Word 2003 launches VERY slow

[Tom]

WinXP Pro SP2
Office 2003 w/ Word 2003 all MS updates
1.5GB RAM

Recently Word is launching and terminating very slow. Same for loading an
existing Word doc created under 2003.
Any ideas or pointers?
Launch is about 10 seconds immediately after a full cold boot and nothing
else running.
TIA,
Tom

 

[Beth Melton]

There are many reasons for why Word loads slowly. The main cause is
usually a third-party add-in. Here's an article that contains the most
common reasons for
encountering errors starting Word along with delays when Word starts:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Tom]

Hi Beth,
Thanks for the info.
I've looked at the suggested ideas but none of them apply to Word 2003.
What's the next suggestion?
I have ran Detect and Repair and I've replace the Normal.dot file in the
Recent folder - but Outlook was still up. SHould I replace it when nothings
up or what's next?
TIA!

 

[Beth Melton]

Does Word start any faster if you start it using the /a switch as the
article suggested? Go to Start/Run and run:

winword /a

Note the space before the forward slash.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Tom]

Beth,
Using the Start>Run with Winword /a allows Word2003 to launch tremendously
faster than a typical Winword 2003 launch on my laptop. Congrats! FYI, I
then went to the ...\Microsoft\Windows\Word directory and moved all the files
off of the directory. I then relaunched Word but it still was slow. There
is a ~$ZWDAddin.dot dated 6/21/2005 in the ....\Word\Startup directory, as
well as a DVZWDAddin.dot. Additionally, there are AutoRecovery save of
Normal.as$ dated 7/18/2006 12:18PM (today) and some ~WRLnnnn.tmp and
~WRAnnnn.wbk, where nnnn are numeric characters (0-9).
I have replaced the files I moved back to where they were.
What do you suggest now?
TIA!!!

 

[Beth Melton]

These are add-ins for DataViz:
http://www.dataviz.com/index.html

If you aren't using any of the DataViz functionality in Word then move
the add-in (DVZWDAddin.dot) out of the Startup folder to prevent it
from loading when Word starts. For the temp files, those with a ~ at
the front, exit Word, and Outlook if using Word as your email editor,
and check the folder again. If they are still present you can delete
them since they should have been deleted automatically.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Tom]

Beth,
I don't use DataViz for anything ON the laptop. I have a Treo650 with some
DataViz apps - Word, Excel etc. that I use to maintain some
micro/mini-documents and to write down starter notes for letters etc.
Since I've removed ALL the DVZ*.* and ~*.* on the various folders and Word
still loaded slow there appears to be another issue. Again, using the
winword /a loads Word tremendously faster not only for Word, but Outlook and
any app that might connect to Word (SalesLogix).
Should I just go with winword /a now or what other areas do we need to
address?
[I will remove the ~*.* files on the next cold start of the laptop and
before Outlook is launched.]
TIA,

 

[Beth Melton]

When you use the /a switch you are loading Word in a 'vanilla' mode.
It by-passes any add-ins, your Normal.dot, customizations stored in
the Registry, along with a few other misc files. You might try
temporarily renaming your Normal.dot and see if that makes a
difference. My bet is on another add-in. These days many of the
add-ins are DLLs and are a little more difficult to find. Here's
another article that may help you find all of the add-ins that load
when Word starts. Note that the issue isn't the same as that in the
article but the troubleshooting steps for add-ins is applicable:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011514521033.aspx

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

Beth,
I don't use DataViz for anything ON the laptop. I have a Treo650
with some
DataViz apps - Word, Excel etc. that I use to maintain some
micro/mini-documents and to write down starter notes for letters
etc.
Since I've removed ALL the DVZ*.* and ~*.* on the various folders
and Word
still loaded slow there appears to be another issue. Again, using
the
winword /a loads Word tremendously faster not only for Word, but
Outlook and
any app that might connect to Word (SalesLogix).
Should I just go with winword /a now or what other areas do we need
to
address?
[I will remove the ~*.* files on the next cold start of the laptop
and
before Outlook is launched.]
TIA,

These are add-ins for DataViz:
http://www.dataviz.com/index.html

If you aren't using any of the DataViz functionality in Word then
move
the add-in (DVZWDAddin.dot) out of the Startup folder to prevent it
from loading when Word starts. For the temp files, those with a ~
at
the front, exit Word, and Outlook if using Word as your email
editor,
and check the folder again. If they are still present you can
delete
them since they should have been deleted automatically.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Kathrine]

WinXP Pro SP2
Office 2003 w/ Word 2003 all MS updates
1.5GB RAM

Recently Word is launching and terminating very slow. Same for loading an
existing Word doc created under 2003.
Any ideas or pointers?
Launch is about 10 seconds immediately after a full cold boot and nothing
else running.
TIA,
Tom