Office Pro 2007 and OpenOffice 2.2 repeatedly crash when opening/savingfiles

Office Pro 2007 and OpenOffice 2.2 repeatedly crash when opening/saving
files--for most, if not all, file formats.

I haven't as yet experienced this with other apps the past three weeks.
It seems to be getting worse, if that were even possible. Both of them
will almost always crash right when saving or opening. Sometimes they'll
crash when browsing for their file destinations.

Am using an IBM T23 with 3/4 GB RAM that never seemed to experience any
such problems using XP Pro. Vista is build 5840 (essentially an RTM)
which worked better when first installed three weeks ago, although OOo
might have sometimes crashed or froze while in the open/save dialog boxes.

What would be the most likely culprit(s), other than Vista Ultimate not
being ready for prime time?

Gary