Office 2003 SP2 Available

Three critical security vulnerabilities (all previously reported) and some minor bugs are repaired in Office 2003 SP2. The service pack will be the easiest way for most organizations to get the latest tested Office 2003 patches on their machines. SP2 also includes several new features.

Most notable among the new features: An update to Outlook 2003’s Junk E-mail Filter that can disable URLs in “phishing” messages, which encourage users to release personal information to an attacker. Similar to the existing Outlook 2003 spam-filtering feature, the technology assigns a “Phishing Confidence Level” based on message characteristics. Unlike the new Internet Explorer and MSN anti-phishing plug-ins, the Outlook 2003 technology does not rely on a Web database of known phishing sites. Similar technology is planned for Exchange Server 2003 SP2.

SP2 also includes improved French proofing tools and better Tablet PC ink recognition, features previously released to the Web. The service pack does not cover OneNote (a separate note-taking application that is not bundled in any edition of the suite) or Outlook Live, an Outlook-based client for Hotmail users. Windows Installer 3.1 will be required to install SP2, and a reboot will be required on computers that are running Communicator 2005 (Microsoft’s recently released instant messaging, voice, and presence client) during installation.