MS Office secretly connects to my Mac and scans my activity. How??? Security hole? Exploitable by hackers?

Nothing wrong, Office is just preventing you from running software with the same serial number on two machines at the same time. Adobe and Quark have been doing that for well over a decade.

As long as the software can see another computer on your network running the same software, using the same product activation key, you will get that message.

The Home/Student version has multiple product keys. The full version, which includes Outlook, is a single license only.

But my question is: How does the software do that?

It scans the local network for computers trying to "share" software that is only supposed to be licensed for one computer. I can't give you a technical answer, I can just tell you that's what it's doing.

then what's preventing less ethical coders from deploying similar but more sinister malware with the same capability?

Nothing. Any vendor of any software, from a one person shareware or freeware app to a company the size of Apple, Microsoft or Adobe could sneak in damaging code. Any company that wants to stay in business though would never allow it.

In a typical software company (particularly larger ones), you have not only the people who write the code, but also system analysts who review the code looking for flaws or anything else that shouldn't be there.

Now I have the fear that if I'm using a wifi hotspot in a cafe or wherever, someone else with hacking skills on that same hotspot could basically see what I'm doing on my computer, without my knowledge.

The software to pry (they hope undetected) into other folks' computers on an open network like that has been around for years. That's why you at least need to have your firewall enabled when using a wifi hotspot.

How does MS Office on one computer even know that my other computer is running and has MS Office open?

By registering a Bonjour service that other copies of Office listen for on the local network. The same way you can tell what file servers and printers there are. It's not a security hole.

You can turn off Bonjour advertising, if you feel up to doing some minor editing.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3789

There's one other thing you should be aware of. Although Bonjour is not a security hole, it's quite possible that Office phones home when it detects unlicensed copies in use. That could result in a raid by the BSA. If I were you, I'd make sure I was in compliance with the licensing terms, or (preferably) I'd get rid of Office altogether.

Does having the firewall turned on slow down my Internet connection in any way?

No. At least nothing you'd notice. It's main purpose is to keep people from the outside from remotely accessing your computer.

Will turning on the firewall setting prevent me from connecting to my printers, unless I first turn the firewall off?

No.

or (preferably) I'd get rid of Office altogether.

Nothing against you in particular, Linc, but I'm really tired of seeing this hatred of anything Microsoft. There is nothing wrong with Office. Millions of users on both Mac and Windows use it daily. In some cases, they must since free alternatives like Open Office can't replicate every feature.

Does anyone know..... if you're not connected to the internet, how can Microsoft Office "talk" to another computer whre it's installed?

mgrigsby wrote:

Does anyone know..... if you're not connected to the internet, how can Microsoft Office "talk" to another computer whre it's installed?

If you're not connected via wi-fi or ethernet, then your computer can't share information. End of story.

[there are ways to connect via other connections, but let's assume you're not doing anything very unusual]

Kurt Lang wrote:

or (preferably) I'd get rid of Office altogether.

Nothing against you in particular, Linc, but I'm really tired of seeing this hatred of anything Microsoft. There is nothing wrong with Office. Millions of users on both Mac and Windows use it daily. In some cases, they must since free alternatives like Open Office can't replicate every feature.

Really? My desktop Mac Pro currently has a copy of MS Word than can neither copy & paste nor print. Wiping preferences, restoring and reinstalling have done nothing to help. I'll grant you that Microsoft's installations aren't quite as bizarrely weedy as Adobe's, but giant-corporation software is almost always an enormous pain to troubleshoot, compared to just about anything else.

Also, since when was necessity -- having to use Office -- a reason not to hate the publisher? That's ridiculous.

[my workaround of using my laptop every time I need to access MS Word to make a PDF is only slightly less painful than the alternative of a fresh system install -- solely to humour Word -- would be]

Sorry, I but I have never had a single problem using any version of Office for Mac. And I've had every version all the way back to OS 9. The problems you're having are not typical.