Spreadsheet-ParseExcel: Parsing various MS Excel file versions / grabing checkbox val

hi,
after having some investigations i got stuck here.

1.) i need to parse excel files, which could be saved as MS Excel
95/97, 2000, XP or possibly 2003. does the Spreadsheet-ParseExcel
support all of those versions?

2.) there are 9 checkboxes in, which do not display their value into a
cell. am i able to access these checkbox objects? i guess not...

3.) stupid question:
if there is a file attached to a page, like a picture, or visio, is it
possible to extract this data to the hard disk? i even did not manage
this using MS VB...

many thanks for any help.

cheers,

ralf