The annoying Mr Clippit

The annoying Mr Clippit

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Does anyone else find it annoying that although you select to not use the Office Assistant, if you invoke help on an Excel function this seems to turn Mr Clippy back on?
Alastair Harris

Replies (6)

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By taxinfo
01st Nov 2004 12:52

office 97
Hello again

What I said should have completely disabled the ofice assitant.

However, if you're operating Office 97 you have to be a little more clever to get rid of him completely. If so try this.

Click on your Start button, then select "Find", then "Files or Folders" and search your C drive for a folder named "actors" (without the quotes). This is where Office 97 stores office assistant characters. if you right click on this folder and select "Rename" and give it a different name Office 97 won't be able to find it and, therefore, will not display them any more.

However, if you're on a network, or there are access authority passwords, you may be unsucessful. If this happens talk to your system manager or the IT head honcho.

Hope this works for you.

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By neileg
29th Oct 2004 10:25

Change it!
Change the assistant to Links the Cat. Much less annoying!

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By taxinfo
29th Oct 2004 13:09

to remove OA fully......
If you want to disable (or enable) the office assistant completely try this........

* If the Office Assistant is hidden or disabled, then on the main menu bar click Help. Choose Show the Office Assistant.
* When the Office Assistant is active, you may temporarily hide the assistant by right clicking on it and choosing Hide from the pop-up menu.
* If you would like to disable the Office Assistant (so that it doesn't automatically pop up while you're working), then follow these steps:

1. Right click on the Office Assistant while it is active.
2. Choose Options.
3. Click on the Options tab if it is not already highlighted.
4. Uncheck Use the Office Assistant by clicking on the box to the left of it.
5. Click OK at the bottom of the screen.

This will disable the Office Assistant until you choose to activate it again by clicking on Help and then Show the Office Assistant.

Hope this helps.

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By listerramjet
29th Oct 2004 13:39

Thank you Gareth, BUT....
If you do all of this, but then use the formula wizard (the equals sign on the formula bar), and after selecting a formula click on the help question mark, it seems to bring Mr Clippy back to life.

haven't tried it but Rob's solution looks to provide a more permanent end to Mr Clippy. Unfortunately I work in a enlightened organisation, and they don't allow employees enough rights to take these steps.

Thanks to Neil for the suggestion, but my loathing for Clippy does not transcend his multiple personalities. I defy anyone to actually find him useful?

Strangely enough I do enjoy some of the Microsoft Office graphics - and the transfer files graphic is one of my all time favourites!

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By pgittins
29th Oct 2004 11:40

Me too ...
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who finds this aspect of Office so irritating! We've just upgraded to a more recent version of Office, and I find the profusion of unwanted "help" boxes, which seem to appear more and more frequently, endlessly annoying.

Another example of Uncle Bill wanting more and more control over our lives .....?!

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By AnonymousUser
29th Oct 2004 12:15

Robot
If you change the character to the robot you get the added satisfaction of it blowing up when you close down the last Microsoft application. Much more soothing.

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