The Excel 2002 Administrative Update: October 4, 2001 provides you with the latest security and performance improvements available for your version of Microsoft® Excel. This update is part of Microsoft's continuing effort to provide the latest product updates to customers.

The October 4 update addresses a vulnerability that could allow malicious code to run in an Excel file without warning. Under normal circumstances, you will see a warning in Excel 2002 when you open a document containing macros. However, it is possible for a malicious user to modify the macros in such a way that a macro can run with no warning issued. This could cause damage to data or allow unauthorized retrieval of data from your system when you visit a Web site or open an e-mail message. After you apply this update, Excel will display a warning before opening a file containing macros.

A number of other small refinements are included in this update as well. Key changes include the following:

• A correction to an error that may occur when changing Microsoft Graph chart types.
• A refinement of sorting behavior with specific international characters.
• An update to the Eurotool add-in to support the Greek Drachma.
• A correction to the programmability of the FileNew function in macros run from the Excel Visual Basic Editor.

Toolbox    The Excel 2002 Administrative Update: October 4, 2001 consists of two Windows Installer patch files (MSP format) packaged in a self-extracting executable (Exc1001a.exe). You can find this downloadable file on the Office XP Resource Kit Downloads page.

Applying the Excel 2002 administrative update to an administrative installation point

You apply the Excel 2002 administrative update to your administrative share by using a command line with specific parameters. When you run the update, you’ll need to apply two separate MSP files to refresh the changed components.

 Note   For best results, the update should be applied from the console of the computer containing the administrative installation point. Make sure the files on the share point are not in use when the update is being applied. If there are multiple administrative installation points, you can replace the remaining administrative installation points with the updated administrative installation point after backing up any custom transform, Setup.ini, or other files on the share points.

To apply the Excel 2002 administrative update to an administrative installation point

1. Download Exc1001a.exe and double-click the file name to extract the MSP files.
2. Connect to the server share for the administrative installation point.

   You must have write access to the administrative installation point on the server and the appropriate privileges to carry out this task.

3. On the Start menu, click Run and then type the command line for Windows Installer with the appropriate options for the Excel 2002 administrative update. Use the following syntax:

   [start] msiexec /a [path\name of MSI file] /p [path\name of update MSP file] SHORTFILENAMES=TRUE /qb /L* [path\name of log file]

The following table describes the command-line options.

Updating client computers from an administrative installation point

After you update your administrative installation point, you must perform a recache and repair on existing client computers that use the administrative image. Any new client installations from the administrative installation point will automatically include the Excel 2002 administrative update.

To update an existing client installation from an administrative installation point, run the following command line on the client computer:

start msiexec /i [path to updated .msi file on the administrative image] REINSTALL=[list of features] REINSTALLMODE=vomus /qb

You can run this command line by creating a logon script, distributing it as a batch file, deploying it via Systems Management Server, or using other means according to your practice. The options for this command line are as follows.

For the Excel 2002 Administrative update, the value for [list of features] is as follows:

EXCELFiles,GRAPHFiles,ExcelAddInEuroToolFiles,ProductNonBootFiles

Optionally, you can substitute the parameter REINSTALL=ALL to reinstall all Office XP components on the client computer.

 Note   If you originally installed Office XP on a client computer from an administrative installation point, you must follow the recache and repair procedure described above to update that client. If you update the client directly by using the end-user patch from the Office Update Web site, the client and administrative images will become out-of-sync, which may cause future updates to fail.

Applying the Excel 2002 administrative update under Windows 2000

If your administrative installation point and all of your client computers are running Windows 2000, you can use IntelliMirror® technology to manage the installation of the update.

 Note   Be sure to test all software updates in a controlled setting before modifying your administrative installation point or deploying the new version throughout your organization.

To deploy a QFE fix or update under Windows 2000

1. Apply the updates (MSP files) to the original Office administrative installation point.

   You will need to run the command line separately for each MSP file you apply to the administrative installation point — you cannot reference multiple MSP files on the same command line.

2. Open the Software Installation snap-in within the Group Policy Object (GPO) you are using to manage the existing Office installation.
3. In the details pane, right-click the Office package, point to All Tasks, and click Redeploy application.

   The next time the Group Policy is applied to the designated users or computers, the updated files are copied to their computers.

 Note    You can redeploy a package only if it is being managed by Group Policy — that is, only if you originally installed it by using IntelliMirror software installation and maintenance or if you brought it into a managed state under Windows 2000.

Related links

For detailed information on the Excel 2002 Update: October 4 2001, see Description of the Excel 2002 update: October 4, 2001 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

For general information on applying an administrative update, see Deploying Product Updates from an Administrative Installation Point in the Office XP Resource Kit.