First, the good news: Microsoft Word is magnificently malleable. If you don't like the way a certain part of Word works, nine times out of ten all it takes is a little gumption and a bit of reading, and you can probably change things around so they work the way you want them to. Word is one of the most complex, most sophisticated, and most useful pieces of software ever created. It's there for you to mold to your way of working. You don't have to settle for the built-in stuff.

Now the bad news: There's a lot of built-in stuff, and a lot of it is annoying. Part of the problem is that everyone works differently, and expects their word processor to work differently also; one user's favorite feature is another's annoyance. But there are other reasons that Word can be annoying: a difficulty (both for users and for the software developers who created Word) to make the transition from the typewriter to the computer; compatibility and the legacy of previous versions; and out-and-out poor design, to name just a few.

You may be annoyed that something (it's called Find Fast) takes over your machine every so often to scan and index your files. Or that it's so difficult to select a block of text that begins in the middle of a word. Or that, when you want to select a new style for some text, a visually attractive drop-down list takes forever to appear. But whatever the immediate cause of the annoyance, what's most annoying is that it's taking you longer than you think it should to perform simple tasks.

Word 97 Annoyances takes a look at many of these annoyances and shows you how to get rid of them so that you can get your work done more easily and efficiently. For instance, the book will show you how to:

• Customize the toolbar so it works the way you want it to. You can create toolbars that reflect the way you work, instead of catering to the needs of Microsoft's marketing staff.
• Reduce your stress level by taking an in-depth look at what makes Word tick. By understanding how Word defines sections or formats paragraphs, you can begin to understand and accept some apparent annoyances that are built into Word.
• Write simple VBA programs to eliminate your own personal annoyances. For example, short VBA programs show how to disable the "Float over text" box that is always checked whenever you try to insert an image into your document.

And while making Word a more productive and easier tool to use, you'll also be enjoying a well-written, extremely humorous computer book.