Word Is Crashing

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A customer’s Word 2016 component of Microsoft Office (Click to Run, Windows 10) recently became barely useable:  I could start a new document or open an existing document, but it crashed if I tried to save it.  It also crashed if I tried to access “Options” or “Account” (he was signed in with his Microsoft account).  Updating Office didn’t help, nor did the two repair options in Control Panel (I tried both more than once).  BitDefender and MalwareBytes found no viruses or other malware.  Restoring his computer to a date 10 days before Word started misbehaving didn’t help.  I tried uninstalling Office and replacing it with the 2019 version, but no joy.  Other Office components like Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint work just fine.

Here’s everything I’ve tried with 2019; after each individual action, I tried Word again, but no luck (I couldn’t remove any add-ins, because that crashed Word):

1. Removed all Word-related temporary files,
2. Updated Office,
3. Repaired Office,
4. In a Command Prompt window, ran SFC /SCANNOW, then DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth, then SFC /SCANNOW again,
5. Started Word in safe mode – it still crashes,
6. Deleted the Normal template,
7. Deleted the Word Options and Data subkeys in the registry,
8. Uninstalled and re-installed Office,
9. Used Microsoft’s “SetupProd_OffScrub.exe” app to remove every trace of Office and then re-installed it (twice),
10. Switched the default printer from a networked printer to a directly connected printer.

I’ve been an IT professional since before Windows – back when WordPerfect for DOS was the king of the word processor jungle – and I’ve rescued a lot of hopeless cases.  I thought about nuking and paving his computer, but that’s not a real option (I’ve moved 3,000 miles away from him, and I don’t want to try something like that by remote).

I don’t often ask for help, but this is one of those times. I would be deeply thankful for any suggestions anyone might have.

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Any plug ins installed?  In the dcom section?

Microsoft Word Crashing – Scenarios and Solutions | 2022 – Info | Remo Software

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Since it crashes sometimes when started it may be left over unsaved document fragments causing the problem. Easy to find out.
With Word closed. Go to Word’s folder in the app data usually at:
“C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word” (need to display hidden files)
Also open the STARTUP folder that is in that Word folder and move any files there (these could be add in templates causing the problem – I’ve seen Avery label templates cause such a problem).
That Word folder should only have the STARTUP folder and the STARTUP folder should be empty.

It may not work (not sure if the reinstalls actually would delete such unsaved files), but easy enough to try.

HTH, Dana:))

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Was Malwarebytes installed prior or after the issue started? We had somewhat the same issue a few years back on a few machines. Disabling all protections in MBAM didn’t help so on a gut feeling uninstalled it. No more issues. Led me to uninstall the lifetime license on about 50 machines eventually.

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I have Microsoft Word 2010.  I realize it is out-of-support, but I use 0Patch for security patches for it.  MS Word was running very slowly lately and eventually gave me a message “Microsoft Word experienced a serious problem with Privacy Manager add-in”.  It required me to disable the add-in in order to get MS Word to resume operation,  but since that time MS Word is no longer operating slowly and is back to its normal self.   When I did a Google search on the Privacy Manager add-in,  it appears to only apply to Office 365,  but I don’t have Office 365.   Can anyone tell me why this add-in appeared in my MS Word 2010 and how I can prevent it from happening again?

 

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Which company is shown as the publisher of that add-in?

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L95

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b:   Thank you for your response.  I don’t know the answer to your question.  I just assumed it was Microsoft that was the publisher.  I didn’t take a screenshot of the notice,  but I wrote down what was said in the notice.  The wording was as I described in my previous posting,  plus it also said:  if you have seen this message multiple times, you should disable the add-in and check to see if an update is available.  So I disabled the add-in,  but I didn’t check to see if an update was available  (maybe because MS Word 2010 is no longer receiving updates from Microsoft).   Is there a way for me to retroactively check to see who the publisher was?

I will appreciate your response.

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Is this on an HP laptop (or Compaq notebook)?

I believe this add-in was supplied by HP (and coded by Digital Persona Inc.) around 2009-2013:

Privacy Manager for HP ProtectTools — Free download

Privacy Manager for HP ProtectTools — Should I Remove It?

If you disabled it but didn’t remove it you could check at File, Options, Add-ins: How to Disable an Add-In in Word 2010

If you’ve never used it to digitally sign documents or send encrypted email, then you could uninstall Privacy Manager for HP ProtectTools from Windows as it only seems to cause problems:

Custom UI Runtime Error in Privacy Manager Add-In

Removing Privacy Manager for HP Protect Tools

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L95

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b: Thank you for your response.   It’s not an HP laptop,  but it is an HP Desktop.  I did disable the add-in at the time the pop-up notice appeared,  and so it is listed as a disabled add-in when I go to File/Options/Add-ins.  I’ve never used it to digitally sign documents or send encrypted email,  so do you recommend I uninstall it?  Also,  the encryption provider and signature provider are listed as disabled add-ins.  Should I uninstall those also?

Thanks again, and I will appreciate your response.

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If Privacy Manager for HP ProtectTools is listed at Windows Settings, Apps, Installed apps, I would uninstall it there. (Or remove the add-ins separately if not.) Although if the add-ins are disabled they can’t cause any problems except occupy a tiny amount of disk space.

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