Author Topic: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97- PROBLEM SOLVED  (Read 7823 times)

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Purgatory

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AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97- PROBLEM SOLVED
« on: February 24, 2012, 04:16:51 PM »
Avast 7 automatically downloaded itself on Thursday pm.
I thought all was well until today I opened word 97.
The page had a red coloured surrounding border? - and the moment I attempted to type, the page disappeared.

I turned Avast off for a 10 minute period - no problems were then experianced. The moment I turned Avast back on - the word problem re-occured. Has anyone else had this problem?
« Last Edit: February 25, 2012, 10:41:17 PM by Purgatory »

Offline Pondus

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2012, 04:21:28 PM »
Quote
The page had a red coloured surrounding border?
seem like avast is running it sandboxed

Offline Vlk

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2012, 07:19:40 PM »
Is the Word modified in any way? (cracked or something - sorry for asking, but it's important)
Also, isn't it digitally signed? (you can check that by looking at the properties of the file winword.exe)

Thanks
Vlk
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Purgatory

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2012, 11:22:18 PM »
Hi VIk
I can confirm that my copy of word is legit - I have the original 'small office suite' disk with the correct installation code details etc. It has not been modified in any way.
If I look at properties of winword.exe - I can see nothing mentioned about digital signing etc.
Keep in mind that this application is now 15 years old!.
It would be easy to update, BUT, I like this version above all.
Hope this is of help.
regards-

claprood

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97
« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2012, 11:43:14 PM »
I have office 97 on two xp systems (both SP3), and one had no issues updating to version 7, the other flagged both word and excell as suspicious when I opened them, and then asked what I wanted to do on next execution..I chose open normally (sandbox was defaulted) and after that both worked fine...
Both office installations are from the same office program (corporate license), so not sure why one worked normally...The computer that worked normally hasn't had a windows update in many years, so might be that...

vik, does this offer any ideas to help out purgatory?

Purgatory

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97
« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2012, 11:49:23 PM »
Hi lloydc
your experiance differs somewhat from mine.
On calling up word, it just took an age to appear - page had a red surround border - and an attempt to type caused it to disappear.
At no stage did the program get flagged as suspicious - and I had no choice to 'open normally'
Thanks to all for your feedback :)

Purgatory

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97- PROBLEM SOLVED
« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2012, 10:49:09 PM »
reply to Pondus
yes - you were right - my pc updated itself automatically, and did not fully complete it would seem.
I did a complete uninstall (including the registry), and did a fresh install.

Again the problem with the word program arose, HOWEVER, this time it indicated it was in the sandbox, then eventually agreed that this program was acceptable, and gave me the option to choice 'open normally'
Thanks for your help guys :)
It would seem that many of the reported problems can be avoided by NOT accepting auto update - and doing a fresh install ;D

avp123

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97- PROBLEM SOLVED
« Reply #7 on: February 26, 2012, 11:22:57 PM »
I am running XP SP3  and had a similiar problem with Word 97 after Avast 7 downloaded.   My copy of word is legit and under properties of winword.exe, I did not see anything about digital signing either.  Avast 7 sandboxed my Word 97 Document Folder and I could not open my Word 97 Folder to access any word documents.  Next, I selected Open As Normal and can now open the documents but could I still have a virus on PC? What should I do next?   Thanks.

Offline DavidR

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97- PROBLEM SOLVED
« Reply #8 on: February 27, 2012, 12:51:39 AM »
Is the Word modified in any way? (cracked or something - sorry for asking, but it's important)
Also, isn't it digitally signed? (you can check that by looking at the properties of the file winword.exe)

Thanks
Vlk

I have a legit Office 97 on my XP Pro system and has been there for many years, never need all the bells and whistles of later versions. The AutoSandbox in avast6 wasn't bothered with them.

This morning I opened Excel and the AutoSandbox jumped into life (see image), knowing it to be legit and unchanged (image2). Seeing this topic I checked out Word and winword was pounced on by the autosandbox also (image3).

