Windows 7 File Slowing Down Office Programs

[hlewton]

conime.exe does not appear in CCleaner's start up programs either at this time.

[HansV]

always before when I typed “msconfig” or “regedit” in the Start, search box it came up with either “msconfig.exe” or “regedit.exe” but now the “.exe” extension is missing when I type those programs. I have no idea how to get the “.exe” to reappear.

Try the following:
- Start Windows Explorer (WinKey+E).
- Click the Organize button in the toolbar, then click Folder and Search Options.
- Activate the View tab of the Folder Options dialog.
- If the check box 'Hide extensions for known file types' is ticked, clear it.
- Click OK.

fileextension.gif

[hlewton]

Thanks Hans that fixed that. I had done that as one of the very first things when I got this computer but never thought to check it again. Don't know why it got changed back just by running TFC but apparently it did.

[viking33]

Thanks Hans that fixed that. I had done that as one of the very first things when I got this computer but never thought to check it again. Don't know why it got changed back just by running TFC but apparently it did.

Well, I hope you have that problem cleared up but I do refer you back to my Earlier post
You don't mention trying Autoruns but keep going to msconfig?

[hlewton]

Thanks Hans that fixed that. I had done that as one of the very first things when I got this computer but never thought to check it again. Don't know why it got changed back just by running TFC but apparently it did.

Well, I hope you have that problem cleared up but I do refer you back to my Earlier post
You don't mention trying Autoruns but keep going to msconfig?

Sorry about that. I did look for "Autostarts" as your original post mentioned and even asked if the blinking "FREE" was a link because if it was it did not work for me. I did search for Autostarts and only found it for androids phones. I also was about to try Hans' suggestion of Autoruns when he reminded me of CCleaner's tool that also showed the startup programs. I do try to follow up on all the help I get here and appreciate it every time I have to ask a question. I did not try to ignore anything you mentioned so if you got that impression I apologize.

Thanks.

[hlewton]

I just wanted to post what is new with this today.

I continued to search the WEB for help and used a search like "Excel and Access Files slow to open." I know I started this by saying it happened after I installed I.E. 11 and that should not have been a factor, maybe, but to me it seemed to be because that is when it all started. Anyway what I found with my search I just mentioned was slow opening Excel files was a known problem while using I.E. 8 but apparently only if one was trying to open the files from a network drive. For some reason I.E. 8 entered in to the equation but I'm not clear as to why. Anyway I read some of the proposed solutions and only took one suggestion into account. Whether or not that suggestion helps I really don't know but what I did was tell I.E 11 not to "Automatically Detect Intranet Networks."

Today my files are opening as they should. I am afraid to look any further for fear of messing it up again. So what I am saying is I think I should leave well enough alone for the time being.

I do have one question along the same lines as the suggestion I just mentioned I followed. I remember a few years back someone either here or at Woody's told me how to tell XP to not automatically search for network drives or folders when booting up. I can find that one the WEB for XP but can't seem to find how to do that for Windows 7 or if it is even possible in Windows 7. Perhaps I have already done it by telling I.E. 11 to not "Automatically Detect Intranet Networks" but don't know what I.E. has to do with booting up. Anyway my question is if I haven't already done it is there a way to tell Win 7 to not search for network drives on boot up?

Thanks.

[hlewton]

Well I guess this will only add to the confusion but I did run “Autostart.” It showed “conime.exe” trying to run from the correct Registry key that I identified earlier in this thread. So I ran CCleaner, which if you’ll remember yesterday did not show any reference to “conime.exe” at all, and today it too showed “conime.exe” but again from the wrong Run Registry key. I did not look at “msconfig” or run “regedit” today because that seems to cause me problems when I make changes there but I assume they too would show references to “conime.exe” as well. I see in both programs it appears possible to disable "conime.exe" from trying to start but not sure if that would be any different from the way I have attempted to do so in the past using "msconfig" or deleting the registry key itself. Again, as a reminder, today even though "conime.exe" is trying to start my Excel and Access programs are opening as they should but this too has occasionally been the case before. Nothing about this file and the problem I am having seems consistent with the exception that running CCleaner's "Registry scan for issues" and deleting the problem it finds referring to "conime.exe" to clear up the slowness of my files opening for that particular session.

