I can't open any Excel files when I double click on them. Is my issue related to Matlab?

Hello,

I'm a student learning to use Matlab. Yesterday, I used Matlab's "Import Data" button (under the Home menu) to import data from a *.xlsx file. Today, I can't open any Excel files when I double click on them or when I right-click on the Excel icon (at the bottom of the screen in Windows 8) and click on my file. When I try to open my Excel files, I receive an pop up box saying "The item you selected is unavailable. It might have been moved, renamed, or removed. Do you want to remove it from the list?" I clicked "Yes".

I tried double clicking on other Excel files and received this message: "There was a problem sending the command to the program."

I right-clicked on my desktop and created a new Excel file. When I double click on this file, I receive the same message "There was a problem sending the command to the program."

When I click on the Excel icon (at the bottom of the screen in Windows 8), I can open up Excel.

I restarted my computer today and still have the issue.

I can open my Excel files on another computer, though.

Is my issues related to Matlab? How can I fix my issue?

Thanks.

[Geoff Hayes]

Jason - you say that you can open up Excel. Does that mean that you can also open the Excel files (from your desktop or elsewhere) through this (open) instance of Excel?