Slow MS Word 2003

I don't know when it started, but it's been a while ago, but starting MS Word 2003, opening an existing document file, closing a document or even exiting (closing) MS Word is very slow. I have MS Office 2003 Professional installed and don't notice the slow problems on the other applications. I also have FP2003 installed and don't see it with FP either.

I've tried various compatibility modes (XP, Vista) and that makes no difference.

I have a client that is complaining of the exact same thing, on their Win 7 64 bit system and Word 2003.

Both my system and the client's system are using Microsoft Security Essentials.

I have a separate hard drive, on this same PC, that has Vista 32 and the same MS Office 2003 Professional and there is no lag/delay in MS Word in Vista 32 bit.

There is a huge amount of information (for which I apologise) in the following MS Article.
It has been so long since I used Office 2003.


I suggest that you take the time to read through very carefully before proceeding with any action. I do hope hope that there is a resolution to your problem within:
How to troubleshoot problems that occur when you start or use Word 2010, Word 2007, Word 2003, or Word 2002

For the benefit of others, perhaps you would please post back with your findings...

Thanks but that has nothing to do with this particular issue. But, I tried the suggestions in that article and as I suspected it did nothing for this issue.

I used MS Office 2003 few months ago and it was slow. Solution was to uninstall and re-install again.

I'm only seeing the problem in MS Word, not other Office applications.

Update, I've decided to bit the bullet and uninstall Office, restart the PC and reinstall. Others are having the same problems. I'll only install one MS update at a time and then check to see how Word is working before installing another. Maybe I can find which MS Update caused the problem, as one of my associates thinks.

I was going to uninstall/reinstall the full MS Office Pro 2003, but since the only problem I have is with MS Word I uninstalled Word only, restarted the PC and reinstalled Word. This has fixed the slow problems, although I do not yet have any MS Office updates or security updates applied to Word. I'll see after I apply the updates one or two at a time so I can see if one of them is the cause.

A comment from a friend who noted this is a global problem that many are having, is that an MS update of some sort may have caused the problem. By only installing a couple of updates at a time and then checking MS Word, if one of them is to blame I should be able to find out which one.

fireberd said:

I was going to uninstall/reinstall the full MS Office Pro 2003, but since the only problem I have is with MS Word I uninstalled Word only, restarted the PC and reinstalled Word. This has fixed the slow problems, although I do not yet have any MS Office updates or security updates applied to Word. I'll see after I apply the updates one or two at a time so I can see if one of them is the cause.

A comment from a friend who noted this is a global problem that many are having, is that an MS update of some sort may have caused the problem. By only installing a couple of updates at a time and then checking MS Word, if one of them is to blame I should be able to find out which one.

Click to expand...

Process of elimination sounds the best plan of attack.
Good luck!

Update, I installed Office 2003 SP3, which has quite a few updates included. It didn't cause any problems in MS Word 2003, it's still working properly. I still have some other MS updates to go but so far, so good....