Microsoft wants to know how many out-of-support copies of Office are installed on Windows PCs, and it intends to find out by pushing a patch through Microsoft Update that it swears is safe, not that you asked.
Quietly mentioned in a support post this week, update KB5021751 is targeting versions of Office “including” 2007 and 2010, both of which have been out of service for several years. Office 2013 is also being asked after as it’s due to lose support this coming April.
“This update will run one time silently without installing anything on the user’s device,” Microsoft said, followed by instructions on how to download and install the update, which Microsoft said has been scanned to ensure it’s not infected by malware.
[…]
Microsoft’s description of its out-of-support Office census update leaves much to the imagination, including whether the paragraph describing installation of the update, directly contradicting the paragraph above, is simply misplaced boilerplate language that doesn’t apply to KB5021751.
Also missing is any explanation of how the update will gather info on Office installations, whether it is collecting any other system information or what exactly will be transmitted and stored by Microsoft.
Because the nature of the update is unclear, it’s also unknown what may be left behind after it runs. Microsoft said that it is a single-run, silent process, but left off mention of traces of the update that may be left behind.
[…]
Source: Microsoft pushing update to count unsupported Office install • The Register
Stay out of MY PC!
Robin Edgar
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