OFF97: Advanced Power Management or Find Fast Indexing May Fail

• Microsoft Office 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you install Microsoft Office 97 on a laptop computer or other computer that uses power management, any of the following problems may occur:

• Even though it is set to do so, your computer may not be automatically suspended after a specified period of inactivity.

  This behavior may be problematic if your computer is powered by a battery.

• The Find Fast indexes on your computer may not be updated.
• After you first install Microsoft Office 97, restart the computer, and then run the computer by using battery power, the battery may quickly run low on power.

CAUSE

The first two problems in the "Symptoms" section occur because Microsoft Find Fast does not always respond correctly to messages sent by the power management system. As a result, Find Fast may prevent your computer from initiating suspended mode, or the computer may suspend itself before Find Fast finishes indexing files.

The third problem occurs because Microsoft Find Fast attempts to index all of the files on the hard disk when you first install Microsoft Office 97 on a computer. As a result, the entire hard disk must be scanned. This process requires a substantial amount of power.

WORKAROUND

Use any of the following methods to work around these problems.

Method 1

If you do not require text searching or other features that use content indexing, you can remove the Microsoft Find Fast shortcut from the StartUp group. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Right-click Start. On the shortcut menu, click Open.

2. In the C:\<Windows>\Start Menu window (where <Windows> is the name of the folder in which you installed Microsoft Windows), double-click Programs. Then, double-click StartUp.

3. Click the Microsoft Find Fast shortcut. Then, delete it by pressing BACKSPACE or DELETE or by dragging it to the desktop or to another folder.

Method 2

If your computer is not running on battery power, you can turn off the automatic suspension feature. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. Double-click Power.

2. In the Power tab, click to clear the "Allow Windows to manage power use on this computer" check box. Then, click OK.

   NOTE: You may be required to restart the computer.

Method 3

If you want to use Microsoft Find Fast most of the time but turn it off for the session during which your computer is running on battery power, leave the Microsoft Find Fast shortcut in the StartUp group. To turn off Microsoft Find Fast, follow these steps:

1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.

2. Double-click Find Fast.

3. On the Index menu, click Close And Stop.

Method 4

If you want to use Microsoft Find Fast only some of the time, remove it from the StartUp group by using the instructions in Method 1. Then, when you want to index files, double-click the Microsoft Find Fast shortcut, and then click Update Index on the Index menu.

To prevent battery power from running too low after you install Microsoft Office 97, Microsoft recommends that you plug the computer into a wall socket when you install Microsoft Office 97 and after you restart the computer. The computer should remain plugged into the wall socket until Microsoft Find Fast has finished indexing files.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.