Doing a search using the Start menu’s search and also using a program called Locate32 shows no “conime.exe” file anywhere on my computer which matches Autostart’s display that says file not found. I know Hans ask me to check to see if “conime.exe” would spontaneously reappear in the Registry and it sure seems to do just that. Why would this happen and is there a way of preventing it from doing so?

[HansV]

Apparently one of the programs you run creates the registry entry. Instead of deleting the entry, I'd try disabling it in CCleaner or in AutoRuns or in WhatInStartup (another free utility). Hopefully that will prevent it from causing problems.

[hlewton]

Thanks again Hans but I have to ask something in a minute. I did download that WhatInStarup program, ran it, and it too shows "conime.exe." So my question is where do you think it best to disable it? Choices:
1. In the Registry unchecking using the Autostart program.
2. In CCleaner program.
3. In WhatInStartup program.

Then is there any reason to think it would be more effective this way then how I disabled it before in "msconfig" or deleting it in the Registry? I only ask because I can find nothing on the WEB that tells me what in the world would cause this spontaneous reappearance of this program. I am very leery of trying to delete the other registry keys referring to it which are, I believe, the same ones you found and the only thing I can think of that may be causing this to happen.

[HansV]

I'd try WhatInStartup. I think it uses a slightly different way of disabling an item; hopefully it won't cause the item to be enabled again on startup.

[hlewton]

Thanks I will give that a try but I think I will wait until after I boot up tomorrow just to see what happens then without changing right now.

[hlewton]

Well the problem with conime.exe is far from being solved. Without going into all the details of how it acts (because it is much the same as I have already described) lets just start from the premise that it is still the culprit and I need help. So what I am asking for here is recommendations of where to get the help I need in solving this problem. I see by doing a WEB search that there are any number of sites offering tech support for a price and the price isn't very cheap. However, if anyone knows of a site that is reliable and gets the job done I am willing to pay someone to solve this problem and that is what I am asking recommendations for. A few sites even claim to be, and may well be, Microsoft sites but with all the Internet scams on the WEB I would like direction from someone who knows a site is good.

So if you know of a site or sites where I can receive reliable support please, if it is not against site policy, give me a recommendation.

Thanks.

[HansV]

I don't have a recommendation, but don't you know someone not too far away from you who is knowledgeable with Windows and who could come by to take a look at your computer?
A firm offering tech support over the internet will probably want to take over your computer remotely, and I'd be rather reluctant to do that...

[hlewton]

The only one I know is the fellow who builds my computers and he has not heard of this problem. I may ask him if he has Microsoft support to try to get to the bottom of this but was hoping to do it on my own with a good tech support site.

[hlewton]

Not sure how much interest there is but I thought I’d post what I have just experienced. To start off I’ll say that even after paying quite a bit to a Microsoft tech support engineer I am not certain, and neither is he, if my problem has been solved.

What he did was run a few programs looking for but did not find any viruses or malware running on my machine. I explained all that was going on and I did have to give him control of the machine. I showed him how I had disabled conime.exe using WhatInStartup and he showed me how it was still enabled in “msconfig.exe.” This was confusing to say the least since until the most recent Nero update I did today it appeared to be disabled and did not show up when running Ccleaner. Anyway he said the only reliable way to disable a Microsoft program was to use msconfig and not any third party software programs. I mentioned to him how conime.exe will disappear and them magically reappear on its own in both WhatInStartUp and msconfig and I do not believe he is 100% convinced that conime.exe is the cause. I managed to show him how Ccleaner’s Registry program fixed the problem when it showed conime.exe was trying to start. Then upon rebooting a few times it was hit and miss whether my Access and Excel programs would open quickly as they should.

