Microsoft has just released Office 2016, but some people are still using versions of the suite that are more than a decade old.It gets developed, released, updated and eventually abandoned usually after a new version or two has been released in the meantime.
![]() ![]() Take Windows XP. Despite the fact it was released all the way back in 2001, and had its support terminated back in 2014, miilions of people around the world still use it. In 2019, it was ranked the fifth most popular operating system in the world. But the same goes for anyone using an old version of Office, Microsofts hugely popular suite of office-based applications. Microsoft has obviously long since abandoned older versions of Office. Office 2010 had its mainstream support ended in October 2015 a five-year lifecycle is usual for all Microsoft software. That means unless any outstanding bugs affect its (or Windows) security, they wont be fixed. The clock then starts ticking for extended support, which ends in October 2020. After that, Microsoft wont issue updates of any kind, and Office 2010 will join Office 2007, Office 2003, Office XP, Office 97 and Office 95 in the hall of obsolete Microsoft Office suites. Microsoft Office Xp S Upgrade To TheObsolete doesnt mean useless, of course, and anecdotal evidence suggests that Office users tend to stick with what theyve got rather than rush to upgrade to the latest version unless theyre Office 360 subscribers, that is. Microsoft Office Xp S Mac And WereAnd by anecdotal we mean that this piece is being written on Office 2008 for Mac and were sure many of you are still using something older. Office XP (from 2002) still installs and runs perfectly well with Windows 10, for example. But is it really a good idea to keep using Office software thats so old. Even though you might not miss or want the new features found in later (and still supported) versions of Microsoft Office, and your version of Office 2000 (or whatever) still works perfectly well, youre putting your PC at risk by using it. Security weaknesses and bugs in Office, just like in Windows, can be exploited by hackers in a wide range of ways. A modern web browser and up-to-date anti-malware software might be able to intercept many kinds of attacks, but they can still miss one thats delivered via an infected Word document attached to an email. Word 2016 may stop it in its tracks, but Word 2000, which hasnt been updated in anyway since 2009 Probably not. Microsoft Office Xp S Code In TheIn fact Microsoft only fixed a serious security hole in Office 2007, 2010, 2013 in August, 2015, whereby An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerabilities could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. ![]() So while its easy to treat advice like this as just another way to persuade people to spend more money with Microsoft, the bottom line is simple. If your version of Office is no longer supported and updated, youre putting your PC at risk by using it. For now, that means if youre still happily using Office 2007 and 2010, you can safely continue to do so until 2017 and 2020, respectively just dont expect any non-critical bugs to be fixed.
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