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Wordfast: macrovirus danger?
Thread poster: Diana Cossato (X)
Diana Cossato (X)
Diana Cossato (X)  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 14:24
Hungarian to Italian
+ ...
Nov 24, 2005

I have read many positive reviews on wordfast as a user-friendly, undemanding and inexpensive CAT tool which can handle Trados-only jobs and which, above all, can be used on a Mac too.

However, I haven't seen anybody concerned with the macrovirus threat... if wordfast is a set of macros, doesn't using it expose our beloved Macs to the only kind of virus we should be in fear of? MACROVIRUSES!!!!! Since macros must be enabled for wordfast to run and since there seeems to be no decent ... See more
I have read many positive reviews on wordfast as a user-friendly, undemanding and inexpensive CAT tool which can handle Trados-only jobs and which, above all, can be used on a Mac too.

However, I haven't seen anybody concerned with the macrovirus threat... if wordfast is a set of macros, doesn't using it expose our beloved Macs to the only kind of virus we should be in fear of? MACROVIRUSES!!!!! Since macros must be enabled for wordfast to run and since there seeems to be no decent antivirus for the Mac out there, is wordfast worth the risk?

I'm interested in hearing your opinions! ▲ Collapse
 
Agua
Agua  Identity Verified
Spain
English to Spanish
+ ...
Use the protection Nov 25, 2005

Hello,

I think you could use the protection in Word, and allow macros only when you are going to use the programme.

Trados is a macro too, so unless you use SDLX or similar, you are doomed.

Best,

Mar
 
Diana Cossato (X)
Diana Cossato (X)  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 14:24
Hungarian to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Macrovirus protection: just how does it work? Nov 25, 2005

Hi Mar!

Thanks for your reply, which, however raises one more question:

suppose the word file I have to translate contains a macrovirus, is there a way to make sure it's safe opening before I actually disable the protection in order to run wordfast?

Tricky tricky CAT tools...

Diana
 
Rodolfo Raya
Rodolfo Raya  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:24
English to Spanish
Save as RTF before translating Nov 25, 2005

DianaC wrote:

suppose the word file I have to translate contains a macrovirus, is there a way to make sure it's safe opening before I actually disable the protection in order to run wordfast?


Hi Diana,

RTF files do not support macros. Save .DOC files as RTF before disabling protection. After translating the RTF save it as .DOC again.

All formatting is preserved when converting from .DOC to .RTF and back.

Regards,
Rodolfo
 
Diana Cossato (X)
Diana Cossato (X)  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 14:24
Hungarian to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
There's a good tip! Nov 25, 2005

Hello again Rodolfo!

Beautiful! Thank you very much, I'll try that!
 
tectranslate ITS GmbH
tectranslate ITS GmbH
Local time: 14:24
German
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There are three levels of protection in Word Nov 25, 2005

Who says you have to completely disable protection to run Wordfast?

All you have to do is set security to MEDIUM, which will allow you to select which macros you would like to run and which ones you think might be potentially dangerous.

edit: Mar was already on it.

Here's a more exhaustive explanation, though:

If you set Macro security to Medium and open Word, you will be ask... See more
Who says you have to completely disable protection to run Wordfast?

All you have to do is set security to MEDIUM, which will allow you to select which macros you would like to run and which ones you think might be potentially dangerous.

edit: Mar was already on it.

Here's a more exhaustive explanation, though:

If you set Macro security to Medium and open Word, you will be asked whether or not you wish to load the Wordfast macros, to which you'll want to answer YES. Assuming the document you need to translate contains macro viruses, you will be asked AGAIN whether you want to allow these macros, too - and of course, you don't, so you just answer NO.

This way, you loaded the Wordfast macros, but not the virus ones.

[Edited at 2005-11-25 14:34] ▲ Collapse
 
Diana Cossato (X)
Diana Cossato (X)  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 14:24
Hungarian to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
So that's how it works! Nov 26, 2005

I've never ever ran a macro (not that I ever needed to) nor did I dare using wordfast as soon as I discovered it was in fact a macro. So I had no idea that's how macrovirus protection works! I feel better now!

Thanks a lot!

Diana
 


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Wordfast: macrovirus danger?






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