Tag: microsoft office

The OLE Overlook: High-Stakes Security Bypass in Microsoft Office (CVE-2026-21509)

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

The “trust but verify” era of document security has been blindsided by a sophisticated new threat that turns Microsoft’s own integration features against the user.

This week, Microsoft disclosed a critical zero-day vulnerability, CVE-2026-21509, which allows attackers to bypass core Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) security mitigations within the Microsoft Office Suite.

The flaw is actively exploited in the wild, affects most versions of Office, and allows malicious actors to execute unauthorized code when a victim opens a compromised file.

The essentials

  • Name of vulnerability: Microsoft Office Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability
  • Severity: Important
  • ID: CVE-2026-21509
  • Affected Software: Office 2016, Office 2019, Office LTSC 2021, Office LTSC 2024, Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise

Microsoft has a solution for the issue that is applied automatically in some cases and requires an update in others.

In short: If Office 2016 or 2019 is used, an update is required to patch the vulnerability. All newer versions of Office do not require an update, as Microsoft is adding the protection using a service-side change. However, Office needs to be restarted before this protection is applied.

Downloads, if necessary, are provided on the official Update Guide website linked above (under ID).

Microsoft published mitigations as well, but these are not really required, unless updates can’t be installed immediately. The mitigations require Registry edits and as such a restart before they protect the application from potential exploits.

Microsoft 365 Premium: here is what the new plan is all about

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Up until very recently, home users had two options when it came to Microsoft 365, Microsoft’s cloud-based Office and storage offering: get the personal plan, for a single user, or the family plan, which allowed up to six users to use the service.

Personal, the cheaper option, gave users several benefits, including access to all Office apps on up to five devices, one terabyte of online space, access to Microsoft Copilot, and more. Family increased the user limit to six, and allowed every user to install the apps on up to five devices. Also, each user got 1 terabyte of cloud data for their files.

Now, Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 Premium. It is a brand new plan for individuals that costs more than twice as much as the personal plan.

For around $200 per year, with an introductory offer of paying just $100 for the first year, home users gain every benefit of the family plan, plus two additional features exclusive to the premium plan:

  • Highest usage limits for select Copilot features
  • Access to Copilot features currently exclusive to Premium

As you can see, premium is all about Microsoft’s Copilot AI. The two main benefits are increased limits and access to features that the cheaper Microsoft 365 plans do not support at all.

In short, Microsoft is combining Microsoft 365 Family with Copilot Pro to form a single subscription: Microsoft 365 Premium.

Here is an overview of what premium plan users get regarding limits and features:

Copilot AI featureMicrosoft 365 PersonalMicrosoft 365 FamilyMicrosoft 365 Premium
Agents15 Deep Research tasks15 Deep Research tasks25 tasks divided between Analyst, Researcher, and Deep Research
Actions (automate tasks)NoneNone10 tasks per month
Audio overview in Notebooks, Podcasts6 users per dayExtensive use Extensive use
Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps (Draft, Rewrite, Summarize, Analyze data (Excel)), Image generation and more60 credits per month60 credits per monthExtensive usage beyond standard credit limits.
Photos AgentNoneNoneExtensive use
Vision10 minutes per day10 minutes per day15 minutes per day
Voice30 minutes per day30 minutes per day60 minutes per day
Exclusive access to Advanced AI featuresNoNoYes

Some notes:

Certain AI features are only available for the account holder. That is bad news for Family plan or Premium plan users who are not, as they may not access these AI features.

Microsoft uses the term “extensive use” several times, but fails to provide specifics. It does not reveal what extensive use means in minutes or tasks.

In another overview, Microsoft reveals that premium plan subscribers gain the highest usage in certain features, including AI image generation. It is again unclear how this differentiates from the limited usage of personal and family plans.

Is Microsoft 365 Premium the right account? It might be, but only if you are heavily interested in AI features, have run into usage limits with a free account or the other two plans, or want access to exclusive features, which gives users access to Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365.

