Tag Archives: Excel

Office trouble: Excel calculation issues, and Outlook starts in safe mode (January 2023)

[German]In this post I would like to put online a small collection of problems or inconsistencies around Microsoft Office. The problems have come to my attention through the readership in the last few days. Possibly they are isolated cases, but … Continue reading

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Issue with Excel 2013 Update KB5002242 (August 9, 2022)

[German]Microsoft has released security update KB5002242 for Excel 2013 on August 9, 2022 (Patchday). The patch is supposed to eliminate both a vulnerability and a bug in this Excel version. However, there is feedback from readers on the blog that … Continue reading

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How to find weak passwords in Active Directory and eliminate them with PowerShell

[Sponsored Post]Weak or compromised passwords are a known gateway for attackers. If you are able to identify which users in Active Directory (AD) are threatened by this, then PowerShell can help to remedy it. However, PowerShell scripts cannot eliminate basic AD deficits, other tools are needed for this. More ...

Office 365 version 2206.15330.20196: Excel bug prevents display of cell contents (OP396850)

[German]Users who have upgraded Microsoft Office 365 as a Click-2-Run variant to version 2206.15330.20196 (released June 29, 2022) report a strange bug. In Microsoft Excel, the contents of cells (rows and/or columns)in a spreadsheet are no longer displayed, but are … Continue reading

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Malicious CSV files can install BazarBackdoor

[German]Cyber criminals have found a way to abuse text-based CSV files in order to install BazarBackdoor malware on victims' systems. Security researchers probably came across this fact while monitoring a phishing campaign. The culprit is the ability to access the … Continue reading

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Microsoft disables Excel 4.0 macro support by default

[German]Good news in terms of security and Office, because Microsoft finally plugs a gateway for malware by disabling the default support for Excel 4.0 macros. This mitigates an announced and long overdue vulnerability. Advertising

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Excel XLL addins abused for malware installation

[German]Here is another security topic, dealing with attacks via Excel XLL addins ein. This attack method has been known since July 2021 and is used by malware groups. I just came across a case where this approach was used to … Continue reading

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Microsoft Security Update Releases (Feb. 17, 2021)

[German]Small addendum from this week: Microsoft has published a summary of changed security descriptions for Excel RCE vulnerabilities and also points to revised servicing stack updates. Here is a brief overview of the info I received via email on 2/18/2021. … Continue reading

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Windows 10: Excel window lags during dragging

[German]Today still a strange issue, which a blog reader reported by mail. Microsoft Excel 2016 lags under Windows 10 Version 1709/1809, when a window with an open table is dragged on the desktop. Advertising

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Office 365 C2R: Excel ODBC driver missing

[German]Here's a little tip for Office 365 administrators: Click-2-Run does not install any ODBC drivers for Microsoft Excel. Blog reader Karl Ebbing-Westerhaus (@tweet_alqama) has found a solution to the problem. Advertising

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Excel and the Power Query vulnerability

[German]Security researchers pointed out a few days ago a potential vulnerability in Microsoft Excel Power Query add-in that could allow a new attack vector. Office security mechanisms can be bypassed and the user does not need to actively intervene to … Continue reading

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