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Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don't do it. |
In the consumer patching survey, quite a few of you indicated that you still were running Office 2010. Just a kind reminder that as of October of 202
[See the full post at: Patch Lady – just a kind reminder about Office 2010]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Thanks Susan.
0patch continues to cover Office 2010. That’s the option I’m running with for the moment, in any event since the onset of the pandemic with lockdown etc the voluntary work which is my main requirement for Office has ceased completely.
Ultimately my aim has been to upgrade to Office 2019 as a subscription service certainly wouldn’t appear to suit my limited needs but I think that’s dependent on also upgrading to Win10 which I’ve put on hold given the unreliability of v.2004 which despite any workarounds we’re going to get saddled with at some point and possibly before it’s considered fit for purpose. Or does Office 2019 work ok with Win7?
LibreOffice may be worth a look for me, although last time I tried a MS Office free substitute which was probably Open Office years ago it turned out to be useless so I’ve been sceptical ever since.
The biggest problems LO are some weird issues with goofing MSO Word formatting and macro support. The Word formatting issue appears to be different versions of Word do not always use the same methods for formatting templates. Aggravating but fixable. LO does not support VBA, personally I think this good, which means MSO macros cannot run. This is a bigger problem with those who rely on macros extensively. However, macros have been a long time, notorious security problem with MSO I do not see this as necessarily bad. Joe in Accounting might hate my guts.
And for our MAC friends, Office 2016 for Mac suffers the same fate on October. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/end-of-support-for-office-2016-for-mac-e944a907-bbc8-4be5-918d-a514068d0056#:~:text=Support%20for%20Office%202016%20for%20Mac%20will%20end%20on%20October,will%20you%20lose%20any%20data.
Though our organization has moved to Office 2019, I need to decide if I want my one MAC to update to Office 2019 (which involves setting up the configuration.xml and then running a batch file in a CMD window setup /configure…… on Windows) versus buying a MAC Office installation file / license.
To Seff’s comment, yes Microsoft Alternatives don’t always cut it, though I’ve hear many good things regarding Libre Office and if you’re somewhat isolated and have basic uses (i.e. your colleagues / customers / stakeholders are not absolutely wedded to MS Office and unlikely to encounter strange compatibility glitches) then I suggest giving it a try as it’ll most likely cover all that you need to do.
I’m personally happy with Office’s Personal MS 365 subscription (which I almost hate saying it, but it’s true) and sharing licenses with family. Though once retirement hits (not for a decade, hopefully) and no longer supporting Microsoft professionally, I’ll be reviewing the free Office alternatives more.
IT Manager Geek
I won’t get into how each subsequent version of Office seems to be worse than the last. We standardized on Office 2010 because it was the least offensive version of the “ribbon crippled” version of Office. Interestingly, many users I support still use Office 2003, which was the last truly usable version of this software! Even years later, no client I have, or testing I’ve seen, shows the ribbon as anything other than a productivity impediment when compared to its predecessor.
My clients would spend real money on any viable alternative to Office, if one actually existed. Macros in Word and Excel documents are an issue, although we’ve found and are testing one Office alternative that actually incorporates the Microsoft macro add-in. We also have line of business applications that integrate Word into their functionality and won’t work with other word processors.
And very bad news for terminal service deployments using Windows 2019 Server – only the Office 2019 Pro Plus product (at roughly $540 per user) will run on an RDS server. No other (available) version of Office, nor any of the current Office 365 offerings, will run on an RDS server. That’s been coded into the products! That’s a real killer for those of us that only need Word and Excel.
This monopoly truly is a sorry state of affairs.
I would have expected MSFT to issue a (hideable/removable) reminder patch by now for Office 2010, as a duty of care and security for their customers, akin to the Win 7 EoS patch.
Not all Office 2010 users know about the EoS on the 13th October 2020 nor do they visit tech or blogsites.
I am still using Office 2010 and plan to continue using it. When I retired a few years back, the place I worked at was still using Windows 7 and some iteration of Office 2010 Professional. I always liked to have the same OS and Office running on my home PC, so I installed and still have Windows 7 and Office 2010 at home (I am going to upgrade to Windows 8.1 soon and will keep using Office 2010). The version of Office I have at home is the Home and Student because I didn’t need all the bells of whistles of the Professional version that I had available at work. I need even less now.
