Our friend Ed from the Microsoft Office security team
recently stopped by to fill us in on how to reduce the risks associated with
opening potentially unsafe files.
Here’s what Ed has to say:
With hackers working
overtime to create sophisticated tricks, computer viruses, worms, and other
huge hassles that cost us all time and money, the folks at Microsoft Office
took action: Protected View.
This new feature in Office 2010 gives you fair warning that there might be trouble with the file you’re
opening, namely it was created by someone up to no good, or it’s either a
corrupt file or one that won’t work with your system. When you see the
Protected View Message Bar, you need to decide how to proceed. If you know the
file is from a reliable source, you can click Enable Editing or Edit
Anyway and get right to work. If you’re not sure, Protected View lets you look
over the file while turning off functions that can trigger a virus to run (such
as print), allowing you to read the file without potentially damaging your
computer or network.
When you see the
Protected View Message Bar, you can read the notice on the Message Bar and make
an informed security decision. For more information on getting started with
Protected View, see What
is Protected View? or you can see how it works in the video Turning off Protected View.
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