I did some digging and found no updates released for Office in recent days. See here. The updates info on this page relates to all versions of Office since version 2003. So, there's no reason to assume that the Professional version of Office 2013 has been excluded. So, what I did was this: I searched the entire page (using the "Find" function in my browser) for all dates related to March (which is the month we're in right now), and found that the most recent update released for Office 2013 was on March 11, 2014, not the 25th when you said that you downloaded the upgrade/update. This, right there, makes me suspicious of the thing you installed. Unless you haven't been installing Microsoft updates regularly, you shouldn't be getting anything out-of-cycle.
This brings us to anther possibility, that is, the upgrade-update was perhaps released out-of-cycle by Microsoft to patch some zero-day vulnerability in Office. As it turns out, there currrently is such a vulnerability in Office. So I inquired about that in another thread.
Answer: Currently, Microsoft has released a "Fix it" (must be done manually) that will disable the part in Office that's vulnerable, but no patch/upgrade/update. See entire thread here.
What does all this mean? I think you may have installed a rogue upgrade/update. As I said previously, my Home & Student Edition of Office 2013 received no updates whatsoever recently.
I suggest you run Norton's Full System Scan and see what happens. Please report back afterwards.
Interesting indeed....well, the first thing I did, after reading your replies, was to start a full system scan. Certainly can't hurt anything, as I did a quick scan after everything seemed to settle down yesterday. Then, I checked the Windows update history, and saw a few Windows updates had been installed on the 14th (March), but no Office updates during that time. So, was it a rogue, or was it on a different cycle....that, I do not know. I have had updates occur at times outside of the usual Patch Tuesday cycle before, so seeing updates waiting didn't seem to be a cause for alarm. I wasn't aware that a system restore was problematic for the Norton product until you mentioned it in your reply, F4E. When things went south after that upgrade, it seemed a relatively simple way to correct the issue, particularly where this whole event occurred as I was getting ready for work, and didn't have the luxury of time to really dig in and evaluate what had happened, and what the best course of action might be. Mea culpa. Inquirer, thank you for checking on the Office update releases...whether my event was the one from earlier this month or not, I am unsure, but I know there is nothing in the history, so it may well have been. In any case, I'm running the full system scan now, so hopefully it won't turn anything up. Will let you know. Again, thank you both for joining in...I appreciate your help, and what I've learned as a result of this whole thing!
These seemingly out-of-cycle Microsoft updates that you install on occasion, are they indicated as "Important" or as "Optional"? And do you remember which was the Office upgrade? If optional, then we can rule out the possibility, with some confidence, that it was a rogue update. Since most people don't install optional updates, they therefore don't know what are available for download (like me).
To be honest, I don't recall seeing whether it was important or optional, as I was doing other things to prepare for work at the time...I just went ahead and clicked them to go while I was getting ready. That said, they may well have been optional...I just can't verify it.
The full system scan I ran this morning found and corrected a total of 17 tracking cookies out of 1.6 million files checked, which is a good sign indeed...I did verify that Live Update was up to date, and that this is the latest version of 360.
Still a mystery, but at least the system is once again running properly...I do appreciate all your help and assistance, along with F4E, in the ideas and thoughts you both brought to the table!
I believe I'm all set, for now at least....thanks again!
Whoops! My apologies - multitasking sometimes isn't the best process, and here I'm solving tech calls for others, while replying here! At least I seem to have goofed in a pleasing manner this time!
Days after the dust has settled, look what popped up.....I did a screenshot (attached) to illustrate where the whole thing went south on me the other day. As you can see, I'm being informed that Office updates are available on the taskbar, and I've searched for updates with Windows Update, and found none are available. Norton 360 is running, I've done a full scan, and nothing was found, other than a handful of tracking cookies.
No, I have no intention of allowing the Office updates to run...I'd duct tape this laptop to a target at a range and empty a Glock into it before I go through that aggravation again, especially within the same week!
