Microsoft Office 2010 Sandbox Feature

Microsoft Office 2010 has a new sandbox feature for those times when you download a questionable file from someone. This is supposed to greatly reduce malware infections through a commonly used exploit in Office applications. Great job, Microsoft for finally trying to put a stop to those that are using Office files to spread their malware.

The feature, called “Office file validation,” checks to see if a binary file used by Office applications such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel (with .DOC, .PPT and .XLS extensions) is a trusted document or stored in a trusted location. If not, the file will get protected in a sandbox, or “protected view,” which will limit the file’s access to system resources, according to David B. Heise, a member of Microsoft’s Office security team, in a Wednesday blog post.