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Support for Microsoft Office 2007 Comes to an End

Microsoft, Office 2007, Office 2010, Office 2016microsoft, Office 2007, Office 2013, office 2016Ophtek, LLC

Oct 2017

You may have enjoyed a trouble free relationship with Microsoft Office 2007, but support for the suite has now ended. So what does this mean for you?

Well, the truth is that when support ends for a piece of software, you can continue using it almost exactly as you did before. It’s not going to stop working, in fact it will continue working for many years to come. However, without support, the software is effectively out there on its own without any help or protection. Security flaws are no longer closed and any bugs you discover will remain for good. And this isn’t particularly great for a business which wants to remain competitive.

Therefore, you need to make sure that you know how to move forwards from Microsoft Office 2007 and why you have to do this.

The End of Support for Office 2007

Support for Microsoft Office 2007 officially ended on 10^th October 2017 as this was the point that Microsoft decided that it wasn’t viable to continue supporting it. It’s common practice for developers to do this, but when it’s a piece of software which includes Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, it’s kind of a big deal due to the number of people using these applications on a daily basis.

As mentioned previously, you can continue to use Office 2007 but you’re putting yourself at a huge risk of being hacked. You see, hackers see unsupported software as one of the easiest targets out there and, if they find a security flaw, they’re going to exploit it safe in the knowledge that it’s never going to get patched and these legacy attacks can cause major issues. There are also certain features which will no longer be supported e.g. Outlook 2007 can no longer use Office 365 to access Exchange Online mailboxes and this could create huge communication issues for a business.

What Do You Need to Do?

Quite simply, you need to upgrade and you need to upgrade quickly due to the potential issues we’ve already outlined. Upgrading ensures that your version of Microsoft Office is not only secure, but can also operate in the way your business needs it to. There’s also the added bonus of new features which were never present in Office 2007.

It’s all a matter of cost, of course, but there are several options available when it comes to upgrades. Office 2010 is the next step up, but you have to bear in mind that Microsoft only ever grant their office suites a 10 year lifespan. Therefore, support for Office 2010 is due to be retired in just three years and means that a further upgrade would be needed relatively soon. This doesn’t make for great economics, so, to give yourself the best experience with Office it may be best to look at going straight in for Microsoft Office 2016.

With its lifespan barely started, Office 2016 promises to provide better security and a better work environment for your organization to operate in.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

Microsoft’s New Strategy: Free Software

Softwaremicrosoft, microsoft officeOphtek, LLC

Jun 2015

Microsoft has always used a traditional way of marketing their products to customers until now. Here’s a look at Microsoft’s Free Software strategy.

The idea behind the strategy

With Microsoft dominating the desktop applications market for decades and charging customers for all of their products suites, why would they want to move away from their usual marketing method to offer free software?

It could be that in recent years, Microsoft has been falling behind Google and Apple, who’ve dominated their niche markets by offering their products and services free in return for ads or data. With smartphones becoming as ubiquitous today as PCs were in the 90s, Microsoft has had to step up their game to attract more users to their products. Their new strategy of offering free software is a step in aligning themselves to the competition and keeping up with the times.

Executing the strategy

Microsoft has recently offered a free version of Microsoft Office that can be used on the iOS platform. They’ve extended this to give Android devices free versions of Excel, Word and PowerPoint. In addition to this, they’ve also offered free licenses for Windows as well as Windows Phone for PC and mobile devices.

Reaching out to new markets

Since they’ve acquired a number of mobile applications, they’ll also plan to offer these for free too. Some examples include free mobile apps such as an email app that is used with Android and iOS platforms acquiring a much larger user base than before. For example, an Android or iOS user, who may not use Microsoft software at all, would now be presented with the opportunity to try the software for free and use it.

Microsoft’s hope is that users will gain a beneficial experience from their software, enough for it to become indispensable to them. The free version will come with a whole host of features that will be very useful. Still, there will be some features that are held back from the free versions, which will be offered in the subscription plans.

Microsoft’s ecosystem

Microsoft-Metrics-2014-Counterpoint-Research

Image courtesy of Counter Point Research

Microsoft is also looking to get users to experience a whole host of other products and services that are closely aligned with the free software offered by them.

This ecosystem of products and services is the perfect strategy that will entice users to sign up to their subscription plans. For example, by integrating Skype into Outlook, Microsoft plans to get users to become accustomed to Skype. Once they are familiar with the product, it’ll be easier for the user to upgrade within minutes of seeing the offer as well as the other paid features available through Skype.

In the same vein, users of Cortana are encouraged to use Bing, which will help draw them away from Google as a search engine.

For more ways to optimize your office software and productivity, contact your local IT professionals.

Microsoft Security Essentials Has Little Effect

Security, Uncategorizedmalware, microsoft, securityOphtek, LLC

Mar 2015

Microsoft Security Essentials is not as effective as you may think. Here’s a summary of the last two AV testing evaluations carried out by AV-Test.org.

