[JohnSmith]

Thanks! Deleting the registry key is working, *for now*. We'll see how long
it sticks.

winword.exe /a. didn't make any difference.

Be aware, however, that if changes in Options settings are not retained, the culprit is often an
add-in.

What kind of add-ins? I've never knowingly used one. Maybe EndNote's an
add-in? But I've used it for years and never had the current problem before
and haven't made any changes to or upgraded EndNote.

I saw on other forums that Acrobat 7 can mess with Word settings, but when I
read the posts in detail they didn't cover my specific problem.