Microsoft Word Not Responding

[johna]

windows XP Home

I have tried to open some Microsoft office word and excel documents but, keep getting a Not responding message, I can create a word document but can not open it, any ideas??

[lopburi3]

Are you sure Microsoft Word is set as the program to open them? Can you open them with another program (such as Open Office)?

[welo]

Can you open somebody else's Word documents?

If you start Word from the Start Menu, then open the document using the File/Open.. dialog, what is the behavior?

When does Word crash exactly, do you see any status messages? Just descibe in more detail what is happening.

Get more ideas here...

http://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/Word/m...2/msg00197.html

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsg...f973342&p=1

http://word.mvps.org/FAQS/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm

Check your printer drivers, change the default printer to XPS Printer and see if the problem persists?

There seem to have been issues with Norton Antivirus, which AV do you use? Does it have a special MS Office real-time protection?

welo

Edited March 2, 2010 by welo

[johna]

Yes I can open a Microsoft word document with Open Office, thanks lopburi3

I tried right clicking on the document and click open, that gets me the message "Microsoft Word Not Responding"

I have problems with my antivirus, I removed Avast yesterday in preparation to installing McAfee which failed and I have unsuccessfully run McAfee Virtual Technician, at the moment I am waiting a reply from McFee technical support to resolve this issue.

I have not got a clue if MS Office has real time protection, windows firewall, automatic updates and, virus protection are all switched on but the technical side of PC are beyond me.

[Supernova]

Do you have the "Microsoft Live Add-In" installed?

The Live Add-in causes problems with Word -- according to this discussion thread (scroll down a bit).

[johna]

just uninstalled "Live add on 1.3", problem remains the same

I could try reinstalling microsoft office but I don't think that would work??

[welo]

You can also try the free Word Viewer from Microsoft in case OpenOffice has compatibility issues and you only need to view or print the file. Otherwise OpenOffice is surely a good option.

However, I guess you still want to fix your MS Word problem. It will require some effort on your part though, especially answering a lot of questions so we can pin down your problem.

1. Does Word only crash ('not responding') when you open specific documents, or does it crash with all documents?

2. If only specific documents crash Word, can they be opened on other computers? Warning: If you haven't tried before, I DO NOT recommend copying the Word files to other PCs. There is the slight possibility of a virus infection (Word macro viruses) that you could spread that way.

3. Does the problem only occur when opening documents that have been created on this computer or also with other documents, that have not been opened/edited on said computer before. (Reason: if Word crashes only with documents created on this computer, something goes seriously wrong when writing the file).

Download the following document (from microsoft.com, virus free) and save it to your harddrive (right click / save as...): http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/2...grade_chart.doc. Then open it with word and see if Word crashes.

4. Did you try to open Word from the start menu, then open the file using the File / Open dialog? Chances are low it makes a difference, but IF, then this would point to a specific kind of problem.

5. Did the problem only start after uninstalling Avira and trying to install McAfee, or already before?

I checked and I found no information that Avira or McAfee have modules that install into MS Office and could cause Word to crash. However, both offer real-time protection, meaning any file will be scanned when a program tries to read or write to it. This might be a reason for issues, especially since Avira might not have uninstalled cleanly or McAfee not installed correctly.

6. Did you suspect a virus infection, or did or does your PC 'act weird' other than your Word problem?

Depending on your answers I will recommend some of the following options:

For now I cannot recommend where to start, hence the listing is in no particular order. It is however never wrong to make sure your Computer is virus free (E. Run A Virus Check)

A. Repair your MS Office install.

* This procedure detects and repairs problems such as missing files and registry settings associated with all installed Microsoft Office programs. It will not repair personal files, such as spreadsheets or documents.

* If the Detect and Repair command does not fix the problem, you might need to reinstall Microsoft Office.

Here are the instructions how to repair your MS Office install from the official Microsoft website: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HP052372001033.aspx

B.

Run the Office Diagnostics tool.

Microsoft Office Diagnostics in the 2007 Microsoft Office system is a series of diagnostic tests that can help you discover why your computer is crashing (closing abnormally). The diagnostic tests can inform you about problems and might identify ways that you can solve other problems.

Instructions: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA012340761033.aspx

C.

If you have the original MS Office install packages (DVD or files) you can completely uninstall and reinstall MS Office.

D.

Fixing your Antivirus installation, especially if you answered question 5. with YES

I see two options.

• using System Restore to rollback to a state BEFORE you uninstalled Avira.
  
• running special removal tools from Avira and McAfee that are built for exactly those situations where install or uninstall messes up.
  Download and run Avira Registry Cleaner: http://www.avira.com/en/support/support_downloads.html
  McAfee Removal tool http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS100507
  

Unfortunately it is not uncommon for Antivirus software to mess up the system during install/uninstall. This is why there are tools like the two above. From my experience McAfee causes more problems than Avira, but all Antivirus products cause issues from time to time since the drivers the install for real-time protection are very low-level.

E. Run a virus check

I am not sure why you wanted to switch to McAfee. But if it was because your PC acted weird it might as well be due to a virus/malware infection that the install of McAfee failed.

In any case I recommend running Hitman Pro since it is very easy to use and very fast. If anything shows up or you suspect a virus infection anyway, I would recommend going for the other options as well.

Run Hitman Pro

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Popu...itman-Pro.shtml

Hitman Pro is a cloud-based virus scanner which is only targeted at malware removal, not at prevention/protection. It uses a completely new approach to scan a PC fast and efficiently and uploads suspicious files to a computer network (cloud) where the file is scanned by 5 major antivirus engines. It offers a 30-day trial period (easily activated by a single click of a button) which is sufficient to clean an infected PC.

Kaspersky Removal Tool

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Kas...oval-Tool.shtml

Malwarebytes (very complete malware detection)

MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Mal...i-Malware.shtml

All those solutions are so-called 'On-Demand' scanners, and do not install any real-time component that might cause further installation issues. If you have any troubles downloading the tools or running the update afterwards this might point to a virus infection.

welo

[Supernova]

I suppose you could try to "repair" your Office installation (Control Panel >> Add/Remove Programs), or run the Microsoft Office Application Recovery from the Start menu . I doubt the latter will work in this case, but try it nonetheless.

Click here for other solutions.

Edited March 2, 2010 by Supernova

[lungbing]

For my part I would recommend using only Open Office and throwing the bloated MS Office off your machine.

This doesn't address your problem, but if you do it you won't have that problem!

quick edit to add the letters MS

Edited March 2, 2010 by lungbing

[johna]

To cut a long story short I tried repairing MS in add and remove, that failed so I restored my computer to an earlier date, as far back as I could and low and behold it worked.

So thats one headacre over.

I must move documents back and forth between my home and work place and MS is on all computers at work, so only using open office is not a practical solution for me.

My thanks to every one for your good assistance, its much appreciated.