same source as Open Office. But I've found that Libre Office always seems to pause when I begin using it. The delay is only a few seconds but it irritates me. I don't have the same problem with Open Office. I don't know if everyone would have the same problem though, or if it's just my machines.

Okay so guess what, Works Task Launcher is now working and I didn't do anything.  It just may be as I thought, MS sending out some of their 'Silent Updates' that got corrected.  I found when I started looking deeper into the problem that Works was coming up as not being compatible with Windows 7.  Imagine that. 

May I suggest pencil and the back of an envelope next time it breaks?

And if you want to skin it . . put a box of Crayolas on the list and go to town!

Crayons ~= RTF, QFT!

I find that most folks generally use the piece of software that gets the job done for them.  I'm at the point in my life that I occasionally have a need for a word processor, since MS Works come with the computer it serves my purpose.

Oh, and I'm ever so glad that I was able to provide you all with some amusement in you life.