So, if you are subscribed to Copilot Pro already and use Microsoft 365 Personal or Family, you may take advantage of the introductory offer of around $100 for the first year. Note though that this advantage is lost in the second year when the price jumps to $200.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft is moving features into Copilot to extract more money from its customers

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Customers all over the world are used to frequent price increases of subscriptions by now. Many online services that require a subscription increase prices regularly, often once per year or every second year.

That is bad enough, especially if the service does not get any better because of it. While services argue that inflation and rising costs force them to increase the price of their product, it is getting harder and harder for them to convince customers to accept the price increase and continue their payments.

If only there would be something that would make it clearer for customers to pay more. Microsoft may have found a way, or so it believes: how about removing features from products to move them into another product, that costs extra?

As a Microsoft 365 subscriber, you pay Microsoft a monthly or yearly sum for access to the most recent version of Microsoft Office. You may also get some other features on top of that, including cloud storage space or access to Copilot, Microsoft’s AI.

However, some Copilot features are only for subscribers of plans that are more expensive. Home users, for instance, need a Premium subscription to gain access to otherwise restricted Copilot features.

Microsoft changed the tactic for business customers. Instead of limiting Copilot to a specific plan, Microsoft integrated Copilot AI features into the business plans and announced a price increase arguing that customers would get more out of their subscriptions because of that. Most plans increase by up to three Dollars per month because of that from 2026 onward.

To make Copilot look more valuable, Microsoft started to remove features from Office programs.

Martin Geuß, from the Geman website Dr. Windows, highlighted two recent examples on the site recently:

  • PowerPoint: The option to reuse slides is going to be removed from the presentation software. Users may ask Copilot to do that for them.
  • Excel: The function to extract data from images is being removed. Starting in July 2026, this option won’t be offered anymore. Microsoft says that it is working on a better function that will then be powered by Copilot.

There you have it. You just have to be inventive to justify price increases.

0Patch promises to keep Microsoft Office 2016 and 2019 secure after official end of support

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Windows 10 is not the only Microsoft product that is reaching end of support in October 2025. Microsoft Office 2016 and 2019 will also reach end of support in that month. The two Office products do not get an option for extended security updates, unlike Windows 10.

Windows 10 home users may extend support by a year only, through one of three options, but it is better than nothing. The best option is to run a free open source script, which makes the entire process effortless.

With Office 2016 and Office 2019, Microsoft made it clear that it won’t offer the same option. In other words: Come October 2025, both products will not receive future updates, at least not from Microsoft.

Microsoft suggests that customers either buy the latest Office 2024 application or subscribe to Microsoft 365 instead. This can be expensive. A standard edition license costs about $150, and it will run out of support in five years since its release. A Microsoft 365 subscription costs about $100 per year currently, but discounts are available from time to time. Businesses and Enterprises pay considerably more.

While both Office products will continue to work, they will be affected by security issues that Microsoft will only fix in newer versions of Office.

However, not all is lost. Micro-patching service 0Patch announced that it will add both Office products to the list of supported applications.

The company promises to deliver critical security updates for both Office versions for at least three years. Means, the worst critical issues will be fixed until at least October 2028.

An 0Patch subscription for consumers costs about $30 per year. Good news is that a subscription includes other Microsoft products, including Windows 10, version 22H2, as well.

So, if you run Windows 10 and either Office version, you get security updates for both products for the price of one.

Granted, there is also the option to switch to a free Office suite, such as LibreOffice, instead. It is free, but it may take a bit of adjusting and there is no 100% compatibility.

About “The ActiveX content in this file is blocked” messages in Microsoft Office

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft is changing how Microsoft 365 and Office 2024 handle documents with ActiveX content. Currently, Office displays a prompt that informs users that ActiveX content found in the document is disabled and that they may enable it.

Going forward, Office simply shows “The ActiveX content in this file is blocked” instead, with no option to enable it from the prompt directly. The notification includes a link that opens this support page.

