You’ll likely have noticed this oddly-named service lurking in Task Manager, but what does it do, and is it safe to stop it?
If you're an active Microsoft Office user, you may have seen the Microsoft Office Click-to-Run Service in your Task Manager. You might wonder what that service does and if it's essential for your Windows computer.
Keep reading to get more clarity on the Microsoft Office Click-to-Run Service and whether it's safe to disable it.
As per the Microsoft Office documentation, the Click-to-Run Service is mainly for pushing updates to all Office programs. The Microsoft Office Click-to-Run Service runs secretly in the background and starts acting up whenever your Office suite programs need an update.
All this sounds good, right? Then, why does the question of disabling this service even exist?
In some scenarios, when the update fails to install correctly, the Click-to-Run service might create trouble for you. It can sometimes start consuming more system resources (memory and disk usage) than required! For better clarity, check this Microsoft Community post by a user.
The Microsoft Office Click-to-Run Service mainly handles the updating part of Office. And in general, it is mainly helpful for Microsoft 365 users. So, should you disable the Microsoft Office Click-to-Run service?
As you'd expect, one of the most significant risks for disabling this service is that your Office programs will no longer receive any updates. In these updates, Microsoft provides security patches and feature updates.
Besides, if you stop or disable the service and try to open any Microsoft 365 program, you'll likely get a "Something Went Wrong" error popup. So, if you're using Microsoft Office 365 at the moment, the answer is a complete "no."
But, if you're using older versions of Microsoft Office where you don't expect any significant feature updates, or you're currently using a cracked version (which we don't recommend, as there are plenty of reasons why you shouldn't use a pirated Office), disabling the Click-to-Run service is safe. If you want to disable it, keep reading to know the methods.
We recommend tweaking your application update settings before disabling the Microsoft Office Click-to-Run service.
Simply put, whatever Office program you use, you must go to its settings and then change the update settings. We'll show you how to do it in Microsoft Word, and then you can follow the exact steps in all the Office programs.
Here's how to access the Update Settings in Microsoft Word:
Ensure you follow these steps for all the Microsoft Office applications on your computer to disable the service effectively. If you skip this for any app, the Microsoft Office Click-to-Run service might sneakily restart after a while!
Want to disable it on your computer permanently? For that, you can use the Windows Services app. Remember that once you disable it, you wouldn't receive any updates for any of your Office programs.
Now follow these steps to disable the Microsoft Office Click-to-Run service on Windows:
If by disabling the service, you are unable to start any office program, please choose Manual from the properties (instead of Disabled).
Hopefully, now you understand the use cases of the Click-to-Run service and whether you should keep it running or turn it off.
If you ask us, we suggest not touching the service if you're a paying customer of any Office products. On the other side, disabling the service could help free up the load on system resources if you've stopped using Office products or switched to an alternative.
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Rishabh is a staff writer at MakeUseOf (MUO), specializing in Windows technology. He joined MUO in 2022 and has since been creating how-to guides on Windows troubleshooting, apps, and its new features. His interests extend to Android OS, artificial intelligence, cyber security services, and productivity tools like Office 365.
Currently, he’s pursuing Bachelor of Commerce (BCom Hons.) from Panjab University, India. In his free time, he explores the world of custom ROMs and kernels.
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