Writer Manuscript Security

[asilalenore7]

Can anyone tell me, is it normal, when opening a word file of my own manuscript, to be told by a popup"This file is being used by another person, would you like to open a 'read only'  copy? and having an option to return later, or to get a message telling me when my script is free?
Is it a hacker? I am a bit paranoid about this, and uncertain what to do?
sincerely needing help, Asilalenore7

[bailish]

The first thing you should try is rebooting the machine and trying again. This usually clears the problem.

While it is possibly a virus, I haven't seen one like this in a long time, back around Office 2003 or earlier. You can usually fix this by rebooting the machine and trying again. On newer versions of Office, it's not likely. Instead, you should consider other possibilities.

1) The file is available on a network and another user -- perhaps you -- has it open on another machine. You can fix this by closing it on the other machine.
2) Your computer is available to different users, and someone logged in as a different user has left the file open. Rebooting the machine clears this problem.

I expect there are other possibilities, but those are the ones I can think of.

[Mark T]

I would suggest taking your machine to a competent IT outfit and paying them for their services to check out your computer.