There mare any anti-virus programs available to install, some are free, like Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) and others, like Trend Micro, Kaspersky and the like are paid with free versions available providing less features such as real time scanning.

Are paid ones any better than free AVs? A better option is to run Malwarebytes. We’ll conclude a little later.

AV-Test Results

AV-Test.org is an is an independent test center based in Germany where they carry out tests to evaluate which anti viruses can withstand a variety of malware. This particular test involved approximately 12,327 different malware, along with 153 emulated zero-day attacks, on Windows 7 machines.

Out of the 28 tested AV programs tested, Microsoft fared poorly by failing to protect its own operating system. In fact it came in last compared to all their 27 competitors. These tests were carried out in December 2014 and they measured usability, performance and protection, which resulted in classifications.

This is not the first time Microsoft came last here. They’ve also come last in the previous run of tests in 2013. They had gained top marks for MSE usability and were above averaged in performance but scored a big fat zero in the most critical part, to protect against malware!

Microsoft’s Perspective

In defense of Microsoft’s AV-test results, Joe Blackbird, representing Microsoft, wrote in a blog about it. He spoke out against the malware attacks tested by AV-Test, and stated that they’re unlikely to occur in the wild to pose a major risk to users. To support his statement, he mentioned that 94% of the samples carried out in the test were not picked up by MSE and didn’t even end up infecting their systems, hence not posing a serious risk.

Overall, Microsoft has made it clear that the AV-test results in the past does things differently as opposed to prioritizing their protection based on actual real malware threats.

Are paid anti-virus programs any better than the free ones?

Based on AV-test results, it seems like it’s highly likely. However, not all paid solutions offer the best protection. For instance, McAfee Internet Security is a paid solution and it was not far off from being the worst in protecting from the list of Malware threats. They were next to last on the list, with being only slightly better than MSE.

The highest rated AV from the test results to offer the best protection against malware attacks is Kaspersky, which happens to be a paid solution.

You do not need to necessarily go out and spend money on an AV. However, if you do run MSE, a better option is to run Malwarebytes, which is effective and free.

For more ways to secure your data and systems, contact your local IT professionals.

Microsoft Announces End Of Windows 7 Mainstream Support

Softwaremicrosoft, operating system, support, windows 7Ophtek, LLC

Jul 2014

Microsoft has announced that by January 2015 several products would be reaching the end of mainstream support including all versions of Windows 7.

What does mainstream support mean exactly?

This means the company would stop providing free updated features and performance improvements to Windows 7. After the ending of mainstream support the company would start to provide extended support in which security fixes would be free.

How will this affect you?

This decision affects a lot of businesses that are either already using Windows 7 or are migrating all their systems to Windows 7 from Windows XP. The businesses are now going to rely on Microsoft’s extended support for updates and other enhancements for their operating systems. It should be noted that Microsoft has confirmed that all Windows 7 users will continue to receive security fixes and patches up to 2020.

Although the percentage of Windows 7 users around the globe is quite high, it is likely to remain high due to the unpopularity of Windows 8 with it’s different interface. Windows 7 users need not worry over this announcement. Although you have the option of upgrading to the new Windows 8, at this point there is no need to since there will be extended support . By the end of the extended support a large number of Windows 7 users would likely already have upgraded to a newer operating systems.

Extending support

Microsoft might possibly decide to continue the mainstream support for all versions of Windows 7 for a little longer. This was the case when they announced the end of mainstream support for Windows XP. In total Microsoft supported Windows XP for almost 13 years.

For more advice on managing your office computers and planning for IT changes, contact your local IT professionals.

Post Windows XP: Exploit Attack is Imminent

Security, Software, Uncategorizedmicrosoft, office, Windows, xpOphtek, LLC

Apr 2014

The original Windows XP Background location taken in Sonoma Valley, California

Windows XP has officially been retired by Microsoft but does that mean you can safely continue running it at home or at the office? A report put out by security firm F-Secure has recently highlighted some ways to stay somewhat safe while continuing to run the expired Operating System, while emphasizing that an exploit could be ready any day now:

1. Install the final updates for Windows XP from Microsoft

2. Make sure Microsoft Office is fully patched

3. Update all third party software

4. Run a firewall and antimalware protection

5. Run Micrososft’s EMET (Enhanced Migration Experience Toolkit)

Although these steps can help delay a system compromise, once Windows XP has been infected it is considerably more difficult to clean than other operating systems. Virus and malware writers will now be able to look at the updates released for Windows 7 or 8 and know exactly where to attack Windows XP since the operating systems share some similar code. The report also goes on to mention that an exploit on Windows XP will occur soon.

The latest F-Secure report highlights risks of continuing to run Windows XP

According to the report, web based attacks and infections doubled in the second half of 2013. It is important to note that modern virus writers and criminals often do not want to damage a computer system. It is much more lucrative to hold the system ransom for money or to steal sensitive information such as bank logins, email accounts and credit card information.

For more guidance on moving away from Windows XP or securing your home or office, contact your local IT professionals.

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