I just wanted to show you what started the whole thing, where you did so much checking into whether any Office updates were available earlier this week!
At least I was able to verify that they are indeed legitimate, by going to File - Account in Office, and it says there that there are updates ready for download, so I know they aren't rogue. After the go-round earlier this week, I'm in no hurry to try them again, as they started the whole issue.
I'm now working on why my Sony camera no longer registers as anything but an "Unitentified USB Device" in device manager....that also worked fine befire this whole thing!
I did....in fact, I went to Device Manager, selected it, uninstalled it, and then from Action in the menu bar, scanned for new hardware, and it keeps coming back as the Unidentified USB Device, which won't allow me to transfer photos. As a workaround, I had to remove the SD card from the camera and put it into the laptop's card reader, which then transferred the photos, but I'd prefer it to work as it should. I've posted in Sony's forum to see if anyone has had a similar experience, and how they worked around it.
I just disabled updates for Office, which is an option in the Accounts selection in the Office backstage....unfortunate, as they're generally both helpful and harmless, but I just don't want to reinvent the wheel again this week...
Sorry...I did that as well, with the camera plugged in, but it didn't recognize it because it was misidentified as the USB device - that's why I tried the Device Manager option.
At least I was able to verify that they are indeed legitimate, by going to File - Account in Office, and it says there that there are updates ready for download, so I know they aren't rogue.
Hi, BobV55.
Sorry to hear that the problem wasn't resolved.
It seems like you're able to open the entire Office suite. I'm curious. How do you do that? It seems like in Windows 8/8.1, I can only open the components of Officeindividually (e.g., Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.), but, again, not the entire Office suite. This is because there is no icon for Office itself, at least I haven't found it on my computer yet. So, I have no idea how to do what you did, i.e., "going to File - Account in Office".
Inquirer, it will be a pleasure to answer a question for you, instead of being in a position to only ask them!
With any of the Office applications open, you click on the File tab at the far left, and it opens the backstage area. Scroll down, and click on the Account selection, and the window you see in my attached screenshot opens to the right. Within the Office Updates box is a pull down from which you can select options ranging from Apply Updates to Do Not Update, which is what I've selected, at least for the time being.
The good news is that, even though these updates are not showing in Windows Update, that they do show here indicates that they are bona fide updates, and not a rogue attempt at gaining control of the computer.
I learned that if your Office installation is classified as a "per-user" installation, the updates will not show within Windows Update...I purchased my copy of Office through a discount offered by my employer, and it was a direct download from Microsoft, so I guess that defines me as a "per-user".
Hopefully this will add a little bit to your Office toolkit!
F4E, I have not yet had any feedback from the folks over at Sony, but if I do get a solution, I'll bring it back here, in case anyone else goes through a similar scenario to mine.
Thanks for adding this info to my Office toolkit! So what you're saying is that we can check for and download updates for the entire Office suite from within any one of the Office applications?
I guess mine is a per-user installation, although, unlike in your case, it was already installed when I got this computer.
Your reasoning seems sound. Those were more than likely genuine Microsoft updates for Office then. But I will have to verify this on my computer tonight. I'll report back.
LOL! You actually had me go quickly back to my message this morning, afraid I'd made that error again!
I believe a computer with Office pre-installed also qualified for the pre-user definition that I read last night, however I'm not 100% positive on that. I've slept since then, you see.
I was concerned earlier this week when, upon your suggestion, I did check and did not see any Office updates included in the Windows Update set, but now I feel reassured that they are indeed legitimate updates, based on my reading, and then verifying that Office had them listed.
Odd that Windows Update (which I have set to include MS Update) doesn't include them by default, but then, it's not the first MS decision that I've found to be illogical....
LOL! You actually had me go quickly back to my message this morning, afraid I'd made that error again!
Haha...
BTW, you didn't answer my question about being able to check for and download updates for the entire Office suite from within any one of the Office applications.
about that in another thread. 
Thanks.