office 2010 side-by-side configuration error

I am running windows vista home premium sp2 4gb ram, nvidia geforce 9500. when i try to open any of the office 2010 applications i get the message: this program does not have a program associated with it to perform thia action. i also get: this application failed because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. i tried SFC/scannow and it reported no errors. i ran sxstrace and the output was this:INFO: Parsing Manifest File C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\WINWORD.EXE.
INFO: Manifest Definition Identity is winword,processorArchitecture="X86",type="win32",v ersion="14.0.5123.5000".
INFO: Reference: Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",pub licKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",versio n="9.0.30729.1"
INFO: Resolving reference Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",pub licKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",versio n="9.0.30729.1".
INFO: Resolving reference for ProcessorArchitecture x86.
INFO: Resolving reference for culture Neutral.
INFO: Applying Binding Policy.
INFO: Find publisher policy at C:\Windows\WinSxS\manifests\x86_policy.9.0.microso ft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30304.0_none_7db1 e53ddcf5e248.manifest
INFO: No binding policy redirect found.
INFO: Begin assembly probing.
INFO: Did not find the assembly in WinSxS.
INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_32\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\9.0. 30729.1__1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.DLL.
INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.DLL.
INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.MANIFEST.
INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\Microsoft.VC90. CRT.DLL.
INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\Microsoft.VC90. CRT.MANIFEST.
INFO: Did not find manifest for culture Neutral.
INFO: End assembly probing.
ERROR: Cannot resolve reference Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",pub licKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",versio n="9.0.30729.1".
ERROR: Activation Context generation failed.
End Activation Context Generation.
i am not a programmer and am not sure how to correct this problem.

thanks in advance