Microsoft plans six 'critical' patches next week
Microsoft will release nine security updates on Patch Tuesday next week, patching flaws in Windows, Office, Internet Explorer and Virtual PC. Of the nine bulletins, six will be labelled "critical," Microsoft's highest rating, with the remaining three ranked "important." The vulnerabilities have been pegged as remote code executable, a sure sign that the bugs are very dangerous, and if exploited, could easily allow a PC to be hijacked by hackers.
Microsoft Windows, including Vista, will be the focus of four of the nine updates, with one fix pegged critical. Other critical patches will be provided for Microsoft Office, Excel, Visual Basic 6.0 and IE. Of the bulletins labelled important, fixes will be issued for Windows Vista, Windows Media Player, Virtual PC and Virtual Server and IE.
