So far I haven't noted if this occurs when working in Word Safe Mode.
To start Word in Safe Mode, hold Ctrl while starting Word and
continue holding Ctrl until prompted to start in Safe Mode.
I cannot seem to reproduce this in safe mode and normal modes. I will
keep trying later on. Remember, the hang/freeze issue is random. 
I finally reproduced it. It also freezes/hangs in Word's safe mode. I
think I am starting to notice a pattern. It seems to happen when Windows
2000 SP4 session is new (low uptime).
As for Process Explorer, I tried to do it but couldn't reproduce the
issue because the problem went away by itself after a minute or two. I
did see winword.exe hogging 99% of the CPU. Grr!
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