Soon afterwards, users began complaining about error messages and being unable to open certain types of files, a situation that was exacerbated by Microsoft's Support team reportedly informing users they'd have to pay $250 to resolve the problem.

Microsoft heralded Office 2003 SP3's arrival last year as 'a major evolution in security for Office 2003' that 'further hardens the Office suite against potential attacks and other security threats.' Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. To restore full file access to Office 2003, Microsoft offered users a complex registry modification, along with the following ominous caveat: 'Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method.

They may pose a risk to you,' reads the bulletin.

'By default, these file formats are blocked because they are less secure. Microsoft, which last month outlined the issue in an updated support bulletin and offered a head-scratching workaround, said older Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Corel Draw file formats are blocked after Office 2003 SP3 is installed.

Ms office 2003 service pack 3