Slow startup

[Ed]

Whenever I open Word it takes about 15 seconds for it to get beyond
the opening flash. I though it
was AVG doing the Resident Shield check, but I turned that off and it
didn't help.

Any thoughts?

TIA

Ed

 

[Terry Farrell]

Possibly the printer driver or a partially corrupt normal.dot.

See the following FAQ for help diagnosing this problem.

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm

Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP

 

[Graham Mayor]

It could still be AVG - unregister the calling Office DLL by running the
following command line from Windows > Start > Run
regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\Grisoft\AVG7\avgoff2k.dll"

Or

It could be a problem with the normal template or an add-in (Acrobat's
add-ins are favourites for causing problems)

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Ed]

Thanks Terry & Graham.

I moved everything from C:\Documents and Settings\Ed\Application
Data\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP and
all but normal.dot from C:\Documents and Settings\Ed\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates. Still slow
startup of Word. Changed normal.dot to normal.old and Word starts
fast. After closing Word there is a new copy of normal.dot,
and from then on slow startups.

Also note that on the first startup after removal of normal.dot I can
see "Requesting virus scan..." in the lower bar of the Word
window when I load a document. That takes about 15 seconds. I was
surprised, since I had the AVG Resident shield
turned off. Guess I don't know how to turn it off.

Graham, what does the regsvr32 /u "C:\Program
Files\Grisoft\AVG7\avgoff2k.dll do? Is it reversible?
Also, how do I check into a Acrobat problem? I do use it.

Thanks again.

Ed

 

[Robert]

Hi,
I had the same problem.
I created a ´.CMD¡ file that systematically deletes any ´normal.dot¡ or
´normal.dotm¡ file at each Windows startup.
Word 2007 is now always loading with lightning speed.
Cheers,
Robert

 

[Graham Mayor]

regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\Grisoft\AVG7\avgoff2k.dll
unregisters the dll thus disabling it.
You can reverse the process by reregistering it ie remove the /u switch from
the command line.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Graham Mayor]

It might be faster, but it is now incapable of working as intended, so it
is a ridiculous idea.
If Word starts slowly, there is a good reason for it and that is usually to
do with add-ins (though Word 2003 will start slowly next time it is started
after saving a change to normal.dot)

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Robert]

Word launches actually much faster, almost instantaneously. So the benefits
are huge as far as I am concerned.
It so happened that Word 2007 was launching slower and slower at each new
run on my system.
Word 2007 might not be working as it is intended by MS but it is now
working to my satisfaction! What more would I want?

This said, I don¡¦t have any plug-in installed.
And I don¡¦t understand what might be causing this gradual and persistent
slow-down¡K
I can only think of what you suggested yourself, i.e. that some changes are
systematically saved each time I shut Word down. And they take more time to
load at each new run.

 

[Graham Mayor]

If you set the 'prompt before saving the normal template' option (Word
Options > Advanced > Save), you can choose what you allow to be saved in the
normal template. The normal template in Word 2007 is quite small compared
with it predecessors, and mine, despite the presence of many macros, loads
in 2.5 seconds. Not instantly I grant you, but it does what it is supposed
to do - store personalisations!

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Terry Farrell]

Check out your temp folder. When all applications are closed, it should be completely empty. I suggest that from a fresh reboot and before you start any other apps, open the temp folder and delete all its contents.

Then rename normal.dot to normal.bad. Now open Word. Now close Word. Was it fast or slow? After making a change that needs to be saved to normal.dot (say your default page margins or default font), close Word and note the size of normal.dot.

If Word starts to get slower, note the size of normal.dot to see if it is bloating.

 

[Ed]

Graham,

I use Word 2002. Is it subject to the same problem as 2003?

Ed

It might be faster, but it is now incapable of working as intended,
so it is a ridiculous idea.
If Word starts slowly, there is a good reason for it and that is
usually to do with add-ins (though Word 2003 will start slowly next
time it is started after saving a change to normal.dot)

[/QUOTE]

 

[Ed]

Graham,

What kind of personalizations are you referring to here? I haven't
written any macros that I know of,
but I do have some paragraph styles. Also, I do use Doc-2-Help, which
is loaded with them I expect.
However, in recent tests I've moved all the D2H .dot files out of the
STARTUP directories and it
didn't seem to help.

Ed

 

[Ed]

Terry,

My normal.doc is 46KB. If I change it to normal.old the fresh one created the next time I open Word is 29KB.
But, as I said, it will still take 15 seconds the next time I start Word.

Ed


Check out your temp folder. When all applications are closed, it should be completely empty. I suggest that from a fresh reboot and before you start any other apps, open the temp folder and delete all its contents.

Then rename normal.dot to normal.bad. Now open Word. Now close Word. Was it fast or slow? After making a change that needs to be saved to normal.dot (say your default page margins or default font), close Word and note the size of normal.dot.

If Word starts to get slower, note the size of normal.dot to see if it is bloating.

 

[Robert]

Graham and Terry,
Thank you very much for your tips and efforts.
But to be honest with you I am quite happy with the default template when I
am using it. As a matter of fact, I use specific or personalized templates
most of the time. So deleting the ¡§normal¡¨ template is no problem. It has
two benefits: my ¡§Normal¡¨ template remains set at its default values (which
is sometimes handy), and Word loads fast (which is a real blessing).
I haven¡¦t monitored the size of the ¡§Normal.dotm¡¨ file on my system but one
thing is certain, if I leave things to run as they normally do, Word starts
loading slower and slower at each new run until it can take up to 15
seconds to simply load an empty new document. When my ¡§Normal.dotm¡¨ file is
deleted before running Word, Word launches almost as fast as Notepad does.
Regarding the temp folder, it is systematically emptied by a script file
each time my system is shut down. And so is the Word ¡§Normal.dotm¡¨ file.
By the way, I don¡¦t have any ¡§Normal.dot¡¨ file. Should I have one?

----------------------------

 

[Ed]

Graham,

That's it! If I unregister the AVG dll Word pops up in immeasurable
time. Registering it takes me back to 15 seconds.

Now, I'll have to decide whether fast opening of Word is worth the
risk of infection. Maybe disconnect from the
Internet when I'm doing a lot of Word stuff.

Thanks!

Ed

 

[Terry Farrell]

No, you will have a normal.dotm for Word 2007.

Terry

 

[Terry Farrell]

Definitely.

Terry

Graham,

I use Word 2002. Is it subject to the same problem as 2003?

Ed

[/QUOTE]

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't know about AVG, but disabling the Norton AntiVirus Office Plugin
doesn't compromise security at all provided that Auto-Protect is left
enabled.

 

[Ed]

Suzanne,

I just did a Google on avgoff2k.dll. Immediately found a thread on the
issue, and one of the replies pointed
to a Grisoft FAQ that describes the trick Graham gave us. So, you're
right, it's directly related to Office.
Of course, that's what its name implies now that I thank trouble to
read it!

But, if it doesn't compromise security to turn it off, why is it there
in the first place?

Te solution works, that's for sure!

Ed

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

But, if it doesn't compromise security to turn it off, why is it there in

the first place?

That's what we've been asking ever since NAV first incorporated the Office
Plug-in. Even Symantec doesn't know.