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General discussion

Apparent conflict between WindowsXP Home and WORD 2000

Jun 22, 2005 11:45PM PDT

Hi,
I've been running my Micron Millennia P/C now for 5 years. Within the last year I upgraded my OS from Win 98SE to WinXP Home. Everything seems to be working OK with the exception of when I try to work with my WORD 2000, or open an attachment using WORD.
My systems specs are;
Micron Millennia PC, 30 Gig internal HD, 160 Gig external Lacie HD, 383 MB RAM, WinXP Home (with sp 2), Microsoft Office 2000 Professional, Norton Antivirus 2005, Norton Firewall 2005, Spybot Search & Destroy, IE 6.0, and connected to the Internet via a cable modem.
So here's the gremlin I'm facing...ever since getting XP, everytime I open up an attachment to an email, or try to work in WORD, the first thing that happens is that I have to wait 60 seconds (yeah, I time it!) for the ''Requesting Virus Scan'' to complete and for the curser to appear indicating the software is ready.
If I forget about letting this cycle finish first and try to do anything, the WORD icon in the top bar goes blank, and in parenthesis beside the document title appears (NOT RESPONDING). Then I get a pop-up box which tells me the program is not responding. Then I have to decide whether to END or CANCEL the program and then decide whether I need to send Microsoft yet another of my ''ga-jillion'' error reports and end the program.
In all other respects the system is working well. But this is turning into a frustrating little PITA! Any suggestions?
Thank you so much as always,
bigeasy

Discussion is locked

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Try the common cure. Delete Normal.DOT
Jun 23, 2005 12:03AM PDT

And everyone wonders why this bug continues to live on for some 10 years.

Bob

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Normal.DOT???
Jun 23, 2005 10:44PM PDT

Hey Rob,
Thanks to you and Kees for responding to my mess.
Ummmmm....How do I delete Normal.Dot???
(Where do I even find it?)
Sorry I'm so lame.
Ken
bigeasy@comcast.net

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(NT) (NT) Use the search...
Jun 23, 2005 11:11PM PDT
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And if that doesn't help ...
Jun 23, 2005 12:33AM PDT

tell Norton not to use it's MS Office extensions.

You might miss an occasional macro-virus in your own documents (which shouldn't be there anyway) and in a Word-attachment.
Personally, I never received a Word document with a macro-virus, but the right procedure when receiving such an attachment (any attachment, some cautious or maybe overcautious people say) should be to save it to some folder, then in Windows Explorer right click to have it scanned (most antivirus programs do this).

Hope this helps.


Kees

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Rob and Kees ...some new information!!
Jul 21, 2005 10:36PM PDT

Hi,
I've written to the forum's before. I'm working with a Micron Millennia PC, running XP Home, 384 MB RAM, 30 GB internal HD with a 160 GB external HD. Running Microsoft Office 2000 professional edition and Symantec Norton Personal Firewall 2005 and Norton Anti Virus 2005.
In March of this year I upgraded my Norton software to the 2005 editions of each. The computer works fine except for when I have to access an attachment to an email or try to work in WORD. Then it takes the system 2.5 minutes to run the ''Request a Virus scan'' and an additional 45 seconds before the cursor starts to flash telling me I can work on the document. If I click anything before the cursor flashes, the WORD icon goes blank and I get the Program not Responding box. If I let everything open for 4 or 5 minutes I can generally work without a problem until I close WORD, at which time it takes another 2 minutes for WORD to close and return me to my desktop.
Last week Rob and Kees was good enought to get back to me and suggest deleting the Normal.DOT. Tried that with no success. Yesterday I uninstalled and then reinstalled Microsoft Office 2000 Professional edition. Still the same problem exists.
Today I tried something different. I disabled both my firewall and virus software and then tried to work with WORD. Didn't have any success when only turning off the virus program, but when I turned them both off, WORD opened and closed immediately. Yea!!!!
So, now that I've determined that there's a glitch between the Office 2000 and the Norton products how do I correct the conflict??? As Rob can tell you I didn't even know how to find the Normal.DOT so please speak "novice-ese."
Thanks,
Ken
Bigeasy@comcast.net

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I vote
Jul 22, 2005 3:32AM PDT

for losing Norton and going with AVG or something similar. I have heard nothing but trouble with Norton since 2003.