Real World Computing
Fixing OOXML
Searching the Knowledge Base for the error turns up article 941636, which gives three possible resolutions and a workaround. Solution one is to ask the person who created the file to save it in a format that isn't blocked, which isn't of much use if the file was created 12 years ago by someone who no longer works there and you no longer have the software to open it. Solution two is to locate a computer that has Office 2003 without SP3 installed on it and use that to open the file. Since Microsoft recommends you update your computers as soon as a service pack becomes available and this service pack was pushed out to users through the Microsoft Update web service without any prior warning that it would block access to some files, you're unlikely to have a machine left that you can do this on. Solution three is to use the batch conversion tool in Word 2003 to convert files to Word 2003 format, or the batch conversion tool available for Office 2007 to convert files to Office 2007 formats. While this will work for the old Word and PowerPoint files, it won't help with CorelDRAW, Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro Pro or dBASE files. The workaround Microsoft suggests is to edit the Registry (or to deploy Administrative Template Group Policy Objects if you're a sysadmin) to re-enable opening and saving these files.
Microsoft's description of the service pack and the blocking of these file types initially blamed the file types themselves for being "less secure", and used that as the justification for blocking access to them. Had that been true, I might have agreed that Microsoft was probably right to want to block access but had gone about it in a peculiarly heavy-handed and incompetent way. However, as the hue and cry about this Draconian action grew, Microsoft softened its stance and admitted it isn't the file types themselves that pose the security risk, but the code used within Office 2003 to parse these types! Microsoft chose to block access to the files rather than fix the insecure code in its own product, probably because it was easier and cheaper to do.
Archivists across the world, and many companies and individuals have expressed their objection to this policy and Microsoft has had to mollify them as best it can. Now, Knowledge Base article 938810, which describes how to get around the block, points to four small REG files you can download and run that will unblock the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and CorelDRAW files automatically without you having to endanger your PC by editing the Registry manually. (Four more REG files are available that will restore the blocks.) In hindsight, it would have been cheaper - in terms of programming and testing time and goodwill - for Microsoft to have fixed the problem code or provided an over-rideable warning on opening one of the affected file types rather than harshly removing access without any consultation or easy-to-use workaround.
Office 2003 SP3 is described in this Knowledge Base article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923618, which can be obtained from the Microsoft Update or Office Update websites or from the Microsoft Download Center at www.pcpro.co.uk/links/162ao1.
