MS Word can't open files

Hi...don't know if this is related to the latest Windows updates or not.
Starting today, my sister-in-law (I'm on her computer) can't open Word Files using File/Open. The program hangs up and then when you try to close the window, you get the Program is Not Responding message.

You can open Word files by going to My Documents and double clicking the file icon.

Has anyone seen this before? I've tried searching but haven't come up with anything applicable yet.

Thanks,
Kathy

 

Hi Kathy,

Just a few things you might try.

1. Delete the Temporary Internet Files.

2. Ask her if she has installed any new "addin's" recently.

3. First, make sure Show hidden files and folders is enabled. On the Tools menu in Windows Explorer, click Folder Options, Click the View tab, Under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders.

Now, make sure Word is closed and do a seach for the normal.dot file(s) and rename it (or them) to normal.old. Open Word and see if that solves the problem.

Steve

 

Hi Steve, Thanks for replying.

I tried what you said but... no luck. Interestingly, I discovered that Word will open a file if it's in the top level of her Word default directory, which is just My Documents, but not if it's in a subfolder.

When you first open Word, a blank document does come up. It's dbl-clicking on the subfolder, or doing File/Open/click on file that hangs Word up.

I tried several of her subdirectories, so it's not just a problem with one.

Do you, or anyone else for that matter, have any ideas??

Oh, and she hasn't added in anything to Word.

Kathy

 

Alright! I found the ANSWER! This and other probems are occurring because of Microsoft's latest updates. Microsoft has a workaround, which I followed and now everything is back to normal. It is here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918165

There are other problems associated with this fix. So just in case somebody else is having other trouble:

SYMPTOMS
After you install security update MS06-015 (908531) (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms06-015.mspx), you may experience one of more of the following issues:• Unable to access special folders like "My Documents" or "My Pictures".
• Microsoft Office applications may stop responding when you attempt to save or open Office files in the "My Documents" folder.
• Office files in the "My Documents" folder are not able to open in Microsoft Office.
• Opening a file through an application's File / Open menu causes the program to stop responding .
• Typing an address into Internet Explorer’s address bar has no effect.
• Right-clicking on a file and selecting Send To has no effect.
• Clicking on the plus (+) sign beside a folder in Windows Explorer has no effect.
• Some third-party applications stop responding when opening or saving data in the “My Documents” folder.

 

Fantastic. Glad you found the answer and thank's for posting the solution.

Steve

 

Just FYI , I have heard of ALOT of people who are running into this problem. The most common issue is HP shell extensions conflicting with the kb908531 update, although there are apparently other extensions which can do this, including Nvidia shell extensions.

Anyway, I think it is great that Kathy found http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918165 on her own, and I would almost think it might be a good idea to sticky a thread linking to this article at the top of the software forums (for the next week or so) with an attention-getting title, so that people looking for help on this are sure to find it!