System password displayed in plain text on splash screen

[jviss]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

My Mac system password is displayed in plain text on the splash screen for all MS Office 2008 applications.

It is displayed on the splash screen on the third line down at the top left of the splash screen. The first line is "This product is licensed to:"; the second is my name. The third is my system password, in plain text. The fourth line is "Product ID: xxx...."

My jaw dropped when I noticed it. I tried Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Entourage, adn it is the same on all.

Either I misunderstood a field when installing Office and put my password in where I should have typed something else, or this is a serious security problem.

Can someone please explain this? Tell me what I did wrong, and how I can fix this so my password is not displayed, please!

Thanks,

jv

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

My Mac system password is displayed in plain text on the splash
screen for all MS Office 2008 applications.

It is displayed on the splash screen on the third line down at the
top left of the splash screen. The first line is "This product is
licensed to:"; the second is my name. The third is my system
password, in plain text. The fourth line is "Product ID: xxx...."

My jaw dropped when I noticed it. I tried Word, Powerpoint, Excel,
and Entourage, adn it is the same on all.

Either I misunderstood a field when installing Office and put my
password in where I should have typed something else, or this is a
serious security problem.

My guess is that you entered your password in the Company field when you
were entering your Name, Company and Product ID.

Delete these two files and you'll be prompted to re-enter your
activation key.

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008/Microsoft Office 2008
Settings.plist

where " ~ " is your home folder, and

/Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/OfficePID.plist

This will not cause you to lose any information.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

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[jviss]

Hi Bill,

Thanks. By "activation key," do you mean "Product key?"

 

[jviss]

Hi again, Bill,

What I did was to edit these files using textedit. They are plain text files. The string shows up in both - I think you are right, I must have just instinctively typed my password in the company field. The string used in the splash screen comes from the second file you mentioned. I just edited those files, and all is well.

jv