Microsoft's plan to "sandbox" documents in the next version of Office looks like a "very good step forward," according to one security analyst.

Last week, Microsoft revealed more details about a new security feature in Office 2010, dubbed "Protected View," that is designed to shut down the popular hacker tactic of feeding users rigged Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

"It is a good move," said John Pescatore, Gartner's primary security analyst. "It gets away from the 'training' people have that makes them ignore pop-up warnings."

Protected View isolates Word, Excel and PowerPoint files in a read-only environment that prevents malware -- which has piggybacked on Office documents for years -- from harming the PC or hijacking the system.

Full story: Computerworld