Winword.exe still in processes after closing

[Dorsk81]

I had a question brought up to me and I actually noticed this myself.

The question is why after closing microsoft word does winword.exe still reside in the processes tab of the task manager taking up resources.

Both systems are running Office XP Pro with Windows XP Pro. Word appears to shut down properly but winword.exe still is taking up CPU time in the processes tab.

System 1 has office XP Pros SP1.

I know for a fact one machine has up to date anti-virus and is protected by a strong security structure so a virus is not real likely. The machine I control has had all Microsoft updates and the network is thoroughly scanned each week for vulnerabilities.

Thanks for your help.

[Akuma]

If you have Outlook running in the background, WINWORD.exe will remain a running process since Outlook uses Word by default as it's e-mail editor. Outlook keeps in running for faster response time on new email.

[Ferrit]

It could also be a trojan. The particular one I forget exactly but i cleaned one a while ago. It kept winword running to keep the troja reinstalled all the time after corrupting it

[Dorsk81]

I forgot about the Word as an Email editor. I believe the person that asked me said he closed all programs but I will check to be sure.

Thanks for the quick respsonses.