Microsoft Shows Its Love In Valentine's Day Patch Release

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) released Thursday a preview of nine security patches scheduled for release on Valentine's Day to fix almost two-dozen vulnerabilities, some critical, in Windows and other software.

The four critical fixes, which Microsoft calls bulletins, get the highest rating because they could allow a hacker to run malicious code in Microsoft software from a remote location. Three of the patches will require a computer reboot to install.

Two of the critical patches are for Windows, while another fixes the Silverlight media player and the fourth the Internet Explorer browser. "We're seeing a great many browser patches from Microsoft these days because researchers and attackers have realized that browser exploits have the most potential for harm and are currently the best attack surface," Marcus Carey, security researcher at Rapid7, said in an e-mail. Boston-based Rapid7 sells software tools for testing application security.