I should have noted to John O'L that the web page at which one connects for "Microsoft Updates" is a different page than where one goes for "Windows Updates." The firewall may have been setup to permit the older connection, but needs a new entry to open the new page without a warning.

Breton Cap -

The "bait" to get people to switch from the older Windows Update to the newer programs(s) is the convenience of getting all your Microsoft updates from a single connection. I have not seen any official comment indicating that Office programs are "revalidated" at each update connection. A new Office installation does need to be "registered" which amounts to a one-time validation. Failure to register results in a "crippled" program with some functions disabled. I suspect some people may just use them that way, although I haven't found any official description of what works and what doesn't.

Since Microsoft does give Critical Updates to users with counterfeit Windows, the same policy would be expected for Critical Updates to Office. There haven't been very many of those. There have been a number of non-critical "feature updates" that might not be available for phony Office setups, but I haven't noticed any that would be a real handicap to most users if omitted from an otherwise fully functional Office program.

The bottom line answer is that I don't know, despite some poking around, what the Microsoft policy is on verification of "productivity software." I think they're most concerned at present with the 40 - 50%+ of the 300,000,000+ Windows copies that are known counterfeits, but that doesn't give much assurance they won't deny you some downloads.

John