Microsoft has released a fix for an Excel security patch after the initial update left users unable to open certain documents.  

The error in Microsoft's MS07-002 security update affected users of the Korean, Chinese and Japanese versions of Excel 2000, preventing them from opening any files.

The company issued the update on 9 January as part of its monthly patch release cycle, addressing 'critical' vulnerabilities in Excel that could let an attacker remotely execute code on a target machine.

A Microsoft spokesman told vnunet.com that, while the security update fixed the flaws, it also caused Excel to mishandle 'phonetic information' stored within Korean, Chinese and Japanese Excel files.

The error only affects Excel 2000 and can be repaired through the Microsoft Update service.