delay in opening an office 2007 file from the explorer window

[CuriousAnt]

I have office 2007 installed on a win XP pc.
I seem to be experiencing a very peculiar problem. When I try to open a file
from the explorer window (a *.xls, *.xlsx, *.doc, or *.docx), it takes a very
long time for the opening process to complete. But if I first start an
application (word or excel) and then open a file from within the application
menu, there is very little delay.

How do I solve this problem? What settings can I change to fix this problem?
I first thought that this was a problem only for office 2003 files and that
time was needed for the conversion process. But this is not the problem as
there is no delay when opening from the application.
The problem is particularly acute when opening a file I receive as attachment.

 

[DL]

Do you have an Anti Virus app that has integrated with Office that is
scanning files prior to opening?
BTW There is no conversion process in opening a file created by an earlier
version.

 

[CuriousAnt]

Hi DL,
Thanks for your reply. Yes, I have an anti virus application. How do I find
out if it is integrated with Office for scanning? Will this cause a delay?
How can I reset this if I want to? Is it advisable?
Why is this not a problem when opening a file from within an application?

 

[DL]

Might depend on the AV, both symantec & McAfee are notable resource hogs
Usually there would be an option in the AV to turn off office integration