Cannot open Word files outside of Word

[JWaters]

After updading to Windows 7, I have had issues saving Word files, but not
Excel files, the message saying that I did not have enough RAM or HDD space.
I worked around this problem by running Word in Administrative mode.
I have resigned myself to this, but now I cannot open a file by clicking on
it. I get a message that says essentially that it was unable to send a
command to the program.

If I open Word and then select the file using file/open, it is successful.
Troubleshooter was no help, nor was the repair procedure. I also renamed
Normal.dot, temporarily commented out Add-ins in the registry and disabled
toolbars in Word, to no avail. Start my computer in Save Mode make it work ok

How can I identify this problem?

 

[Terry Farrell]

If all works by starting Word in Safe Mode, it proves that Word is OK but
you have some incompatible/legacy add-in that is breaking Save. Check out to
see what add-ins you have. It may even be your AV.

 

[JWaters]

Thanks for your response. I have commented out all add-ins in the registry
under Word, and disabled all task/tool bars in Word, to no avail. If there
is anything else I can do to identify the problem add-in please tell me.
I also have to admit that I don't know what you are referring to as " AV ".
Any additional help will be nuch appreciated.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Usually, add-ins are templates added to either the Word Startup folder or
sometimes the Office Startup folder. To eliminate them, rename any you find
to addinname.BAD(x/m) and if that resolves the problem, change them back to
DOT(x/m) one at a time.

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

AV = antivirus

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[JWaters]

Thanks again for the help. I displayed the startup folder at users\waters
family\appdata\roaming\microsoft word. It was empty. There was no startup
folder for Office. I searched for any .dot file and didn't find any file or
folder for Office. I have renamed normal.dot to normal.old.

I apoligize for my temporary lapse in that I didn't recognize AV as
antivirus. I have disabled most functions of my Norton Antivirus to no
avail.

Have you had any experience with this AV program causing this type of
problem, and do I need to totally uninstall the program to solve this problem?

I would like to point out that Word worked perfectly until I updated to
Windows 7, but NAV did need to be updated also.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Open NAV and go to preferences (under Advanced Options I believe) and
disable the Office Plug-in option.

Terry

 

[JWaters]

I took the advice to heart about Norton Anti-Virus program, and contacted
Symantec (Norton) who made some configuration changes to to avail, then
completely un-installed the program. It still failed, meaning that it was
not NAV.

I'm, going to try Safe mode again and I'll post the results.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Did you try disabling the Office plug-in as Terry suggested?

 

[JWaters]

Latest update: I verified that Word works normally in Safe Mode. I then
went back into normal mode and used MSCONFIG to disabled all Startups. Still
failed. How can I isolate this problem?

 

[JWaters]

Stefan, I did go to the word add-in folder. It was empty. There was no
Office add-in folder. I disabled all startups in msconfig. No help. I
disabled all services that would disable. No help. Evidently something is
starting up that I don't know how to detect or disable. Any further ideas?

 

[Stefan Blom]

But did you look for an option to disable the plug-in from within Norton
Anti-Virus?

 

[JWaters]

I'm not sure all my replies are being posted. I did totally uninstall NAV,
no help. I don't know of any plug-in that would still be there with NAV
uninstalled. I did check (after re-installing) and there is an option under
Computer Options to scan all offie documents. It has always been disabled.

I have disabled everything in Startup, using MsConfig, and disabled every
service that would disable. Still no help.

Could this problem be caused by Windows Defender?