This morning when I clicked on an excel Spread sheet short-cut from my
desktop...
I get an error that says:

"Windows cannot find 'C:\Documents and Settings\jkeith\My
Documents\CNP-WinSNAP ActiveCount.xls'. Make sure you typed the name
correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button,
and then click Search."

Clicking OK... Excel is then open with a grey screen (just like opening
excel directly then "close"ing Book1.xls). I can then click the "open" and
navigate to the same file in My Documents... and it opens just fine.

If I Navigate via: My Computer through to My Documents and dbl-click
"CNP-WinSNAP ActiveCount.xls" The "Windows cannot find..." error is skipped
and excel opens but only to the grey screen (sheet is not loaded). I can
click on the sheet name as it is listed in the recent files list from the
File menu and/or the file as listed on the open help pane and it will open
fine.

Of course I have tried rebooting the machine but it didn't change the
behavior.

I have run "Windows Registry Repair Pro" and corrected all orphanded entries
but this did not correct the problem either.

I used the manual method to open my RestoreXL.xls sheet that resets the
excels settings (useful when dictator apps crash and leave the wrong startup
settigns). All the default options were reset properly (like the
IgnoreRemoteRequests setting)

Other file/app types tested out just fine:
Word
Access
Adobe
Groupwise
Internet Explorer
Text file
VBS files
Scheduled Tasks
Power point
MainFrame emulator software "Vista32" <-App existed way before the OS was
released.
Windows Media Player
WinZip

I am running Windows XP Professional Version 2002 SP3 All updates applied.
Version: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
Microsoft Office 2003
Excel 2003 (11.8220.8202) SP3

The SP3 update was done months ago and processing on my PC has been normal.
I heavily use Excel and Access and SQLServer all the time with automated
processes running daily with no problems at all.

It is quite strange that using the Open from inside excel will bypass the
problem and open the file and successfully process any VBA code connecting to
the network and remote sites, pull/push SQLServer data from/to all sites with
out any problems.

Last thing I tried, I used the Search feature like the error suggested, It
found 3 entries: 1)the file it self 2)the desktop shortcut 3)recent files
shortcut. DblClicking on the found entries caused... 1) excel's grey screen
2) Same open error 3) same open error.

Before I re-install Office2003, anyone have any ideas on what to check next?

--
Regards,
John