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Posted By: jchuzi annoying security message in Yosemite - 03/05/15 03:55 PM
This never happened when I used Snow Leopard:

After restarting and launching either MS Entourage 2008 or MS Word 2008, I get the message "Do you want the application (MS Entourage.app) to accept incoming network connections?" I always click Allow. The dialog box also says that this setting can be changed in the Firewall pane of Security and Privacy Preferences after clicking Firewall Options. I have tried to do this and it doesn't stick.

"Block all incoming connections" is unchecked. What am I doing wrong?
Posted By: Virtual1 Re: annoying security message in Yosemite - 03/05/15 05:57 PM
while I'm not sure what's causing your problem, I'd speculate that this is Entourage's way to accepting "push notifications". That popup is coming up because it's trying to create a listener. If you don't need push notifications, you can probably disable them to silence the popup. If your mail is set to check every 10 minutes, and someone sends you an email, your entourage won't see it until the next time it checks its mail if push notifications are disabled. (up to a 10 minute delay, for most people, not a big deal)
Posted By: jchuzi Re: annoying security message in Yosemite - 03/05/15 11:34 PM
How do you disable push notifications? I didn't see anything relevant in Entourage Preferences>Notification. Entourage is not set to check at any particular interval. I always check manually.
Posted By: dkmarsh Re: annoying security message in Yosemite - 03/06/15 01:38 AM

Did you try adding Entourage or Word to the list of approved software in that Firewall Options sheet? Or were they already listed there?
Posted By: jchuzi Re: annoying security message in Yosemite - 03/06/15 09:31 AM
They're already listed there.
Posted By: dkmarsh Re: annoying security message in Yosemite - 03/06/15 10:51 PM

You might try removing them from the list, logging out and in, and then adding them back again.
Posted By: jchuzi Re: annoying security message in Yosemite - 03/07/15 12:28 AM
Nice idea, but it didn't work. Apparently, this is not a problem unique to me. See this post at Tech Survivors.
Posted By: artie505 Re: annoying security message in Yosemite - 03/07/15 01:02 AM
I don't recall ever having run across you specific issue, but the traditional general approach to dealing with MS issues is uninstalling and reinstalling, PIA though it may be.

Edit: Have you tried blocking, rather than allowing? I've had Excel 2008 blocked forever, and if there have been any repercussions, I've never noticed them. (Unless, that is, I've been missing update notices, but I never bother with them as respects Excel, because I don't really do anything much with it...use it more like a scratchpad than the app it's meant to be.)
Posted By: jchuzi Re: annoying security message in Yosemite - 03/07/15 11:25 AM
This whole issue is easier to live with than to troubleshoot. Reinstalling is a royal PITA and may not even be possible: I have read (and I don't know how accurate this is) that the MS Office 2008 Installer is PPC only, even though the app is Intel. If that's the case, I won't be able to reinstall. I would also have a hard time saving all the data (this is Microsoft, after all). Since I'm covered under Applecare, I may phone Apple to see if they have a suggestion.

As to your other question, I have tried blocking incoming connections and I still get that annoying message.
Posted By: alternaut Re: annoying security message in Yosemite - 03/07/15 03:57 PM
Originally Posted By: jchuzi
This whole issue is easier to live with than to troubleshoot. Reinstalling is a royal PITA and may not even be possible ...
A possible workaround that may* coexist with your Office 2008 install is Office 2016 for Mac Preview. It iooks good and seems to work well, but check the FAQ.

*) The preview is only listed as usable alongside Office for Mac 2011, but this compatibility may apply to older versions of Office as well.
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