Word 2003 Slow Startup

[David A. Lessnau]

Recently, Word 2003 has begun talking more time to start up. Even when
opening the application without a document specified, it takes 20 seconds
after the application opens to when I can do something with the document (for
instance, as soon as I see the blank document, I see the cursor on the empty
page blink two or three times, I click on the File menu item, the blinking
cursor goes away, and it takes 20 seconds before the menu dropdown appears
and the cursor starts blinking again). When I open Word by clicking on a
document, those 20 seconds are added to the normal time it takes to load the
document. Opening an existing document within Word after the delay is over
adds no further delay. None of the other Office 2003 applications show
anything like this. I've tried:

- starting Word by running "winword /a"
- renaming Normal.dot
- there's nothing in my Startup path, so I couldn't move or rename them
- deleting the Data key in the registry
- changing my default printer to another one that's definitely local (the
prior one was definitely local, too)
- turning off Journaling in Outlook
- repairing Word

To the best of my knowledge, this started sometime after installing Windows
Defender, Microsoft OneCare, and IE7.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I think you've undoubtedly identified the culprits. Does either of the first
two apps add AV scanning to Word?

 

[David A. Lessnau]

I don't understand. I assume Defender and OneCare both SCAN Word and its
documents. But, I don't think they ADD antivirus/antispyware scan
capabilities to it. However, since both Defender and OneCare are Microsoft
applications, I'd also assume they'd work properly with Word (and the problem
only happens with the startup of Word -- no other applications have this
problem). Plus, 20 seconds is an awfully long time to be checking a
new/empty document for spyware/viruses.

 

[Terry Farrell]

After Word has started, does it behave normally? Do other documents open and
close correctly? Is it just the initial opening that is slow? Although I
won't rule out IE7, OneCare or Defender, I have not seen any problems with
those used with Office 2003 (or O2007 either).

Try running Task Manager and monitor the processes whilst start Word and see
if it gives any hint to any excessive activity during the delayed start.

 

[Kaytee]

I have had the same issue with Word 2003 after installing IE7. It has been a
problem on all the PC's I have updated to IE7. I am not running OncCare or
Defender. Word does behave normally after if finally loads. I'm afraid I'm
going to have to remove IE7 but I really like it.

 

[kenmanblue]

I, too, have this problem, and I also upgraded to IE7. When starting Word,
it takes 20 seconds to load a blank document. Interestingly, if while Word
is open, I click on the icon to start another copy of Word, it loads
instantly. Anyone have a clue, or know if Microsoft knows about this issue?

 

[Kaytee]

It seems as though Word is coming up faster or I just don't notice it as
much. There wasn't anything that I recall doing that helped. So for now
IE7 and Word seem content to co-exist. I had the same experience as
kenmanblue with loading a second copy of Word and having it pop right up.

 

[Terry Farrell]

What happens if you use Start, Run and type in

winword /a

and press enter. Does Word pop up quickly now? Close Word and try opening
Word again normally. Is it slow again?

 

[pjp]

Be thankful, my copy of Word 2000 is taking 2-4 min to open unless I delete
the normal.dot file first. Can't find any solution and it's basically
forcing me to examine openoffice instead.

 

[Terry Farrell]

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm