Phil Cook wrote:

> As Scott said you just turn down the security options from "I'm an idiot 
> protect me" to "I'm a grown-up let me make my own decisions"

Well I pretty much assumed it would be an on/off settings, and even I am 
not too keen on turning the security off completely.

>> Google did at least manage to find me a relevant article without much 
>> ado.
>>
>> http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa141471(office.10).aspx
> 
> or you could have checked your posts as I've told you how to do this 
> twice now :-)

I followed the instructions you gave me for Office 97 and they didn't 
work. (I forget where exactly it fails.) The instructions I found here 
actually worked.

>> 3. Nagivate several system folders. (You know, the ones where Windows 
>> Explorer insists "This is dangerous. We have hidden it for your own 
>> safety. Do you *really* want to touch this stuff? We warned you!")
> 
> or run a search for selfcert.exe

Actually I used a command prompt, but hey.

>> 4. Run the certificate creation tool. This creates a self-signed 
>> certificate which you cannot export or back up. (Yay!)
> 
> Um you mean except when you go to sign it, view details and pick "Copy 
> to file"?

I did follow the instructions for backing up the certificate, but 
apparently "the private key is marked as not exportable and cannot be 
saved". So you can save the certificate itself, just not the key. Very 
helpful.

>> 7. Find the right menu item.
> 
> Tools|Digital Signature.. at least on 2k, hardly surprising.

It's easy once you figure out it's under Tools, yes.

>> I wonder - how do you develop new code if it's always disabled until 
>> you sign it? (And - one hopes - every time you change it this 
>> invalidates the signature...)
> 
> It gets re-signed if the certificate that originally signed it is 
> present, so someone else souldn't re-sign the code and distribute it 
> unless they were using your computer/login, besides you should lock the 
> project for viewing anyway.

Interesting. So if you change something when you didn't mean to, it 
updates the signature? Oh dear...

>> All this fuss just so I can click a button to put today's date in a 
>> cell on the spreadsheet... sheesh!
> 
> But all that hassle was a one-off you've now got a certificate to sign 
> anything VBA with.

Until the next time I reinstall Windoze...

PS. Does OpenOffice provide a scripting language?

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