An unknown error has terminated communication with the processor when exporting to Excel and the subcommand /MISSING = RECODE is used on Windows 7

Problem

I am working with IBM SPSS Statistics 19 on a Windows 7 operating system. I have a data file with numeric and string variables, all containing system missing values and user missing values code 1 for the missings in the string variables. I would like to export my SPSS data file as Excel XLS file by using the /MISSING = RECODE subcommand since I would like to recode the user missing values to blank strings in the resulting Excel file. Example: SAVE TRANSLATE OUTFILE='C:\Temp\MyFile1.xls' /TYPE=XLS /VERSION=8 /MISSING = RECODE /MAP /REPLACE /FIELDNAMES /CELLS=VALUES. However, when I run my syntax the program crashes with the message below and I have to quit the program via task manager: "An unknown error has terminated communication with the processor. The SPSS Statistics Processor is unavailable". An Excel file was created but when i try to open this file in Excel I get the error: "Test1.xls:: file format is not valid" This does not happen on a windows XP computer, why is this?