Is there any help? WORD 2010 crashes and loses current document permanently.

The answer may be in your first paragraph. If you replace BitDefender -- at least temporarily -- with some other antivirus program, the crashes may stop.

Do not count on autorecovery to save your changes. Press Ctrl+S every time you stop to think or move to another location in the document, at a minimum every 5 to 10 minutes, and you won't lose thousands of corrections. You might also want to try Graham Mayor's add-ins from http://www.gmayor.com/automatically_backup.htm and http://www.gmayor.com/SaveInTwoPlacesAddIn.htm.

If changing the antivirus setup doesn't stop the crashes, use the troubleshooting procedures in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541.

I believe the problem is more serious than Jay Freedman suggests.  I am running Windows 8.1 - 64 bit, but WORD 2010 is a 32-bit application.  The suggestion that refers me to g.Mayor's website is an oxymoron because his apps are designed for Office 2003.

Once Microsoft offers an in-house Antivirus application, I will uninstall BitDefender 2015.  But Microsoft's Defender merely checks for intrusions after they occur.  Perhaps, Microsoft should become more transparent about its OS and send this info to the best AntiVrus developers, before these problems arise.  As far as I can see Windows 7 and 8 are highly unstable.  I realize Microsoft has to be all things to all users.  I would like an OS that only caters to Desktop users.  I am willing to forego some of the "LIVE" access to the Internet if I can only work in peace without constant critical errors showing up in Event Viewer, even after running SFC and MISM.  Then still getting "Unable to Connect to Windows Store".

Thanks for your interest and advice, Jay.  But there is something a lot more serious going on at Microsoft these days, and it's not good for Home businesses using primarily a Desktop computer.

Graham's add-ins are just as applicable to Word 2010 (and 2013) as they are to Word 2003.

I don't understand the insistence on replacing BitDefender with a Microsoft application. There are many excellent antivirus products that work with Windows 8.1. Do some research in review articles like this one from TechRadar.

As for an OS that caters only to desktop users, I agree -- forcing touch-first orientation on people without touchscreens is just stupid. Fortunately, with a little work, Windows 8.1 can be made to work almost exclusively in the "desktop" mode, and the "Modern" apps can be entirely ignored.

I've never seen any evidence that either Win 7 or Win 8 is "highly unstable" -- but that depends on what combinations of software and configuration you use.

Windows 7 spent 8 hours rebooting & rebooting after a Microsoft update.  I finally had to cut the power and reload Windows 7 from disk.  This happened in 2013.

After continuous problems with Windows 7, I upgraded to Windows 8.1 Pro last Winter.  It worked like a charm until the fatal Windows Update for video/audio drivers.  Then Windows refused to boot, period.  It refused to Restore from the original disk.  Finally I had to lose all my programs and data with a fresh install.  Windows is bad news. The OS has gone downhill since Windows Millenium.  As I said before, Microsoft should release a stable OS for users of Desktops and reserve all the foolishness for users with mobile devices.

The OS has gone downhill since Windows Millenium.

You're joking of course. Every version of Windows since then has been far more stable and far more capable than Windows Millennium ever was.

Given the millions of computers using the later versions, only a tiny percentage has had problems of the kind you seem to think are endemic to the OS. Quite often those problems have been due to other software, inadequate/faulty hardware, and/or inept user tinkering.

'Upgrading' a known faulty system is just asking for trouble. If Windows refused to reinstall from the original disk, that suggests your system faults had nothing to do with a Windows Update. The loss of data is regrettable, but have you never heard of backups?

Windows 8.1 Pro refused to boot after the July, 2014, Windows Update that included WDDM1.1, WDDM1.2 and WDDM1.3.  These are driver updates supposedly for DirectX, but according to Intel they added functions for 3D video playback, which is something I don't need or want.  I didn't realize that at the time of the update since Microsoft claimed the driver updates were IMPORTANT.  When the drivers failed to install, I used WinZip Utilities, which has the authentic Microsoft seal of approval on their website.  WinZip Driver Update App apparently forced the new drivers onto my system.

This is when Windows refused to boot.  It just went into the Programmable ROM preboot routine over and over.  When I booted from the Windows 8.1 Pro DVD, I first tried various repair options that kept my programs and files on disk.  When this failed I tried to System Restore to a point before the last Update.  Windows still refused to boot.  It said the restore option was a violation of protected sectors.  ???

In the end I could only Reinstall a fresh copy Windows 8.1 Pro from the DVD.  No other options worked.

I wouldn't be so upset, but I ran a SFC /SCANNOW and DISM /RESTOREHEALTH a week before the upgrade.  My only satisfaction is that Microsoft has changed the WDDM drivers to OPTIONAL from IMPORTANT.  The moral of the story is this: Earlier versions of Windows did NOT require monthly intrusions of the OS by Big Brother.  I used to develop with Visual Basic 5 and 6 and occasionally crashed the OS when the compiler couldn't handle bad code.  But after a simple RESTART everything was back to normal.  With Windows 7 and 8 nothing is ever normal.

Have you tried repairing the Office installation (via Programs & Features > Microsoft Office > Change in the Windows Control Panel)?

Yes. I have tried OFFICE repair.  Trouble is the full Repair doesn't take effect until a restart.  Windows refuses to let OFFICE 2010 change many of the key nodes in Windows Registry, so I'm not sure how much good this has done.

In fact, I've had since a triple episode of WORD crashing on Sept 8th, losing the file.  But this time I saved the document every two or three key strokes.  I've also restricted BitDefender from monitoring the primary WORD folders, and excluded the .DOC extension.  Even so, the document vanished from my computer which is alarming and totally unacceptable behavior for a commercial application.  Luckily I could reconstruct an earlier version of the document from its backup copy.

Strangely, the Autosave copy of my document turned out to be a useless text file with the word "Wordperfect" appearing among its two or three sentences.  Weird.  ????

I can tell you for sure the BitDefender had nothing to do with WORD crashing and losing its document(s).  I wonder why you'd suggest that BitDefender was the culprit.  I suppose as MVP you have the opportunity to make sauce on the side ???

In the future look to the source of the problem.  I needed to check that WORD would autosave to my computer rather than the nether sphere of Microsoft''s Cloud.

September 6, 2014:

I have had this problem with Windows Pro 8.1 (using WORD 2010) since I started using BitDefender Total 2014-2015 about three months ago.

September 29, 2014:

I can tell you for sure the BitDefender had nothing to do with WORD crashing and losing its document(s).  I wonder why you'd suggest that BitDefender was the culprit.  I suppose as MVP you have the opportunity to make sauce on the side ???

That a fairly inane suggestion coming from someone who associated the problem with BitDefender in the first place. You might also note the "temporarily" qualifier in Jay's post. The whole idea was to see whether eliminating the factor YOU identified might help resolve the problem. If it does, then there may be a problem with BitDefender, or your copy of it. If not, at least that could be eliminated.

It was only later, that you started revealing the true extent of your incompetence, by 'upgrading' a known faulty system instead of trying to resolve the problems beforehand, that the extent of the problem started to become apparent. A system that "refused to Restore from the original disk" clearly evidences a serious hardware problem (perhaps with the media). You've dug a hole for yourself and now all you want to do is to criticize both Microsoft and the unpaid volunteers in these forums who give up their time trying to help you. There's a limit anyone else can do to help you dig yourself out of the hole you've dug for yourself, so try being a little more considerate and a lot more accepting of your own responsibilities in all this.