To associate a program to a file type in win2000, you right click on the
document file, then select "Open With / Choose Program". With OO, you then
choose StarOffice in the list and check "always use this program" to permanently
open, for example, doc files with OpenOffice. When you do that, Windows creates
a key in the registry "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\soffice.exe" where it
stores the path to the application. If this key already exists, Windows doesn't
check it's valid and don't update it. When you uninstall OpenOffice, the
uninstall program doesn't remove this key. If you then reinstall OpenOffice in a
folder with a new name (for example, to reflect a new version number), and then
try to open a doc file, Windows gives you the error message : "cannot find
program.exe" because the key in the registry still contains the old path.

So the uninstallation program should remove this registry key.

thanks