I heard earlier there are some concerns with installing Office 2008 for Mac. It seems it was something about the installer opening up a security hole. I purchased Office 2008 on release date but never installed it since I'm waiting to install it on a new MBP I'm purchasing this weekend. Is it safe to install it or some type of fix for it once installed? Are there certain procedures I should follow when installing?
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Safe to install Office 2008?
- Thread starter markw10
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MisterMe
macrumors G4
Look. If Office 2008 were a major security hole, then this forum would have been flooded with stories about it, both real and imagined. There several complaints about Office 2008:
- Its user interface sucks.
- Its native file format is incompatible with most earlier versions of Office.
- It is slow, perhaps slower than Office 2004 even running Rosetta on Intel-based Macs.
- It does not support Visual BASIC for Applications.
I'm pretty sure that if there was a security hole in office 2008 the forum would be flooded. All that I know is that it is slow and personally I am still using Office 2004 which I find works excellent. Anyway 
Computers have always been good at fighting viruses and spyware and most of the spyware and viruses are not made for MAC anyway, they are mostly made for Microsoft Computers. Last year something like 140,000 Microsoft Computers were reported with viruses, spyware and key loggers and NO MACS HAD ANY SPYWARE, KEY LOGGERS, SECURITY PROBS OR VIRUSES. This is not saying MACS never have problems but it is extremely unlikely they will. So go ahead and Install word I would say. There should be no problems or gremlens at all.
Computers have always been good at fighting viruses and spyware and most of the spyware and viruses are not made for MAC anyway, they are mostly made for Microsoft Computers. Last year something like 140,000 Microsoft Computers were reported with viruses, spyware and key loggers and NO MACS HAD ANY SPYWARE, KEY LOGGERS, SECURITY PROBS OR VIRUSES. This is not saying MACS never have problems but it is extremely unlikely they will. So go ahead and Install word I would say. There should be no problems or gremlens at all.There is a problem with the way in which the Office 2008 installer grants ownership to some of the installed files. There is a possibility that a restricted user account might be able to modify certain office files without needing to authenticate with higher credentials.
There is more specific information as well as a manual fix here.
There is more specific information as well as a manual fix here.