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MS Word 2002 - 2 Second Delay Problem

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I'm using a brand new machine (specs below), and when I'm in Microsoft Word 2002 it freezes for roughly 2 seconds, every 30 seconds exactly. During the freeze, the top-left corner in Word flashes 3 or 4 times.

I've found no solutions on the internet that work (Google'd this error and checked on Microsoft's support site). Other's are having the same problem I am: http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.word.customization.menustoolbars/browse_thread/thread/66aa939e5c20b263?pli=1

Here are my specs:

- Dell Vostro 200
- Intel Core2Duo E4600
- 3GB DDR2 RAM
- 320GB HD
- Integrated graphics
- WinXP Pro w/SP3 installed
- Office XP installed
- Adobe CS2 installed
- Kaspersky Internet Security Suite 7.0 installed

I've tried numerous things including turning off Kaspersky. I can't get any work done, being interrupted every 30 seconds! Please help.

18 replies

by thumbsup2

The 'freeze' you're experiencing is probably due to the autosave feature. This is what keeps a temporary copy of the document saved, just in case the program or Windows crashes before you've actually clicked the save button. Try turning that feature off and see what happens.

by benxp

Thanks for the suggestion ThumbsUp2, but unfortunately that didn't work either.

It's affecting another employee as well with the exact same specs as my machine.

Anyone else?

by shasca

Settings that can affect word performance are the size of the Temp folder, and the default printer.
Empty the temps.
Try a different print driver for the default. If you have another printer added change it to the default.
If it is still slow.
At start in the Run window start word winword.exe /a .
This will do a slight reset of word and fix some simple problems.

Let us know

by Former member

Download this Compatibility Pack for Word, and see if it fixes your issue, please read the info before you download this though..
http://tinyurl.com/3xr4tt

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.
If this information is useful, please mark as helpful. Thanks

by thumbsup2

Since when has the compatibility pack had anything to do with frequent 2 second freezes in Word 2002? The compatibility pack simply allows users of older versions of the program to open/edit the new format (2007). Where, in the original post, do you see anything about working on documents created in the 2007 version?

As usual, you're way off base.

.

by benxp

I uninstalled Office 2002, rebooted, and installed Office 2007 and the problem is still there, same behaviour.

I'm now of the belief that it might not have anything to do with Microsoft Word 2002 or Office 2002 for that matter.

I'm going to completely uninstall Kaspersky Internet Security and see if the problem persists but beyond that I'm out of ideas for the moment.

shasca - I tried your suggestions before posting here, and unfortunately they did not work, thanks for the help though.

Any additional help is appreciated.

by benxp

I'm still having the delay, even after upgrading to Office 2007. Again, the delay only occurs in Outlook 2007 and Word 2007.

Any further suggestions or ideas on how I can fix this problem?

by thumbsup2

Are the documents you're working on in Word, as well as the Outlook PST/OST files, being stored on that computer? Or, are they being stored externally on a server or even a NAS device? If externally, your delay/freeze comes from accessing those files.

by benxp

The Outlook PST files and documents are located on my hard drive.

by oh smeg

If you have 3 GIG of RAM in 3 X 1 GIG Sticks Configuration the system is not working in Dual Channel Mode but only Single Channel Mode so the CPU is only getting 50% of it's available FSB in the form of Data Feed.

As you also have Integrated Graphics your CPU and System RAM are doing the work of a GPU and Video RAM both of which are considerably faster when part of a Dedicated Video Array so you are putting a bigger load on the CPU to generate the Video. This is chewing up the available Clock Cycles to generate Video and could be contributing to this behavior.

To run in Dual Channel Memory Mode you need a equal number of RAM Sticks correctly fitted to the M'Board in the approbate Sockets. If they are not fitted to the correct Sockets or not installed as Pairs you will be reduced to Single Channel Mode and the unit will be slower than it needs to be. This will adversely impact on the entire performance as the CPU is only being feed Data to work with at 50% of the available FSB of this system.

So to do this properly with 3 GIG of RAM you would need 2 X 1 Gig Sticks and 2 X 512 MEG Sticks correctly fitted to the M'Board. You also need to have the bigger sticks of RAM in the first Slot which is generally Slots 1 & 3 and the smaller RAM in the remaining Slots which is 2 & 4 but you really need to read the Manual to be sure of this as some M'Boards are not Standard.

Col

by benxp

I have two 1GB sticks, and two 512MB sticks of DDR2 memory correctly inserted into the motherboard for dual channel mode.

I do not have integrated graphics (sorry if I incorrectly posted my specs), I have an AMD/ATi Radeon HD 3650 with 512MB graphics memory.

I appreciate the idea though.

by older mycroft

I haven't seen any mention in the thread of checking your Event Viewer.

Does it log anything that might show a background process complaining every 30 seconds. A low-priority system failure perhaps?

by thumbsup2

While you have an Office application open, fire up the Task Manager and watch the Processes tab. Double click the column header for Usage to sort it. See if you can determine WHAT process is sucking the CPU to capacity every 30 seconds. That will give us a clue where to start looking. Please note, the "System Idle" process is normal at 99% and goes down as other processes need the CPU.

by benxp

(Note: I only have Outlook open during this test, not Word)

During the 2-second freeze, "Outlook.exe" and "Explorer.exe" jump to the top with Outlook.exe taking 5% CPU usage and Explorer.exe taking anywhere from 1-4%.

by benxp

The answer NQuinnell provided here: http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/99609816/m/394001645931?r=171008255931#171008255931 regarding a registry hack fixed my delay problem.

However, my coworker here at my office who has relatively the same set of system specs as I do is still experiencing problems even after applying the fix mentioned in the link above (and all other suggestions mentioned here).

Any other suggestions for my coworker?

Thanks.

by benxp

There are numerous entries in the Event Viewer, but nothing that corresponded to the delay issue in MS Word & Outlook.

See my updated post at the end of this thread.

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