Slowdown on 'Review' and 'Developer' tab in Word 2007

[Travis]

I am experiencing the same problem as is described in the thread at
http://tinyurl.com/wordslowdown

However, I am seeking a better resolution than those offered in that thread.
In short, the issue is that anytime a ribbon is open where the ribbon
contains the 'Protect Document' tab, the application slows to a crawl and the
disk churns excessively. I have seen this issue come and go but lately it
has been much more persistent. Can anybody offer a legit solution that can
cure this once and for all? Clearly there are multiple people experiencing
this issue. Again, please review the thread at the link above to better
understand the issue.

 

[Terry Farrell]

I've read the thread and the only additional input I can give you is that
there has also been some really strange quirks when certain tools are added
to the QAT (show up as unwanted blue shading in table cells). I am wondering
if this may be something equally as illogical.

Two test to try:

1. Close the QAT and see if the problem is still the same.
2. Change printer default and see if the problem is still the same.

 

[Travis]

Neither of these helped. I don't see how to close the Quick Access Toolbar
but I did try removing everything from it. I was already using the default
set of items anyway.

I'm going to take a brief look into the developer tools for customizing the
ribbon and see if I might be able to identify what happens just by showing
the 'Protect Document' tab. I'll let you know if that gets me anywhere.

 

[Travis]

As an update, I didn't get anywhere in trying to figure out what was
happening when 'Protect Document' was shown in the ribbon but I did manage to
resolve the problem by performing a "Repair" from the installation media.

 

[Travis]

And now it's back.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Does it happen if you start Word in Safe Mode? From Start | Run, type in

winword /a

and press enter. Test now.

Terry

 

[Travis]

Yes, it does happen in safe mode (which I enacted using "winword /safe", the
"/a" didn't work).

Here's more details I've observed:
1) This is definitely related to "Protect Document". It also occurs if I
open the "Prepare" menu under the Office button.
2) The slow-down also occurs any time the application focus is restored
while the "Protect Document" option is visible (e.g., task switch back to
Word).
3) The slow-down is occurring in the main application thread because the
user interface is almost entirely unresponsive. If I leave the review or
developer ribbons open and try to type, I will see the output in bursts every
five seconds or so, all the while the system is grinding away.

Thanks to anybody that can help. This is very annoying when I'm dealing
with change tracking and I can't avoid it.
- Travis

 

[Terry Farrell]

winword /safe is not the same as winword /a (which is an engineering test
mode). What happens when you try winword /a because that is a serious
problem if it is not working. (Note the space between winword and the
slash).

Terry

 

[Travis]

I tried "winword /a" and still observed the original problem but it wasn't
obvious to me that Word was operating in any different state. Should I see
some indication that I'm in the 'engineering test mode'?

 

[Terry Farrell]

winword /safe should open to a blank Word screen (with no empty document
displayed) in its default blue colour scheme and most tabs disabled in Word
Options; winword /a will open to a blank document with default fonts but
still using the chosen colour scheme.

That it still happens using the /a switch indicates that it is either a
document or printer driver problem. Is it possible that you could send me a
sample document displaying the problem. (If you are able do so, please leave
the Protect password blank.)

 

[Travis]

I've sent you an email (@msn.com) with the requested document. As noted in
the email, I am seeing this with EVERY document, not just specific ones.
- Travis

 

[Travis]

Update:
I've figured it out. Using the File Monitor application from SysInternals I
was able to see what WINWORD was trying to do during this slow-down. It
turns out that it is looking for "msdrm.dll" and persisted in continually
looking for it when it wasn't found. As the name suggests, "msdrm.dll" is a
digital rights management library. I'm not sure why I would or would not
have this on my PC but apparently it was missing. So I installed Windows
Rights Management from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=153244 and now
Word is happy. I'm not sure when or how this was removed from my machine but
it seems clear to me that was the problem.

So, Microsoft - send me a note and I'll tell you where to send the check.
What's the going rate for a tester these days?

 

[Terry Farrell]

I've received the documents and so far I've not found a problem. However,
I'll have a deeper delve into them later today.

Terry

 

[Terry Farrell]

Oh! Well found. (If only I had scrolled down a little further before my last
reply). It is now obvious why I didn't see the problem.

Terry

 

[Beth Melton]

Depending on the suite of Office 2007 you are using the Protect Document
command will contain access to Information Rights Management. Those suites
are: Office 2007 Enterprise, Office 2007 Professional Plus, and Office 2007
Ultimate. On all other suites when you click Protect Document you immediate
see the Restrict Formatting and Editing task pane instead of seeing multiple
items.

I have Office 2007 Ultimate installed and I don't encounter the delay you
describe. Did the computer you're using have Information Rights Management
(or Windows Rights Management) installed on it previously? It's not
something that's installed by default.

~Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP