Would Office 2010 Bring Value to my Business?

Last June, Microsoft released Office 2010, its latest “productivity suite” for PC’s with Windows operating systems, and the update from its predecessor, Office 2007, includes changes worth some careful consideration before deciding to purchase the newest version for your business. The following outlines many of the changes and enhancements made to Office with the release of the 2010 version that may help you determine if upgrading to Office 2010 would be of value to your business.

Different Sets of Applications
Microsoft Office 2007’s “Small Business” edition was the most popular and seemingly suitable version of Office for small businesses as it included Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Publisher, programs with functionality ranging from word processing to presentation development to graphic design. Office 2010 does not have a “Small Business” edition; rather, it has “Home and Business” and “Professional” editions for businesses or individuals wishing to purchase four or fewer retail licenses. However, the most significant difference between the application set of 2007’s “Small Business” edition and 2010’s “Home and Business” edition is that “Home and Business” does not include Publisher, a desktop publishing application used by many businesses to design simple marketing materials. If upgrading to Office 2010, businesses that wish to use Publisher must purchase 2010’s “Professional” edition, a higher-end edition that comes with a much higher price tag. Office 2010 “Standard” and “Professional Plus” editions for volume licensing (5 licenses or more) both include Publisher as well as Access, Microsoft’s database program.

Microsoft provides the following charts on their Office website that are useful in comparing the different editions of Office 2010: “Which Suite is Right for You?” (for retail licenses) and “Compare suites available through Volume Licensing” (for volume licenses). A chart comparing the editions of Office 2007 can be found in the Wikipedia article “Microsoft Office 2007”.

Enhanced, Customizable Interface
Like Office 2007, Office 2010 also has the “Ribbon Interface”, but 2010 enhances the Ribbon by giving the user the ability to create custom tabs for the tools they use most often. Also, opposed to Office 2007, the Ribbon interface is now included in all the Office applications, further enhancing consistency and usability. The “Office Button” that seemed to cause confusion among some users of Office 2007 was replaced with a menu button that leads to a full-window file menu, known as “Backstage View”, created to increase accessibility of file management and printing options.

Handling of Large-Scale Data Sets
Office 2010 comes with a 64-bit version (Office 2007 was available in only 32-bit) that allows it to handle massive amounts of data. If your job involves projects that require the manipulation of millions of lines of data, the Office 2010 version of Excel is built to do just that.

More Graphic Options
If your organization would benefit from applications that can produce graphically-rich documents, Microsoft has enhanced its graphic options in almost every one of the Office 2010 applications, including advanced photo and video editing tools, the most attractive tool being the image background removal tool as well as a new range of text and image editing effects like “glow” and “bevel”.

New “Safety Features”
If you regularly share or download documents, Office 2010 has a new safety feature that spreads a colored banner at the top of a downloaded document and requires users to click a button before Word will unlock the file for editing, providing an extra layer of safety when opening documents downloaded from the Web or sent via e-mail.

These are only a few of the many enhancements made to Microsoft Office that come with version 2010. 3D can assist you in determining whether or not these enhancements would be of value to your business. To find out more, call our office at (360) 671-4906, send us an email at info@3dcorp.us, or visit our website at http://www.3dcorp.us/.

References:
“Which Suite is Right for You?”, “Compare suites available through Volume Licensing”, office.microsoft.com; “Microsoft Office 2007”, “Microsoft Office 2010”, wikipedia.org; “Microsoft Office 2010”, pcmag.com

Patches Released to Fix Several Vulnerabilities found in Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer & Visio

Microsoft has released numerous security updates to correct serious vulnerabilities found in all current versions of Windows and Internet Explorer. An attacker can exploit these vulnerabilities in a number of ways, the most common being luring users into opening malicious files or webpages. Once opened, the attacker uses the file or webpage to execute code on a user’s computer, possibility enabling them to gain complete control of the machine.

