Word 2003 - Verrry Slow Launch

All of a sudden, Word 2003 is taking 3-4 minutes to launch. When it finally does launch and I try to open a document, another 3-4 minutes goes by while the satus bar shows "running virus scan........ ". Outlook 2003 starts up fine though.

My computer is running WIN XP SP2.

Any ideas?

 

Hello:

I've read the document you pointed me to. I've pretty much ruled out a printer problem - the printer driver is resident on my computer and was never on a network print server. I have reset the Word Data registry key but that didn't help.

I'm thinking about reinstalling the standard fonts included with Windows
(as per article 314960) but it tells me to "Run Windows Setup Again" and I'm not sure what that means.........I hope it doesn't mean reinstalling WIN XP.
Any thoughts?

 

Some anti-virus programs by default scan word and word documents which can slow word down drastcally. What AV do you have installed? In your AV check under options and see if there is a line that say's something like "Microsoft Office Scan... ". If so uncheck the box next to it and see if your word program and documents open faster.

 

Hi John:

I'm using the AVG Free Edition V7.5. I don't think it's the problem
though..........AVG's been running for several months and the Word problem just cropped up.

 

Try the suggestion here.

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showpost.php?p=281146&postcount=9

 

Hello again:

You bet it was worth a try.............deleting normal.dot solved the slow launch problem.

Downloading the Norton Removal Tool from www.symantec.com/techsupp
and running it, got rid of the last remnants of Norton Internet Security.
That solved the other half of the problem (i.e. once Word launched, loading
a document took forever - while the status bar showed "running virus scan ".

Thanks again for all your help.

 

Glad to hear it. You're most welcome,

 

For John B:

Re my answer to you, "I'm using the AVG Free Edition V7.5. I don't think it's the problem though..........AVG's been running for several months and the Word problem just cropped up ". Let me explain.

I installed Norton Internet Security when my machine was new but as time passed, I became unhappy with the way it kept getting in my way, not to mention slowing things down during during machine bootups and shutdowns.
I installed AVG 7.5 a few months ago and simply disabled Norton while evaluating the new software.

AVG worked fine for me so I decided to remove Norton. I used Control Panel's Add/Remove SW to get rid of it but apparently Norton didn't depart gracefully and I believe that's when my problem with Word taking forever to open a document started.

Yesterday, I searched my system and discovered pieces of Norton still hanging around. Norton's removal tool got rid of them and now all's well.

Thanks for your help.

 

Thanks for posting back and pleased to hear everything is running OK now. Yes, Norton can be quite annoying in how it sticks around after you supposedly uninstal it. Sounds like you have got it now, altho' I would be willing to bet my next pension cheque that parts of it are still lurking around in your file system and/or registry. If all is running OK you probably won't have to worry about these reminants, but if you get bored one day, do a search in the registry and Windows Explorer for "Norton ", "Symantic ", "LiveUpdate" or any of the other terms Norton uses and I think you will be surprised at what turn up.

I havn't had Norton on my computer for about 3 years and I still find the odd bits lurking around.