Word 97 takes all CPU

[news]

Running Word 97 under XP Pro, plus McAfee AV (all fully up to date).

When I use Word, CPU utilisation for WINWORD.EXE is around 98% and stays
there indefinitely.

To my knowledge, there are no plug-ins. (How would I find out to be
sure?).

To ensure there were no macros or other strange things happening, I
searched the disk for normal.dot, found it and deleted it. Word still
takes almost 100% CPU.

Ideas anyone?

 

[Anne Troy]

Finish up the troubleshooting, Ian, by doing Step 3.
http://www.officearticles.com/word/steps_to_troubleshooting_microsoft_word.htm
The only difference is that your Word folder is 8.0 (for 97, which isn't
shown on the site).
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com

 

[news]

Finish up the troubleshooting, Ian, by doing Step 3.
http://www.officearticles.com/word/steps_to_troubleshooting_microsoft_word.htm
The only difference is that your Word folder is 8.0 (for 97, which isn't
shown on the site).
*******************
~Anne Troy

I followed the instructions on that page, renamed the Word folder in the
registry and then let Word regenerate the folder, but the problem is
still there.

I guess I will have to re-install it.

Thanks for your help, Anne.

 

[news]

I followed the instructions on that page, renamed the Word folder in
the registry and then let Word regenerate the folder, but the problem
is still there.

I guess I will have to re-install it.

Thanks for your help, Anne.

OP here again. Another strange symptom. When I am editing the document,
CPU utilisation is almost 100% as I've already mentioned. But when I
click on any Standard toolbar menu (File, Edit, View etc), CPU
utilisation drops to zero. The thick plottens!

 

[PopS]

Try using Task Manager and watch which processes are
there before you start 97, and then when the cpu % goes
so high.

Do you also have a later version of Word installed?

I assume Wd97 is the ONLY problem app?

Does that happen even with a new, blank document?

Is the 97 CD original? Or a copy?

Not sure, but Event Viewer might be some help too;
worth looking at. Help & Support will tell you where
it is if you can't find it.

HTH

Pop

 

[news]

Try using Task Manager and watch which processes are
there before you start 97, and then when the cpu % goes
so high.

All other processes are around 0 %, with or without Word running.

Do you also have a later version of Word installed?

No. However, the machine (a Dell) came pre-installed with Works, but I
have never used it.

I assume Wd97 is the ONLY problem app?
Yes.



Does that happen even with a new, blank document?

Yes. As soon as I open Word.

Is the 97 CD original? Or a copy?

It was built from an original Microsoft CD.

Not sure, but Event Viewer might be some help too;
worth looking at. Help & Support will tell you where
it is if you can't find it.

I'll have to look for that.

 

[PopS]

All other processes are around 0 %, with or without
Word running.

===> Clarification: With Word running, and when the
cpu is near 100%, NO PROCESS is showing any high
numbers?
If so, that sounds like malware running. Legitmate
processes "should" show in the processes window. If
this is the case, I'll look up a better process viewer
to recommend to you. I've never had anything hide from
it.

You are sure you do not have a macro or any other
virus, trojan, adware, etc.? What are you useing for
av and adware protection?
Do you use a firewall?

No. However, the machine (a Dell) came pre-installed
with Works, but I have never used it.



Yes. As soon as I open Word.



It was built from an original Microsoft CD.

===> If that means it's not an OEM or MS CD, complete
with COA, then that may be your answer. Have you
checked that CD fro viruses/malware?

I'll have to look for that.

Let me know if you'd like to get a good process viewer;
there are lots of them out there and they work well.
It should be able to track down the specific process
using all that processor time.
Ah! I found it! Go to www.sysinternals.com and
download procexp.exe. It's called simply a Process
Viewer. Good program

BTW, how are you measuring processor time?

Regards,
Pop

 

[news]

===> Clarification: With Word running, and when the
cpu is near 100%, NO PROCESS is showing any high
numbers?

When Word is not running, there are a few processes that pop up from
time to time taking about 1-2% CPU. Otherwise around 99% idle.

When Word starts, it takes around 98% CPU. Other processes pop up from
time to time taking about 1-2% CPU. Idle time virtually 0%.

If so, that sounds like malware running. Legitmate
processes "should" show in the processes window. If
this is the case, I'll look up a better process viewer
to recommend to you. I've never had anything hide from
it.

I use SysInternals Process Explorer -- it doesn't show anything
untoward.

You are sure you do not have a macro or any other
virus, trojan, adware, etc.? What are you useing for
av and adware protection?
Do you use a firewall?

