A presentation ruined... Can anybody explain what happened?

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Guest

Last night, at a very important company meeting, my colleague's ppt slides
were automatically advancing to the next slide after a random number of
seconds! His talk was ruined.

We later discovered that each slide had been set to advance automatically...
but he has never used the Rehearse Timings feature or the Advance Slide
feature. There is no way someone else could have sabotaged the file.

So where did these slide timings come from? Is this a new macro virus
similar to the old PP97M or the macro.ppoint.shapemaster (actionhook) viruses?

My security setting is set to "high" and I'm running Powerpoint 2003. My
colleague's presentation was created from a new file.

Does anyone have any clue as to what happened?
 
Timings are not automatic, they have to be inserted. But if you copy a slide
that already has timing they will carry over. How was the new presentation
created?

--
<>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
<><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
<><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
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Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


| Last night, at a very important company meeting, my colleague's ppt slides
| were automatically advancing to the next slide after a random number of
| seconds! His talk was ruined.
|
| We later discovered that each slide had been set to advance
automatically...
| but he has never used the Rehearse Timings feature or the Advance Slide
| feature. There is no way someone else could have sabotaged the file.
|
| So where did these slide timings come from? Is this a new macro virus
| similar to the old PP97M or the macro.ppoint.shapemaster (actionhook)
viruses?
|
| My security setting is set to "high" and I'm running Powerpoint 2003. My
| colleague's presentation was created from a new file.
|
| Does anyone have any clue as to what happened?
 
Especially true if slides are being recycled from other presentations. I
have found that presenters have no idea that the slides they recycled even
have animation on it because they never looked at it in slide view. One had
recycled a slide that actually jumped immediately to the next slide! As I
finalize a presentation, I always check each slide in slide show to make sure
there isn't anything unexpected like that.
 
Linda;

Thanks for you input, your "I always check each slide" is a good practice.
thanks for sharing.

--
<>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
<><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
<><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
<><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


| Especially true if slides are being recycled from other presentations. I
| have found that presenters have no idea that the slides they recycled even
| have animation on it because they never looked at it in slide view. One
had
| recycled a slide that actually jumped immediately to the next slide! As I
| finalize a presentation, I always check each slide in slide show to make
sure
| there isn't anything unexpected like that.
|
|
| --
| Linda Adams
| http://www.hackman-adams.com
| http://www.david-hedison.com
|
|
| "Michael Koerner" wrote:
|
| > Timings are not automatic, they have to be inserted. But if you copy a
slide
| > that already has timing they will carry over. How was the new
presentation
| > created?
| >
| > --
| > <>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
| > <><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
| > <><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
| > <><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
| > Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]
| >
| >
| > | > | Last night, at a very important company meeting, my colleague's ppt
slides
| > | were automatically advancing to the next slide after a random number
of
| > | seconds! His talk was ruined.
| > |
| > | We later discovered that each slide had been set to advance
| > automatically...
| > | but he has never used the Rehearse Timings feature or the Advance
Slide
| > | feature. There is no way someone else could have sabotaged the file.
| > |
| > | So where did these slide timings come from? Is this a new macro virus
| > | similar to the old PP97M or the macro.ppoint.shapemaster (actionhook)
| > viruses?
| > |
| > | My security setting is set to "high" and I'm running Powerpoint 2003.
My
| > | colleague's presentation was created from a new file.
| > |
| > | Does anyone have any clue as to what happened?
| >
| >
| >
 
Rule One

Try out the presentation (at the venue) BEFORE the talk!
--

_____________________________
John Wilson
Microsoft Certified Office Specialist



Michael Koerner said:
Linda;

Thanks for you input, your "I always check each slide" is a good practice.
thanks for sharing.

--
<>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
<><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
<><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
<><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


| Especially true if slides are being recycled from other presentations. I
| have found that presenters have no idea that the slides they recycled even
| have animation on it because they never looked at it in slide view. One
had
| recycled a slide that actually jumped immediately to the next slide! As I
| finalize a presentation, I always check each slide in slide show to make
sure
| there isn't anything unexpected like that.
|
|
| --
| Linda Adams
| http://www.hackman-adams.com
| http://www.david-hedison.com
|
|
| "Michael Koerner" wrote:
|
| > Timings are not automatic, they have to be inserted. But if you copy a
slide
| > that already has timing they will carry over. How was the new
presentation
| > created?
| >
| > --
| > <>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
| > <><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
| > <><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
| > <><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
| > Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]
| >
| >
| > | > | Last night, at a very important company meeting, my colleague's ppt
slides
| > | were automatically advancing to the next slide after a random number
of
| > | seconds! His talk was ruined.
| > |
| > | We later discovered that each slide had been set to advance
| > automatically...
| > | but he has never used the Rehearse Timings feature or the Advance
Slide
| > | feature. There is no way someone else could have sabotaged the file.
| > |
| > | So where did these slide timings come from? Is this a new macro virus
| > | similar to the old PP97M or the macro.ppoint.shapemaster (actionhook)
| > viruses?
| > |
| > | My security setting is set to "high" and I'm running Powerpoint 2003.
My
| > | colleague's presentation was created from a new file.
| > |
| > | Does anyone have any clue as to what happened?
| >
| >
| >
Click to expand...
 
I'm sorry to hear of the problems your friend had.

As the others have said, there are only 3 ways to get automatic timed
advances into his/her presentation.

1) Manually inserting them in the slide transition pane.
2) Using rehearse timings
3) Via code

You have said that #1 was not the case
You have also said that you have macro security set to high, which rules out
#3
That leaves me to suspect that either your friend used rehearse timings to
time the presentation or that they accidentally hit it when aiming for the
Set-up show command.

Obviously, what is done is done and cannot be undone, but to keep this from
happening in the future, take these easy steps.

1) As John said, test the presentation (using the computer and set-up that
will be used) prior to showing it to a live audience.

2) If the presentation does not use any auto-advances, go to SlideSorter
View and select all slides. Then Click on the check box next to
'Automatically after' until the box is clear (un-checked).

3) In the set-up dialog (SlideShow => Set-up Show...) in the Advance slides
section, select Manually.

Hopefully, your friend will not have this happen again.

--
Bill Dilworth
A proud member of the Microsoft PPT MVP Team
Users helping fellow users.
http://billdilworth.mvps.org
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
vestprog2@ Please read the PowerPoint FAQ pages.
yahoo. They answer most of our questions.
com www.pptfaq.com
..
 
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