Setting Up IRM
Ready to jump right in and start elbowing the curious and nefarious away from your prized work? Good, but a few interim steps might be necessary before you graciously start granting permissions. If you don't already have IRM installed in your version of Word, you might need to set it up. How can you find out whether you already have IRM? It couldn't be simpler: Choose File, Permission, Do Not Distribute. If you see the Permission dialog box, you have IRM already and can skip to the next section. If you're looking at an offer to download IRM, accept it, clicking through the wizard.
NOTE
At this point, it's only fair to warn you that if you're not on a network with a server that will verify identity, you'll need to have a .NET passport or get one. No worries; Microsoft offers you the opportunity for a .NET passport right in the wizard.