Appendix B – Trust Center
To protect your PC’s security, Office is designed to block external content, including data connections, hyperlinks/linked media, and images. The primary source of danger to your data is a *web beacon. Web beacons and other sophisticated tools of hackers that execute malicious code without your knowledge/consent can be avoided by blocking external content.
Typical yellow-message bar warnings that you will see related to your Trust Center settings are shown below. In most cases, you can comfortably select the white enable button.
YELLOW MESSAGE-BAR WARNINGS SHOWN BELOW (FIGURE 1 AND FIGURE 2):
Typical yellow-message bar warnings that you will see related to your Trust Center settings are shown below. In most cases, you can comfortably select the white enable button.
YELLOW MESSAGE-BAR WARNINGS SHOWN BELOW (FIGURE 1 AND FIGURE 2):
FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2
Before organizing your data folders and/or switchboard workbooks, it would be a wise decision to go into your Trust Center settings and verify the settings are to your satisfaction.
You many also see the following warning below (FIGURE 3):
You many also see the following warning below (FIGURE 3):
FIGURE 3
To access the Trust Center settings:
- Go to the Backstage View (File tab)
- Select the Options choice located in the lower portion of the left-green margin to access the Excel Options dialog box.
- Select the Trust Center section of the Options dialog box on the left.
- In the Trust Center homepage, select the link, “Trust Center Settings” To obtain more information about the Trust Center and their applicable settings, select the link, “Microsoft Trust Center” in the Security & More section.
*Web beacons send your information to a hacker via the server that hosts the external content. Hackers can use data connections, linked media such as an email attachment, or images that automatically download when the file they are in is opened.
The 2 important sections listed on the left-side of the Trust Center are: 1) Message Bar (FIGURE 4) and 2) External Content (FIGURE 5). The default settings for all of the Trust Center sections should be fine in most circumstances (you are usually advised to not arbitrarily enable connections). Being prompted first before automatically establishing any connection is a wise policy.
FIGURE 4 – Message Bar Section
FIGURE 5 – External Content Section
END OF APPENDIX B