Office Files and Hidden Personal Info

You do know that MS Office files contain more than just your document or spreadsheet, don’t you? They contain “metadata”, which is information like your Office-registered name and company, and possibly records of your edits and copies of previous drafts of the document.

This means you might be sending more information than you want to when you send somebody a Word document. This came to my attention due to many potential employers asking explicitly for Word format resumes.

A bit of background:
I’ve routinely collaborated on documents, and we’ve sent copies of one or more Word documents back and forth by email with Change Tracking enabled (menu: “Tools->Track Changes…”). Even when you accept the changes, Word will reportedly keep the old versions lying around in the file. This old version information (actually editing information) is part of a category of stuff called metadata. In such a situation, you are apt to end up with information in the file that you really don’t want released with the final document. In addition, the file will invariably contain the user and company information entered during the installation process for Office.

This has been recognized as an issue for a while now; both the BBC in 2004 and USA Today in 2006 published articles about it, so it’s not exactly breaking news…

Microsoft even offers a scrubber for Office 2003/XP files, that also appears to have been around since 2004. And for those of us with Office97 (yeah, I know, stone age), MS offers helpful advice for scrubbing the information, albeit a bit more labor intensive.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to find out what’s in an Office file, and to be able to clean it out if you want to, regardless of what version of Office you’re running?

Javacool Software (www.javacoolsoftware.com) has put out a very nice, simple, Office file scrubber called Doc Scubber^TM (http://www.docscrubber.com/), that truly simplifies the entire process. They have also been nice enough to offer it as freeware for personal and educational use (Doc Scrubber 1.1).

I first ran into Javacool when I was battling spyware and adware; I found their SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard products to really reduce the infestations, and I recommended them to my clients. They have a variety of other tools to help you maintain your privacy on your computer. Check out their download page.

I have no business relationship whatsoever with these guys; I just think they’ve got some good products that you should know about. If you agree, send them a couple of bucks by PayPal, or purchase the auto-update service for one of their products. Freeware guys put a lot of time into their products, and a little reward goes a long way.

Thanks, Javacool!

Various trademarks in the preceding are, of course, the property of their respective owners. Their use in this writeup are intended for information/educational purposes only.

Most self-inconsistent job posting?

In the course of looking for contract work, I’ve come across some pretty strange requirements for the candidates. The most inconsistent one I’ve found to date carries the (partial) title:

Entry Level Web Content Coordinator…

and calls for:

*Strong knowledge of HTML coding, PHP, DHTML, CSS, JavaScript and web development tools – Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash and Illustrator.
*Solid working knowledge of graphic design.
*Experience with graphical layout, typography and presentation. Copy writing skills a plus.
*Understanding of new technologies including browser limitations, coding and optimizing web site content required.
*Excellent organizational and time keeping skills, detail oriented and able to work on multiple projects at one time. 

THAT’s entry level requirements? I suspect these guys will get two kinds of applicants: true entry-level people with one or two requirements (in part), or experienced people that fulfill the requirements but that will find the entry level pay unacceptable. Unless the definition of “entry level” now mean “five years’ experience”…??

What have you seen for inconsistencies in job postings?

Best Contract Job Posting Site?

So, what are the best contract job posting sites covering Massachusetts/Southern New England?

So far, I’ve found craigslist (www.craigslist.com), of course, and sologig (www.sologig.com).

Know of others? Contract jobs sought are in the software development and/or sysadmin domains.