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Microsoft Office 2010 has new security features that put you in control. You will also see far fewer pop-up windows and other messages than you did in previous versions of Office.

Here are a few of them:

Message Bar. The Office 2010 Message Bar alerts you to possible threats from active content. Active content in Office 2010 includes:

• ActiveX controls
• Add-ins
• Data connections
• Macros
• Spreadsheet links
• Cybercriminals use active content to launch viruses, worms, and other malicious software. Once activated, these viruses can steal data, damage your computer or network, or use your computer for illegal activities without your knowledge or consent.

Active content from a trusted source can be useful with many Office programs. The Message Bar displays a warning when you try to open a file that contains active content, and then lets you decide if the source is trustworthy.

Protected View. The Protected View Message Bar appears when there are potentially serious threats in a file that arrived by email, was downloaded from the Internet, or originated from other locations that are considered unsafe. More on that here.

If you don’t want to use Protected View, you can turn it off. More on this here.

File Block. Files that were created with previous versions of Office programs are more likely to contain viruses and other malicious content. File Block prevents you from opening these older files. But like most features in Office 2010, you can shut off the feature, change it, or turn it on again. For more information, see here.

Data Execution Prevention. Add-ins are applications that create optional commands in your installed programs. Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a new security feature of Office 2010 that causes your program to stop when add-in code doesn’t meet certain criteria. When you restart the program, a message alerts you to the potentially dangerous add-in. DEP helps protect your computer and network from accidental bad code, or code with malicious intent. For more information, see Data Execution Prevention.

Trust Center. As with previous versions of Office, you can go to the Trust Center to view, change, turn on, or turn off most security and privacy features. More on this here.

Sourced from: Microsoft.