Windows 10 Unable to end Office programs

[GTXPlayer]

Hi, I have a simply but extremely annoying problem in that I am unable to fully dispose of any running office programs.

I need to close these programs, because sometimes I cannot delete the associated documents, because they are sill 'in use' by one of the office program, thus preventing me from deleting any of these files.

I've tried the ways I can think of. I've tried Task manager by viewing the processes and under the details tab. I've tried using the PID to kill it in cmd, and I've tried PsKill in cmd with no luck.

I would appreciate suggestions. Thanks

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Hi,
It would be helpful to know the make/model of the computer you are having this issue on. This will allow us to better diagnose your problem.

Also, if you can download the free SPECCY program from piriform.com and post the test result back to this thread, we can have a better look to see if you have a coincidental hardware failure on your computer or it's a software problem.

Was you computer recently upgraded to Win10 from an earlier version of Windows such as Win7/8/8.1 or older? Or is this computer you have purchased with Win10 pre-installed?

In either case, I just installed Office 2013 32-bit Standard on my Win10 laptop this morning without this issue.
SPECCY will tell us this, but do you know if your computer is running 32-bit or 64-bit Win10 or Win10 Pro?? More questions we need answered. There have been some stability problems reported back in Beta testing with the Office 2013 64-bit version. So, we also need to know which version of Office 2013 you installed from (32-bit or 64-bit) as well. Most of these problems have been abated with the July 29th release of Win10 (RTM), and I have conversed with several other users running both versions on Win10 ok.

It would also be helpful to know what your AV is. Norton, Avast, McAfee etc. Have you run a full system scan and a boot scan to look for viruses? If not, you should do so now. If you have an upgraded computer from an earlier version of windows, it's very common for viruses to be migrated over to the new Win10, as they are very good at hiding from windows upgrades unless you specifically go and perform a hard drive erase or wipe. Most of my Clients do not choose this option, however. If viruses are found, remove/quarantine as instructed by your AV. Power off your computer and retest your Office for problem.

If problem persists, download free MALWAREBYTES from Malwarebytes.org and run full scan for spyware viruses. Remove/Quarantine any spyware viruses as above and power off and retest your Office for problem.

Get back to us with specs on your system and answers to our questions and we can advise you further if the problem persists.

Best of luck to you,
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[GTXPlayer]

Hi,
It would be helpful to know the make/model of the computer you are having this issue on. This will allow us to better diagnose your problem.

Also, if you can download the free SPECCY program from piriform.com and post the test result back to this thread, we can have a better look to see if you have a coincidental hardware failure on your computer or it's a software problem.

Was you computer recently upgraded to Win10 from an earlier version of Windows such as Win7/8/8.1 or older? Or is this computer you have purchased with Win10 pre-installed?

In either case, I just installed Office 2013 32-bit Standard on my Win10 laptop this morning without this issue.
SPECCY will tell us this, but do you know if your computer is running 32-bit or 64-bit Win10 or Win10 Pro?? More questions we need answered. There have been some stability problems reported back in Beta testing with the Office 2013 64-bit version. So, we also need to know which version of Office 2013 you installed from (32-bit or 64-bit) as well. Most of these problems have been abated with the July 29th release of Win10 (RTM), and I have conversed with several other users running both versions on Win10 ok.

It would also be helpful to know what your AV is. Norton, Avast, McAfee etc. Have you run a full system scan and a boot scan to look for viruses? If not, you should do so now. If you have an upgraded computer from an earlier version of windows, it's very common for viruses to be migrated over to the new Win10, as they are very good at hiding from windows upgrades unless you specifically go and perform a hard drive erase or wipe. Most of my Clients do not choose this option, however. If viruses are found, remove/quarantine as instructed by your AV. Power off your computer and retest your Office for problem.

If problem persists, download free MALWAREBYTES from Malwarebytes.org and run full scan for spyware viruses. Remove/Quarantine any spyware viruses as above and power off and retest your Office for problem.

Get back to us with specs on your system and answers to our questions and we can advise you further if the problem persists.

Best of luck to you,

• <<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

I attached the .SPECCY file, and the .txt file if you need that one too.

I have upgraded this PC all along. I gained Windows 10 from 8.1.

I am running Office 2013 in 64-bit, and my Windows 10 is 64-bit Pro. I am in Preview though

I can assure you there are no viruses. I used 360 Total Security to scan for Viruses and I also use Malware bytes anti-malware already to scan regularly. I then use CCleaner to pick up any hitches and problems that may need sorting. I've never had a virus on my PC ever.

I think this whole issue boils down to the Insider Preview. I've had many issues with it, but it hasn't put me off using. I think it has come to a point where I need to switch back. As explained above, I have issues with Office (though not reproducible all of the time). I currently have issues with Edge (has always been buggy), I have issues with certain programs no ending once demanded in CMD and in Task manager. As well as one final issue that rarely appears when booting my PC. I get a Windows message box in error form, but it appears for a few hundreds milliseconds and then vanishes. With MS Word, my documents seem to have a chance of not starting at all and resulting in me terminating the program several times before I can open a document.

Anyway, let's proceed.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Hi GTX,
Thanks for your information and your reply. AND your SPECCY report. Very helpful. Most folks don't take the time to do this when we ask. We appreciate that.

While sitting here finishing up a Customer laptop, I've reviewed your SPECCY report and have some observations to consider.

• You are still running the W10 preview version as you said, and the Preview versions are definitely more glitchy, than the final release version (RTM); I'd suggest you consider switching over to the Final Release version rather than the preview.
• You've got a good anti-virus platform running good products; good job there. (if you've never had a virus on any of your PCs, you're either extremely lucky, or you don't intentionally visit high-risk sites like I do!).
• You're Gigabyte Motherboard and most of the hardware (RAM sticks & HDD) are about 3-1/2 years old; not too old for a custom-built rig. However, I've had issues with Gigabyte Motherboards since 1998 and NEVER recommend them or use them for my Customers. Some of the Mods here and on the other forums I visit seem to like them, but IMO they don't hold a candle to ASUS/ASRock/ASUStek Mobos.
• SPECCY reports somewhat lower voltages on your CPU cores than are ideal, you may be having glitches due to a poor-quality PSU or simply underpowered for your setup. *PLEASE POST BACK MAKE/MODEL/WATTAGE OF YOUR PSU* You're +5V & +12V rails look suspicious to me. The i5 Z68 chipset you have on there is a pretty powerful mid-range CPU & Chipset; no problems there.
• You're RAM and HDDs also look good. HDDs are Samsung & WD; both high-quality. Max of 3490 power-on hours; so that's very low; most PC users run around 5,000 hours per year; your running around 1,163 hrs. give or take. You could still benefit from downloading and running free MEMTEST diagnostic to check your 2 RAM sticks, nevertheless. Run each stick individually for a minimum of 8 passes (this could take up to 18 hrs. or so). If MEMTEST reports any errors, that stick has failed and must be replaced. Reinsert all (both) sticks and rerun MEMTEST with all sticks in place again for a minimum of 8 passes; if MEMTEST returns any errors, you'll have to replace BOTH sticks with a matched set of new; rerun until MEMTEST returns no errors.
• Based on SPECCY report you probably don't need to run HDD diags; but, if you want to anyway, you can download free SEATOLLS diagnostic from seagate.com. Run BOTH short and long tests on each of your 2 drives separately. If SEATOOLS returns any errors on either drive, that drive has failed and must be replaced.
• On your C: boot drive, the Samsung, I noticed this:

Used Space 181 GB (78%)
Free Space 50 GB (22%)​

• Ideally, Windows should always have at least 25% free space available on the C: boot drive in order to operate efficiently. You have a little less than that, and that can become a problem. You should attempt to move unneeded data to your 2nd HDD (the WD 1TB). This really doesn't become a real big issue until you reach less than 10% free space, that's when Windows begins to BSOD (Blue Screen), which you are probably aware of. However, anything less than 25% free space, and Windows can get a little glitchy and occasionally hang or freeze (but NOT BSOD). Especially when you are running less than perfect software OS (Tech Preview not RTM). If you're going to run Preview software, it's much more important to have enough free space for Windows to perform it's internal housekeeping chores.
• Everything else looks pretty good. I didn't do a real in-depth check on your driver versions and MS security updates, and that takes much longer to analyze. It doesn't appear you have anything really wrong there to me. It would be easier if your system was crashing and we could get a Mini-dump from you and have our Dump Experts analyze that.

You have a pretty good looking system, except for the things I mentioned (low rails from PSU, brand of Mobo, and low free disk space on C: drive). I would suggest doing the easy things first:

1. Test your RAM sticks with MEMTEST as above.
2. Backup everything on your C: drive to your 2nd drive or other external media, and REMOVE the W10 Preview, and go back to Win8.1 using factory restore media or built-in factory restore partition. Download or Clean Install W10 RTM, and retest your Office apps and reboot issues. If this works, you were right about the Preview issues, and you simply needed to move from Beta W10 to RTM W10 and all is fixed!!
3. Make sure to run the Windows10 Compatibility Test prior to reinstall or download/upgrade of W10; resolve any driver issues and remove any flagged programs from the Test Report prior to proceeding with the W10 install.
4. Also, and many folks miss this, uninstall that 2nd HDD (WD 1TB) from your system when you upgrade/reinstall W10; you never want any secondary internal or external HDDs plugged into the Motherboard when you perform the upgrade. A+ Basic Computers 101 here.
5. If your RAM passes ok, or faulty module(s) were replaced with new, and you do 1-4, you should get a solid clean W10 RTM install and all should work*.

*NOTE: If you have no problems with the PSU, fix the C: drive free space problem, and swapout RTM for Preview W10; I believe you can fix the problems.

Let us know how it goes,
<<<BBJ>>>

 

[GTXPlayer]

Thanks for the reply!

Yes, I will do this. All of it, but it will take some time because I can't do it all in one run because I sometimes depend on my system for work and other stuff, even though I was foolish to load into Preview lol.

But I will do it all and post my results.

Note: I wouldn't bother checking back for a good week because the likely hood is that it won't be complete and I won't have posted back.

Thanks!