Office 2008 12.1.2, Office 2004 11.5.1 released; problems installing

Microsoft has released Office Office 2008 12.1.2 and Office 2004 11.5.1.

Office 2008 12.1.2 includes the following general enhancements:

• Security is improved This update fixes vulnerabilities in Office 2008 that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. For more information, see the security bulletin that is listed earlier in this document.
• AppleScript reliability is improved This update fixes an issue that prevents Office 2008 applications from running AppleScript scripts from the Script menu until after you restart the Office 2008 application.

Application-specific enhancements are listed here. According to Microsoft, Word opens more quickly, readability of headers and footers is improved and Excel files with previously invalid characters now open properly.

Office 2004 11.5.1 includes the following general enhancements:

• Security is improved This update fixes vulnerabilities in Office 2004 that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. For more information, see the security bulletin that is listed in the "Introduction" section.

Application-specific enhancements are listed here. The only enhancement: the Japanese postal code dictionary is updated in Entourage 2004.

Problems installing Some MacFixIt readers are reporting issues installing Office 2008 12.1.2.

MacFixIt reader Ross Barkman writes:

"I updated my Office 2004 installation to 11.5.1 (I only use it when I need VBA), then tried up update Office 2008 to 12.1.2. The Office 2008 12.1.2 Update installer claims "You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.2 Update on this volume. A Version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume". However, Office 2008 12.1.1 is there and functioning normally."

Note that Microsoft Office 2008 Service Pack 1 (12.1) and the 12.1.1 update must be installed before 12.1.2 can be applied.

The first, and simplest potential fix to try in the case of a failed 12.1.2 installation: manually download the standalone update then drag the update installer from the disk image to the desktop.

Failing that, move on to this more tedious procedure:

1. Quit all Microsoft applications
2. Drag the Microsoft Office 2008 folder to the Trash and empty the trash
3. Reinstall Office 2008 from your original installation media.
4. Apply Service Pack 1
5. Restart
6. Apply the 12.1.1 updater with no applications running
7. Apply the 12.1.2 updater with no applications running.

Resources

Office 2008 12.1.2

here

Office 2004 11.5.1

here

Microsoft Office 2008 Serv...

12.1.1 update

standalone update

Service Pack 1

12.1.1 updater

12.1.2 updater

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