Solve startup problem of MS Office Word

Today I have a case, where an instance of the Microsoft Word program starts up very slow.

The problem was solved by changing the default printer, to a local one
(local means the printer that is connected to your computer directly).

Previously, a network printer is installed on the computer and set as the default printer.
The printer server was not availble at the time, thus, the connection to the printer server was faulty.

It is possible that the word program was waiting for the network printer, which is not available.
Therefore, preventing word from opening.

By going to the Start > Control Panel > Printer Settings > set default printer to any local printer.

Open the word again, it should speed up the opening speed.

The case was investigated on a computer that was running the Windows XP, with the MS Office 2007 installed.

Note: If the problem was caused by an add-in, try use Start > Run > type winword /a (for safe mode).