How to disable and prevent the splash screen from loading when you launch Microsoft Word.

Launching Word with the switch of /q will disable the splash screen. You can launch Word in this fashion in a couple of ways. I am using Word 2003 in this example, but this method will work with Word 2007 as well.

1. Press the Windows Key + R to bring up the Run dialog and type winword /q in the box and click OK.

2. Create a shortcut that points to the location of the Word application.

• Right-click the desktop and select New > Shortcut.
• Click Browse and select the location where Microsoft Word is installed. On my computer it was “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\winword.exe”.
• Click OK once you have selected where the winword.exe file is.
• The path should now be in the field for Type the location of the item:.
• At the end of this line, put a space and then type /q.
• Click Next and type in a name for the shortcut. Click Finish when you are done.

Now you should have a nice Word icon that you can use to launch Word without the splashscreen.