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Forum Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 11/21/2008 9:19:19 AM
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I've discovered an issue where Excel interferes with opening links in an external browser (specifically Firefox).
Here is the setup: I open a complicated Excel file which has multiple circular references in it, and sometimes when I tell Excel to recalculate, Excel will freeze until it is done calculating, so it can't accept input. So far, this is normal.
When Excel is in that frozen state, if I go into FeedDemon and try to open a link in an external browser (Firefox), FeedDemon freezes as well and the link does not open in Firefox, until Excel is done, at which point FeedDemon un-freezes and the link opens.
I'm not sure what is causing this, but here are some facts that may be able to rule out some potential causes:
1. When Excel is frozen, I am able to select feeds and news items in FeedDemon and generally move around, as long as I don't open a link in an external browser.
2. When Excel is frozen, I am able to click on links in other applications and they will open immediately in Firefox.
3. If I uncheck "Open external links in default browser", then FeedDemon is able to open links inside FeedDemon while Excel is frozen.
My guess is that when you try to open a link in a browser from FeedDemon, the command is somehow added to a queue after the Excel process, so it can't be processed until Excel is done. I'm not sure why it would be done that way, and I know it can be implemented differently since other applications are able to open links fine.
This may not seem like a big deal, but my best feed-reading times are when Excel is frozen! 
Any ideas?
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Forum Deity
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Last Login: Today @ 2:45:50 PM
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What version of Excel, what OS?
critter42
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Note: I am not employed by NewsGator Technologies in any capacity
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Forum Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 11/21/2008 9:19:19 AM
Posts: 9,
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| I'm running Windows XP Service Pack 2, and Excel 2002 SP3.
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Rockstar
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 9:51:00 AM
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| Excel is probably using up a large chunk of your resources so Windows can't allocate any to start FF. When it's next frozen try CTRL+ALT+DEL to bring up Task Manager, click the "processes" tab, and see what percentage of the CPU is being used by Excel and the memory usage.
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Forum Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 11/21/2008 9:19:19 AM
Posts: 9,
Visits: 18
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Alan,
When Excel is frozen, the CPU usage is 50%, and it says 58,648K for memory. When it's not frozen, the CPU is essentially 0%, but the memory doesn't change.
I also thought at first it was just a resources issue, but firefox is already open when I try opening a new link, and all other applications are able to open a new tab when Excel is frozen. There must be some quirk with how FeedDemon is making the "open link" request.
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