Mayday! Excel shuts my computer down every time I open Excel.

[hotbread]

A couple of days ago, I placed a workbook in the XLSTART folder so it would open as soon as Excel opens. The workbook's Open event had code which shuts the computer (windows) down. I did this because I wanted an automatic way to shut down the pc while I was sleeping - another application was running, and once its process was complete, it would open Excel and Excel would shut the pc down.

My problem now is that even though I have deleted the workbook from the XLSTART folder, the computer still shuts down every time I open Excel! I've tried holding down Shift while double-clicking the Excel.exe file, but it still shuts down. I also tried putting a new workbook in the XLSTART folder, but it still shuts down.

Does anyone know why Excel seems to be running the code from the 'shutdown' workbook even though that workbook was deleted? And is there any way (aside from reinstalling Office) that I can stop Excel from shutting down the computer?

Tim

 

[PHV]

I'd scan ALL the XLSTART folders.

Hope This Helps, PH.
FAQ219-2884
FAQ181-2886

 

[hotbread]

I'm not sure what you mean. There are only two XLSTART folders on my computer that I'm aware of (for two office versions) - the Shutdown.xls workbook was only in one of the folders and has been deleted. I also did a search on the whole computer for the Shutdown.xls file after deleting it, and it didn't find the file anywhere.

Is it possible that the code contained in the Shutdown.xls workbook somehow became associated with the default template Excel uses when it opens, even though the Shutdown.xls file no longer exists?

 

[SkipVought]

I'm not sure what you mean.

It means...

scan ALL the XLSTART folders

I have ONE verion or Excel and TWO XLSTART folders in TWO different paths.

Skip,
[sub]
Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE![/sub]

 

[hotbread]

Sorry I didn't realise there were more than one XLSTART folder per version of Office. In any case, I thought that if the file existed in any XLSTART folder it would have been found when I searched the entire computer for the filename.

When I get home from work I'll have a look for other XLSTART folders in case Shutdown.xls is hiding in one that somehow got missed by the entire computer search. Seems strange that Excel would move (or rather copy) the file from the location I originally placed it in to another, but perhaps that's just how Excel (or Vista) does things.

Thanks for your help

 

[jges]

Also, make sure your search is including hidden files/folders and system folders.

 

[hotbread]

Thanks for the tip... when I ran my first search I didn't include hidden files/folders which is why it didn't find the file. But when I included hidden and system files/folders, I found both the second XLSTART folder and the problem file - deleted it and Excel now opens without shutting down the computer.

Thanks again guys