Take this simple test to see if you should take this advice or not -
When you go to open a Word document, do you begin by either opening Word or double-clicking on the actual document file? Or, do you begin by clicking on "Open new office document." If you answered yes to the first question, this advice is for you.

Why change the Microsoft default settings for Office ?
When you install Microsoft Office, the default is to open the Microsoft Office toolbar whenever you boot your computer. In my travels, I have found that almost no one uses Office as it is designed. Instead, people open Word when they want to work in Word, open Excel when the want to work in Excel, and open PowerPoint when they work in it. That's what I do too. The thing is, if you leave the Office default settings, you are sitting there waiting for the Office program to open every single time you reboot your computer, only to not use it. Then, you wait again while Office is shut down, every time you turn your computer off. The toolbar also sits there like a lump, taking up valuable screen space which could be used by other programs you actually use! That's the downside.

Here's the tip -
Instead, why not disable the starting up of Office? The programs are still installed and available on the Programs menu at any time. You are just not opening Office unless you actually need it. To disable the autostart of Office, go to the Startup folder on your Programs menu and delete the Microsoft Office program reference from that folder. To delete it, just point to it, RIGHT-click and select Delete. (Depending on your version of Windows, you may get a message explaining that you aren't really deleting the program, just the shortcut to it. Acknowledge that you really intend to delete the shortcut, and you're done.)

That's it. The next time you reboot, the Office toolbar will not load or display on the screen. All else remains the same and you've saved a few precious seconds for the first of many times to come.