Microsoft to preload Word minutes after boot

Why optimize code when you can just start running sooner?

Microsoft later this month plans to begin loading Word shortly after folks' computers begin booting up – to "optimize performance" or at least improve their perception of it.

The software giant's customers commonly kvetch about slow Office load times, and Microsoft offers various strategies for improving performance, which may have more to do with network conditions or underpowered hardware than software bloat.

Nonetheless, Office does require substantial resources – 4GB of RAM and 4GB of disk space for Windows, or 4GB of RAM and 10GB of disk space for macOS.

One technique to make load times feel faster is preloading, which is what Redmond has already suggested for improving the load time performance of Microsoft 365 web apps. If you load static web content like images, JavaScript files, and CSS files before they're needed – ideally when the load time won't be noticed – Microsoft 365 will load faster because some of its resources are already available.

Now that strategy is being applied to the Microsoft Office installer, as Redmond explains in a Message Center note to IT admins.

"We are introducing a new Startup Boost task from the Microsoft Office installer to optimize performance and load-time of experiences within Office applications," Microsoft states. Initially, Startup Boost will be available for Word. The biz says it has nothing to announce about support for other Office applications.

"After the system performs the task, the app remains in a paused state until the app launches and the sequence resumes, or the system removes the app from memory to reclaim resources. The system can perform this task for an app after a device reboot and periodically as system conditions allow."

Microsoft notes it plans to start rolling out boot-time preloading in mid-May and expects to be done by the end of the month. Admins have been given the option to disable the feature through group policy, with the promise that the off switch will persist through subsequent updates. Since Startup Boost is an optional performance improvement, users also have the ability to disable it through in-app settings, via Word > Options > General > Startup Boost.

But not everyone using Word will get Startup Boost: Microsoft says it will only run Startup Boost on sufficiently beefy PCs – at least 8GB of available RAM and 5GB of free disk space.

And even then, there's a catch: "When Startup Boost is active, the scheduled task will not run immediately at login to avoid slowing down your PC – it will wait 10 minutes to ensure the system is in a steady idle state."

Also, it won't run when Energy Saver mode is active, and it will automatically disable itself for those who haven't launched Word recently.

So for regular Office users who start up their PCs, step away from their machine for a few minutes to get coffee or kibitz with coworkers, and return to the keyboard, Office should feel a bit snappier. ®