Word document in startup folder

[Ian]

In an attempt to reduce the amount of paper on my desk, I have a simple
'to-do' list which is a MS Word document that I keep in my startup folder.
Every time I log on to my PC, my list pops up and I know what I need to do
for the day - simple & effective!

However, since installing MS AntiSpyware, every time I make changes to this
document and save it, I get a message like this:-

"An Unknown Startup Program ~WRL2969.tmp Requires approval
Microsoft AntiSpyware has detected a program trying to add itself to your
startup programs..."

This isn't a major problem but maybe MS could do something about this?

Ian

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Thanks, Ian--that's an interesting one--which may be a little tricky to
fix--good catch!

 

[Bob Dietz]

To avoid the warning, create a new shortcut with target:
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\WINWORD.EXE"
"full_path_to\your_to-do_list.doc"

 

[Guest]

you can go into the firewall and security and add that
file to the list of files that are allowed to modify the
system.
Might work. The antispyware beta seems to be tied into
firewall and windows updates.

maybe firewall settings will override.

Or it might make it worse.

Just a thought

 

[Bill Sanderson]

The catch here is that this is a temp file whose name will change with each
invocation of Winword.

Bob Dietz's solution seems best to me--it eliminates the presence of the
temp file in the startup area.

I kind of like seeing the quandry out there, though--what really is the
right way of handling this--can we be certain, for example, that a .tmp
suffix is safe and non executable? ( I have a sneaking suspicion that the
answer is no....)

 

[Bob Dietz]

Try the following experiment.
Open a cmd window and enter the following two lines -
copy %windir%\System32\calc.exe c:\example.tmp
c:\example.tmp

That's one context in which .tmp isn't safe (nor any file exstension for
that matter - c:\example.txt works the same way.)
In a normal windows context, it depends. Maybe the .tmp file extension
has been hijacked?

 

[John]

You don't use Outlook?

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Thanks--that is much as I was expecting. So--it is probably not a rational
expectation to expect a fix for this in terms of Microsoft Antispyware
ignoring the behavior--your solution looks better by the minute!

 

[Jim Nugent]

In an attempt to reduce the amount of paper on my desk, I have a simple
'to-do' list which is a MS Word document that I keep in my startup folder.
Every time I log on to my PC, my list pops up and I know what I need to do
for the day - simple & effective!

However, since installing MS AntiSpyware, every time I make changes to this
document and save it, I get a message like this:-

"An Unknown Startup Program ~WRL2969.tmp Requires approval
Microsoft AntiSpyware has detected a program trying to add itself to your
startup programs..."

This isn't a major problem but maybe MS could do something about this?

Ian

 

[Jim Nugent]

In an attempt to reduce the amount of paper on my desk, I have a simple
'to-do' list which is a MS Word document that I keep in my startup folder.
Every time I log on to my PC, my list pops up and I know what I need to do
for the day - simple & effective!

However, since installing MS AntiSpyware, every time I make changes to this
document and save it, I get a message like this:-

"An Unknown Startup Program ~WRL2969.tmp Requires approval
Microsoft AntiSpyware has detected a program trying to add itself to your
startup programs..."

That's the backup file Word creates in the same folder as your document (the
startup folder) and tries to give it a unique name. Then MS-AS says "Hark! A
file hath appeared in thy startup folder!"

Try this: put the actual document somewhere else (like My Documents) and put
a shortcut to it in your startup folder. That way the file will still open
but the back up will be created where the actual documents lives --- not in
your start up folder.

 

[Jim Nugent]

I kind of like seeing the quandry out there, though--what really is the
right way of handling this--can we be certain, for example, that a .tmp
suffix is safe and non executable? ( I have a sneaking suspicion that the
answer is no....)

You are correct. I think this is a common way to hide things. I have seen SW
firewall popups that say "Mumble.tmp is try to connect to the internet.
Allow? (Y|N)"

 

[Bill Sanderson]

You are correct. I think this is a common way to hide things. I have seen
SW
firewall popups that say "Mumble.tmp is try to connect to the internet.
Allow? (Y|N)"

I think what I'm hearing is that we believe that Microsoft Antispyware is
doing the right thing here, and that either the user (Ian) or the app
(Office) is going to have to change their habits and find a way to keep the
..tmp file out of the startup group--or turn off that checkpoint which would
be a real shame.