Macros

[Rhisiart]

Could someone explain to me what macros are? I have received some excel files recently that contain macros and my mac asks of I want to open them.

 

[bobw]

http://comped.brown.edu/handouts/index.php/Macros

http://chacocanyon.com/smm/sessions/session13/page02.shtml

http://www.geekarticles.com/article/What-Are-Macros-and-Why-Would-You-Use-Them.html

 

[Rhisiart]

Thanks Bob.

I wonder whether it is prudent to disable macros when given the option, (from a security point of view) or is this unecessary on Mac OS?

 

[bobw]

I would, unless you need them. If one has a virus and you pass it to a PC it will cause that machine a problem.

 

[dmetzcher]

I would, unless you need them. If one has a virus and you pass it to a PC it will cause that machine a problem.

I would have to agree. If you aren't using macros, turn off the feature. If you have a virus scanner on your Mac, it might pick up the macros if they are malicious in nature. Since you can infect machines running Windows with a macro virus, you might consider getting a virus scanner. Even with macros turned off, you could still potentially pass along an infected Excel file, even if all you did was receive it from one party and pass it along to another.

 

[Rhisiart]

Yes, this makes sense. Thanks.

The articles suggested by Bob were informative.