MS Project app Freeze when opening a .mpp file - Thanks JulieS

[jblair]

Yesterday I posted this issue on this discussion and, I believe, JulieS
responded with the idea that it may be a conflict with Norton AntiVirus. The
specific problem was that attempting to open any .mpp file would cause both
MS Project 2003 or 2007 to freeze.

Turns out that is was NAV. After a lengthy session with NAV online chat
last evening it was determined that it was necessary to "allow" Project to
move through the firewall. All Office apps were so configured and everything
is functioning normally now. That change took place sometime during the past
month, I assume from a update to NAV.

Thanks JulieS! for the tip.

John Blair

 

[JulieS]

You're most welcome John. I'm glad you were able to get things
straightened away.

Julie

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi John,

For my benefit and that of others, what was the process to "allow" Project
to move through the NAV firewall?

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

 

[jblair]

Mike, I am unable to specifically describe what was done because the Norton
tech in the chat session was given control of my screen and I was primarily
an observer.

There are settings in Norton that will specifically grant applications more
generous privileges than the nominal settings allow. He opened a window in
the firewall area that listed a large number of applications. He changed the
settings on the Microsoft applications to "allow." There were four(?) levels
and "allow" was apparently the most liberal. I had noticed that on
occassion, other apps would "freeze" but upon restart all would be well.
Only Project would exhibit the hard freeze often requiring system reboot to
clear. I could probably stumble through this process now that I saw it but
am unable to explain it well.

Sorry to not be of more help.

When faced with this type of issue in the future I will at least know enough
to read the manual. When I set up the new Vista systems I was initially
unable to create a peer to peer network. It was another Norton "feature" and
had a similar cure. Open a list of firewall rules and add ones that
specifically allowed (via the url) the other computers to pierce the firewall.

John Blair

 

[Mike Glen]

Thanks, John for the feedback. At least we now know where to look!

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials