You also mentioned that the OS should be scrupulously kept up to date. I am at Mojave 10.14.6 and hoping to stay there for a while because, being inflicted with invincible stubbornness, I want to keep certain 32 bit apps. None of them would ever involve sharing or any other usage other than on my Mac. Am I right to assume that, because Office is the only software that has sharing possibilities, my 32 bit apps shouldn’t constitute any great concern?
Your principle concern should be Mojave and how long Apple will continue to provide security updates to it. Generally apps whether 32 bit or 64 bit are neither the target or vector of Malware. The Office apps are an exception because of their VBA macro capability and their wide distribution. The prime sources of infection are
- Malware installed by the user (which is a dissertation of its own)
- Infected emails
- any kind of file downloaded from the internet
- bots hacking into poorly protected computers
- text messages (I haven't heard of any specific exploit of this type but with animated texts it should be possible)
You mentioned the possibility of upgrading Office but once again I should point out there are FREE or low cost alternatives that do an adequate job of handling all but the most complex Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files.
