Unpatched Office software still being used to attack computers
You might be forgiven for thinking that Microsoft Office isn’t so much software as a ‘trojan horse’ allowing hackers the opportunity to destroy, copy or ransom your valuable information. That’s overkill, of course, but each week there’s yet another new attack on millions of computers relying on Microsoft Office. If it’s not a newly found […]
Office ‘Learning’ features are good for everyone
Microsoft has previewed new Office features targeted at students and teaches, however many are good for the wider public too. For example, Dictation is coming to Word for Windows, Word Online, PowerPoint for Windows, Outlook Desktop, OneNote Windows 10, and OneNote Online with support for at least nine languages. Source: Microsoft It’s being hyped as […]
Sub-doc the new, unpatched and undetected security hole in Microsoft Word
While Microsoft is busy patching for the Spectre/Meltdown chip flaws there’s another serious and more easily abused security flaw in Word. It’s fairly simple and not yet detected by any of the anti-virus programs. It’s called ‘SubDoc’ and was discovered by Rhino Security Labs who have gone to the extent of creating a tool to […]
January 2018 Office updates roundup
So many patches for Microsoft Office and Windows in this month’s package of bug fixes. Few parts of Windows or Office aren’t patched this month, either directly or indirectly. According to Microsoft there’s ‘only’ 56 patched security holes in their products, this month alone. In reality there’s a lot more patching going on, just how […]
Word’s Comments feature embarrasses Milo
Microsoft’s Word Comments feature has popped up in the news again over the break, this time to embarrass Milo Yiannopoulos, a former Brietbart commentator. Mr Yiannopoulos is in a legal battle with his publisher over a proposed book and some of the court papers are now public. What’s catching attention are the editor’s comments in […]
Did Covfefe make it into Microsoft Word?
All the ‘End of 2017 news reviews’ reminded us of the great ‘Covfefe’ debate. President Trump made a tweet typing error, adding the previously unknown ‘covfefe’ to the language. It’s believed to be a mistype of ‘coverage’ though neither the President nor his staff would admit that. Word 2016 for Windows As incurable Office nerds, […]
DDE is finally dead … what took Microsoft so long?
Microsoft has finally admitted what was obvious to everyone else, that the DDE part of Office is dangerous and should be disabled. The latest patches have finally provided a way to disable the DDE feature in Office, either completely or in part. Something that’s looooong overdue. Sidebar There are two main ways for Office programs […]
How to run Office 2016 for Windows on a Mac
Crossover, the Windows emulation for Mac computers, has released v17 which adds support for Office 2016 for Windows. With Crossover v17, the default compatibility has changed from Windows XP to Windows 7. That’s a big improvement and opens the way for a lot more recent programs to run like Quicken 2017. There are also some […]
See what happens when Microsoft Word meets the words of 2017
It’s time again to see how Microsoft Word’s spell checker goes against the newest words in the English-speaking world. We’ve taken the “Word of the Year” from various dictionaries plus some other 2017 contenders and typed them in Word to see if the red squiggle appears. We used Word 2016 for Windows and Mac with […]
Save money on toner/ink just by switching fonts!
Use less print toner or ink simply by changing to a font designed to save you money. Ryman Eco is an Windows/Mac font which the makers say uses a third less ink or toner than regular fonts. In smaller sizes it looks normal but as the point sizes grow you can see the difference. Ryman […]
Paul Manafort was trapped by Microsoft Word and how he could have prevented it
The FBI is using evidence from Microsoft Word to oppose a change of release conditions for former Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. We’ll show you the mistakes that were made and how to avoid them. We’re not interested in the prosecution itself nor the politics, here’s a summary. Our focus is on the little known […]
Get the Pantone color for 2018 now in Microsoft Office
Here’s how to save yourself money but still be up with the latest color hype from Pantone. 2018’s color of the year is ‘Ultra Violet’ and we’ll show you how to get that exact color in your Office documents. Source: Pantone Color of the year We’re meant to take this shameless self-promotion seriously because it […]
Office now available on Chromebooks
Microsoft has released Office apps that work on Chromebooks, the low cost laptops using Google’s Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote apps are now available for most, if not all, Chrome OS users. There seems to be some teething troubles with the Office apps and the Google Play store. Redmond hasn’t exactly shouted about this extension […]
How a recent Office patch was done in a very unusual way
A recent security patch for Microsoft Office was done an unusual way, suggesting that there’s something a bit strange happening in the development team. Last week we told you about a 17 year old bug in the Equation Editor part of Office. Microsoft fixed the security hole and a few others besides. The way they […]
Microsoft allies with the Klingon Empire to pad their stats
Microsoft boasts support for over 60 translation languages (as compared with language support for menus, spell check etc.) but look a little closer to see what’s in their list. Here’s the current list of supported languages. There are 65 in the current list including the latest arrival, Tamil. ‘Over 60 languages’ sounds great and it’s […]
Tamil language comes to Microsoft Office
Tamil language has been added to Microsoft’s suite of translation apps and services. There’s about 70 million Tamil speakers mostly across Sri Lanka, India, Singapore and Malaysia. We checked with Office 2016 for Windows, Office 365 and sure enough there was Tamil among the many language choices. Beyond Office The language is also on “Bing […]