Strange Excel 2010 behavior

Factual Questions
1

I started googling an answer for this, but not sure how to phrase it, so maybe others here have dealt with it…

If I open an Excel file by double clicking it through Windows Explorer, I usually get the message that the file is in use by another user (it isn’t). If I continue to open it, then close and reopen, the error goes away.

Another issue (opening through Explorer again) is that the file opens fine, and the worksheet can be manipulated, but none of the buttons nor the menu will work (I can scroll over them, but they can’t be clicked on). The only way to save if this happens is to close the window and click yes to saving it.

Neither issue always happens, maybe only 50% of the time. Anyone else experience this?

2

The latter problem is commonly a symptom of still having a cell open for editing. That’s the first thing I’d double-check.

I’ve seen the former happen on files that get little detailed info pop-ups courtesy of some media player I installed somewhere along the line. The frustrating thing is, the pop-up doesn’t even have to be showing, if the program is still accessing the file to get its info. Mine has never affected XLS files, but maybe you have something similar that is.