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Microsoft Office is famous for burying tons of useful features that most people never know about. This article exposes a couple of Office 2007's features so you can take advantage of them and make Office 2007 safer for you to use.
Password-protecting your files
To prevent prying eyes from peeking at your Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files, you can password-protect them. That way, if people want to open, view, or edit your files, they must use your password. If they don't know your password, they won't be able to view — let alone edit — your files.
 | You can buy programs off the Internet that can crack an Office 2007 password-protected file. For real security, don't rely on Office 2007's password-protection feature. |
To password-protect a file, follow these steps:
1. Load Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
2. Click the Office Button. A pull-down menu appears.
3. Choose Save As. The Save As dialog box appears.
4. Click the Tools button. A pull-down menu appears.
5. Choose General Options. The General Options dialog box appears.
6. (Optional) Click in the Password to Open text box and type a password.
Another dialog box appears and asks you to confirm the password by typing it again.
7. Type the password again and then click OK.
8. (Optional) Click in the Password to Modify text box and type a password.
This password can be different than the password you typed in Step 7. Another dialog box appears and asks you to confirm the password by typing it again.
9. Type the password again and then click OK.
10. Click Save.
 | You can create a password or remove passwords altogether by repeating the preceding steps and retyping a new password or deleting the password completely. |
Guarding against macro viruses and worms
Macro viruses and worms are malicious programs designed to attach themselves to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. When an unsuspecting victim opens an infected file, the virus or worm can spread and do something nasty, such as deleting your files or your entire hard disk.
To stop these pests from wrecking your files, get an antivirus program, avoid downloading or accepting any files from unknown people, and turn on Office 2007's built-in macro protection feature, which can disable macros or restrict what macro viruses and worms can do even if they do infect your computer.
To turn on macro protection, follow these steps:
1. Load Word or PowerPoint.
2. Click the Office Button. A pull-down menu appears.
3. Click Save As. The Save As dialog box appears.
4. Click the Tools button. A pull-down menu appears.
5. Click General Options. The General Options dialog box appears.
6. Click the Macro Security button. The Trust Center dialog box appears with the Macro Settings options displayed.
7. Select one of the following radio buttons:
• Disable All Macros without Notification: The safest but most restrictive setting, this prevents any macros (valid or viruses) from running when you open the file.
• Disable All Macros with Notification: This is the default setting and displays a dialog box that lets you turn on macros if you trust that the file isn't infected.
• Disable All Macros except Digitally Signed Macros: Blocks all macros except for the ones "authenticated" (previously defined as "trusted") by the user.
• Enable All Macros: This setting runs all macros, which is the most dangerous setting.
8. Click OK until you return to the Save As dialog box.
9. Click Save.
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