document will only function in windows safe mode

Question

I am using a PC with Microsoft Office 2007.  I have several documents that are fairly graphic-intense, that at random times during working with the documents they will freeze.  I have to force Word to close.  I have tried many many things but cannot fix this problem.  I tried the documents on another computer (using Word 2010) and they did not function there either.  The kicker here is that I can start my computer in safe mode, and the files work just fine.  Tonight I tried to do a Find and Replace with one document.  It failed - reproducibly - each time.  However, when opening the document in safe mode, I was able to do the Find/Replace just as you please.  It seems to me that since I can be successful in safe mode, then something my computer is running is incompatible with Word.  But what?  I am running Avast anti-virus and all appears well.

I have tried saving the doc as an rtf, then back as a Word - crashes.  This is driving me batty.  Does anyone have any ideas?  I tried to Open and Repair the docs, this did not help, also tried to Repair MS Word using the Add or Change Programs in Control Panel, again no luck.

Thank you

Answer 1

Often when Word works in safe mode but not in regular mode, the problem is Add-Ins. You can check this by opening Word using the /a switch.

Under the Start menu select the Run command. Paste the following into it and press the Enter key.

winword.exe /a

If the documents work without Add-Ins then in Word in regular mode go under the Developer Tab and disable the template Add-Ins using the Document Template button. (For com Add-Ins you will need to go under the Word Options under the Office Button.