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An office problem and an IE 6.0 problem

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by rosstamon 3 views

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I have MS Office 2003, my O/S is XP Pro. It (office) has been working as would be expected for the last 2 years. Recently, when I use any Office program I can't seem to drill down through folders to find a file that I want to open. Instead, the Office software will lock up.

Example using Word to open a document I previously created. I open Word, I go "File" "Open" and there is a window that shows I am in My Documents with all of the folders I have created and the ones that come with windows. If I try to open any of these folders I get the perpetual hour glass and never get past that level. At this point, I have to open the task manager in order to interrupt the process. It inevitably always says "Not Responding". And I have to use task manager to interrupt it and close it.

However, if I find the file through windows explorer or by going to the my documents shortcut on my desktop, and find the file that way not using Office software, I find that I can double click on the file and it will open in the right software with no problems.

Any ideas on what may be causing this?

Also, I have IE 6.0.2900.2180 with SP2.
I use to have no problem with this. Now, if I type a URL into the address bar my ?Windows? flag (upper right corner) will start waving but my system will never go to the address I typed in. I tried with popular addresses and with not well known addresses. I get the same result both times. However, my home page www.google.com and any address in my favorites works with no problems. Example - let?s use www.nfl.com. If I type that URL into the address bar on IE explorer I get nothing. Just the indication via the waving Windows flag in the upper right corner that something is happening, but nothing ever does. But if I type it into Google and then choose the www.nfl.com selection that Google comes up with, no problem, I go right to that page. I don?t know what caused this.

Any ideas on this one?

15 replies

by hal 9000

It sounds as if you have an infection of some kind that is stopping the applications from working.

The most likely culprit is a Spy Ware or Male Ware type infection as it's affecting IE so the solution is to install Spy Ware Scanners and update them to the latest available definitions and then reboot your computer and restart it in [b]Safe Mode[/b] and run the scans.

I would also run an AV Scan while you are there just to be on the safe side as well.

You can get Spy Ware Scanners from the following

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

Install both of these programs and then run the Ad Aware Scan first and remove any infections and then keep running it until the system comes up as clean or you find something that you [b]Can Not[/b] remove. Then Open Spy Bot S&D and run the scan again this time removing anything found. Once you have removed any infections run the scan again just to make sure that the system is clean and then run your AV Scan to check for Virus Infections as well.

Once the unit comes up as Clean you should be able to get working again but you should perform these scans at least once a week.

Lets know if you need any more help or the above doesn't help you out.

Col

by rosstamon

Poster rated this answer.
This didn't fix the problem, but it found others and helped fix them. So I appreciate the help.

by rosstamon

Poster rated this answer.
This didn't fix the problem, but it found others and helped fix them. So I appreciate the help

by rosstamon

Poster rated this answer.
Your advice and DMambo's advice both helped me fix it. Thank you.

by techgirloftheworld

I found this posting on Microsoft Commmunties:

***********************************************
By: RyanW Date: 2/23/2006 11:46 AM PST

In: microsoft.public.office.misc
**********************************************

Try creating a new user (windows) profile.

In XP, browse to C:\Documents and Settings\
Copy the folder for the user up to the root of C:\ then delete the folder
(or delete the user under System Properties (Right-click My
computer->Properties - User Tab)

Log onto the PC as the user, windows will create a new profile. Copy the
favorites/documents/etc. back to the folder from your backup on the C: drive.

*****************************************

Good luck :-)

by rosstamon

Poster rated this answer.
Fixed the problem with the advice of the DMambo. But this is something that could also help in the future so I appreciate the advice.

by rosstamon

Poster rated this answer.
Fixed the problem with the advice of the DMambo. But this is something that could also help so I appreciate the advice.

by dmambo

Here's some info on a conflict between Windows Update and HP scanning software (if you have an HP scanner :) )

I had a user complain that beginning Friday, she has been unable to browse her folders or mapped drives from any Office app. Assuming that it had to be the result of a Windows update, I tracked it down to a known issue with the update listed above.

here's a link to a KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918165

Please note that in my case, it was a result of a conflict with HP scanning software. The recommended registry edit didn't fix the issue, but I renamed the HP Share2Web file mentioned, and that took care of the problem.

by rosstamon

Poster rated this answer.
Thank you. This is the advice that fixed my problem. I have a HP officejet all in one scanner printer copier fax. This was the most help. I appreciate it.

by pweegar1

What kind of maint. has been performed on this pc? Have you run CHKDSK c: /f from the command prompt lately (and then rebooted)? Have you defragged the hd lately? Also do as adviced already. Check for spyware and viruses.

I've seen fragmentation do some pretty weird things to a pc, regardless of which version of Windows you are using.

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