Microsoft To Issue Three Security Updates

Microsoft said today it will issue a mere three security patches next Tuesday in its monthly release of security and software updates.  The patches fix problems in computers running its Windows operating systems. I say "mere" because last month the company issued ten patches to fix a myriad of problems in Windows.

In a "security bulletin advance notification" issued today (a communication designed in part to give companies time to schedule adequate IT staff in advance of patch releases), Microsoft said it will release two patches for Windows, with at least one of them labeled "critical." Microsoft classifies fixes as critical if the security holes they mend could be used by attackers to break in and take over vulnerable PCs.

Hopefully, one of those patches will include a fix for the ominous Internet Explorer vulnerability I've been blogging about recently.

Microsoft said it also plans to release a critical update for Windows computers running Microsoft Office, the software suite that includes Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

We'll have more information on these patches when they're released Tuesday afternoon. Windows XP users who have better things to do than wait around to download and install patches from Redmond can let the company do it for them by following these instructions on how to enable automatic updates.