Here are the highlights:

  • ActiveX controls are disabled by default going forward.
  • Users may not interact with existing elements or create new ones by default.
  • This change applies to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio.
  • Users may still enable ActiveX controls.

Microsoft recommends that Office users answer the three questions before they consider enabling ActiveX controls again:

  • Were you expecting to receive a file with ActiveX?
  • Are you being encouraged to change your ActiveX settings by someone you do not know?
  • Are you being encouraged to change your ActiveX settings by a pop-up message?

How to enable ActiveX Controls in Office again

Here are the required steps to enable the controls again. Please note that the change applies to all affected Office applications and all documents that you open in them. In other words, you cannot just enable ActiveX controls for a single document.

The workaround in this case would be to enable the controls and disable them again once you are done with the document in question.

To enable ActiveX Controls:

  • Select File in Office and then Options.
  • Switch to Trust Center.
  • Select the Trust Center Settings button.
  • Activate the ActiveX Settings option on the page.
  • Make sure “Prompt me before enabling all controls with minimal restrictions” is set on the page.
  • Select OK.
  • Select OK again.

Tip: if you never access documents with ActiveX Controls, set the preference to “Disable all controls without notification” instead.

Windows 10

Microsoft to end support for Microsoft 365 apps on Windows 10 on October 14, 2025

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft plans to end support for its Windows 10 operating system on October 14, 2025. Its advice to customers is simple: upgrade the PC or buy a new one to run a supported operating system.

While Microsoft is offering a support extension for the very first time for home users, it is only a one-year extension. Business and Enterprise customers get up to three years of extra support.

Microsoft clearly wants users to forget about Windows 10 as quickly as possible and embrace Windows 11.

To make that even clearer, Microsoft has updated a support page (via Neowin) recently that offers information about support of Microsoft 365 apps and other Office versions on Windows 10.

In short: Microsoft 365 support ends on the same day as Windows 10 support ends officially. It is unclear if users who extend support of Windows 10 by the year also get a Microsoft 365 apps support extension, as Microsoft makes no mention of it anywhere on the page.

Microsoft says that it won’t support the apps anymore on Windows 10 after October 14, 2025. It does not provide more details, leaving the rest to guesswork.

Microsoft 365 apps will no longer be supported on Windows 10 after it reaches end of support on October 14, 2025. Microsoft 365 apps are no longer supported on Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 now that these operating systems have reached their end of support dates. To avoid performance and reliability issues, we recommend that you move to Windows 11.

Here is what is likely going to happen: the apps won’t receive updates anymore, including security updates. Microsoft won’t offer support either anymore. Users are on their own, but the apps may continue to work for a while. After a while, they will be riddled with security issues and also some bugs, as these do not get fixed anymore.

Microsoft 365 subscribers may consider cancelling their subscriptions, as they do not get the full service anymore under Windows 10 after October 14, 2025.

Other Office versions

Standalone Office versions continue to be supported under Windows 10.

Microsoft notes that these versions have their own lifecycle and that support will run out when it comes to an end.

Non-subscription versions of Office, such as Office Home & Student, Office Home & Business, or Office Professional Plus, will continue to be fully supported based on the Fixed Lifecycle Policy.

In other words, if you bought an Office version that is still supported, then it will continue to work under Windows 10 and it will also receive security updates, as before.

Closing Words

There you have it. If you needed another reason why subscriptions are often not the best deal, here it is.

Now it is your turn. Do you have a Microsoft 365 subscription or did you buy Office with a one-time payment? What is your take on Microsoft’s decision to end support on the same day that support for Windows 10 ends? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Microsoft Office 2016 and 2019 support ends in one year

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Next year will be crucial for many Microsoft customers. The company will end support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025.

Next to that, it will also end support for Office 2016 and 2019 on the same day. This means that any of the included applications won’t receive updates anymore after that date.

This includes Word and Excel, but also Skype for Business 2019, Access 2019, or OneNote 2016.

