Microsoft: Expect four bulletins on Patch Tuesday

On Thursday, Microsoft announced four security bulletins for Tuesday. The announcement is intended as a heads-up for IT departments before Patch Tuesday. All four are considered critical, the most serious ranking offered by the software giant.

Among the critical patches, two affect Windows Media Player, one affects Windows, while the other affects Microsoft Office. All could enable remote code execution if exploited.

Starting next month, Microsoft will be sharing the technical details of new vulnerabilities to give software developers a catch to update affected products before the public announcement. Also in October, Microsoft will start providing each bulletin with an Exploitability Index to help system administrators prioritize the patches.

[Mr. Dee]

I'm bored, seriously! I have fallen off the track with patching my Vista Ultimate desktop, that I have just left it to its own devices. I was without net on the desktop for a 2 months and when I did get back net, I saw like over 200 Windows Updates waiting for me in addition to Office updates. I tried downloading them on my Mobile connection which is the only way I can get net in my area, but I just could not bother, it kept failing. Microsoft, for Windows 7 and Office 14, when its designated RTM, test and use them for another year, create the service packs, integrate and release to the public. I installed Vista Ultimate November 15th 2006 and on that same day I had to download patches for Windows.<br /><br />I am not saying, patches should not exist, its inevitable, just give me release where I don't have to be doing it out of the box.

[Vegaman_Dan]

There's no such thing as an OS that is ready out of the box without needing patches. OSX, Linux/Ubuntu, Windows, etc- all of them have patches to update from the time of disk pressing for the retail packaging.

[Penguinisto]

@Mr Dee:<br /><br />I know, you don't ordinarily expect to see me defending MSFT, but if I remember correctly, you can request CD's (DVDs?) sent to you with all the latest patches. Hit their website and poke around a bit.<br /><br />/P

[David Gerard]

I'm sure the Dark Security market has been kept fully informed by Microsoft Russia. <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://tinyurl.com/56dvdt" target="_newWindow">http://tinyurl.com/56dvdt</a>