From an ethical standpoint, using such activators without purchasing a license can be seen as unfair to the developers who invest time, resources, and effort into creating software.

"Universal Activators" found on unofficial sites are often bundled with or adware . Since Office XP has been out of support since 2014, it lacks modern security patches, making it a risk to use on any machine connected to the internet.

Some specialized businesses still rely on old VBA macros that only run correctly in Excel 2002.