There's no denying the unsurpassed power of Visual Basic for Applications macros in Word (and elsewhere in Microsoft Office), but this very power permits the spread of macro viruses. Word 97 and 2000 can store macros inside documents and allow them to run automatically when you open or close a document. Last April's outbreak of the Melissa virus ù carried by e-mail attachments ù called attention to the damage macro viruses can do and the importance of protecting against them. Here's what you can do:

Use Word's macro virus protection. To confirm the built-in system is working in Word 97, select Tools-Options and click the General tab in the Options dialogue box. Make certain the Macro Virus Protection box is checked, then click OK. In Word 2000, select Tools-Macro-Security, select either High or Medium on the Security Level tab and then click OK.

Disarm booby traps. When you open a document containing a macro, you'll see a Warning dialogue box. Unless you're sure the macro is safe, pick Disable Macros or Do Not Open. If you opt to select Disable Macros, Word 97 will respond by opening the document as a read-only file; to save it after editing, you'll have to use File-Save As. Word 2000 lets you save the document after editing but removes the macro when you do. In Word 97, do not remove the check mark from the "Always ask" check box ù doing so disables default virus protection for all documents. (This option is not available in Word 2000.)

Caption: Word warns you when you are about to open a document that contains a macro

Caption: In Word 2000, High security protects you against all macros not from sources you name

Don't open the door to strangers. Know the source of your documents. If you're unfamiliar with the source, don't open the document.

Keep yourself up-to-date. Get the latest valuable downloads and information on macro virus protection by regularly visiting Microsoft's Office Update site (officeupdate.microsoft.com).

Don't let down your guard. Not all virus protection programs are capable of catching Word viruses. In our experience, however, Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus handles them fairly smoothly.

Note for WordPerfect users: Because WordPerfect doesn't automatically execute macros when it loads a document and doesn't store macros within documents, opening WordPerfect documents presents almost no risk of virus infection.