Word 2000 freezes when saving

[sgmellen]

I got some info on this from a thread but it was back from 2008 so I decided
to start a new one. Word 2000 (yes, still using it!) suddenly started
misbehaving: you can open any document, edit it, but as soon as you click
the save button it freezes. You can't close the application, or even
CTRL+ALT+DELETE to close it--it says "not responding" but never closes. A
normal shutdown of the PC doesn't work (start, turn off computer, turn off
computer). The only way to shut it down is to turn off the computer with the
power button.

Because of this previous post, I tried opening Word in Safe Mode (winword
/a) and it works fine, so it's obvious that it's some add-in that's messing
it up. But I can't figure out how to find out what the add in is so I can
disable it. Any ideas?

The only thing I can think of is the virus software, which is AVG (paid
version) but none of the other computers are having this problem so it
doesn't seem likely.

I hate to wipe the computer and start over at this point...

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

See
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm
..

 

[sgmellen]

Oh crud. I guess I DID know where to find the add-ins because I checked that
already, and there are no items listed in the Global Templates and Add-Ins
box. Any ideas on what else could be causing the problem?

Just FYI, I've already tried deleting normal.dot but that didn't do it...

 

[Terry Farrell]

Did you not read the FAQ? Try renaming normal.dot to normal.bad.

 

[sgmellen]

Yes, I did, and there are no instructions to do that on the page I was
referred to. However, I did say that I had deleted normal.dot and that it
didn't do any good. Is renaming it different than deleting Normal.dot? In
both cases doesn't Word have to re-create normal.dot, which gives you a clean
version? I'm asking this because I'm not at the computer right now that has
the problem, and want to make sure I have a pretty complete idea about what's
going on before I go to it.

 

[Terry Farrell]

My Error. I thought that you had been sent to
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm. Yes, deleting
normal.dot is the same but we usually recommend renaming it as then you can
use Organiser to copy back any important customisations that you may have
stored in the old normal.dot.

However, if Word is starting in safe mode (/a), then there is nothing wrong
with Word. There has to be some other problem. Try deleting the Word Data
key which may have been corrupted by an update. The Data Key will be
recreated when Word is restarted.

Run Regedit and navigate to the Data key and with DATA selected, press
delete.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\Data

Terry