Hi Joel,
Under the key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\E xcel\Options\
you will see a value called Options. To turn off Ignore Other Applications
you need to turn *on* bit 6 of this value.
Because the registry doesn't have a binary editor, you have to figure
out what value to enter in order to turn this bit on. The easiest way to do
this is to perform a bitwise OR operation in the Visual Basic Editor
Immediate Window between the decimal number currently in the Option value
(the number in parenthesis) and the number 64, which is the decimal
representation of a binary number with only the sixth bit set.
Lets say the current number in the Options value is 23. In the Immediate
Window enter:
? 23 Or 64
87
As you can see, the result is 87. This is the number you need to put back
into the Options value in order to turn off Ignore Other Applications. Note
that the specific number will likely be different from computer to computer
because the Option value holds six settings, so the specific number in it
will depend on how the user has Excel configured on their computer.
--
Rob Bovey, Excel MVP
Application Professionals
http://www.appspro.com/
* Take your Excel development skills to the next level.
* Professional Excel Development
http://www.appspro.com/Books/Books.htm
"Joel" wrote in message
...
That was my next question, "What the heck is causing this?" But for now,
I'm
just trying to see if there is a way I can set this remotely, without
disrupting the users, for several hundred users. Again, running around
from
PC to PC doesn't sound like much fun...
You mention it's part of a bitmask...which one? sebasitan3 wrote to check
the 7th bit of
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Ex cel\Options.
I could try HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\E xcel\Options
since we're on Office XP here. But, when I change the setting in Excel, I
don't notice any change in the registry. Do you have to reboot to see the
change or something?
Thanks again,
Joel
"Rob Bovey" wrote:
Hi Joel,
You can modify the Ignore Other Applications setting directly in the
registry. Unfortunately, it's not a simple True/False setting but rather
part of a bitmask that stores several settings packed into a single
numeric
value. Because of this, modifying this setting in the registry correctly
is
not that much easier than doing it through Excel.
My real question is why so many people at your organization have
Ignore
Other Applications set to True? This is not its default value, but it's
very
common for badly written Excel VBA applications to turn this setting off
when they start up and not turn it back on when they exit.
If this is what's going on, then even if you go around and turn it
off
you're likely to see it back on as soon as everyone has run the problem
application again. I'd suggest working with a couple of machines for a
while
to see if you can narrow down the program that's causing the problem and
either get it fixed or get rid of it.
--
Rob Bovey, Excel MVP
Application Professionals
http://www.appspro.com/
* Take your Excel development skills to the next level.
* Professional Excel Development
http://www.appspro.com/Books/Books.htm
"Joel" wrote in message
...
Short version: Is there a registry setting for the "Ignore Other
Applications" setting?
Long version: Many people here have problems opening Excel files that
are
remedied by:
1. Opening Excel, and clicking on 'Tools | Options... | General' tab.
2. Uncheck "Ignore Other Applications".
I also know this property can be set in Excel VBA:
Application.IgnoreRemoteRequests = False
However, there are a LOT of computers that seem to have this problem.
I figured that if this is being stored in a registry entry
somewhere,
I
can remotely connect to the user's registry, and set the value to false
from
there, instead of having to run around to 100+ PC's, and repeat the
processes
listed here.
Any ideas? Thanks!