Saw the Light,
Is it ALL excel files that are slow to load or just one specific file?
If all file load are slow it could be similar to a problem I had.
Outlook has a journal system that tracks among other things when and what Office files are opened. This is set by to default to ON and tracks these events even if you have never opened or used Outlook.
If you do not use Outlook the temp journal file slowly gets bigger and bigger waiting for you to open Outlook. This adds a huge lag to the opening of files.
The fix (aside from uninstalling Outlook
)
Open Outlook, Tools Menu, Options, Journal Options
deselect the tracking of the Office files.
Or open Outlook regularly.
This problem was particularly bad with Outlook '97 and the build of the journal file when Outlook was opened (to remove the tracking) was around 5 minutes.
HTH
Max