"Check the temp environment variable" and more issues

Windows 8 MS Office 2013
Wife has this recurring problem with MS word. Receives these messages when opening docs or c doing ‘save as':

• “Word could not create the workfile. Check the temp environment variable”.
• “ The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable”.

Microsoft database says that first error is an issue with Temporary Internet Files in Internet Explorer being in wrong place. I unhid hidden files and tried the “move folder” option. Wasn’t sure where to move it safely ( novice here). It worked for a few days.. Used CCleaner to clean cache. Also only helped temporarily.
And yesterday, only temporarily, had problems d/l’ing due to temp files issue.
Also tried system restore and received following:
“The writer experienced a non-transient error if the B.U. process is retried, the error is likely to reoccur”.
Lastly, noticed under “Users” - there is my wife’s Folder which is the one PC boots into, and there also is a “Default” user folder. I saw a Temporary Internet Files folder in “Default user but when I opened my wifes user folder it was not there in Windows folder (even with files unhidden). I tried to create one and received message that it already exists & do I want to merge the new one with the invisible existing one”........
MS also gave this as a fix option (not tried):
Click Start, and then click Run.
Type regedit in the Openbox, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
Double-click the Cacheregistry entry, type the following in the Value databox, and then click OK: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files
Close Registry Editor.
Is it IE, Word, do I reinstall them, or try an MS Office alternative ( and bypass the issue)?