Reader Damiaan says his copy of Microsoft Word started running "slow as a snail in winter." It turned out that Word was loading a large number of templates and add-ins at startup that weren't necessary:
The solution: Move .dot files from
C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP
To
C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
This allows you to prevent Word from automatically opening the templates every time you restart the program. You can then select them through the standard templates and add-ins screen under the "Tools->Template and Add-ins->Add" menu.
Thanks, Damiaan!