I have lately experienced frequent corruption of
Normal.dot.  When it occurs the next time I start Word
2002, the splash screen appears and then the computer
locks up completely.  I've made backup copies of
Normal.dot after getting wise to the possibility of this
and so can reboot and create a new Normal.dot from my
backup copy.  But it usually happens again with two or
three days and I go back to the old backup file.  Like
Bill Murray in Groundhog Day I go back to all my
customizations, toolbars, macros, etc. of September 24,
2003.

I seem to have problems when I have too many files open
(tho I'm not entirely sure that that's always the case).  
Memory problems may be at the heart of my corruption
problems (computer not personal).  Word will start to
behave strangely, such as a macro suddenly not working
right.  And then it's time to reboot, altho this doesn't
necessarily coincide with corruption of the template file.

What could be causing this corruption?  Is it insufficient
RAM?

Thanks.