It's a *not uncommon* issue.

Check out this link:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/ghosting.txt

--
HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================


"matthewDBS" wrote in message
...
I have MS Excel 2003 installed on my computer. When I open a new workbook
and
click on any cell, the pointer goes to a white cross or plus symbol. Then
I
am unable to do anything. I can move the mouse anywhere on the sheet and
it
highlights the cells that the pointer has gone over as if I am selecting a
range/group of cells such as you would if you were going to delete them or
clear contents. I try to right click and nothing happens. I move the
pointer
over the tool bar, it does nothing. I hit <ESC and still nothing. The
only
thing that does anything is going into the task manager and ending the
process. I have uninstalled and reinstalled, ran spyware, installed
updates
for office 2003 and nothing is working to correct the problem. I am back
to a
basic installation of Excel 2003. Yes the computer has been rebooted, i
tried
running excel in safe mode and it did the same thing. I deleted the temp
files. Nothing seems to work. I know it is not the mouse since it works
fine
with all other applications. It has to be some type of setting with Excel
is
my guess. I was not able to find an answer by searching the posts so that
is
why I am posting this question.

Thanks,

Matthew