A few related zotero problems

meglovejoy
Hi all,

I noticed that a folder with zotero-cached items appeared mysteriously in one of my PC folders the other day. The folder (called "files") had lots of other folders and files with a mixture of zotero articles (with names I recognized) and spam images (that I did not recognize). I'm not sure where these images originated from, since the files are for academic articles that I downloaded through my library's subscription database. I moved and renamed the mysterious folder, but then moved it back to its original location and renamed it to its original name.

A second issue: About 10% of my files in zotero won't allow me to access the associated PDF link - I get a message saying the PDF may be outside of zotero.

A third issue: When I log into MS Word 2016 for Windows, I receive the following error message: "The last time you opened 'zotero.dotm' it caused a serious issue. Do you still want to open it?" I've tried reinstalling the Zotero plugin for MS Word and have rebooted the program, neither of which worked.

Any recommendations on how to approach next steps? I use Zotero for Firefox 4.0.29.16 on Windows 10.

Best,
Meg
  • adamsmith
    Zotero does not create a folder called "files" anywhere. How are you seeing the items are "Zotero cached"? Are you using any Zotero-related add-ons?

    The PDF link for the items that don't work, does that look like a PDF icon (with some red in int) or like a link icon (with a chain link icon on it)?

    Are you saying yes or no to the error message in Word?
  • meglovejoy
    Dear Adam, I wrote you the below two messages quite some time ago (the first in response to your queries above) but never heard back from you. I sent the messages from my email account, so now I am cutting them and pasting them directly into the forum, in case this is why I haven't heard back from you. I respond to your comments in all caps below:

    April 11th
    Zotero does not create a folder called "files" anywhere. I KNOW ITS VERY STRANGE BUT TRUE. ONE DAY I OPENED A FOLDER USE TYPICALLY AND WITHIN IT WAS THE "FILES" FOLDER WITH THE ZOTERO FOLDERS AND FILES IN IT.

    How are you seeing the items are "Zotero cached"?
    I AM NOT SURE IF THAT IS THE RIGHT WORD. LETS PUT IT THIS WAY, I CAN SEE HTML FILES WITH THE NAMES OF ARTICLES I STORE IN A ZOTERO LIBRARY. ALONG WITH THESE FILES ARE A LOT OF OTHER FILES I DONT RECOGNIZE, OFTEN JPG FILES AND EVEN PHOTOS OF THINGS I DONT RECOGNIZE AND HAVE NEVER KNOWINGLY DOWNLOADED (LIKE PICTURES OF TRUMP, OR OTHER RANDOM THINGS)

    Are you using any Zotero-related add-ons?
    WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THIS? I USE ZOTERO WITH FIREFOX AND I ALSO DOWNLOADED THE MICROSOFT WORD PLUG-INS - ONLY THINGS I CAN THINK OF THAT MIGHT RELATE TO WHAT YOU ARE ASKING.

    The PDF link for the items that don't work, does that look like a PDF icon (with some red in int) or like a link icon (with a chain link icon on it)?
    ITS A RED PDF ICON

    Are you saying yes or no to the error message in Word?
    I SAY NO AND THEN IT TAKES ME INTO THE WORD DOC, BUT THERE IS NO ZOTERO IN THE MENU - CAN'T USE ZOTERO.

    4/17
    This is an update on my zotero problem. Yesterday I had to do a hard re-start on my computer (it was stuck in a loop on the sign-in page) and when I tried to get into MS word after the restart I got a new message as follows:

    "Word experienced a serious problem with the c\users\lovej\appdata\roaming\microsoft\word\startup\zotero.dotm add ins.
    This add-in is incompatible with data execution prevention mode and should be disabled or upgraded to latest version. Do you wish to disable this add-in from loading?"

    I hit "yes" and it then took me to my MS word document which looked normal except there was no zotero add-in in the menu.

    Should I just re-install zotero at this point, or given all the other issues I emailed you about last week, do you think there is something more serious going on here?

    Update 4/20:
    I have not been using my PC or MS Word this whole time. But yesterday I tried to open MS Word and it won't even open!

    Meg
  • noksagt
    Sorry for the issues you've experienced. However, as there's no way that Zotero would create a directory called 'files', I think that the most likely explanation is that something other than Zotero is causing that havoc on your machine. Since you didn't create that directory & since you are seeing continual degradation, it is most likely malware (or, perhaps less likely, either a different user of your machine or a poorly-designed 3rd party app that isn't intentionally malware).

    And, now that Word isn't working (even with Zotero disabled), it is more clear that you're looking at a bigger issue than needing support for this application. (If you didn't have the earlier symptom of that 'files' directory, I might suggest this could alternatively point to glitchy hardware).

    We're not really the right forum to address systemwide malware. I'd imagine you'd benefit from a closer look than anyone here can give. It is unlikely re-installation of Zotero will fix things for you. If this is persistent malware, you may need to format your machine & make a fresh install of Windows & your other applications.

    Good luck.
  • meglovejoy
    Thank you for your response. I actually had my computer inspected after I found the mysterious files folder because it was running slow. The IT people removed a piece of malware but other than that didnt find anything else. When I got it back from them, the computer was running a bit faster, but the problem with microsoft/zotero had gotten worse. Does this change your diagnostic at all?

    Also if I do wipe the PC clean and start over, would you recommend simply removing that mysterious files folder from my computer (e.g., not reinstalling it back -- I am wondering if it contains files that are necessary for my zotero library)?
    Thanks,
    Meg

  • adamsmith
    I'd remove them & keep a backup copy of them just in case.
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