BTW I had disabled two programs in addition to conime.exe using WhatInStartUp and they both showed they were enabled on the StartUp tab when he ran msconfig. They were not MS programs either so I am totally confused as to whether WhatInStartUp actually stops programs from trying to start up or not because we did not check Autostart to see. I do remember a while back seeing in that program that conime.exe was highlighted and said it could not be found so I’m thinking it was still trying to run but since I had deleted the Registry key it could not be started.

When he asked how long my problem had been happening I mentioned that I first noticed it after installing I.E. 11 and he then reverted my I.E. to 10 saying that MS support does not recommend using I.E. 11 on Win 7 machines. He said to use either I.E. 9 or 10 and he then went to the Update site and chose to hide the optional I.E. 11 update from any future visits to that site.

He documented all that was done. What I purchased was a contract that lasts a year so if I have more problems now I am able to call them and see where else we can make changes. I just wish I had more confidence that anything we did today will make a difference but I probably won’t know until the next time I have to run updates on any programs especially Nero. MS updates haven’t seemed to affect this problem so far.

[HansV]

I hope that reverting to IE10 will help, although I don't know how it's related to startup problems with MS Office. Keep us updated - thank you!

[hlewton]

I have no idea either it only came up when I mentioned that I recall all this starting when I installed I.E. 11 and he said it is not recommended for Windows 7.

Funny thing I just noticed as I was typing this reply is that my font has changed and I now see a complete "w" when they are typed. You may recall you helped me understand that phenomenon before.

Anyway I'll try to report back if these changes did not help but it may be sometime before I'll know unless it acts up soon, which I sure hope it doesn't.

[aekyall]

Interesting comment from the Microsoft support guy saying that they don't recommend IE11 for Windows 7! - Especially considering that Windows Update pushed it for Windows 7 users! I wonder if there may be other issues with IE11/Windows 7 that we're not yet aware of?
Regards - and hope your problem gets sorted!

[hlewton]

Interesting comment from the Microsoft support guy saying that they don't recommend IE11 for Windows 7! - Especially considering that Windows Update pushed it for Windows 7 users! I wonder if there may be other issues with IE11/Windows 7 that we're not yet aware of?
Regards - and hope your problem gets sorted!

I thought exactly the same thing and even asked him about the update site wanting to install I.E. 11. Here is what I remember that followed my questioning him about that. He said if you notice every time MS comes out with a new OS they also soon follow with an new I.E. He continued to say that with Win 7 the first I.E. it used was I.E. 9 and that I.E. 10 was a recommended update for Win 7. Then they came out with Win 8 and its first I.E. was 10 with the latest I.E. 11 being recommended as an update for Win 8. I watched him as he controlled my machine, rolled back I.E. to 10, then went to the Windows Update site and had it check for recommended updates. It came up with a cumulative update for I.E. 10 and a optional update to I.E. 11 which he checked telling it to not show that update again and he unchecked the option that you see when doing a Help - About in I.E. that says "install new versions automatically." He definitely said to not update I.E. to version 11 for Win 7 machines and that they get many calls every day dealing with problems caused by using I.E. 11 with Win 7. I told him it would be nice to know things like this before updates are done following the Windows Update site's either critical or optional updates. He said that his department knew of the problems but the update site did not so it continues to still show these updates. So if that makes sense to you, you're way ahead of me. Seems like a lack of communication at MS between departments.

I did not do any further checking to see if the info I have just relayed is valid but I am assuming he told me the truth or at least what he knows to be the truth. It sure seems to me that with MS things can become very confusing very quickly.

[aekyall]

Thanks - interesting to say the least! Haven't yet, or as far as I know, experienced any issues with IE11 (other than not being able to turn off tab browsing!!). I don't have Microsoft Word though, as I rely on Libre Office. However, it's good background information and will be a useful pointer if any of us start to get similar issues so, again, thank you for the detailed response.
Regards,