Unique MS Word/Services problem

Hello MajorGeeks:

I have been using the following combination of software for the past month and run into intermittent MS Word lockups on a regular basis for no apparent reason.

Vista (OS)
MS Word (word processor)
Shorthand 10 (word expander)

I recently added Dorland's medical spellchecker, which claims to be compatible with Word. I called both Dorland's and my school's technical support teams and neither had anything good to offer. Everything works perfectly, expect for the intermittent problem.

PROBLEM: When I am typing in Word, as I do almost all day long, the program (Word) will lockup. I have waiting up to 2 hours once to see if it would clear up on its own or give me an error of some kind, but never does. I must always shutdown Word and reopen it... of course loosing all my work since the last save.

All this time I have been trying to find a pattern that would lead me to the source cause. Just 10 minutes ago, it did it twice in a row. I opened Task Manager and found that WerFault.exe was using up a lot of CPU.

My thought today is that perhaps WerFault.exe runs quickly, but uses up too much CPU for me to have all those programs at the same time. Once it is done doing its thing it closes, meanwhile puts Word in a loop. This time WerFault.exe may have taken longer, long enough for me to catch it in action.

Any ideas, anyone???

I am sick of loosing work. Some days I have no issues and some days it is constant, like today!

Please help.

Lilou

 

Werfault is windows error reporting process. It can be disabled but I doubt if this is causing the problem, it is instead reporting a problem it is finding.

How much RAM do you have. I'm not familar with the shorthand software, but can you see how much memory it is using in the task manager?

Same thing for the Dorland spell checker. Did these problems start with the Dorland install?

If you are running these programs in safe mode, any difference?

Is it possible that when you have these programs all running, your virus scanner or some updater is starting, over burdening the system? What antivirus are you using? :wave:wave

 

RAM = 4 GB.

Problems started after Dorland's install. Although both Shorthand and Dorland's were only a few days apart.

Shorthand is a very small program that idles in the background until I type in a code in Word such as 'sob' and it converts it to 'shortness of breath'. When it is in the process of expanding a code, it use 01 CPU. Where I activate the shorthand screen to add codes to it, it used 02 CPU. I do not think Shorthand is the problem, but I wouldn't know for sure.

When the problem happens it is usually accompanied by the computer starting the fan, I can hear it. It sounds more like something running on its own on no particular schedule. This only happens to Word and not every day. Today seems to be a heavy problem day. It crashed at least 5-6 times already and it's not even lunch yet.

I also have Excel usually opened during the day to track typing minutes and reference word lists.

I run Symantec/Norton as an antivirus.

Oh... and my school is also online so I run Mozilla all the time too. None of this was a problem before Dorland's. Why would a spellchecker do this? What could it be running to cause Word to lockup?

These are all the tools I use to do my job as a Medical Transcriptionist (in training at the moment). I would like all my tools to play nice together. It does not seen unreasonable to accomplish with the computer that I have.

In the Task Manager I cannot see Dorland's so I can't answer the CPU question about it. I did notice that physical Memory is a 44% if that is an indicator.

Thanks,

Lilou

 

Well you have enough memory, although unless your system is 64 bit you can't access quite all of that.

But I think you've answered your own question regarding the Dorland program in conjunction with Word, Norton, Shorthand, Mozilla, and Excel. I couldn't find a support forum for Dorland, that would be your best bet.

Still, the fact that is intermittent still makes me suspect a scan or update is running. How often and at what time does your Norton scan?

You also mentioned the fan kicking in, it does with higher CPU usage. Has your machine been cleaned out, (dedustified), lately?

Physical memory usage okay, I'm running at 46%. But in task manager, at idle, your CPU usage should be at or near 0, under the performance tab. Is it?

 

CPU is in fact running pretty low.

I attached a bmp of a print screen of Norton settings. Not sure I understand what I am looking for. I am a real idiot when it comes to that.

"dedustified" ???? I barely do it to my house are you kidding. How do I "dedustifiy" a computer? :-o

Scan or update is very likely, but the schedule is so unpredictable that I can't begin to think of what it could be. Your help is greatly appreciated in this matter.

Lilou

 

Norton version = 16.8.0.41
Windows version = Windows Vista Home Premium, Service Pack 1. (Updates are current)
Office version = 2007 Student Edition
Dorlan's Compatibility = When I called the support group a couple of weeks ago, the guy didn't have a problem with me having Vista or Word 2007.

I will attempt to disable Norton Office PlugIn as recommended. Thanks.

 

Microsoft Office Automatic Scan in Norton was already set to off. What is my next move?

 

Is Shorthand really needed? The same thing can be accomplished with Words AutoCorrect feature. See http://www.tips4pc.com/Word-2007/type_abbreviations_and_use_autoc.htm

And, regarding Dorland, how much of a burden would it be to use Word without Dorland and just add new words to Word's built-in dictionary as they arise? I have no idea how often you'd need to add words in the medical field, so I can imagine this might be an undesirable solution.

 

How do I "dedustifiy" a computer?

Computer boxes have fans pulling in the air and circulating it around the components. Over time, dust bunnies will nest and grow and become dense and occupy every nook and cranny. This causes the computer to overheat and crash.

Although I THINK you have more of a software conflict problem, you should at least once a year take the side cover off the box, after everything is unplugged of course, and clean it out. This will also extend the life of your CPU. Just be sure to touch the metal framing before contact with anything else.

Regarding the software problem, try your programs with Norton turned completely off. Be careful, no virus protection while you're doing this so be sure you are connected to a safe site, I always choose Major Geeks when I need to do this. If this works, we can get you a more compatible anti virus.

And usafvet's ideas are good also. :wave:wave:wave

 

I want shorthand because most employer that will hire me will be using this and my personal database will be transferable. It is part of my training course to use it. There is lots of work involved in building the database.

As for Dorland's, I am sure I could find other alternatives but I found I liked the Dorland's dictionary very much and purchased it (expensive). It came with the spellchecker, which I find indispensable.

As for adding med words to the Word dictionary, I don't see this as an option. The dictionary is over 2000 pages with about 50-60 words per page. I want to be able to right-click on the red squigglies and choose the correct spelling. Great thought but not a viable solution.

 

Are you using the AutoRecover feature? This may keep you from losing quite so much work, depending on how Word is locking up.

I'm not sure how to check this is activated in Word 2007 but I think in all previous versions it's the same:

• Choose Tools and then Options.
• On the Save tab, tick "Save AutoRecover info every:" and then set whatever you want for your time. (If memory serves correctly, default is 10 minutes.)

This should mean that at least you shouldn't lose everything. The file will be saved as a .asd file (stands for AutoSaveDocument - great for a feature that is called AutoRecover )

A word of caution, using this feature means that something (sorry, can't recall what) will be built up larger and larger (temp files?) and it's a good idea to save and close and reopen periodically; possibly every hour or so?