'and' and 'if' problem in Word for XP

[bewildered]

Hi,

I'm trying to help a friend with a weird Word problem that I
can't fix. I'm stumped, help please

Operating environment:
Windows XP
Office for XP

Symptoms:
1. If you open Word and leave it for a while on the default blank
document, the word 'and' of 'if' appears after a few minutes.
2. Sometimes when you are typing the printing box will pop up
unrequested (the focus moves there) and you end up typing into
the file name field in the printing box.

Failed attempts to fix the problem:
Constantly updating VET anti virus which finds nothing.
Re-installed Word for XP (no change)
Looked for weird macros (found nothing)
Ran Ad Aware which finds no spyware.
Checked for crosslinked files (no problems)

If you view the Word Docs on another computer the problem does
not occur.

Any ideas?

TIA, Nick.

 

[Howard Kaikow]

If the problem does not occur for a given document on another computer, then
there is indeed a problem on your system due to:

1. A virus. Auntie Virus software can detect only known viri, so if the AV
software does not detect a virus that does not mean that none are present.

2. A 3rd party add-in could be running.

3. A 3rd party macro could be running.

4. There could be an obscure bug in Word that is manifested on your system.

5. There could be Auto or Document macros running when a doc is
created/opened.

 

[Gaderian]

[SNIP]

Symptoms:
1. If you open Word and leave it for a while on the default blank
document, the word 'and' of 'if' appears after a few minutes.
2. Sometimes when you are typing the printing box will pop up
unrequested (the focus moves there) and you end up typing into
the file name field in the printing box.

Although you've checked for macro viruses etc, there still can be a
malicious macro running within Word.
Try this.
Exit from Word and delete the normal.dot file found in the MSOffice template
directly. When you restart Word, it will create a new normal.dot file clean
of any macros that could be running in the background. The default settings
should be returned to the original settings.

The only word of warning (pardon the pun), is that any specialized macros or
settings you've saved in the normal.dot file will be gone.

 

[Howard Kaikow]

Do NOT DELETE Normal.dot, instead rename Normal.dot.
See http://www.standards.com/OhMyWord/RebuildingTemplates.htm.

--
http://www.standards.com/; See Howard Kaikow's web site.

[SNIP]

Symptoms:
1. If you open Word and leave it for a while on the default blank
document, the word 'and' of 'if' appears after a few minutes.
2. Sometimes when you are typing the printing box will pop up
unrequested (the focus moves there) and you end up typing into
the file name field in the printing box.

Although you've checked for macro viruses etc, there still can be a
malicious macro running within Word.
Try this.
Exit from Word and delete the normal.dot file found in the MSOffice template
directly. When you restart Word, it will create a new normal.dot file clean
of any macros that could be running in the background. The default settings
should be returned to the original settings.

The only word of warning (pardon the pun), is that any specialized macros or
settings you've saved in the normal.dot file will be gone.