i have a new vista laptop computer with both 2003 and 2007 office running on it. it has been working just fine for one month and now when i open a saved 2003 word .doc i have to wait for it to run a virus scan which takes about 30 seconds. THE SETTINGS in my Norton Anti Virus 2008 program under options> real time protection: general settings> how to keep microsoft office documents protected> turn on scanning for microsoft office documents ARE OFF. (THIS OPTION IS TURNED OFF AND DOES NOT HAVE A CHECK MARK IN THE BOX TO TURN IT ON)
does anyone know how to turn this scanning off?

bg,

Don't know about Norton per se HOWEVER have see this problem with other Anti-Virus programs. You may have to set some (Services) in Device Manager to (Disable) or (Manual). @whs can probably look at your running Services and tell you which ones Norton installed.

Regards,
Rick P.