Word seems bugged Thread poster: Odette Grille (X)
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Odette Grille (X) 
Canada
Local time: 03:09
English to French
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Hi,
I have been working on a special .doc for subtitles. I noticed my word doc saves itself as .dot. So I was careful to go back to the .doc to work on. Just for info I did some copy-paste from the .dot to the .doc. After 2 days, i.e. today, my Word (2003-2007-Windows XP) program is unusable. (Lucky to have a laptop I saved my docs on) It opens a doc. Doc stays on 10mn then error message warns it is going to close. Doc disappears but Word window stays on and calls itself document 1 ... See more Hi,
I have been working on a special .doc for subtitles. I noticed my word doc saves itself as .dot. So I was careful to go back to the .doc to work on. Just for info I did some copy-paste from the .dot to the .doc. After 2 days, i.e. today, my Word (2003-2007-Windows XP) program is unusable. (Lucky to have a laptop I saved my docs on) It opens a doc. Doc stays on 10mn then error message warns it is going to close. Doc disappears but Word window stays on and calls itself document 1 doc. If I try to close it, it takes more than one try. I wonder if the normal.dot is involved in this abnormality ...
Thank you ▲ Collapse
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You may have a macro virus.
1) Quit Word. Hold the Control key down and start it. This will momentarily bypass your Normal.dot and your Preferences, effectively turning your Word into the version that was initially installed.
2) Go to Options, enable Macro Security and set the protection to the highest level.
3) Now open one of those files. If you get a macro warning, it means the file is actually a .dot file, renamed as .doc, that contains macro code (a vi... See more You may have a macro virus.
1) Quit Word. Hold the Control key down and start it. This will momentarily bypass your Normal.dot and your Preferences, effectively turning your Word into the version that was initially installed.
2) Go to Options, enable Macro Security and set the protection to the highest level.
3) Now open one of those files. If you get a macro warning, it means the file is actually a .dot file, renamed as .doc, that contains macro code (a virus). Go ahead and open the file without activating the macros. Then, just Save As .doc (Word will warn you that macros will be lost, but this is what you want). Repeat for all suspect files and thrash the infected originals. Every file you opened since noticing the problem will be infected. (If you have many such files, then download an antivirus program. Here's one: http://www.sophos.com/support/knowledgebase/article/112956.html .)
4) If it was a macro virus, you need to get rid of your Normal.dot. You can do this safely, as long as you don't have any customizations (like new toolbars you created). Locate your the Normal.dot template (C:\Documents and settings\\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates) and trash it. Word will create a new template for you the next time you start it, and your original preferences will still be maintained. However, remember to enable macro protection from now on.
[Edited at 2011-08-19 03:28 GMT]
[Edited at 2011-08-19 08:17 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Normal.dot - document template may be corrupt or have macro viruses | Aug 19, 2011 |
Understanding normal.dot is important when troubleshooting Word. Normal.dot (endearingly referred to as Normal Dot Dot) is the default or global template that Word uses to create a blank document. Normal.dot is always in use when Word is open, even if you are using another template. It is very common for normal.dot files to become corrupt. They also store macro viruses.
When you launch Word, it looks for normal.dot and opens it. If your normal.dot is corrupt, it can cause Word to cr... See more Understanding normal.dot is important when troubleshooting Word. Normal.dot (endearingly referred to as Normal Dot Dot) is the default or global template that Word uses to create a blank document. Normal.dot is always in use when Word is open, even if you are using another template. It is very common for normal.dot files to become corrupt. They also store macro viruses.
When you launch Word, it looks for normal.dot and opens it. If your normal.dot is corrupt, it can cause Word to crash upon launching Word.
If Word cannot locate a normal.dot file, it creates a brand new one. When you first install Word, normal.dot is not installed with it. Uninstalling does not delete normal.dot. These facts explain why reinstalling Office or Word does not fix a problem with a corrupt or virus-infected normal.dot file. Your newly installed program finds normal.dot right where it was before.
The location of the normal.dot file that Word is looking for can be found by opening Word, and using Tools-Options, File locations tab. Double-click User templates. The location is in the lower area of the window under Folder name. If you're unable to see the whole path, hit your Home key on the keyboard.
You may have settings in your normal.dot that you would like to keep, such as customized toolbars and macros, while getting rid of normal.dot may be necessary due to corruption. So, instead of deleting normal.dot, it is recommended that you rename it to abnormal.dot or normal1.dot. Then, you can use the Organizer to copy such things as macros and toolbars from the old template to the new one.
For more information on normal.dot and Word 2000, see the MS Technet Article at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q214/2/15.ASP. ▲ Collapse
| | | | esperantisto
Local time: 10:09
Member (2006)
English to Russian
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SITE LOCALIZER
If problems are caused by a particular document, try opening it with LibreOffice, making a minor edit and saving. You may loose some formatting, but the document in most cases will become usable.
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Odette Grille (X)
Canada
Local time: 03:09
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Daniel Grau wrote:
You may have a macro virus.
However, remember to enable macro protection from now on.
[Edited at 2011-08-19 03:28 GMT]
[Edited at 2011-08-19 08:17 GMT]
Dear Daniel,
Thank you for your explanations but I did have to activate the macros as this was a .doc version for subtitles. It saved itself as a .dot and it took me a while to realize that and go back to the .doc file.
I still have one large doc to do for the same client. I can't trash the macros. Ouh là là. I am going to ask the client who said they had never heard of macro virus ... Hmmm
| | | | Odette Grille (X)
Canada
Local time: 03:09
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Thank you all | Aug 19, 2011 |
I understand. Thanks to you.
Ode
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