Update Microsoft Office (and any other program)

Maybe you are thinking why pay to upgrade when it seems to be working fine?

The short answer is it may end up costing you much more if you continue to use an outdated unsupported program.

The first step in understanding any risks is understanding Microsoft’s Office Product Life Cycle.

When Office gets to be about 10 years old, support ends and no further security updates are released.

At this point the product becomes a security risk if you continue using it.

Microsoft Office 2010 went end of life in October 2020 and it’s successor Microsoft Office 2013 goes end of life in April 2023. If you are still using Office 2010 or older and you connect to the internet or open any office file someone gives to you – you are risking infecting your computer.

Hackers know this so they have “feelers” out there looking for your unprotected version of MS Office.

Not only are you risking your data by using unsupported MS Office like Office 2010, you will be unable to activate your older version if you have to reinstall it, even if you have the Product Key, because Microsoft also shuts down the activation servers for unsupported programs.