Old Microsoft bug hits Macs
A two-year old problem in Office 95 has resurfaced--this time in Microsoft's Office 98 for the Mac--and some say it's a design flaw.
The glitch originates from the way Windows 95 and Mac OS 8 treat deleted files. Rather than deleting all the information in a file, the operating systems delete only the reference to the files, leaving the original information intact but inaccessible.
Unfortunately, the operating system will then attach this gypsy information randomly to another file. Thus the "deleted" information can reappear under certain circumstances.
For example, if an email is sent with an attached file that was saved over a deleted file, the deleted data can be viewed through the ASCII text editor used to open the attached file. In this way, a recipient can potentially view sensitive or embarrassing information which was meant to be deleted.
"If you save a document in any of the major Office 97 or Office 98 for Mac applications, and then reopen the document or file in the native format (.doc or .xls) everything is cool," explained Bruce Brown, editor of BugNet, who yesterday put out an alert about the bug. "However, if you open the same file in an ASCII text editor, what you'll see is a residue of stuff that may be on the disk."
"We're working on a fix, and once it's fully tested we'll get it up on the Web site," said a Microsoft spokesman, who noted that the Windows version of the problem is not new, and a patch has long been available via the Net.