Hel! Today my Excel 2000 program running under windows 98 SE started acting crazy. When I would try to open it, it would start opening file after file in a frenzy and they weren’t even .xls files. The only way out of the endless “invalid format” message box was the tried and true cntrl-alt-delete, then choose excel and that would stop the nonsense. I have scanned everything thoroughly with Mcafee with today’s new virus definitions and it found nothing. I find no normal.dot files or personal.dot files, and don’t know where to go from here short of reinstalling Windows and Office 2000. There were no files in the Autostart directory. I suspect there is something lurking in the registry. Anyone else seen this happen? Got a cure? If I do have to reload everything how do I save the hundreds of email files that I have to have for tracking my business? I use Outlook. … Thanks in advance.
Welcome to the boards! Helluva way to start, though. Check McAfee’s website for the latest in viruses. Have you dfownloaded any files off the web lately? Opened any mail from strangers? Opened attachments that SEEMED to be legit?
You COULD have a new virus. Worst case scenario would be to reinstall your software. I’ve had to do it and it really sucks. You invariably forget a file.
Good luck!
I haven’t heard of a new XL virus, and I would have, b/c I work there. My only other suggestion would be to make sure there’s no “AutoOpen” Macros in your Macros list. I wouldn’t suggest wiping ClassID’s in the Registry until you’ve reinstalled and the problem is still there.
How do I open the macro list if I cannot open Excel? Is there another program that I can run?
What kind of files were being loaded? I suggest you check your Xlstart and Alternative Startup locations for the files. Your Xlstart directory probably be in
PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE\XLSTART and your Alternative Startup location will be listed in
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Excel\Microsoft Excel\AltStartup, or if you can get into Excel: “Tools/Options/General/Alternative Startup file location”. The Alternative Startup file location is usually empty but maybe it was changed to point to a directory with lots of files.
Thanks to everyone
I have:
reloaded
&
repented
All is fine now… 