>Is this a situation where an application other than Excel would be associated with the file? If not, are you trying to test in order to see if you can use OLE Automation on the spreadsheet/workbook?

Oooooh, I've found the answer, and this is a weird one! Evidently my LAN, concerned about Excel viruses, using SMS has silently changed machine XLS associations to run McAfee instead of open the the XLS file. Maybe they meant to do both, and the SMS install didn't go as planned, so all we get now is a McAfee scan :)

I'll have to report this post haste. Very interesting! Appreciate your help in prompting me to look in the right place, George!