One of the most used Windows applications in the world, Microsoft Word is the most popular and probably the best word processor on the market. This doesn’t preclude it from running into problems however – and one of the most annoying of these is when the application boots up slowly.
Fixing Problems in Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is an incredibly popular piece of software which is used the world over for word processing purposes on a daily basis.
From recipes to reports, poems to projects, it is used extensively and most users get the most out of it without running into any problems.
However some users of MS Word do experience the odd fault – common among these faults is a long boot time for the application.
There are several reasons why Microsoft Word might be slow to boot up – these range from template issues to printer driver problems, anti-virus software and networking problems.
Normal Template
With any problem in Microsoft Word, the first thing you should check is the normal.dot template file.
This is the default file that loads each time you launch Microsoft Word. It is a basic document that allows you to run the app and get typing as quickly as possible – however it is possible for the normal.dot template to become corrupt.
Normal.dot can be deleted however; Microsoft Word will create a new one when none is found. To delete normal.dot, first make sure Word isn’t running. You then need to find the template. Go to Start > Run > Search and search for “normal.dot” in All Files and Folders – you should also use the Advanced Options to search for the document in your System Folders and you might well want to try searching in Hidden Files and Folders and Subfolders.
Once you have found the template, rename it to normal.old, or simply delete it. If it was a problem with your template causing Word to take a long time to launch, the problem will now be resolved.
Antivirus Conflict
Antivirus applications could be causing your Microsoft Word application to take its time booting up. If this is the case, you should consult the support forums of your AV product.
As MS Word is one of the world’s most commonly used applications, you can guarantee that other users will be experiencing any issues that may exist between Word and antivirus software. The more users that experience such a severe problem, the more chance there is of either Microsoft or the AV developer providing a fix.
If no fix is immediately forthcoming, simply try upgrading your AV solution before reinstalling Word.
