# microsoft word eats my PC

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-eats-my-pc/175694>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 16, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-eats-my-pc/175694 "2003-05-16T15:20:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-eats-my-pc/175694/1 "2003-05-16T15:20:36Z")

</div>

I have XP service pack one (plus lots of SP2 hotfixes) and word 2002. I have one important word document that when I open it there sits and slowly by itself starts increasing the memory allocated to it until 4 minutes later it has hogged the entire PC memory (over 200 M) and becomes unstable.

I understand there is a memory issue with service pack one - is this an example and any fixes? It seems odd that it is only one document and quite a small one (280K) at that

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-eats-my-pc/175694/2 "2003-05-16T16:39:42Z")

</div>

Have you applied all the service packs and patches to Office? You can get them from [Office Update](http://office.microsoft.com/productupdates/mainCatalog.aspx).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-eats-my-pc/175694/3 "2003-05-17T22:30:51Z")

</div>

thanks for the suggestion. will try these