Are you using an old version of Office? Microsoft wants to know


A new Windows update should help Microsoft identify how many PCs are running older versions of Office 2013, 2010, and 2007.

If you purchased an Office license within the last 13 years, your office suite is probably still working. But if you have Office 2013, Office 2010 or Office 2007, be aware that these versions will no longer receive patches – or no longer receive them.

This is why Microsoft wants to count how many Windows PCs still work with these older versions dating from the pre-cloud era. And to find out, the creator of Windows launched an optional update to its OS last month.

Identify the number of users soon to be out of support

“This update is intended to help Microsoft identify the number of users who are out of support (or soon to be out of support) of Office, including Office 2013, Office 2010, and Office 2007,” Microsoft said in a document detailing KB502175 update.

“Versions of Office that are no longer supported do not receive security updates that provide the latest protection against known vulnerabilities. Additionally, unsupported versions may experience performance and reliability issues over time,” the document also reads.

This update was released in mid-January for Windows 11 22H2 users in the Windows Release Preview channel (the last channel before the general availability of an update), and was spotted by the German tech site Deskmodder. It was also made available to all Windows users recently, via Windows Update. Microsoft then updated its information, reports The Register.

Office 2013 will soon no longer be supported

This update comes before the end of support for Office 2013, scheduled for April 11.

After this date, Office 2013 will no longer receive Extended Security Updates. Office apps will still work, but Microsoft won’t fix vulnerabilities, whether old or newly discovered, that could be exploited by attackers to take control of a PC or operating system. “All of your Office 2013 applications will continue to work. However, you can expose yourself to serious and potentially dangerous security risks,” Microsoft warns.

Automatic update

“This update collects diagnostic and performance data to estimate usage of installed versions of Office to help determine the best way to support and treat these systems. This data is collected from registry entries and APIs. The update does not collect licensing details, customer content, or non-Microsoft product data.

If you have installed Office applications on Windows and selected the “Receive updates for other Microsoft products” option, you will automatically receive the update. To find out if you have enabled this feature, go to Windows Update > Advanced Options.

Microsoft clarifies that installing the update does not require restarting the device.

Source: ZDNet.com





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