officeassistant.exe hogs CPU

[PaulDanon]

My FS415B goes very slow and I find officeassistant.exe is the cause. A Google-search suggests that just a handful of other Sony users have this problem but no solution is shown on those pages. OneCare detects no problem. Does anyone else have this and, if so, can they overcome it? I'm worried lest it's searching my drives for information or logging my keystrokes. Thanks in anticipation of your kind advice.

[rich912]

Hi Paul,

Have considered turning off the Office Assistant?

1. Right click on the assistant
2. Select Options…
3. On the Options tab uncheck the box beside Use the Office Assistant

[PaulDanon]

Right click on the assistant

Brilliant idea. Thanks. Where is it so I can right-click on it? Anyone know why it does this? I thought it was just a silly paper-clip. Could this be viral activity?

[kee-lo_]

If you open Word he should be at the top right.

[rich912]

Where is it so I can right-click on it?

It is that annoying paper clip.

But you may be better off doing this for a permanent solution.

1.Click Start --> Settings --> Control Panel."
2.Double-click the Add/Remove Programs.
3.Find and highlight "Microsoft Office" on the list of installed programs.
4.Click the Change button.
5.Choose Add or Remove Features.
6.The Office Assistants can be found under
Microsoft Office --> Office Shared Features --> Office Assistant.
7.Choose any of the assistants, and change the drop down menu to Not Available (The red X). All the assistants must be turned off to disable this feature.
8.Click the Update button for the changes to take effect.

There is a possibility that it is the activity of a virus - I assume that you have carried out a thorough scan?

[PaulDanon]

Most grateful for the kind advice. Have disabled all assistants. Didn't even know they were enabled! I do fear virus-activity, though OneCare finds nothing. Does anyone else get blank DOS-type windows opening when they run an Office application?

[rich912]

Hi Paul,

Have you upgraded from Office XP to 2003 by any chance. If so your settings may not have been migrated correctly. Try a 'Detect and Repair Microsoft Office' - you should find this option in the Help menu of Word or Outlook.

[PaulDanon]

You are so generous with your time and patience, Rich. Thanks. Done that. I have a nasty feeling that the officeassistant.exe that's hogging my CPU isn't the stoopid paperclip thing but something sinister. Strange that there's so little about the problem on the web* and that it doesn't feature on security-sites like Symantec. All other input gratefully received, and may the road rise up to meet you.

* Indeed, the first result of that search is this thread!

[rich912]

Hi Paul,

My thoughts are that it is not malicious but a glitch in the program itself – especially as you are picking nothing up with a scan. The blank box and high CPU usage are possibly the result of the Office application searching for a file or location that is not registered or available.

You have not said whether previous suggestions have resolved the CPU usage but I assume that you are still experiencing the same problem?

Try this – grabbed from another forum:

"As a workaround to your problem, you can try disabling the MS Word as an editor for your email client (Outlook in this case). For this go to Tools->Options->Mail Format, and uncheck the check box for "Use Microsoft Office Word 2003 to edit e-mail messages".