Microsoft on Tuesday released its first update for Office 2008 for the Mac, fixing critical problems that caused applications in the productivity suite to quit unexpectedly.

The update, which Microsoft recommends for all users, addresses problems in security, stability and performance. The fixes are for users of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and include patching vulnerabilities that "an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of a computer's memory by using malicious code," Microsoft said.

For Word, the update corrects problems that caused the word processing program to unexpectedly quit when started or when checking spelling or grammar. Also fixed is a flaw that caused blank pages to print when using a high-resolution printer.

Other fixes include restoring the ability to delete citations using the delete key on a keyboard, and making it possible for fonts created in Word for Windows to display properly in Word 2008.

For Excel, the update fixes several problems that caused the spreadsheet program to quit suddenly. Also corrected are flaws that resulted in lost columns when a ledger sheet is saved in some file formats and that caused a copied range of data in Excel 2008 to paste incorrectly into a Word 2008 document.

In PowerPoint, the updated fixes a problem with Mac OS X 10.5.2 Leopard that caused the presentation application to open slowly. In addition, character spacing and layout is improved.

Improvements in Entourage include fixing problems that prevent the e-mail client from connecting to servers running IBM Lotus Domino 7.0.3 and 8. In addition, the update improves synchronization support for users of Exchange accounts by reducing the number of duplicate or missing calendar events and by correcting problems that prevented synchronizing a contact list altogether with the Exchange server.

Microsoft released Office 2008 for the Mac in January at Macworld in San Francisco. It was the first new release for the Mac in almost four years and included new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage.