MS Word 2007 not responding - "running virus scan" - registry problem? add-in?

Hey folks

A friend handed over his computer to me to see if I could help solve the problem with his MS Word 2007, which stopped working. It's a Dell laptop, running Vista (32-bit).

The basic problem is that when you try to open Word, it just hangs. I have tried every option on this Microsoft support page: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541

None of them worked to solve the problem, though one of them improved the situation only marginally. When I first started dealing with this problem, Word never even got past the splash screen. It just stalled there, with the spinning circle (Vista’s version of the hourglass) endlessly spinning.

Since re-naming the Normal.dotm template file, I now can get past the splash screen. The program window opens up, but it displays “Running virus scan...” in the bottom left margin, and then in the window title bar it says “Not Responding”. At that point the only way out is force-closing the program.

Word appears to open fully in safe mode, but as soon as I try to open a document, I get the same behavior: “Running virus scan” message, and “Not Responding”.

Some other weirdnesses I’ve noted:
1) On that Microsoft support page linked above, the first option says to delete the Word Data registry subkey. However, when I went looking for it, I found the registry didn’t actually have a Word Data registry subkey for me to delete. Not to state the obvious, but this sounds like a problem!

2) May or may not be related, but the computer seems confused about whether I have internet access or not. I can surf the web fine with Firefox, but IE tells me “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage”. Similarly, I installed AVG (free), and I’m unable to update the anti-virus database, I get a message that “The connection with update server has failed.” and the first suggestion it gives for fixing that is “Make sure your internet connection is active”. Another one is “Make sure the connection parameters are set properly.” However, my friend tells me he has no trouble connecting to the internet at home. I’m wondering if there is something about his settings for his ISP that are preventing the computer from connecting properly via my internet connection.

Other MS Office programs seem to work fine. It’s only this issue with Word.

Would be grateful for any assistance anyone could provide.
Leticia

 

Hi.

I recommend you try repairing Microsoft Office from inside the installer wizard.

Start > Control Panel > Uninstall a Program > Microsoft Office > Change > Repair > Continue

 

Sounds like it's trying unsuccessfully to run a macro, and it's interesting that renaming normal.dotm marginally changed the behaviour. Try simply deleting normal.dotm and restarting Word. A clean version of dotm will then automatically be created.

 

Hi Zack Magee,

I tried that, but when I try to run the repair operation, I get this (really breathtakingly unhelpful) message: "Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 configuration did not complete successfully. An unexpected error has occured." Followed by a "close" button.

 

I haven't worked on this problem in ages, but I'm trying to give it one last try.

I haven't made much progress, but can confirm that Word works in Safe Mode, but when I try to use it in regular mode, it hangs, usually at the splash screen, and I have no option but to restart the computer.

Has anyone seen a problem like this before?

I've gotten so frustrated with this. Unfortunately, I don't have the original installation CDs and so I can't use the "repair" option. I'm this close to giving up on the whole adventure and simply uninstalling Office 2007 altogether and replacing it with my old copy of Office 2003 (which I do have the disks for). Except I don't even know if it will run well on Vista.

Sigh... If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them.

 

Hi my friend , maybe this is a problem with memory , i suggest this useful tool

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

burning it with

http://www.majorgeeks.com/ImgBurn_d4870.html

there is many tool which helps you to test your memory with memtest86 ( 5 hours at least ) :wave

 

Greetings, wonderwoman...

Agreed with falconattack's memory test suggestion - always a good thing...

Another thing that jumps at me is your repeated references to AVG (the fact that Word works correctly in Safe Mode furthers bolsters the assumption that some 3rd-party program may be causing the issues) - have you tried uninstalling that program and trying a different antivirus suite? I remember AVG having some issues with different software in the past - might be worth a shot.

 

I'll mention that I have Office 2007 installed on my Windows 7 system and I use avast! Free Antivirus.

 

Hmm... interesting. I actually installed AVG after my friend had given me his computer to look at. It appeared he had an out-of-date Norton antivirus program, so I thought, before monkeying around with this computer, let me do a full virus scan.

I may try uninstalling AVG though and seeing what happens. You never know. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

What is the AVG version my friend ? :wave

 

'Twas a shot in the dark, regardless - I've been through several machines lately with conflicts between certain programs and certain antivirus suites, so I thought I'd throw it out there...

Maybe that's what usafveteran was alluding to: Office 2007 and avast! do seem to peacefully coexist...

 

I'm not at home next to the computer so I'll have to reply later to say with any certainty, but I would have downloaded/installed it in August of this year, so it's a pretty recent version.

 

My first thought is that , maybe some leftovers from eset , do you uninstall it using this ? :wave

http://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&id=soln2289

 

I have not uninstalled anything yet.