I was looking at the Microsoft office folder on my mac and was deleting stuff in the suite that i don't use such as outlook. I also deleted something that said "read me" html. Im curious is it not smart to do this and is it bad for security?
iMac
depends, lots of legit companies have HTML read me's so the content can be updated on a website whenever it's applicable. Someone less discerning might try to use an underhanded method to get you to go to a compromising web page but If your concern is that any HTML file is inherently a security risk then everything on the internet should be avoided with that logic.
So removing the read me html probably won't create some sort of security risk?
removing an install html file could cause incompatibility with some software (not in this case)
it's not security risk if you are not using the file, MS might have included it as an html so if they updated a term of service or patch the html could link to a page that has that info.
I'm not sure what you perceive the security risk as? do you think having this file on your Mac is like a macro that could cause damage or someone could alter the file to direct you to a compromised website.
instead of deleting it you could .zip the file and leave the archive. In the event that any part of the MS Office suite needs it and cant find it you can unzip it. the zip file would be there but inaccessible until it was unarchived.
"do you think having this file on your Mac is like a macro that could cause damage or someone could alter the file to direct you to a compromised website."
This is what I was thinking the security risk would be. I already put it in the trash and emptied the trash so I don't think I can recover it.
So your saying that removing the read me html will potentially make it so Microsoft office can't update and that its only a security risk if I open the read me and it takes me to website and not if I open word or excel?
No, it should be fine, I might not have been clear though:
removing an install html file could cause incompatibility with some software (not in this case)
As more applications become modular and web based its not uncommon to see a product like Adobe Creative Cloud or Microsoft Office or World of Warcraft install HTML files that link to specific content or provide specific information. Something in the application may or may not need that HTML, but generally in the case of a "read me" its not imperative to keep that file, you may just want to read it first and see what it has to say.
Microsoft Office 2011 question
