Microsoft Office 2011 is due out in about ten days, and one major feature added (well, actually returned) to the suite is the ability to write macros in Word and Excel. Macros are routines that use Microsoft’s Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to perform repetitive actions, streamline the way you use the programs, or add features. VBA is a powerful tool, allowing users to use a library of commands to create their own actions, and allowing them to embed these macros in files.
And hence the problem. Office macro viruses are a very common type of malware. While Mac users who stay up-to-date with Office haven’t had to worry about these for the past few years (Office 2008 removed VBA), the re-addition of this feature means that opening Office documents may have risks.
While Office allows you to be warned when a document contains macros, this is of limited use, since you may expect documents to contain macros. But macro viruses can infect any Office installation, copying themselves into new documents. (In most cases, opening an infected Word file, for example, will copy a macro virus to your template documents, which then copy the macro virus to all new files you create, or all files you edit.) In addition, many macro viruses are cross-platform: viruses written to affect Office on Windows can, in many cases, affect the Mac version as well.
For this reason, users of Microsoft Office 2011 will be exposed to security risks if they often exchange Word and Excel files. Intego VirusBarrier X6 protects against macro viruses by spotting them and eradicating them, not only protecting Macs, but also protecting Windows users with whom you share files.
