Files keep opening

[Ethel Hess]

Beginning this morning, whenever I open Excel 2004, every file I have opens
one right after the other. I have to force quit in order to make it stop.
I have restarted over and over to no avail. Help!

Ethel Hess

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

I am working from a windows excel right now but it sounds as though you have
changed something under preferences, in windows it would be
tools>options>general and alternate startup file location
Mac maybe preference>general and something similar,
also look in startup:excel folder
The problem is that you have to force quit and obviosuly can't get to
preferences, try to open excel while holding down the shift key to see if
you can start it. Also remove
files from startup folder(s) if there are any files there


Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

 

[Ethel Hess]

Thanks,

It was a problem with the alternate startup file location. It seems it's
best to have that blank.

Ethel Hess

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

Yes, I have never used that option.

Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

 

[JE McGimpsey]

It was a problem with the alternate startup file location. It seems it's
best to have that blank.

On the contrary - I'd argue that it's *best* to set that field to

~ocuments:Microsoft User Data:Startup:Excel

where you create the Startup and embedded Excel folder in your MUD
folder. That way you can put your default "Workbook" file, Personal
Macro Workbook, and any startup add-ins in that folder, and not risk
losing them if you have to remove and reinstall Office.

I do the same thing with the Word startup folder, for the same reason...

OTOH, if you have no Workbook file, Personal Macro Workbook, nor startup
add-ins, leaving it blank works, too.

 

[cary]

Beginning this morning, whenever I open Excel 2004, every file I have opens
one right after the other. I have to force quit in order to make it stop.
I have restarted over and over to no avail. Help!

Ethel Hess

I had this problem several weeks ago, and I am fairly certain that it
was actually an Excel macro virus. To fix the problem I had to remove
the Microsoft folder from my Library/Preferences directory. This
happened after I installed Office 2004, and then accidentally opened a
SPAM e-mail with attachment (I was trying to select the e-mail to move
it to my SPAM folder but accidentally double-clicked on it).

If you haven't been able to fix this problem, try this:

1. quit all Office 2004 apps
2. move the Microsoft folder under your Library/Preferences directory
(/Users/<username>/Library/Preferences) to another location (I moved
mine to a backup directory on my Desktop)
3. try opening Excel 2004

After I did that Excel stopped trying to open every file in my home
directory. If this works you can delete the backed-up Microsoft folder
you moved.

You may also want to install Virex, which is available for free if you
have a .Mac account.

Hope this helps,
Cary

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I had this problem several weeks ago, and I am fairly certain that it
was actually an Excel macro virus.

While I'm not disputing your conclusion, note that if you had
inadvertently set an alternate startup folder in Preferences, deleting
the Preferences folder would give the same result as if there were a
macro virus. Or perhaps there was a virus that set the alternate startup
folder.

Note also that, if you set your macro security to "Warn before opening a
file that contains macros", that accidently double-clicking on a file
won't allow a macro virus to run without explicitly clicking "Enable
macros".