Microsoft usually releases patches for Windows on the second Tuesday of the month. But last Thursday, the company sent out an update that was too important to withhold for two more weeks. If you have your PC set to download and/or install Windows updates automatically, you've already received this patch. (You'll find more on managing Windows updates at this previous Worker's Edge blog post.)
In Vista, you can make sure you've got this update by pressing the Windows key, typing Windows Update, and pressing Enter. Click "View update history" in the left pane and look for an entry labeled Security Update for Windows Vista (KB958644) and dated 10/23/2008.
Make sure Vista has the most recent Windows patch.
(Credit: Microsoft)The patch is even more important for Windows XP PCs, which lack some of Vista's built-in defenses, such as User Access Control (yes, it's good for something). You can open Windows Update by clicking the applet's shortcut on XP's Start menu, or assign the shortcut a key combination to open it from your keyboard .
To do so, right-click the Windows Update shortcut on the Start menu, choose Properties, click in the "Shortcut key" box under the Shortcut tab, and press your desired key combination--I chose Ctrl-Alt-U.
In XP's Windows Update applet, click "Review your update history" on the left and look for an entry with the Knowledgebase (KB) number 958644 (see the screen above).
If you have trouble downloading or installing this or any other Windows update, see Scott Dunn's information on troubleshooting Windows Update. (Scroll down to "Tips for installing recalcitrant updates" about halfway through the article.)
Microsoft's Internet Explorer remains the most popular browser in the world. This despite report after report calling the program less secure than Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and other free competitors.
Yet IE remains the preferred browser of nearly four out of five people surfing the Web. If you're one of the Web majority, there's one thing you can do to enhance your online security: Update to the latest IE release.
According to Net Applications, IE 6 accounted for more than 26 percent of the browser market in June 2008, while IE 7 was used by over 46 percent of all people on the Web. If your PC runs Windows 2000 or an earlier version of the OS, you can't upgrade to version 7 of IE. Unless your boss insists that you use the older version of the browser on XP or Vista, you've got no excuse for not upgrading to the safer IE 7.
Unfortunately, Microsoft updates the browser only once a month, and even then not all known holes in the browser will be plugged, as Michael Horowitz pointed out in his Defensive Computing blog last week (scroll down to read the updates).
Even with Microsoft's spotty update record, it pays to upgrade to IE 7, and to download and install all available security patches for that version of the browser. If you set Windows to download updates automatically but prompt you to install them, or to alert you when updates are ready to download (as I described in a previous post), click the update-alert icon when it appears in your system tray to open the Windows Update Control Panel applet. In Vista, choose "View available updates" in the right pane under the Install Updates button.
Click "View available updates" under the Install Updates button in Vista's Windows Update applet.
(Credit: Microsoft)Check the updates you want to install. Look specifically for security patches for Internet Explorer. Once you've made your selections, click Install.
Check the Windows (and IE) updates you want to add and click the Install button.
(Credit: Microsoft)As with all Windows updates, you may want to wait a day or two after an IE patch is released before installing it. Then keep an eye on the tech-news sites for reports of update-related glitches. If all appears to be well with the update, add it to your system. Remember what they say about the pioneers being the ones with the arrows in their backs.
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