Microsoft Office 2007 Whom Do You Trust

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A lot of content is assembled today from pre-existing sources.  This is especially true for presentations.  When developing a new presentation, authors often start with an existing presentation and use Save As to create a copy. The author can freely modify this copy without worrying about destruction of the original version.  Another technique involves borrowing content from a variety of presentations and copying that content into the new presentation.  At the heart of this activity is the search for content on the Internet or within your own organization’s file locations.



C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Document Themes 12\
The Trust Center settings can be accessed by going to the Office Jewel, selecting PowerPoint Options, clicking on the Trust Center navigation link on the left, clicking the Trust Center Settings button, and finally the Trusted Locations navigational link on the left.
June 23, 2009
Presentation content that can “trip” the security alarm
In Microsoft Office 2007, security settings for Word, Excel and PowerPoint were consolidated together in a common location within each application.  That location is known as the Trust Center.  No more hunting around in the user interface for a setting for macros, linked pictures, ActiveX controls, etc.  As part of that consolidation effort, different security settings have been grouped together and standardized across the applications.  Each application has some unique scenarios or usage, however, and in this blog we will touch on some specifics for PowerPoint.
There are a number of solutions to prevent the dialog from coming up, while still protecting yourself from dangerous content or exposing yourself to risky security behavior.  We’ll examine those in this post.  First, some background…
If you trust the content of a presentation, move the file to a Trusted Location on your computer. 


Checking out security prompts before giving a formal presentation is a good idea.  This can be integrated into what should be a “best practice” for giving presentations, namely that you conduct a dry run of the presentation prior to presenting it to a larger audience.  This is especially true if you are moving the presentation to a different computer for the purpose of giving the presentation, as that computer’s configuration (network connectivity, video settings, and security settings) may be vastly different than the computer you used to author the presentation.


Avoiding security alerts: copy your presentation to a Trusted Location
This list of locations can be modified,Microsoft Office Home And Stude/nt 2010, added to, or removed from as needed.
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\


C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\

A Trusted Location is a directory that is exempted from security checks.  You should not lightly make a decision to place files in this location.   Any presentations that you’ve created yourself are good candidates to go there.  Presentations from other authors that you trust might be good candidates as well.  Presentations you’ve obtained from the Internet or via e-mail from un-trusted contacts should bear close scrutiny before you consider moving them to a Trusted Location.

In the end,Windows 7 X64, you are in control of your security,Genuine Office 2010, and you can control what warnings you would like to keep around. We’ve wired your software for a high level of safety, but you are free to disable the system and unlock the backdoors. We just recommend that you remain cautious and stay aware of any vulnerabilities you may expose.

What is a Trusted Location and where do I find it?
C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\Application Data\Microsoft\Addins\

There are a variety of objects and other presentation content that are prone to security checks when PowerPoint opens a presentation.  These include macros, add-ins, linked pictures, and ActiveX controls. 


Additional information about the Microsoft Office 2007 security system is available here.
By default, the Trusted Locations are defined as (assuming Office was installed on the C: drive):
Part of the “dry run” process
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When considering other presentations as possible sources of content for your presentation, you need to factor in the familiarity you have with that presentation.  Is it from someone you know?  Is it located on the Internet or within your organization’s own firewall?  Even if the presentation is within your organization’s firewall,Office 2010 Discount, did it originate from someone within your organization or was it authored by an external source?  These are all factors that can go into a risk profile and can help you assess how much you should or should not trust that content.
The world of trusted content vs. non-trusted content
-Dave K

You might be tempted to avoid these dialogs by turning off the security settings or lowering your shields (to borrow a Star Trek® term).  But, you don’t want to set your security settings too low or turn them off, because then you’re no longer protected…
Have you seen this unexpected security dialog pop up when you run slide show?
Macros Provide useful functionality for a specific presentation and can enhance the presentation experience.  However, macros can be used destructively. Add-ins More generalized macros that can add new functionality to the application, for use on a variety of presentations Linked Pictures Can be linked to remote computers, from where the picture content needs to be procured.  The process of procuring that image informs the owner of that remote computer who is accessing that image and how often. ActiveX controls Can be embedded in a presentation, and they can have access to the Microsoft Windows® operating system

What is this thing anyway, and how can I prevent it from showing up?

Stay safe.
The Office Trust Center
In one admittedly simplistic view, the world can be broken down into two types of content: content that is trusted and content that is not trusted.  Trusted content is content that you believe is accurate and the content does not pose a security or privacy risk to you or your organization,Office Pro Plus 2007, typically because you know the source of the content (your employer, your IT department, a peer, etc.). Non-trusted content is everything else. The difference between trusted and non-trusted content cannot be detected by a computer. You, the user, are the one who decides if content is trustworthy based on your knowledge of its source. The most trustworthy content is the content you create from scratch.


Once you establish that a location is trusted, you can place presentations there and launch them in both normal view or slide show without being prompted for security settings.


Let’s face it, we live in a security conscious environment these days.  One general trend in the hacker community is to rely upon “social engineering” to foist viruses, mal-ware, etc. onto your computer.  Social engineering basically means that the evil doers out there somehow convince you to open a Microsoft® Office document which could contain a macro that erases the contents of your hard drive or could “call home” to a hacker’s web server with your personal internet address. Would you ever want a hacker to know where you digitally reside so that he or she can watch everything you do on the internet?