Microsoft plans to change the way Word works this month: the word processor will load in the background for the first few minutes after you turn on your computer – the company calls this a “performance optimization”, although in reality it is more of a façade.
Image source: Rubaitul Azad / unsplash.com
Microsoft Office users have increasingly complained about the long loading times of the suite’s programs, and the company has offered various ways to improve the software’s performance, citing a slow connection or a slow computer, but not a bloated code base. Microsoft Office currently requires at least 4 GB of RAM and 4 GB of disk space on Windows, or 4 GB of memory and 10 GB of disk space on Apple macOS. And a new way to reduce startup time is to ensure that programs are loaded in the background, as was previously done for Microsoft 365 web apps. After all, if you load static web content, including images, JavaScript, and CSS files, before they are needed, the web apps themselves will start faster, because some of the resources are already available.
Now, the same strategy has been transferred to the Microsoft Office installer — the solution is called Startup Boost, and it will initially be available for Word. “After the system completes the task, the app will remain in a suspended state until the app is launched and the sequence is resumed, or the system removes the app from memory to free up resources. The system may perform this task for the app after the device is restarted and periodically if system conditions allow it,” Microsoft said.
The new preloading mechanism will begin rolling out in mid-May and will be available everywhere by the end of the month. It can be disabled via Group Policy or Word settings. However, only PC owners with at least 8GB of available RAM and 5GB of free disk space will be able to use the new feature. To avoid the opposite effect and slowing down the computer, Startup Boost will run at least ten minutes after the computer starts to ensure that the system is idle. Startup Boost will also not run in power saving mode.
Obviously, the difference will be noticed by those users who start up their computers and step away from them for a few minutes to drink coffee and chat with colleagues, and then return to their desk.