So the autosandbox is getting pretty sensitive, whilst this may be because they are very old files and as such highly unlikely to be digitally signed.
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Dch48

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97- PROBLEM SOLVED
« Reply #9 on: February 27, 2012, 01:03:23 AM »
I have Office XP (2003) on my XP machine. I'll have to check and see what happens with Word and Excel which are the only 2 components installed. Office 2007 on this and the Vista machine is fine.

Jack 1000

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97- PROBLEM SOLVED
« Reply #10 on: February 27, 2012, 04:53:53 AM »
I have Office 2003 Student and Teacher Edition and WordPerfect 12 on my system.  Maybe they opened a second or two slower, but they worked fine.  For Office 97.  I wonder if manual updates might still be available at MS Office's website for Office 97?  Before Service Packs came out, MS would introduce updates called Service Releases.

Run Windows Update first before installing any of these updates.

Here is a list of MS Updates and releases for Office 97 that might help: (For Office 97 users.)

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/search.aspx?q=Office%2097

And this is a file compatibility converter for older versions of Office (97/2000/XP (2002)/2003,)  that should allow users to open up documents in later versions:

 http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=3

It's possible that Avast 7 MIGHT recognize older versions of MS Office, such as 97 after these updates are applied.  Or the Avast development team might want to study these update files to do a backwards compatibility check for the next release of Avast 7, so that the older file formats are at least recognized by the modern security technology.

Hope this helps!

Jack

« Last Edit: February 27, 2012, 05:01:43 AM by Jack 1000 »

Offline DavidR

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97- PROBLEM SOLVED
« Reply #11 on: February 27, 2012, 12:24:15 PM »
I doubt it help office97 users (not many of us left ;D) unless the actual files are digitally signed, as currently none are, they didn't do that way back then (or seemed not to).

It just looks like the autosandbox give a heavy weighting to unsigned executables right now.
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Jack 1000

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97- PROBLEM SOLVED
« Reply #12 on: February 27, 2012, 11:33:41 PM »
I doubt it help office97 users (not many of us left ;D) unless the actual files are digitally signed, as currently none are, they didn't do that way back then (or seemed not to).

It just looks like the autosandbox give a heavy weighting to unsigned executables right now.

Several options for Office 97 users:

1.) Try the updates at the links above after running Windows update.  Can't hurt.  May or may not help. OR

2.) Wait for the next release of Avast 7, which may fix so many of the issues being talked about now. OR

3.) Go to Amazon.com or look on E-bay for some great deals on MS Office Software.  I use Amazon all the time.  You'll be able to get ugrades for about 50% less than what the products were in the stores, or when they first came out.  You may not need the latest and greatest Office 2007/2010, but see if you can go 1-4 versions up from Office 97.  That can help as well.  Run Windows Update before installing the new versions.  Than follow the prompts to install the new versions. OR

4.) Uninstall Office 97 and get Open Office from Open Office. Org. http://www.openoffice.org/  This suite is totally free, is about 99% compatible with MS Office File Formats, and would probably be a more secure solution than Office 97.  OR

5.) If you have the money get either Office 2007 or 2010.  Be prepared for a learning curve for a while as you get used to working with the MS Ribbon in this version, instead of the traditional toolbars.

Jack
« Last Edit: February 27, 2012, 11:35:49 PM by Jack 1000 »

Offline DavidR

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Re: AVAST 7 - MICROSOFT WORD 97- PROBLEM SOLVED
« Reply #13 on: February 28, 2012, 01:22:28 AM »
I have all of the updates that were released for office 97 and it isn't an issue with excell.exe or winword.exe and any amount of updates wouldn't change that.

Its just an autosandbox bump, just allow it to run normally and have it remember your answer, job done. So going for security updates, or installing LibraOffice is a massive over reaction to resolve a bump by the autosandbox.
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