Purchased Office 2003 and I can't open any files

[slatonyam]

This is the error I get everytime I try to open a file in any of Office
programs. I found a work around for Word, but I can't view files in
powerpoint at all. Can anyone please help?

You may be encoutering this message because an anti-virus program is not
allowing the file to open. This can be caused by one of two conditions.
Either the anti-virus program needs to be updated (due to a compability
problem with this application) or there is a virus in the file but the
anti-virus program cannot properly remove or process the virus it has found.

In either case, the file you are attempting to open should be treated as
infected until you have updated your anti-virus software to the latest
updates available from the vendor. All major anti-virus software
manufacturers have created updates to address known compatibility problems
with Office applications. They also usually provide a virus signature file
that is available for download from the Internet and must be updated
regularly to properly scan for all known forms of viruses.

If you are experiencing this problem on a computer where a new version of
anti-virus software was recently installed from a CD-ROM, it is advised to
connect to the Internet and download the latest updates available from the
vendor.

If you are experiencing this problem on a computer where the latest version
of the software is installed, all signature files are up to date, and the
file will not open (but other files do) then it is very likely the file is
infected with a virus and the anti-virus program cannot remove the infection.

There is also the possibility the file is corrupt (damaged) and cannot be
properly handled by either the anti-virus software or the affected Office
application. In this case, it may be necessary to attempt recovery of the
file using the related recovery utilities that may be available with the
application (not all applications have file recovery or repair capabilities).

For more information about this issue, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base
article 835404.

 

[Echo S]

Well, have you updated your antivirus program?

Here's a link to the KB article. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=835404
It lists two possibilities -- 1, you need to update the AV and its DAT
files, or 2, you have an infected or corrupt file. The chances of all your
files being corrupt seem fairly slim to me, so I'm leaning toward the need
to do #1.

You should also go to Help|Check for Updates and make sure you have
installed SP-2 for Office 2003.

 

[slatonyam]

Thank you Echo S for pointing me in the right direction. I have Avast
anitvirus so I paid a visit to the forum and searched for Avast with Office
2003. Someone else had the same problem. The problem is actually with
Norton Antivirus (which came with the computer) you have to go to the
Symantec site and get a special cleaner to remove Norton completely. I
thought I had done this but apparently you can't remove it completely without
the cleaner. I hope this helps someone esle. Thanks Echo S for pointing me
in the right direction.

 

[Echo S]

You're welcome.

But I'm curious -- didn't the information from Microsoft help you at all? I
mean, I thought the original error message was more than complete.