KB190270 - PPT97: Virus Warning Appears When You Click Hyperlink to Program

Article ID: 190270

Article Last Modified on 7/20/2007

Microsoft PowerPoint 97 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q190270

For a Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 version of this article, see 291912.
For a Microsoft PowerPoint 2001 or Microsoft PowerPoint 98 version of this article, see 183923.
For a Microsoft Office 2000 version of this article, see 212290.

SYMPTOMS

When you create hyperlinks to objects or locations outside of your PowerPoint presentation, you may receive the following warning message:

Opening file: <path to file><filename>.

Some files can contain viruses or otherwise be harmful to your computer.
It is important to be certain that this file is from a trustworthy
source.

Would you like to open this file?

This behavior occurs regardless of your Macro Virus Protection settings.

To locate the Macro Virus Protection option, click Options on the Tools menu.

CAUSE

The warning message described in the "Symptoms" section of this article is issued by Microsoft Office, not PowerPoint. This warning is referred to as the "open programs" warning, not the "macro virus protection" warning. It appears any time you follow a hyperlink to a program or run a program. You also receive this warning when you follow a hyperlink to certain types of document files. You cannot disable this warning. Similar behavior occurs in other Microsoft Office programs that allow hyperlinks.

This feature is designed into Microsoft Office to protect you from malicious code.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, you can use the Run Program option rather than the Hyperlink option in the Action Settings dialog box. This prevents the "open programs" warning from appearing in most cases.

NOTE: You can also turn off the Macro Virus Protection option in PowerPoint.

STATUS

This feature is under review and will be considered for inclusion in a future release.

MORE INFORMATION

The macro virus warning is initiated by PowerPoint when you hyperlink to a file that may contain macros. When the macro virus warning is activated, the following message appears:

The presentation you are opening contains macros. Some macros may contain viruses that could harm your computer.

If you are sure this presentation is from a trusted source, click Enable Macros. If you are not sure and want to prevent any macros from running, click Disable Macros. To disable this feature, click to clear the "Always ask before opening documents with macros" check box and then click Enable. PowerPoint will not ask you again if macros are found in a file.

You can also disable macro virus protection by following these steps:

On the Tools menu, click Options.
Click the General tab.
Click to clear the Macro Virus Protection check box.
Click OK.

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Keywords: kbhtml kbmacro kbprb kbvirus KB190270