Word 2000 delay opening from Network Share

[mjohnstone]

When trying to open .doc or .xls files from a mapped network drive using Office 2000 users are experiencing a delay of 45-60secs (sometimes longer) which locks the application up as "Not Responding".

There are also users with Office 97 and 2K3 that do not encounter the same problem. I originally thought it was maybe due to 2K limitations accessing the ammount of data stored on the share, but as I say users with Office 97 do not have the same problem.

One observation I have noticed is that when browsing to the mapped network share through the File > Open approach the share will open but it is then as if Office 2000 tries to locate the appropriate file(s) type and default to the first file in the share. Whereas opening the mapped network share with Office 97 or 2K3 clients the Open Document window is instant but defaults to the first folder in the drive and doesn't try to source files.

I have tried changing the option for open "Files of Type" to "All Files" so that it is not looking for only .doc or .xls files only but this has had no affect.

Is there a registry hack or options setting I can change to disable Office 2K "scanning" the contents of the drive before returning control to the user.

Any help or suggestions welcome!

mjohnstone