Slow opening of a spreadsheet from My Documents

[Jack Gillis]

This problem has just appeared this morning.

If I boot to XP Home SP2 and open Excel 2003 SP1, it opens about as quickly
as I expect. Then if I choose File/Open and select an xls file in My
Documents it opens quickly also.

However after booting, if I open My Documents and select an xls file it
takes a long, long time to open. This is also true if I try to open the
files from shortcuts on my desktop. Excel itself seems to open OK but the
work area stays grey for a long time after the Scanning for viruses and
Ready messages appear in the status line. Eventually the spread sheet
opens. Any subsequent tries open any xls file as quickly as ever so I think
the problem must be in the initial start up of Excel.

I have the Macro Security set to low as I always have had it for the only
xls file I have are mine. There have been no changes I am aware of to any
of the xls files since early last week. I have only opened them and viewed
them -- no changes made. I just exited Excel. I must have made some change
to the Excel or Office setup or XP itself to cause this to happen but I've
no idea what they might have been except for the installation of an HP
Photosmart printer.

In summary:

At the first attempt to open any xls file from its icon in My Documents or a
shortcut to that icon yields a very slow opening of the file. Opening Excel
first and choosing from File/Open yields a 'normal' time to open.

Can someone give me an idea what is wrong here?

Thank you very much.

 

[Mark Lincoln]

Try booting, then opening the Task List and end tasks related to the HP
printer if you can determine which they are. After that, try opening
an Excel file from My Documents and see if it opens normally. If so,
you've proven that the HP software is causing the problem.

You could also uninstall the HP software and see if that restores the
functionality you expect. But that's a hassle.

 

[Jack Gillis]

Try booting, then opening the Task List and end tasks related to the HP
printer if you can determine which they are. After that, try opening
an Excel file from My Documents and see if it opens normally. If so,
you've proven that the HP software is causing the problem.

You could also uninstall the HP software and see if that restores the
functionality you expect. But that's a hassle.

Thank you Mark.

OK, I did as you suggested and ended the HP task and that cleared up the
problem.

Yes, uninstalling the HP software would be a hassle. Fortunately, I had a
Ghost image of the system just before I installed the HP stuff so I loaded
it and reinstalled the HP software. Now things are as I expected.

Thanks again.