slow opening

[UBfoolin]

All of a sudden, opening ANY Microsoft program takes 25 seconds. This
includes Excel, Word, Notepad, etc. It also takes about 25 seconds if I right
click on a .txt file for the context menu to appear. Non-Microsoft programs
open without delay - Adobe pdfs, Eudora, Firefox, etc. I have scanned with
Panda, Trend Micro, Microsoft's spyware scanner, AdAware and find nothing. If
I keep Excel running, then double click on an .xls it opens immediately.

I am running XP Home SP1 and Office 2000 with Excel 2003. Outlook was
uninstalled long ago so it is not the Outlook journaling problem.

Has anyone seen this?

ANY assistance or tips would be appreciated. I write software for a living
(23 years) so I'm not a rookie and can handle registry editing, etc. if I
need to get that deep to resolve this.

Thank you in advance for any advice or suggestions.
Dan

 

[Mary Sauer]

Maybe time for a disk clean up?

 

[UBfoolin]

I thought the same thing. I've done a total defrag and removed all Windows
tmp files too.

Then I thought, why would this happen to only the Microsoft programs and
explorer.exe functions (such as right click context menus).

I have run tests disconnected from the LAN (and therefore internet) and the
problem doesn't change.

Another interesting note, when shutting down I am now getting a dialog box
to shut down Windows explorer. I never had that before and should not now
since there are no open windows. It eventually goes away without clicking the
End Now button, but maybe it is a clue or another symptom.

Thanks for the suggestion and your response.

 

[Mary Sauer]

Do you have Norton?
How to use Office programs with the Norton AntiVirus Office plug-in
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;329820

Have you tried a "detect and repair?"

 

[UBfoolin]

I do not have Norton.

Thanks for considering my problem. It is killing me!!!

Really strange how the non-MS programs remain uneffected. Can it be an
Explorer.exe issue? That would help explain the slow context menu with the
right-click.

Dan

 

[Echo S]

This is the "garfield-n-odie special" response -- it seems to resolve a lot
of these "got the slows" problems.

 

[UBfoolin]

Thanks for the idea. I do know about this issue and have already done so. It
did not change the problem. I've also turned off the "Automatically search
for network folders" option in Explorer's Folder options.

Again, why is this happening ONLY to Microsoft programs? Can there be some
registry corruption or orphaned link?

Thanks again,
Dan

 

[Echo S]

Well, you don't have Norton, but what antivirus program *do* you have? I'd
suspect it.

 

[UBfoolin]

I am not running ANY antivirus program at this point!
Dan

 

[Bob I]

Do you have an attached accessable default printer?

 

[UBfoolin]

My default printer is the Adobe PDF driver/printer. The only "real" printer
is attached to an accessable server.

Great idea - hadn't thought about that one. Thank you!
Dan