Q. Hi Richard, every time I switch on my computer I get this message: Either another instance of OpenOffice.org is accessing your personal settings or your personal settings are locked. Simultaneous access can lead to inconsistencies in your personal settings. Before continuing you should make sure user closes OpenOffice.org in host.
Do you wish to continue? Yes or no?
I usually click yes. Any ideas?
A. Hi Sally, it sounds like your user profile for OpenOffice has become corrupt. A corruption of your profile can sometimes occur if your operating system crashes when you were using OpenOffice for example. If you notice some strange behaviour of OpenOffice or if it just crashes or doesn’t start, the first thing to try is to reset the user profile.
First close OpenOffice, including the Quickstarter Icon (OpenOffice icon in system tray at the bottom right of the screen) if activated.
Open your Windows Explorer and make sure that it shows the hidden files and folders, to do this in Windows follow the instructions below…
1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Click Organize>Folder and Search Options or Tools>Folder Options (depending on Windows version).
3. Click the View Tab and check the radio button Show hidden files, folders and drive 4. Click OK.
4. Now you can rename your profile, its location will depend on your version of windows…
A) Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\OpenOffice.org\3\user\
B) Windows Vista or Windows 7
C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice.org\3\user
5. Navigate to your profile location and change the “\user” folder to “\user.old” for example. This way, you still keep a backup of your configuration.
6. Restart OpenOffice, it will create a new profile. You should go through the welcome process again (if not, you may have not reset the profile properly).