Hi, Microsoft Word does not have security risks itself. As other community users mentioned, you should install the updates to fix some known issue. To protect your domain from external network, you need to use firewall. To restrict application, you may use Software Restriction policies. To make sure your domain is secure, please lock your server in a secure location. For more information, please refer to the following articles: How To use Software Restriction Policies in Windows Server 2003 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324036 Why Physical Security is Important http://blogs.technet.com/b/industry_insiders/archive/2005/07/14/407692.aspx 10 Immutable Laws of Security http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/community/columns/security/essays/10imlaws.mspx Regards, Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

We have a server that houses a CMS application we use. This server is not a terminal server. It's only function is the CMS application. Our CMS vendor stated that they need us to install Microsoft Word on that server because their software needs it. Are there any security risks with this? No web surfing is done on that server and it won't be receiving emails.

Keep in mind, that you'll need to apply updates/fixes to the Microsoft Office package too.

The risk is probably low, but since Word would be installed, you should maintain the application as you would any other by installing hte latest patches and ensuring that users are educated and not opening documents from untrusted sources. Visit anITKB.com, an IT Knowledge Base.

I would look at installing the customized Office install option and selecting as few Word extra's as possible to the keep the install very light.:P Advice offered, If you need more help it is advised to seek the council and advice of paid professionals. The answer is always 42, or reboot.