** Update ** (3 hours after original post - update is in quote material below)

===== PROBLEM RESOLVED============

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In Win7 64bit, Word 2013, fully updated, I get this problem:

This started happening pretty much out of the blue maybe three weeks ago. I'm not aware of having installed anything that would have made a difference.

When I select text, the "Mini-toolbar" automatically appears. Intermittently, like every third time or so, the application "hangs" at that point.

- Cannot close the Word from the task bar
- Sometimes hangs for an extended period (like 15 seconds or more), sometimes only for a second
- The pop-up menu appears on the screen even if I switch to another application (overlays Excel, Chrome, etc)


- Seems to self-correct, most of the time but not always, if I go to another application and then come back to Word

What I've tried (and which did not work)
- moved file from LAN drive to local disk
- increased paging space in OS
- modified "animation" settings in Word (there are a lot of settings, though...)
- removed all COM addins - some add-ins are left - please see image
http://postimg.org/gallery/30e7hs9ao/

Maybe is influenced by...
- how many other apps are open (though this wasn't a problem before, computer had 16GB RAM)
- WHICH other apps are open...though I haven't been able find a pattern there

Any suggestions on how to correct this would be appreciated.

Thanks!