Excel has developed an annoying problem that reinstalling/repair hasn't
cured. I haven't changed any settings so I'm not sure what is causing
the problem. I have files set to autorecover every 10 minutes. Usually
when I've got a file open a very small temporary file (*.TMP, several K
only in size) is opened while I'm working with it, but these disappear
after I close Excel. What is happening instead is that when autorecover
occurs, a second file is opened of the exactly same size as the orginal
one -- this second file has the name of the file I'm working with and a
numeric code appended to the end, with a *.tmp extension. Problem is --
these files do not disappear after I close Excel and they have to be
deleted manually. Furthermore, it is as if these new files open an
entirely new copy of Excel each time they are created. If I check task
manager you see the name of the file open in addition to any *.tmp
copies that have created themselves. Naturally all these additional
copies of Excel end up sucking up all the RAM on my computer. You also
can't "kill" these additional files without killing Excel as a whole.

I have absolutely no idea why it has started doing this. The only thing
I can think to do is to unstall Office 2003 completely and reinstall
the whole thing again from the beginning. I'm not sure what got
scrambled or even how. I haven't changed any settings. I'm running
Windows XP. My PC is clean -- I am very diligent about spyware,
antivirus, etc. I use AVG free and several antispam programs (Spybot,
Spyware Blaster, Spyware Guard).

I've done searches through the archives and at Microsoft, but haven't
found my particular problem described. This is driving me nuts because
I use Excel daily so I can't be manually deleting these files all the
time or having to close Excel down constantly to remove the extra
copies running. Any ideas?

You have one guess at your post in .excel

Wendy wrote:

Excel has developed an annoying problem that reinstalling/repair hasn't
cured. I haven't changed any settings so I'm not sure what is causing
the problem. I have files set to autorecover every 10 minutes. Usually
when I've got a file open a very small temporary file (*.TMP, several K
only in size) is opened while I'm working with it, but these disappear
after I close Excel. What is happening instead is that when autorecover
occurs, a second file is opened of the exactly same size as the orginal
one -- this second file has the name of the file I'm working with and a
numeric code appended to the end, with a *.tmp extension. Problem is --
these files do not disappear after I close Excel and they have to be
deleted manually. Furthermore, it is as if these new files open an
entirely new copy of Excel each time they are created. If I check task
manager you see the name of the file open in addition to any *.tmp
copies that have created themselves. Naturally all these additional
copies of Excel end up sucking up all the RAM on my computer. You also
can't "kill" these additional files without killing Excel as a whole.

I have absolutely no idea why it has started doing this. The only thing
I can think to do is to unstall Office 2003 completely and reinstall
the whole thing again from the beginning. I'm not sure what got
scrambled or even how. I haven't changed any settings. I'm running
Windows XP. My PC is clean -- I am very diligent about spyware,
antivirus, etc. I use AVG free and several antispam programs (Spybot,
Spyware Blaster, Spyware Guard).

I've done searches through the archives and at Microsoft, but haven't
found my particular problem described. This is driving me nuts because
I use Excel daily so I can't be manually deleting these files all the
time or having to close Excel down constantly to remove the extra
copies running. Any ideas?

--

Dave Peterson