Here is the full list:

Office suites: Office 2016, Office 2019

Office applications: Access 2016, Access 2019, Excel 2016, Excel 2019, OneNote 2016, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019, PowerPoint 2016, PowerPoint 2019, Project 2016, Project 2019, Publisher 2016, Publisher 2019, Skype for Business 2016, Skype for Business 2019, Visio 2016, Visio 2019, Word 2016, Word 2019

Productivity servers: Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019, Skype for Business Server 2015, Skype for Business Server 2019

While the programs continue to work after the end of support date, bugs and security issues will accumulate that won’t get fixed by Microsoft anymore. Microsoft won’t offer technical support either anymore.

Note: There is a good chance that micro-patching service 0Patch will support the two Office versions with updates after support end. A subscription is available for about $25 plus tax per year.

Customers may upgrade to a new version of Office, e.g., Office 2024, which Microsoft released recently, or subscribe to Microsoft 365, which includes Office applications.

The “End of Support: Know your options” table by Microsoft shows products that run out of support and Microsoft’s recommendations.

Obviously, there is no mention of Office alternatives that users may switch to. LibreOffice is probably the best option when it comes to that. It is an open source Office application that comes with pretty much the same apps as Microsoft Office. And it is free to use.

It offers good compatibility with Office document formats, but compatibility is not 100%. While most home users may not notice these differences and issues, Enterprise and business users may.

Do you run any of the applications? What will you do once support runs out? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Office

Microsoft Office 2024 and Office LTSC 2024 announced

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft announced Microsoft Office 2024 for consumers and Office LTSC 2024 for organizations this week. These will be the latest perpetual Office releases. In other words: customers buy these versions once without any recurring costs.

While that sounds like a good deal, perpetual Office versions are supported for only five years by Microsoft. While they may be used after support ends, it comes with risks as security issues are not fixed anymore by Microsoft.

Another factor plays a role. Whereas Microsoft 365 Office apps get constant feature updates, this is not the case for Office 2024 and any other perpetual version of Office. There is no technical reason for this limitation. Microsoft does so to cut costs and push its subscription-based business.

What we know about Office 2024

Microsoft 365

Microsoft does not reveal much about Microsoft Office 2024 or Microsoft Office LTSC 2024 at this point.

The consumer version will be sold for the same price as Office 2021, the last perpetual version of Office that Microsoft released.

The main edition of Office, Office Home & Student 2024, will therefore retail for $149.99. Microsoft Office Home & Business 2024 will retail for $249.99.

Microsoft 365 Personal is available for $69.99 per year. The business editions of Microsoft 365 start at $6 per month and user, but the cheapest version does not include desktop versions of Office programs. The Microsoft 365 Business Standard plan is available for $12.50 per month and user.

Here is the price overview:

Office 2024 Home & StudentOffice 2024 Home & BusinessMicrosoft 365 HomeMicrosoft 365 Business
1-month$149.99$249.99$69.99$12.50
1-year$149.99$249.99$69.99$150
5-years$149.99$249.99$349.95$750

If you just look at the price, it is cheaper to buy a perpetual version of Office.

The main downside to buying one is that it won’t get any new features after release. Some features are also Microsoft 365 exclusive, especially for business users as Microsoft notes:

While Office LTSC 2024 offers many significant improvements over the previous Office LTSC release, as an on-premises product it will not offer the cloud-based capabilities of Microsoft 365 Apps, like real-time collaboration; AI-driven automation in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; or cloud-backed security and compliance capabilities that give added confidence in a hybrid world

Microsoft plans to increase the price of Office LTSC editions by 10% according to the announcement. Furthermore, Microsoft Publisher will not be included anymore in the bundle, as it is being retired.

Closing Words

It is good that Microsoft is giving customers the choice between the subscription-based Microsoft 365 and the perpetual version Office 2024. It is not as good that Microsoft is limiting functionality and blocking any new features from landing in Office 2024 editions after release.

Price-wise, perpetual licenses are still cheaper, if you compare the retail prices. Discounts may change this one way or the other.

There is also LibreOffice, which is free and works well in many cases, but not in all.

Now You: do you use Office?