Virus Effecting Word XP?

Hi,

I posted this question in a different thread but think it needs its own.

Yesterday Word XP started behaving strangely...and badly. It opens fine, as always, but about half the documents I try to open cause Word to hang, in turn causing my system to hang so that I need a reboot.

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason regarding which documents hang it: Some are large, some are small, most were written by me in the same version of Word XP (although some are in Word 97 or Word 2000). All the "offending" documents can be opened in my home network on machines with Word 97 and Word 2000, and when they're moved onto the hard drives of those machines they also open. So they aren't the culprits.

I've repaired Office XP and I've done its reinstall routine (although without deleting the original version). I've defragged and scandisked and all the rest of that. I've run HiJackThis and it doesn't look as though I have any spyware left on my system. I've run AVG Free Version and two viruses were detected. WM Showoff and Downloader.Small.5.Y. Showoff was repaired and Downloader was deleted, but could Downloader be the culprit? Does deleting the bad file (actually quarantining it) cure the symptoms or is there more to be done?

I use Word in my work all day long and am now totally freaked out. Does anybody have a suggestion for how I can get it running right again?

Thanks,

NebulaGL

 

I've solved the problem of Word XP not being able to open certain documents. It turns out that my computer's default printer had been re-set to a network printer and my machine doesn't have the drivers for it. According to MVPS.ORG, the hanging is what happens in this situation. By changing the default printer to one I have the drivers for, Word now works as usual and I can still print on the other printer by switching on a per print job basis via "printer setup."

Thought I'd pass it on.

NebulaGL