Official Word Starter update?

Anonymous
2014-08-16T15:23:38+00:00

When I opened up my laptop this morning (8/16/14) there was a pop-up on the screen telling me  there was an update available for Microsoft Word Starter 2010 and asking me if I wanted to download it.  It did not look like the typical Windows or Office update notification.  I closed the pop-up and opened Windows update and ran it.  There were some updates available, but none that said they were for Word Starter.  IS there a new Update for Word Starter or is this someone trying to get me to download a virus?

***Office Product moved to Office 2010 by the Moderator.***

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Suzanne S Barnhill 279.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2014-11-20T16:27:28+00:00

Microsoft has posted a Knowledge Base article describing and explaining this popup and providing a solution. Find it at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3016799.

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2014-08-20T14:23:14+00:00

Hi everyone,

We heard back from the product group. The dialog is expected for a legitimate Office 2010 starter update. It appears for click to run scenarios where the path is missing a piece of information between the build that the user is running on and the latest available build.

The august update that was pulled is a Windows update, not an Office update.

Thanks!

DK - MSFT support

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

206 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2014-12-23T21:39:24+00:00

    If CTR is the "only" distribution method for 2010 Starter why did I receive an update for it on 10 Dec through the usual Update Tool.  This was KB2883019 which states it is for the Starter edition.  Obviously, CTR is NOT the "normal" distribution method or it is the 1% exception.

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2883019

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2014-12-23T07:46:53+00:00

    Because Click-to-Run (a/k/a virtualized) is not the normal distribution method for Office software, I'm not at all confident that "Microsoft would use the usual tool" to distribute a future update to it. 

    My gut tells me that we're seeing side-effects of New And Different distribution method(s) for click-to-run (virtualized) software..

    Actually, with Office 365/2013 CTR IS the "normal", actually almost 99% ONLY, distribution method for Office!

    CTR is the "only" distribution method for 2010 Starter.

    CTR started to be the "normal" distribution for online downloads of Office 2010 ...

    It is this sort of issue that continues to confirm my personal contention that CTR is STILL not ready for the average consumer.  CTR is not appropriate for "home' users because it assumes a constant "high speed" internet connection (OK, at least once a month). But there are still many, a majority?, of users who do not meet that simple fundamental assumption for the running of CTR versions of Office.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2014-12-22T00:54:40+00:00

    Because Click-to-Run (a/k/a virtualized) is not the normal distribution method for Office software, I'm not at all confident that "Microsoft would use the usual tool" to distribute a future update to it. 

    My gut tells me that we're seeing side-effects of New And Different distribution method(s) for click-to-run (virtualized) software.

    For future use, I've bookmarked the link from Doug Robbins dated today.  (As a community, we can hope that, although the link's hosted by HP, there's nothing HP-specific in the solution; my own laptop happens to be an HP product.)

    Please also notice the comment (via the HP link) about being careful to NOT uninstall the Microsoft Office Program Manager* ... because uninstalling that component "requires you to perform a recovery to reinstall Microsoft Office Starter 2010."

    1. Complicated by the fact that the do-not-uninstall component is NOT labeled as "Microsoft Office Program Manager," but is "noted by the entry of Microsoft Office 2010."
    2. That "recovery" could be the "factory restoration" that Victoria mentioned (is anyone able to confirm or deny my "educated guess" on that?) ... a "restoration" which has been associated with deleting Office-based documents on customer systems. 

    So, how customer-unfriendly can Microsoft get this month?

    1. The suspicious-looking "click-to-run update" popup (which looks more like malware) ...
    2. Missing KB articles on Patch Tuesday, leaving customers unable to make informed decisions about multiple updates across multiple products
    3. The poorly-documented, non-standard, and clearly risky behavior of the Click-To-Run update deployment
    4. Losing at least some customer documents (many, on some systems) ... which, of course, re-emphasizes the value of always having recent backups.

    The good news?  We still have three weeks 'til the next Patch Tuesday... which opens new opportunities for unexpected behavior.

    In light of this month's activity, I will make sure to run a full backup shortly before January 13!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments