Problem with Outlook / Word 2003 WINWORD.EXE process

Discussion in 'Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS), Office 365' started by Arroryn, Dec 3, 2008.

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  1. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Dec 24, 2008 #41
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    Arrgh, nightmare!

    Just another suggestion, have you tried uninstalling Word? Perhaps if you start up Outlook it might throw up an error message if word isnt installed.

    Just a thought! :biggrin
     
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  2. Arroryn

    Arroryn we're all dooooooomed Moderator

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    Dec 24, 2008 #42
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    Ooh, nice thought - will give that a bash when I go back to the office - thanks Sparky :)
     
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  3. Arroryn

    Arroryn we're all dooooooomed Moderator

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    Jan 17, 2009 #43
    I *think* we got this one nailed.

    We have a document comparison suite that integrates with Word and Outlook (and our DMS and just about everything else).

    There were two settings for this product: "do not cache Word" and "use current instance of Word"

    These were set the wrong way round, so whenever you fired up Outlook, it was invoking the winword.exe process for the integrated software.

    Phew. That was a bugger to fix - fun, though!

    Thanks everyone for your great contributions :)
     
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  4. Bluerinse
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    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Jan 18, 2009 #44
    Glad you got it sorted Arro. That was a weird one.
     
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  5. Arroryn

    Arroryn we're all dooooooomed Moderator

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    Jan 18, 2009 #45
    It had me confuddled, that one's for sure!

    We weren't aware how deeply the processes for our Comparison suite embedded/integrated themselves in with the other apps, so we didn't consider it a viable course of 'investigation'. We only stumbled on the potential solution during a different helpdesk fix... but all's well that ends well!! :)
     
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  6. Notes_Bloke

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    Jan 18, 2009 #46
    Glad its sorted.

    NB
     
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  7. dmarsh
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    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    Jan 18, 2009 #47
    Well looks like you've sorted it, was gonna say :-

    Many windows apps are basically collections of COM components, these components often support OLE and Automation.

    OLE stands for - Object Linking and Embedding, hence the 'embedding'.

    Embedding generally means that the COM component is being used as a GUI widget.

    Automation generally means that the component is scriptable.

    See here :-
    http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=OLE&i=48346,00.asp

    Basically what this often means for Word is other programs can load it as if its a GUI widget to display stuff, print etc.

    I would expect another process to be loading word if those params are set for these purposes.

    As you have said that was the case, just you expected it to be outlook and it was actually your DMS.

    As for winlogon.exe, well it should do what it says on the tin, handle logon, not sure why it would load word.

    There are many trojans and spyware that exploit weaknesses in security to send email etc. Some of them by using basic scripting techniques. Some masquerade as winlogon and use winword to do their dirty work...
     
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