Patches have also been released to correct two vulnerabilities found in 2002, 2003, and 2007 (not 2010) versions of Visio, Microsoft’s diagramming application. Attackers exploit these vulnerabilities by enticing users to open a maliciously-crafted Visio document, which could ultimately enable them to gain complete control of the user’s computer.

3D Corporation will automatically test and deploy the aforementioned security updates on the networks of our 3DProActive™ Managed and Partner clients; other Windows, Internet Explorer and Visio users should download and install the appropriate patches immediately to avoid possible exploitation of their machines.

More information regarding these vulnerabilities and their impact can be found in the following security bulletins issued by Microsoft: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-005, MS11-006, MS11-007, MS11-009, MS11-010, MS11-011, MS11-012, MS11-013, MS11-014 (all regarding Windows vulnerabilities); MS11-003 (regarding Internet Explorer vulnerabilities); and MS11-008 (regarding Visio vulnerabilities).

3D’s security solutions can protect businesses from threats like these automatically. If you would like additional information on how we can make and keep your network worry-free, please visit our website at http://www.3dcorp.us/, email us at info@3dcorp.us, or call our office at (360) 671-4906.

References: WatchGuard’s Security Center Updates “Nine Windows Bulletins Correct 15 Security Vulnerabilities”, “Cumulative IE Update Fixes Four Code Execution Flaws”, and “Two Visio Code Execution Vulnerabilities”; Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-005, MS11-006, MS11-007, MS11-009, MS11-010, MS11-011, MS11-012, MS11-013, MS11-014, MS11-003, MS11-008

Scrub ‘n Share: Protecting your Business from the Dangers of Metadata

Did you know that when you edit content in a Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Corel WordPerfect or various other electronic documents, information about you and the edits you made is automatically created, stored and hidden within the document file? This hidden information is known as “metadata”, which, if not removed, can put companies at serious risk when sharing or submitting confidential documents, providing a “paper trail” that possibly anyone in possession of the digital file can access and follow.

What is metadata?
Metadata is commonly described as “data about data”—a hidden layer of information that is created and embedded within a document file. Microsoft reports that metadata aids in collaborating when writing and editing a document with other people but also warns that metadata can be passed on to inappropriate parties (i.e. opposing legal counsel) if not properly removed, possibly leading to lost clients, lawsuits and other undesirable consequences.

What are the different types of metadata?

Microsoft provides some examples of metadata that may be embedded in electronic document files, including:

• Your name and initials (and/or those of the document’s previous author(s))
• The name of your company
• The name of your computer
• The name of your network server or hard disk upon which the document is saved
• Any previously deleted or revised text
• Document versions
• Comments and tracked changes
• Template information
• Hidden text or cells
• Personalized views

The data above can often be beneficial to users of document management and precedent systems when searching for documents relevant to their work. However, when files are electronically shared, whether it be via email, disk, extranet, etc., the information, if seen by the wrong eyes, can be potentially damaging to both your organization and your clients.

How is metadata removed?
There are many tools available that can reduce or eliminate metadata from electronic documents. Microsoft provides instructions on its website on how to find and remove hidden data from documents created in Microsoft Office applications. There is also a wide-variety of metadata removal software programs that “scrub” metadata from various document types. Further information regarding the various tools available for metadata removal can be found in the articles referenced at the bottom of this post.

How do I help ensure metadata is being removed from my organization’s documents?
Although using software and other tools to remove metadata from documents are essential in protecting an organization’s confidential information, employee training is also important to ensure best practices in metadata removal are followed. Workshare, a document collaboration software provider, recommends that businesses establish a company-wide metadata policy to ensure employees have a clear understanding of the risks metadata poses to your organization and proper, standardized methods for its removal. 3D can assist in creating and implementing best practices technology policies like these for your business. To find out more, call our office at (360) 671-4906, send us an email at info@3dcorp.us, or visit our website at http://www.3dcorp.us/.

References:
“Remove hidden data and personal information from Office documents”, office.microsoft.com; “Meeting Regulatory Challenges: Metadata in Court Submissions: A Workshare Report”, Workshare, Inc.; “Beware the Dangers of Metadata”, Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Company