I noted this morning that for some reason the idiotic MS Office “smart menus” and menu animation were back on my desktop. 

Since I haven’t touched these settings in the year and a half-plus that I’ve had this system, I can only assume that the recent Windows update took the liberty of re-enabling these time and CPU-sucking options.

So FYI - here’s how to disable the “smart menus” that do nothing but hide the menu option you’re looking for:

How to Control How Menus Are Displayed
You can control how menus are displayed in Office programs. To do this, follow these steps:

• 1. Start any Office program.
• 2. On the Tools menu, click Customize.
• 3. Click the Options tab.
• 4. Click to select or click to clear the Always show full menus check box.
• 5. Click Close.

NOTE: When you click to select or click to clear the Always show full menus check box, this setting affects all your Office programs. Full MS KB Article >>

To lose the “animated menus” that do nothing but delay the menus from loading quickly:

• 1. Right-click anywhere on the Windows Desktop.
• 2. “Click Properties”.
• 3. Click “Appearance”.
• 4. Click “Effects”.
• 5. Un-check “Use the following transition effect for menus and tooltips.”

Now Microsoft—where can I send the bill for the time involved in setting my system back to the way I had it?