How to troubleshoot performance issues in Office XP (815049)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office XP Professional
  • Microsoft Office XP Small Business
  • Microsoft Office XP Standard
  • Microsoft Office XP Students and Teachers
  • Microsoft Office XP Developer
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Warning This workaround may make your computer or your network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We do not recommend this workaround but are providing this information so that you can implement this workaround at your own discretion. Use this workaround at your own risk.
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For additional information about computer viruses, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

129972Computer viruses: description, prevention, and recovery

SUMMARY

When you use Microsoft Office XP, you may experience slow performance.

Symptoms of slow performance may include one or more of the following:
  • Opening and saving Office files takes longer than you expect.
  • Mouse pointer movement in Office is slower than you expect.
  • Menus in Office open slower than you expect.
  • Constant hard disk activity may occur after you install Office.
This article contains information about how to troubleshoot performance related issues that may occur when you use Microsoft Office XP.


MORE INFORMATION

Basic Steps to Troubleshoot Office XP Performance

Meet Minimum System Requirements

Make sure that your computer meets or surpasses the minimum system requirements for running Microsoft Office XP. For additional information about minimum system requirements that you must have to run Office XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

285342 OFFXP: System requirements for Microsoft Office XP

If the issue is not resolved by using this troubleshooting method, continue to the next method.

Remove Alternative User Input Feature from Office (Microsoft Windows 98 Only)

After you install the Office Alternative User Input feature that is included with Office XP on a computer that has Windows 98 installed, constant hard disk activity may occur, and your computer may run slowly. Remove the Office Alternative User Input feature.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

329377 OFFXP: Constant hard disk activity after you install Office XP

Turn Off Speech Recognition in Office XP

Turn off Office XP handwriting recognition and speech recognition components. For additional information about turning off Office XP handwriting recognition and speech recognition components, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

316768 OFFXP: Computer runs slowly when you use handwriting recognition and speech recognition components

If the issue is not resolved by using this troubleshooting method, continue to the next method.

Update Antivirus Software or Disable Antivirus Software

Antivirus software can affect the performance of Office XP. For additional information about documented issues related to Office XP performance and antivirus software , click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

262530 OFF: Office program opens slowly with Norton installed

329309 Office files that are saved to a network drive take an unexpectedly long time to save

Install the latest updates for your antivirus software. For additional information about updating, contact the manufacture of your antivirus software, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

49500 List of antivirus software vendors


If installing the latest updates for your antivirus software does not increase the performance of Office XP, disable your antivirus software. If disabling your antivirus software does not improve the performance of Office XP, enable your antivirus software and continue to the next method.

Clean Boot Windows (Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Millennium (Me), Windows 98 Only)

Disable unnecessary startup programs by using the appropriate method for your version of Microsoft Windows. This procedure is known as "clean booting." After you have completed this procedure, test to see if the performance of Office XP increases. If the performance of Office XP increases significantly, consider shutting down unnecessary startup programs before you run Office XP.

Windows XP:

For additional information about how to perform a clean boot in Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

310353 How to perform a clean boot in Windows XP

Windows Millennium Edition (Me):

For additional information about how to perform a clean boot in Windows Millennium Edition, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

267288 How to perform a clean boot in Windows Millennium Edition

Windows 98:

For additional information about how to perform clean boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

192926 How to perform clean boot troubleshooting for Windows 98


If the issue is not resolved by using this troubleshooting method, continue to the next method.

Use Safe Mode Troubleshooting (Microsoft Windows 2000 Only)

When you start Windows 2000 in safe mode, only essential drivers and computer services are loaded. You can use safe mode when you have to identify and resolve performance issues that are caused by unnecessary startup programs, or services that start automatically.

If performance increases significantly, when you run Office XP in safe mode, restart your computer in normal mode and consider shutting down unnecessary startup programs before you run Office XP. To troubleshoot performance problems in safe mode, follow these steps:
  1. Restart the computer.
  2. Press F8 when you receive the following message: Please select the operating system to start
  3. In Windows Advanced Option Menu, use the arrow keys to select Safe Mode, and then press ENTER.
  4. If you are running other operating systems on the computer, click Microsoft Windows 2000 on the list that appears, and then press ENTER.
If the issue is not resolved by using this troubleshooting method, continue to the next method.

Advanced Steps to Troubleshoot Office XP Performance

Install Update to Address SMB Issues

When you use Office programs that open and close files on a Windows 2000-based server with Server Message Block (SMB) signing enabled or when you use Office programs that create temporary files on a Windows 2000-based server, Office may perform slower than you expect. Specifically, files may take longer than you expect to open or close.

To try to resolve this issue, follow the troubleshooting steps provided in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article.

814112 Files on network shares open slowly or read-only or you receive an error message

Note In some scenarios, customers experiencing this issue have had to update, disable, or remove their antivirus software to workaround this issue.

Enable the "NetworkResiliency" and "PivotTableNetworkResiliency" subkeys (Microsoft Excel 2002 Only)

The NetworkResiliency and PivotTableNetworkResiliency subkeys, in Excel 2002, help Excel recover if there is a loss of network connectivity while you save a file and may affect performance.

For additional information about how to enable the "NetworkResiliency" and "PivotTableNetworkResiliency" subkeys , click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

291204 Error Saving File After Network Connection Has Been Lost in Excel


Contact Microsoft Support

If you cannot resolve your issue by using the steps in this article, several support options are available to assist you.

Quickly Find Answers Yourself Online

Use Microsoft Online Support to search the Microsoft Knowledge Base and other technical resources for fast, accurate answers. You can also customize the site to control your search.

To start your search, locate the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/support/

Microsoft Product Support

Contact a Microsoft Product Support professional to assist you with troubleshooting problems.

For more information about how to obtain help with troubleshooting Microsoft Office XP, click About Microsoft program name on the Help menu, and then click Tech Support.

For additional information about Microsoft support services, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

102344 Microsoft Product Support Options Q&A

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:1/3/2006
Keywords:kbPerformance kbtshoot kbinfo KB815049
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