Users of Office for Mac 2004 and 2008 editions are being offered new updates to enhance the stability and performance of the software, as well as to fix several security issues, the Mac development team at Microsoft has confirmed.

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.4 is the latest update for Office 2008 for Mac. It contains several improvements to enhance stability and performance, Microsoft claims, as well as “fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code,” the release notes reveal.

The update applies to Office 2008, Office 2008 Home and Student Edition, Office 2008 Special Media Edition, Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, Entourage 2008, and Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition. Released on Tuesday, March 09, 2010, the size of the .dmg file is precisely of 221MB, Microsoft says.

As for Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.8, this update addresses security issues only. Describing the update, Microsoft states, “It includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code.” The company behind the Windows operating system directs customers to its website, for more information on these vulnerabilities and the methods used to address them.

The update is required for Office 2004 Standard Edition, Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition, Office 2004 Professional Edition, Word 2004, Excel 2004, PowerPoint 2004, and Entourage 2004. Released in tandem with its 2008 counterpart, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.8, is just a 9.7MB download.

While Softpedia provides both of these downloads in their original form, the updates are also available via Microsoft AutoUpdate, a built-in Software Updater similar to that of Mac OS X that can automatically keep your Microsoft software up-to-date. To use AutoUpdate, launch an Office application, and click Check for Updates in the Help menu.

Download Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Update (Free)

Download Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Update (Free)