Hi Rob!

Did I get this right, that Excel is slow to start again after a while,
even though the fix still seems to be in place, i.e. the dialog still
shows the described modification?

You should check whether the command you edit is the command that gets
executed. Change it to something else entirely, e.g. Edit.exe or some
such. If it still opens Excel, then it's executing some other command,
but if it opens the other program but after changing back opening Excel
is still slow, then Excel became slow to open files given on the command
line as well.

If Excel is executing some different command, then you could look for
other file associations. Excel 2007 has quite a few formats, and while I
only described XLS, it might be that some of them use different
settings, and that your doubleclick triggerd one of these others.

If you suspect Excel is starting slow for command line arguments as
well, you might try to enter the whole command, with the actual file
name instead of %1, into a command line window. If that is slow as well,
then Microsoft really broke something even more, otherwise it might also
be Explorer being slow to decide whether Excel is running or not.

In any case, it would be interesting what kind of action makes the
system slow again. I suspect it could be some kind of automatic update.

Generally all of you should probably complain to your vendor or some
official Microsoft support contact if you can. My fix is a workaround,
for those annoyed enough to search and lucky enough to find help. A real
fix would be for everyone, distributed by Microsoft. So let them know
there is a problem.

Greetings,
Martin von Gagern

RobN wrote:
Martin,

I too used your method, which worked well for a time, but now, it doesn't.

If I repair Office and/or completely uninstall and reinstall and make the
same changes of adding the "%1" and [rem see command line], to the
appropriate sections to the relevant file types, the problem is fixed again.
BUT the problem doesn't stay fixed!!! After a while, the same slow opening
of the file occurs when trying to open it from a shortcut if Excel is not
already open.
The unusual occurrence of double clicking an Excel shortcut, then minimizing
the Excel program also once used to be a fix, as Excel would automatically
maximize again and open the file. However, that doesn't even work any more
as the file is no longer being opened by that procedure.

Anything else to try?

Rob