I am running OS X10.4.11 Recently I have been having trouble opening entourage, word, safari, excel, etc on a cold start It has been taking 3 attempts each time getting a message that the program quit unexpectedly. Seems like a virus. What can I do?

Question

1st attempt to open an application after the computer has been shut down a message says(as an example)" the application PowerPoint quit unexpectedly.  Mac OS X and other applications are not affected.  Click reopen to see more details or send a report to Apple."  Next attempt it says "The application PowerPoint quit unexpectedly after it was reopened.  Mac Os X and other applications are not affected.  Click Try Again to temporarily restore the application's default settings and open it again.  Click Report to see more details or send a report to Apple."  When I click "Try Again"  the app opens normally and usually runs ok  sometimes it will quit unexpectedly but when reopening at that point it opens ok.  Never had this issue until about 2 weeks ago.  ***  When I close the program myself I get a message that says "PowerPoint-New Settings
New settings have been created for this application.  Do you want to use these settings from now on?  Then there  are  2 buttons below the dialogue box that say "Use new settings and Use original settings"  This happens every time I try to open Power Point, Excel, Safari, Entourage the first time each new day.  If I have been running any of those programs and have not shut down the laptop then the program will reopen normally but may shut down unexpectedly on its own  and sometimes not. What changed and how do I fix this problem?  Running OS X10.4.11 and software updates are current.  Ran diagnostics and checked out ok.

Answer 1

Very Important, how much Free Space is on your Hard Drive first of all? Click on the Macintosh HD on the Desktop, then do a Get Info on it.
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
Do they launch OK while in Safe Mode?