Macro Security (Word 2002)

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Our Word global templates are consistent throughout the organization, so there was no need to have them as part of the personal profile, under Document & Settings. We created a folder under Office 10, RB-Startup. We specified that folder as the Startup folder under Tools|Options|File Location.

We have discovered that with macro security set to High, there is no warning regarding the macros, and any AutoExec macros in the templates run without warning when the template loads.

I suppose we could return to the standard Startup folder, but for various reasons we prefer not to do this. The bigger problem, of course, is that MicroSoft seems to be inviting viruses by not applying macro virus protection to any and all folders that might be specified as the Startup folder.

Has anyone experience this, know of a fix, or have additional comments?

Thanks,
Richard Barrett

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You should be able to disable this behaviour by clearing the checkbox “Trust all installed add-ins and templates”. Use Tools > Macro > Security > Trusted Sources to locate this screen.

You will then run into problems if you have any unsigned third party add-ins (such as Acrobat PDFMaker). See for example Post 150636

StuartR

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I should have mentioned that I am aware of the “Trust all installed add-ins and templates.” Yes, we do have DLLs (Legal Dictionary, etc.) and other add-ins that need to load.

I’m not sure I’m clear on how that check box (Trust all installed add-ins) interfaces with the macro security level. Can you give me some help with that?

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Macro security level High says don’t run macros unless then have been signed by a trusted source.

“Trust all installed add-ins and templates” effectively causes all templates stored in your User Templates folder and Word Startup folder to behave as though they have been signed by a trusted source.

If you set Macro security level to High and check the box for “Trust all…” then you won’t be able to run unsigned macros that you collect from e-mail and web pages, hopefully protecting you from most viruses. If the virus writer finds a way of copying their document to one of your template folders then it would be able to run even though it isn’t signed.

Does that help?

StuartR

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I still have one problem understanding this. If I put global templates into the Startup folder (office 10start) or into the Startup folder under Documents & Settings, High security will cause a warning to appear for an unsigned macro. However, if I put the global templates into another folder, which I have specified as the Startup folder under Tools|Options|File Locations, High security does NOT display a warning. It seems that macro security is folder specific. I’m afraid I don’t follow that.

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> If I put global templates into the Startup folder (office 10start) or into the Startup folder under
> Documents & Settings, High security will cause a warning to appear for an unsigned macro.

Strange. That doesn’t happen on my systems. I normally run with High security and Trust installed add-ins. I just created a new template with a single macro in it. I didn’t sign the macro, I saved it in a normal folder and then exited word and copied it to the Startup folder under documents and settings. It loaded with no warning. I am running Word 2000 SR1a, could this be a difference between Word 2000 and Word 2002?

StuartR

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This apparently is a difference with Word 2000 and 2002. I just tried this iwht 2000, and I get the results you say you get.

With 2002, using Word’s Startup folders seems to get different treatment than a Startup folder created (and specified under Tools|Options|File Location) by the user.

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Have you installed Office XP Service Pack 1?

StuartR

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Yes.

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It sounds like a bug to me.

StuartR

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Your question is eerily similar to this thread.

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