Office
Scrap files scrapped
Windows is a complicated operating system and has many properties and features that most PC users are unaware of. One of the odder and lesser known features in Windows 98/XP was something called a scrap file. I wrote about scrap files some years ago in connection with their use by virus writers. I visit the [...]
Microsoft patches patched
Some of the Microsoft security patches from the October patch Tuesday were buggy. Microsoft issued some fixes yesterday. So you may need to check Microsoft Update. Details at InfoWorld.
Microsoft Works to be replaced
The venerable Microsoft Works has long been an option for those who did not need all the many features or the big price that came with Microsoft Office. Now Microsoft is abandoning Works and will be replacing it with a stripped-down version of Office 2010. The new edition will contain advertising and will be available [...]
Microsoft Office on your phone
The mobile platform just keeps getting more like a small computer. At CNET, Ina Fried reports:
Microsoft is expected on Wednesday to announce a partnership with European mobile giant Nokia to help get its Office software onto that company’s mobile phones, CNET News has learned.
With the next version of Office, Microsoft is trying to expand [...]
Never pay full price for Microsoft applications
That’s the message of a post by Rafe Needleman at CNET. He begins:
I don’t know why Microsoft attaches retail prices to it mainstream software products, Windows and Office. You have to be a loser to pay them.
Needleman then discusses various ways to pay less for Windows and Office.
Microsoft admits it can’t stop Office hacks
Microsoft can’t defend Office files against all the security vulnerabilities so the next edition of Office will be “sandboxed” to try to isolate any security problems. Computerworld reports:
Microsoft’s plan to “sandbox” Office documents in the next version of its application suite is an admission that the company can’t keep hackers from exploiting file format bugs, [...]
Next version of Microsoft Office
I still haven’t gotten used to Office 2007 but the next version, denoted Office 2010, is coming soon. The big news here is that Microsoft is making this version of office available for Web use. MarketWatch reports:
Microsoft Corp. on Monday made the latest edition of its Office software suite available for testing and plans [...]
PowerPoint patches
Today, Microsoft issued critical security updates for PowerPoint. If you use PowerPoint, be sure to install them. The update package is available here.
Combining Microsoft Office documents
Although I have been using one version or the other of Microsoft Word for years, I know very little about the application. It has far more features than I ever have need for. So I usually refrain from giving Word tips. Recently, however, I wanted to combine some documents and I learned something that seems [...]
New security issues- Adobe Flash, Excel
Security issues just keep coming, Adobe Flash again and Microsoft Excel. Microsoft acknowledges the problem in Excel but no fix yet. Adobe has a patch at this link. More details by Gregg Keizer at Computerworld. Also, see the information about Flash problems at Security Garden and also at ZDNet.
A faster Open Office version
In the previous post, I mentioned Open Office 3.0 (OO). One complaint that has been lodged against OO is that it is bloated and slow. For more speed, there is a variant of OO called Go-oo. Here is a report from Lifehacker:
Free application Go-oo is a fork of the popular Microsoft Office alternative OpenOffice.org with [...]