Word slow to open...what to do?

I just purchased Microsoft Office Professional 2003, and Word is very slow to open. It can take up to a couple of minutes. As Word is loading up, at the bottom left hand corner of the screen is the phrase, "running virus scan...". I've set the security level to medium, hoping that would reduce the time it takes for Word to low, but it doesn't seem to matter. I have a HP Laserjet 1012 installed, and Word is set to print on it as a default. I have a symantec client firewall that is enabled. My computer is an Acer Travelmate, with a Pentium III processor. If possible, can someone provide me with at least three tricks of the trade to fix this problem? Thanks!

The "virus scan" message is coming from your AV. If it's Norton AntiVirus,
disable its Office Plug-in.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"montidatta" wrote in message
. ..

I just purchased Microsoft Office Professional 2003, and Word is very
slow to open. It can take up to a couple of minutes. As Word is
loading up, at the bottom left hand corner of the screen is the phrase,
"running virus scan...". I've set the security level to medium, hoping
that would reduce the time it takes for Word to low, but it doesn't
seem to matter. I have a HP Laserjet 1012 installed, and Word is set
to print on it as a default. I have a symantec client firewall that is
enabled. My computer is an Acer Travelmate, with a Pentium III
processor. If possible, can someone provide me with at least three
tricks of the trade to fix this problem? Thanks!


--
montidatta