'Save As' window constanly appears in Word 2003

[crazylegs]

My daughter has a Laptop running Office 2003 Professional on Windows XP Home SP3 (fully updated with auto updates etc)

Recently the 'Save As' window will start popping up - regardless of what your doing in word and when u click to close it down, a second later another pops up in its place, making it impossible to work.

I've uninstalled Office anf then re-installed the complete suite... but the same problem persists.

Have tried to google for a solution, but i cant find anything relevant 🙁

Many thanks in advance for any help.


UPDATE: have taken everything out of startup, removed Normal.dot - still same problem :S

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Does she have Norton installed with the Office plug-in?

If so, disable the Norton plug-in.

 

[crazylegs]

nope, the anti-virus software is Avast (forgotten which version can check tomorrow)

will try disabling this as a test, but doubtfull if avast would cause anythign ilke that :S

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

It was an old, known problem related specifically to Norton. Since she doesn't have Norton it's probably the AV program causing the problem, though it wouldn't hurt to be sure.

One thing she can try is to open Word in Safe Mode. Do that by holding down the Ctrl key and starting up Word. Continue to hold down Ctrl until Word is open. Then close down Word and then reopen it normally. In Safe Mode, Word checks for add-ins or extensions that doesn't function right and also checks for corrupted resources, files, registry entries or a bad template.

 

[crazylegs]

ok - thanks i'll try that aswell!

silly question (if there is such a thing...) but is there a 'reset to default' option for any word settings, although i would hae thought a re-install would do this?

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: crazylegs
ok - thanks i'll try that aswell!

silly question (if there is such a thing...) but is there a 'reset to default' option for any word settings, although i would hae thought a re-install would do this?

Oops, didn't proofread what I said above. It should have stated: "Since she doesn't have Norton it's probably not the AV program causing the problem, though it wouldn't hurt to be sure."

There is a way to reset most of the settings back to the default.

1. Delete the Normal.dot template.

2. Using Regedit, open the registry and delete the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Office/11.0/Word

Restart Word and it will rebuild the registry key and Normal.dot.

 

[crazylegs]

OK i have found and deleted the Normal.dot templated (in docs + settings, application data...etc)

Did you mean: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Office/11.0/Word

As i cant find a similar location under: HKEY_CURRENT_USER

thanks

 

[Qbah]

Maybe it's a physical problem with the 's' key on the keyboard? It sounds silly, but you kever know... 😛

 

[crazylegs]

Oohhh ok... will have to check that out.

Would the shortcut for 'save as' not involve a commbination ok keys being held down though?

thanks again.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: crazylegs
OK i have found and deleted the Normal.dot templated (in docs + settings, application data...etc)

Did you mean: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Office/11.0/Word

As i cant find a similar location under: HKEY_CURRENT_USER

thanks

It should be under HKEY_CURRENT_USER. That's the key we used to delete to reset Word for training classes.

 

[MrChad]

I wonder if it's a permissions issue in a temporary directory that Word uses to auto-save files. If Word can't auto-save the file, it might prompt you to save it in a location where you do have access.

 

[crazylegs]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: crazylegs
OK i have found and deleted the Normal.dot templated (in docs + settings, application data...etc)

Did you mean: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Office/11.0/Word

As i cant find a similar location under: HKEY_CURRENT_USER

thanks

It should be under HKEY_CURRENT_USER. That's the key we used to delete to reset Word for training classes.

Under: HKEY_CURRENT_USER there is no /office

i.e. it goes

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/ loads of other stuff here but not office 🙂

but:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Office/11.0/Word

is present.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Qbah
Maybe it's a physical problem with the 's' key on the keyboard? It sounds silly, but you kever know... 😛

The SAVE AS key command in Word 2003 is the F12 key. Make sure it is not stuck down in anyway.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: crazylegs

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: crazylegs
OK i have found and deleted the Normal.dot templated (in docs + settings, application data...etc)

Did you mean: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Office/11.0/Word

As i cant find a similar location under: HKEY_CURRENT_USER

thanks

It should be under HKEY_CURRENT_USER. That's the key we used to delete to reset Word for training classes.

Under: HKEY_CURRENT_USER there is no /office

i.e. it goes

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/ loads of other stuff here but not office 🙂

but:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Office/11.0/Word

is present.

That might be indicative of the problem you're having. I just checked 3 of my desktop systems and two laptops. They all have that registry key for Office (HKEY_CURRENT_USER).

When you installed Office did you install it in Admin mode? It's possible that there are user restrictions on her machine that prevent the proper registry keys from being created.