Microsoft Office behaves similar to spyware

Discussion in 'privacy problems' started by summerheat, May 24, 2018.

  1. summerheat

    summerheat Registered Member

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    Frank Rieger, speaker of the famous CCC (Chaos Computer Club), shows in a Twitter post that just starting Word requires 31 network connections. He writes:

     
  2. summerheat

    summerheat Registered Member

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  3. reasonablePrivacy

    reasonablePrivacy Registered Member

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    Unfortunately most of the software is going to have "cloud" aka web-app version. I mean having written in Javascript frontend running in web browser, loaded from the company servers and backend in the cloud.
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2018
  4. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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  5. deBoetie

    deBoetie Registered Member

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    Of course, this does not apply if you put internet restrictions on Office 2010 in Sandboxie. Just sayin....
     
  6. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    Another set of apps to block outbound connections. The list is getting longer and longer...
     
  7. summerheat

    summerheat Registered Member

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    Well, I'm happy with LibreOffice on Linux.
     
  8. noway

    noway Registered Member

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    Using Outlook 2013 and when I open it up I only get 2 outbound connections to Microsoft (52.109.xxx.xxx on port 443) which close after a minute or so. Same when I open Word. Guess I'm lucky!
     
  9. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Uh I been screaming this same thing since Windows 98. Glad to see someone someplace is making a bigger issue of it.
     
  10. reasonablePrivacy

    reasonablePrivacy Registered Member

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    or blockSoftMaker FreeOffice by AppArmor (Gnu/Linux), but unfortunately this does not solve problem of updates :(
     
  11. Chuck57

    Chuck57 Registered Member

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    Question......maybe a dumb question. I've got MS Office 2013 and have noticed increased CPU and disk activity since installing. Would that be connected in some way? I like Office but would happily dump 2013 and go back to office 2007 if it cuts all the disk and cpu thrashing.
     
  12. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    I don't worry. But then, I only use anonymously obtained Windows and Office installs in VMs. For sensitive stuff, those VMs don't have Internet access after installation and updating. I typically install and update via nested VPN chains plus Tor. Then I use a fresh clone for each project.
     
  13. deBoetie

    deBoetie Registered Member

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    You can also use Firejail with no networking to prevent internet access.- aren't updates done via the normal channels? Not that familiar with FreeOffice.
     
  14. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Hi again @Chuck57

    I agree and take issue the same with disk thrashing and CPU spikings that Microsoft after all these years just doesn't seem to be able to remedy. The issue is persistent just the same as they haven't put their pea brains together yet to prevent or create a better unit where a user doesn't have to REBOOT RESET REBOOT every single time a new program is inserted onto the O/S.

    The day someone or some industry makes that discovery and/or creates a way that doesn't require it, will be EPIC!
     
  15. Chuck57

    Chuck57 Registered Member

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    Easter, my old pal from Powershadow days. I didn't have the problem with Office 2007. This 2013 though, which I got for a great price, I'm constantly seeing high numbers in CPU and disk. It's enough of a nuisance with my laptop whining away that I'm ready to write it off as a learning experience and dump the whole thing.
     
  16. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Office 2010 is the last one I like. I am sticking with it.
     
  17. deBoetie

    deBoetie Registered Member

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    Ditto, and it's the last one where Sandboxie worked without issues.

    In one way, apart from the dismal descent into the cloud, my biggest beef with Office is simply the glacial level of change and the pathetic level of innovation. I'm used to corporations milking cash cows, but it's got absurd. For instance, why hasn't Word got a tabbed mode?
     
  18. noway

    noway Registered Member

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    What was not working with Office 2013 in SBIE? (Using both with no issues but of course my config will be different and therefore I may not have same problems but I would like to make sure I haven't got a problem I haven't noticed yet)
     
  19. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Powershadow Rocked!! It might be frowned on due to the newest is always better belief, but somewhat similar I run only lappys and I have found Office 2007 does about all I need it to do too but without the squeaky wheels on my units drives/CPU, one of which only recently upgraded to SSD but rather run Office that uses the least amount of energy, which is the older version of course for now.
     
  20. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    Is the software so badly written it requires 31+ connections just to get started? Is the present-day version so horribly coded it requires continual updating? If so, then why not stick with an older and stable version that-just-works?!?! You know.. wait till they work the bugs out and stuff! Heh..
     
  21. reasonablePrivacy

    reasonablePrivacy Registered Member

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    It probably not requires these connections. Power off your router, pull the crossover cable out and see what happens. It just happens that it can, so it takes advantage of that.

    When it comes to stability, reliability bugs it is probably stable enough to not update it in most cases. Security bugs are different. They are found in almost all written software, current and older versions.
     
  22. deBoetie

    deBoetie Registered Member

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    At one stage when they first released O2013, because of the AppContainer issue (they were starting, at last, to restrict its privileges), it expectedly "broke" Sandboxie - I believe they've fixed that now but I can't be bothered to "upgrade" to something I don't really value much.
     
  23. Chuck57

    Chuck57 Registered Member

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    Ditched office 2013 and put 2007 Enterprise back in. Right now, with Opera browser running and Word 2007 open, memory is 25% as opposed to 32% or more. Disk is at 0 and CPU 1%. Big differences that my laptop must appreciate.
     
  24. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    :thumb:

    Good deal. That HD thrashing and heavy leaning on the CPU just doesn't sit well anymore. Software should be better made these days and many of them really are. Threw away plenty of mechanical HD's in those past O/S's that took a beating from poorly designed software to heavy video/flash editing.

    Can't understand why Office has such difficulty when one would expect every new version release to run smoother with smaller impact.
     
  25. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    Because cloud and monetization.
     
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