EXTREMELY slow Word 2003 Startup in Windows 7 64 bit! Wtf?

[The Gorn]

This just started. When I launch Word 2003, the Word app hangs for about 20 seconds before displaying the normal view of the program.

I read that it could be anti-virus. I disabled Avast temporarily and it makes no difference.

I also read that the Normal.dot template could be corrupted. I found the folder that it resides in and deleted it. Word rewrote a new normal.dot in the folder but it made no difference.

I ran the "Detect and Repair" option and restored "everything" in Office to default settings. Same deal.

!@&^(!  is this f*cking annoying. I have a fast computer and I want IN AND OUT FAST!!!!

The MS Knowledgebase articles I found have ultra lame ass advice on the subject such as a lengthy VBA macro that you're supposed to copy and paste and execute within Word to clean the registry.

This Microsoft software is flimsy garbage.

[lorb]

Just for giggles I googled on this (don't know if this is your particular case)
does 32bit MS word run slown on 64bit windows?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee691831.aspx

"Very slow query performance of Access 2010 32 bit on a 64 bit computer ..."

I've never used a 64bit OS, but I always believed it was going to be more trouble than its worth.

[The Gorn]

Just to clarify: something broke. Word used to open normally. This is not slowness from 32 bit thunking or the like.

This is what I despise about all Microsoft products: they're grey goo.

[datagirl]

Hey, GB.

I'm just wondering if M$ might have done a stealth auto-update or something.  We had a Win7 issue over the weekend that was resolved with a rollback-to-pre-update-restore-point.

Just thinking out loud.  I'll shut up now.
-DG

[The Gorn]

No, you may be on to something. I just installed a bunch of updates a few days ago. I should roll them back and see what happens.

[benali72]

Rollback, if it doesn't work, re-install.  Just a convenient way to check that you're legal..

[datagirl]

Another dumb=obvious idea that comes to mind because of recent experience:  noticed some sluggishness on my hobby system (XP).  Did a disk cleanup and defrag (been awhile since the last one).  Helped the problem a lot.

-DG

[Richardk]

It's a MS reminder that it's time to upgrade your system. 

I'm actually thinking it's an update too.

This is exactly why I'm on the fence about how often to update production machines.

On the one hand, you want to be current but on the other I believe in "if it ain't broken then don't fix it".

Let us know if rolling back the updates resolves your issue.

[The Gorn]

I attempted a rollback (system restore point based) to prior to the last update and the restore failed.

I was really looking for some focused advice from somebody who had solved the same problem in the past.

I did find out something interesting. Word started in "safe mode" (did anyone know Word had a safe mode?) comes up instantly.

Safe mode bypasses registry keys, addins and templates. So something there is different.

I had been experimenting with templates (.dot files) a few days ago to do some mail merges.

So this is a direction to go in.

MS: still grey goo. Still low quality muddled bull - f*cking - sh*t. God help anyone who relies on this garbage without extensive backups, they are a fool.

[Richardk]

Why not just reinstall or don't they have a "repair" mode?

But yes, what a pain. Reminds me of a payroll system that I supported. Every fix was "Reinstall the system". It got me wondering why we were paying for support if that was always the solution.

[The Gorn]

Don't wanna reinstall. Takes too long.

I just said above that I tried the ineffectual, bullshit in-name-only Word repair procedure.

[Richardk]

I missed that. Have you tried starting Windows in safe mode?

[PhilFromNY]

Have you tried using it under another user account?

If  there's a difference look in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office for the Word pip file and try copying it over.

[John Masterson]

The instant safe mode start is a big step in figuring out what's started to hang it up, at least.

I wonder if it's an Add-in. Maybe one got installed recently?

[The Gorn]

Have you tried using it under another user account?

If  there's a difference look in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office for the Word pip file and try copying it over.

This advice was key. Thanks, man.

A couple of days ago I installed a trial of Act! (contact manager). It apparently installed some slop into Word - custom menu commands - in order to handle mail merges.  This coincided with the broken Word.

I followed Phil's advice, and found and renamed word11.pip to oblivion. The next time Word was started it nags me with a message box that asks something like "The Act! Add-In was not installed correctly. Do you want to disable the menu commands?" I chose "Yes" and it came up instantly.

Now Word comes up instantly. The "Disabled Menu Items" selection in the About box displays the an item for the Act! menu.

Now, back to well deserved hating on !!^*!@&!^@ Word and Microsoft.

Grey f*cking GOO. Absolutely no way for a mere mortal to diagnose the software's failing. I found and corrected this problem by sheer random chance.

I'm sure the twerps at Microsoft who developed, maintained and managed Word's development beat their chests over a job well done. Well, they are bad developers for making a possible user error this difficult to identify.