Office’s New “Startup Boost” Could Be More Trouble Than It’s Worth
Microsoft’s new “Startup Boost” feature for Office apps like Word and Excel is designed to make them launch faster—but at what cost? Essentially, the feature will have Office automatically start when your computer boots up, which will likely improve app startup times. Unfortunately, this could also slow down your overall computer startup by consuming resources from the moment you turn your PC on.
A Double-Edged Sword for Performance
In theory, this new feature should improve the experience for users who rely heavily on Office apps, but it also raises questions about how much slower your system will feel. The new function will only apply to systems with at least 8GB of RAM and 5GB of free disk space, which seems like a decent starting point, though 8GB of RAM barely cuts it for Windows 11 these days.
Why Not Just Make Office Faster?
It’s easy to wonder: why not simply focus on optimizing Office to run faster on its own instead of relying on this workaround? The cynic in me feels this new feature is just a band-aid solution to a deeper issue. Wouldn’t it be better if Office didn’t need this extra help to boot up in a more efficient manner?
What You Need to Know
The Startup Boost will first roll out to Microsoft Word in mid-May before expanding to other Office apps. If you don’t like the new feature, you can always disable it in Word’s settings or via the Task Scheduler.