I use the lot:

US Robotics hardware router/firewall, ZoneAlarm, McAfee AV, SpyBot
S&D/TeaTimer, AdAware SE, HijackThis, CWShredder, TCPview, MVPHosts. All
are religiously checked for updates every morning, and the programs are
run every day. I have never discovered any malware on this machine.

(I'm an Internet security consultant with an investment bank, so I'm a
little neurotic about these things! :=))

I have tried zapping normal.dot, to make sure there were no macros
hogging the machine.

===> If that means it's not an OEM or MS CD, complete
with COA, then that may be your answer. Have you
checked that CD fro viruses/malware?

It's a genuine retail Microsoft CD with COA, bought legally over the
counter several years ago. I've never checked it for viruses.

BTW, how are you measuring processor time?

From the CPU column in Process Explorer.

Thanks for all your comments, Pop. I've decided to cut my losses and
re-install Word to see if that fixes the problem.

 

[finisterre]

Did reinstalling Word solve the problem?

I have the same problem..

I've tried EVERY solution at the Word MVPs site, several times

I have complete, thorough, up to date security / spyware / virus software

No other programs or junk is running, period

It only happens with one particular document

 

[Anne Troy]

That's very different, finisterre. It means the document is corrupt. See if
these help at all:
http://www.officearticles.com/word/avoid_document_corruption_and_bloating_in_microsoft_word.htm
http://www.officearticles.com/word/recover_a_corrupt_microsoft_word_document.htm
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com

 

[finisterre]

I tried all the steps at the websites you suggested; they didn't help.

I am rebuilding the doc by starting with a new blank document, then
copy-pasting about 15 pages or so at a time, incrementally, from the corrupt
document, and after each addition saving as a new document (giving each new
doc a sequentially numbered filename), and omitting all section breaks (of
which my document unavoidably has rather many -- I will add them in when the
whole doc is reconstructed.)

The only other option is reinstalling Office, since as I mentioned, even the
'binary splitting' method doesn't work.

 

[Graham Mayor]

If this is the document corruption issue that it appears to be, then
re-installing Word will have no effect whatsoever. Reinstalling Word rarely
achieves anything useful, and certainly won't affect your corrupt document.
When copying, avoid not only copying the section breaks, but the final
paragraph mark also.
You may be able to shorten the editing by opening the document in WordPad,
save it as RTF then open the new file in Word then edit that.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[news]

In message <[email protected]>,

Did reinstalling Word solve the problem?

Unfortunately not.

I have the same problem..

I've tried EVERY solution at the Word MVPs site, several times

I have complete, thorough, up to date security / spyware / virus software

No other programs or junk is running, period

Same here.

It only happens with one particular document

With me, it happens with *every* document, including opening with a
blank document. But as soon as I click on any toolbar button, CPU
utilisation drops from almost 100% down to almost zero.

I wondered if it was anything to do with OSA, but killing that didn't
help either.

I don't know what to do next. I guess all I am really concerned about is
whether the problem arises from some malware (in which case I am
worried), or whether it is simply some benign interaction between Word
97 and XP (in which case I can live with it).

 

[news]

I don't know what to do next. I guess all I am really concerned about
is whether the problem arises from some malware (in which case I am
worried), or whether it is simply some benign interaction between Word
97 and XP (in which case I can live with it).

OP here. Finally cracked it!

I decided to tackle the job "scientifically"; that is, I clobbered each
running process one by one until I discovered the culprit. It turns out
that the varmint was "spontania4IM.exe", a Skype video package that I
installed recently.

Why/how on earth it interacts with Word 97 I have no idea. At least I
can sleep peacefully now.

Thanks to everyone for your comments.

 

[finisterre]

Think I found the problem:i updated MS Office (2000 here) with the Service
Packs or whatever they're called yesterday at the MS Office Update site and
so far, no 100% CPU with the once-corrupt document. I don't feel stupid for
not trying that sooner, because during a couple years of usage without
updating, any problems I've had with Word or Excel were solved by other
solutions, and no-one's thought to ask if my software's updated.

....I have inspected the Processes list so many times in the past that by now
I have googled pretty much every entry and found that the roughly 30
processes that are running when no applications are open are all essential
Windows things that you can't do anything about. A couple are related to my
display and my touchpad (it's a laptop). Also a couple are Symantec Antivirus
(or Norton, whatever???) which run even when virus protection is disabled
(?!).

Zone Alarm and Spysweeper bring the number up to about 33, 34.

So when anything new shows up, I always recognize it.

I wonder if 30 is normal? Need to find another forum for that.