28th August 2002
Question: Do I need to have the Microsoft Office shortcut bar running all the time? What other Microsoft add-ons can I safely live without?
Answer: No, you definitely don't need the Microsoft Office shortcut bar running all the time. In fact, that is usually one of the first things I disable. If the computer is running Microsoft Office 97, then the next thing I remove is Findfast from the Startup folder. You can accomplish this by right-clicking your Start button and choosing Explore. From there, just navigate to the Startup folder and delete Findfast. This application was meant to speed up the searching of Microsoft Office files, but in my opinion was never a useful file. As for what else to turn off, that actually depends what you don't use in Microsoft Office. If you don't use speech recognition in Microsoft Office XP, then just remove it by going in to your Control Panel and choosing "Add/Remove Programs." Click "Modify" on Microsoft Office XP and follow the prompts. In Microsoft Office 2000 or higher, you aren't really forced into using any of the add-ons, but several are installed by default. Just remember that if you don't use the add-on, then it is probably safe to remove it. Please, however, use the proper Microsoft removal process to remove the unwanted add-on. Usually going through Add/Remove and modifying the Microsoft Office installation is the proper way to remove an add-on. If you are unsure as to what a Microsoft add-on does, then just surf over to Microsoft's Web site and do a search in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.