Only Word Documents Slow Opening Across Network 1

[gavm99]

Hi all,

We have just replaced an old Windows 98 computer which shared files for a Windows XP computer.

All of the files have been copied across to the new computer and the same share names setup.

Whenever a user opens a Word document from the new share there is a delay for up to 30 seconds before it actually opens. Local documents are ok.

This is affecting both Word 2003 and Word 2000.

Excel works fine!!! It is just Word!!

Any ideas what the problem is?!

I have tried a repair of Office already.

Thanks.



Gavin Moorhouse

http://www.lucidcomputersolutions.co.uk

Interested in my personal blog?

http://www.thelucidview.co.uk

 

[gavm99]

Hi all,

I'm getting closed to finding the problem and I'm sure one of you can help me with this.

Some of the documents are taking several minutes to open, interestingly these are older documents which were created from old templates which were on the old 98 Computer.

I brought one of the slow documents off site and have just opened it on my office computer which has Word 2007. It still took around 30 seconds but what I noticed gave me a clue!

It said in the bottom left of word "Contacting Server \\OLD98COMPUTER\Share\Directory which is obviously unreachable.

Does any know where this information is stored? Where can I remove or edit it?

Thanks.

Gavin Moorhouse

http://www.lucidcomputersolutions.co.uk

Interested in my personal blog?

http://www.thelucidview.co.uk

 

[TonyJollans]

The problem is the templates attached to the documents. There is no easy solution to this long-standing problem.

When Word opens a document, it also opens a template. First of all it looks at the name (but not the path) of the attached template and if there is a template of that name in the same folder as the document, it opens that template and is happy. Next it tries to find the template using the full path of the attached template (and it is this that causes the delay), and, if it can't find that, it uses your normal template.

You cannot change the attached template until the document has opened, and the only way to get the document to open quickly (that is, without the network delay) is to have a template of the right name in the same folder as the document. Depending on your setup and how many templates you have/had and whether or not you know the names of all of them, this may or may not be easy to arrange.

If you can create templates of the correct name, you can put document_open code in them to change the attached template of the document, so that next time all is well - or, of course, do anything else you like.

Enjoy,
Tony

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[gavm99]

Hi,

Ok I have an update.

I agree that the old template problem exists, as older documents take a long time to open. This is doesn't massively concern the me or the customer because they have many documents in many sub folders. They have simply started using new templates.

However there is still a delay opening brand new Word documents, from brand new templates. On average this delay is 12 seconds. It is the same on all 4 office computers.

I have tried various things on site without any success.

Today I decided to remove the new XP computer which hosts the main file share and bring it into the office for a reinstall. Their files are now on the highest spec office computer. Their new documents open a little quicker now as well so that does indicate the new XP computer is at fault.....

However..........

I have just set it up here, connected it to a switch and have connected 1 laptop to the same switch.

The laptop can open the word documents in 1 or 2 seconds!!! It is really quick!!!! This makes no sense!!!

I already tried changing the customers switch but this made no difference whilst I was there.

This makes no sense!!

Any ideas?!?!?!?

Gavin Moorhouse

http://www.lucidcomputersolutions.co.uk

Interested in my personal blog?

http://www.thelucidview.co.uk

 

[gavm99]

Hi all,

Another quick update and solid progress!!

I wanted to get my test environment as close as I could to this customers setup.

So I installed Kaspersky Internet 2009 on the test laptop as the customer also uses this.....

And now I have the delay!!!

To be sure I'm going to uninstall and do a system restore.

Gavin Moorhouse

http://www.lucidcomputersolutions.co.uk

Interested in my personal blog?

http://www.thelucidview.co.uk

 

[kjv1611]

Yep, I was going to say AV scans on there for the Word Docs. I've noticed that more of late, myself, on many computers then ever before. It's quite often I'll see "Requesting Virus Scan" at the bottom of a Word Document.

Anybody know how to turn off the automatic virus scan? I'm sure it may be a little safer, but at what cost? And if you're opening documents you created always or 99.999% of the time, then there isn't that much likelihood you'll open an infected document anyhow.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[kjv1611]

I guess what I'm asking along these lines is does anyone know if there is a way within Word to turn that off, or is that strictly just the AV software, where you'd have to tell it not to scan .doc files.

If that be the case, it may not be a good idea to totally disable it.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[gavm99]

Hi all,

Ok this is now resolved on I wanted to summarise BOTH solutions below:

First up - all documents, regardless of age were taking up to 30 seconds to open. By disabling Proactive Defence in Kaspersky, they now open in 1 second. Kaspersky are working on a solution for this known issue as we speak. This customer is protected by a dedicated firewall and the server performs full scans daily so I'm ok with disabling the Proactive Defence untill Kaspersky release the fix.

Secondly - Older documents linked to old templates as first discussed. Even after the Kaspersky fix, there are still some very old documents (over 5 years old) which wouldn't open. However the fix for these is simple. Open then in OpenOffice and they open straight away. You then do a Save As and overwrite the original file, this removes the template link. The 'new' file opens in 1 second. The customer will address this as and when they come across the odd problem file as there aren't many.

Thanks for the help everyone!!

Gavin Moorhouse

http://www.lucidcomputersolutions.co.uk

Interested in my personal blog?

http://www.thelucidview.co.uk

 

[gavm99]

Forgot to add that disabling Proactive Defence just means the file isn't directly scanned before opening, it still gets scanned locally when it enters memory!

Gavin Moorhouse

http://www.lucidcomputersolutions.co.uk

Interested in my personal blog?

http://www.thelucidview.co.uk

 

[kjv1611]

Thanks for the very detailing your follow through with this problem. Any of us could find ourselves in similar situations.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[TonyJollans]

I guess what I'm asking along these lines is does anyone know if there is a way within Word to turn that off, or is that strictly just the AV software, where you'd have to tell it not to scan .doc files.

No, there is no way to control this from within Word. You can only do it through your AV software.

Enjoy,
Tony

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