Word 97: FIND dialog box slow to open

I’ve noticed now that when I click on the FIND button/option in Word 97 that it takes a good 10 seconds or more for the dialog window to finally open up so that I can perform a search thru the document. Why would this be? Don’t remember this being aproblem before?

I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling Word, deleting then reinstalling the default FONTS (was told too many may slow it down), deleting the NORMAL.DOT file and recreating it by rerunning Word AND cleaning up the registry amongst other things. BUT the problem persists. I tried other Office programs and the FIND box comes up immediately. What is it that could make it take SO long to open up in Word?