Could be. First, how do you know it's in "Protected view"? What I'm looking for is an answer something like this:

• "As Excel opens the worksheet, a window pops up saying '1364: Protected View is enabled.' "
• "After the worksheet is open, there's a box on the status line at the bottom saying 'Mode: Protected'."
• "I can type data into column A alright, but whenever I try to enter data in other columns I get an error message saying 'Protected mode — data entry is barred. Turn off Protected mode to continue.' "

I'm just making these messages up; what I really need is for you to explain (exactly) what you're encountering.