Office Delay Problem

Hello, i am using the Avast Home edition and i am having a problem with OFFICE XP.
When i open a document for the first time it might take about 50 seconds for example in word to open it.
At this duration Word and avast hangs.
Today i tried to Turn Avast OFF. And the delay was 5 seconds at the same document. I did this again and again in order to make sure that avast does the difference.

So, What can i do?
Do you have any suggestions?
Maybe exclude some office files?

Thank you for your help :slight_smile:

You can disable the scanning while opening files…

But, did you have any other antivirus in this computer in the past? Which one? AVG, Norton?

Thanks for the fast reply.
Yes i had NORTON and created me a lot of problems.
i would prefer not to disable such a protection if there is other way make the delay less.

Perhaps you need to run their tool to make sure that Norton is uninstalled :slight_smile:

Al968

is there such a tool and if so where can i download it?

You don’t say what version of NAV but this should be OK for sort of recent versions.

A link worth looking at, which is a program removal tool that can remove the remnants of a number of different Norton Programs:
Removing your Norton program using SymNRT
You can also download SymNRT, a Norton uninstall tool that uninstalls all Norton 2004/2005/2006 products.

i had both 2007 and 2006

i just ran the program and everything is the same. I also tried to

disable the scanning while opening files...

but it took me about 45 seconds to open the file…
any other suggestions?

Please, let us know that you’re fully cleaned of Norton that, for sure, could make delays opening Office files.

  1. Remove NAV through Add/Remove programs from Control Panel. Boot.
  2. Use Symantec removal tool following the three steps defined in the SymNRT tool info or here.
  3. Boot.
  4. Install avast! Boot.
  5. See what you get.

Full SymNRT info:

  1. Download and save these three files to the Windows desktop:
    a) ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/linked_files/tsgen/MSIFIX.bat
    b) ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/linked_files/tsgen/SymNRT.exe
    c) ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/linked_files/tsgen/SYMMSICLEANUP.reg

  2. Run the three files that you just downloaded
    a) On the Windows desktop, double-click the MSIFIX icon.
    Click Run.
    A black window may appear very briefly.
    b) On the Windows desktop, double-click the SymNRT icon.
    Click Run.
    Click Next.
    Click I accept the License Agreement, and click Next.
    Type the letters and numbers that you see in the white box, and then click Next.
    Click Yes or OK at each prompt.
    You may need to click more than once. Your computer may be restarted for you more than once.
    You may be asked to repeat some steps after the computer restarts.
    c) On the Windows desktop, double-click the SYMMSICLEANUP icon.
    Click Run, and then click Yes.
    Click OK.

  3. Boot.

sorry i did all this and everything is still the same…
anyway thanks for the help…
any other suggestions?

Any other security program installed?
Did you use AVG antivirus in the past?
Does the delay occur at the second time, I mean when you open the file / close it / open again?

No AVG ever.
No it does only the first time…
is this a clue?

Yes. Something other thing could be scanned and not the .doc file you’re trying to open.
How big is your Normal.dot file (the Word template)? Do you have that many macros?
Does Excel open the files quickly?

Do you happen to use Windows Desktop Search or Fast Find indexing ?

I can’t remember if this is the right name for the Office indexing tool (I disabled it years ago), this used to cause much re-indexing slowing the system and possibly avast is scanning that activity.

I use the indexing service.
I dont know about the office one you said.

The NORMAL.DOT is 51.200 bytes.
I dont think i have any macros
and it does the same with excel.

However i am not sure that happens only the first time.
Actually that happens only at the most cases but not always.
Also the majority of the files that cause this delay are created from other users.
However i tried changing the file and save it again and the same thing happens.

I could well be wrong about the name, you could try temporarily turning the indexing off if nothing else it would eliminating it as a suspect.

Whilst this delay is going on is the avast icon rotating ?
If so enable ‘Show detailed info on performed actions’ in the standard shield provider this should show what is being scanned.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/for-dwr/ShowDetailedAction.jpg

sorry the indexing service is disabled.
also it hangs while it scans the same file…

Is the file it is hanging displayed and if so what is it, file name and location ?

Is that the file you are trying to open ?

Did you try what Tech suggested in his first reply, “You can disable the scanning while opening files…” Temp disable that and see if it loads as normal and see if there are any other files being scanned on loading.

Sorry I’m clutching at straws here as I haven’t seen this on the forums before and I still use Office 97 I never saw a need to upgrade.

I use office xp.
look the problem exists with about 20 files and not with all of them. When i try to load each one of them it hangs and the last entry that avast displays during the load is the filename of the .doc i opened.

How big are the affected files? (approximatelly)
If you scan the files by an on-demand scanner (Simple User Interface), instead of opening them - do they also take similarly long to scan, of are they processed quickly?