I have Office XP and Norton Antivirus and Endnote 7. Everytime I open Microsoft Word, it takes about 18 seconds to load up. In the bottom left corner, I see the words "Requesting Virus Scan." The thing that's causing are two files. They are both neccessary to load the toolbar for Endnote. I thought that they might be corrupt, so I replaced them with the original ones (same date created and same size). If I disable the Endnote toolbar, Word loads up fine. I also replaced the template: Normal.dot and that didn't do any good. Furthermore, if I have Outlook open, it only takes about 2 seconds for Microsoft Word to open. I don't understand how that can make a difference. Can anyone help me with this problem? Tosh Hida

Tosh, go into Norton AV, Options General and uncheck the "Enable Plugin" box at the bottom under Microsoft Office XP Plugin

I tried that and it still didn't work. Strangely, I even disabled Norton Antivirus, and when I opened Microsoft Word, it still took 18 seconds. I'm not totally sure if Norton is the one scanning for viruses when Word says "Requesting Virus Scan" Tosh Hida

I have the same problem - and it is driving me mad. Did you find a solution to it - if so I would appreciate some help. Regards Roy Ordman

I have the same problem with MS Excel and a certain file even though I have excluded the folder from scanning where it is located and disabled auto-protect entirely. Crappy Norton SystemWorks actually slows my whole system down to the point, where, if I reload my OS and load Norton with the same result, I will get my money back from Norton.

JohnBC's solution is correct: you have to disable this feature from within Norton, not Microsoft Office. First close all Office apps. Then simply go into Norton AV's Options, either under General or Miscellaneous (depending on your version) and turn off the checkbox corresponding to the Microsoft Office plug-in.