I use Word quite a bit, and Excel on a fairly regular basis to keep track of some things I created spreadsheets for. I may sometimes need to open a PowerPoint document, but of course I no longer create them since retirement means I no longer have to do presentations (I do not miss that at all). I don’t create macros and very little of what I already have include any. So long as I am careful to scan any Office documents I might occasionally download or receive as email attachments, I don’t see any reason to upgrade to a more recent version of Office. I am also one of those who do not like Microsoft’s new subscription model and have zero interest in ever using the cloud for anything.
Outlook 2010 was not included in the Home and Student version and it was installed separately from a DVD that came with my PC. I assume it is also hitting end of service, although I do not see it in the list in Patch Lady’s post. I have not seen any notifications from Microsoft about the October end of service for Office or Outlook. I still use Outlook (mainly because I am used to it), but the nice thing is there are so many email programs out there that if security issues arise that convince me to get off of it, finding something else non-Microsoft shouldn’t be a problem. If need be I will explore what 0patch has to offer and go from there.
Bottom line is I am not too concerned about the October end of service.
Office 2013 will not install “over” Office 2010.
It will install in “addition to” Office 2010.
You can have multiple versions of Office installed (except for Outlook, I think), but it can sometimes cause problems.
If you are thinking of purchasing Office 2013, be really careful where you buy it. There are MANY too-good-to-be-true offers out there and many are illegal copies.
I have Office 2010 .msi version (perpetual) on several of my computers. I have every intention of continuing their use. If I decide otherwise, my choice will be Libre Office.
I would be suspect of the sites you are looking at to download it. Even Amazon allows vendors to pedal illegal copies. Not only illegal, you have no idea what other “goodies” you get with it.
The only place I would recommend downloading it from, as safe, is Heidoc.net, IF they have the installer. But then, you also need a legal key.
If I were you, I’d just keep using it and pick up 0patch when it is covered.
I’ve got the same question as “Scooby” in that I had/have Office 2010 installed and then put the Microsoft Office Professional 2019 package on my PC when it came out without uninstalling the 2010 program.
So, can I uninstall / delete the 2010 suite without issue? I’ve retired and don’t have an active Microsoft account and keep the suite as off-line as I can and use it for my “home use” only. I am using Outlook 2019 with my ISP for mail but that’s it. Advice?
Paul –
Potentially not, if the doc/sheet you are working on came from the internet and contains malware.
Use your AV to scan things you receive from the internet before opening them in Office and you should be fine, whether you are on or offline.
cheers, Paul
Given HOW MUCH malware, phishing and what not is coming through email, given HOW MUCH malware, phishing and what not are using macros to enter systems, given HOW MANY times Office is being patched for remote code execution attacks that you will no longer be protected for after October 13, 2020
I would like to disagree, please. We are not going be protected against newly discovered security risks. Old patches remains and we are protected at least somehow.
And to strenghten my argument please consider how “magnetic” for phishing attacks are Office(Microsoft) 365. Corporations with 365thing are targeted most, not Office 2010 users. So this step is another use of force by Microsoft. I remember recently, that MSFT gave longer servicing period for certain version, cause pandemia was comlicating things. This would be nice if Office 2010 will still work.
And I can guarantee, that, in enterprise, no transition from Office2010 to Office365 will be trouble-free. NOT-A-SINGLE-ONE.
Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise
HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29
PRUSA i3 MK3S+
You seem to have answered most of your questions by implying that you scan files you download before opening them. This is just good practice.
Is there still risk of malicious code running on a computer that has all those controls turned to their most secure setting?
There is always a risk, but you are doing all you can to mitigate that risk.
Running LibreOffice provides no additional security given your current work practice.
Word and Excel (and Outlook) are the most popular and therefore the most likely to be targeted. Flaws in the other apps may exist but the return from exploiting them is probably not worth effort.
The last word in defense is “regular air gapped backups stored in a safe place”.
cheers, Paul
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