14 DAY TRIAL // As it does every month, Microsoft has built an ISO image packaging all the security updates it released for supported versions of the Windows client and server operating systems via its monthly patch cycle. The latest release, namely the February 2010 Security Release ISO Image, brings to the table the Windows patches offered on February 9th through the Windows Update and Microsoft Update for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, but also older releases of the OS, such as Windows Vista and Windows XP.
Just a few days ago, the Redmond company released no less than 13 security bulletins patching a total of 26 vulnerabilities in Windows and Office. A total of 11 patch packages were designed to plug security holes in Windows. “As always, it is recommended that customers deploy all security updates as soon as possible. Of the bulletins released this month, customers should prioritize and deploy MS10-006, MS10-007, MS10-008, MS10-013, and MS10-015, given Critical severity ratings and/or Exploitability Index ratings of 1 (‘Consistent Exploit Code Likely’),” Jerry Bryant, Sr. Security communications manager – lead, revealed.
The February 2010 Security Release ISO Image contains no less than 12 Windows security bulletins. Microsoft is offering customers this month’s MS10-005 through MS10-015 patches, but also MS10-002. The software giant released MS10-002 in January 2010, and, at the same time, the security bulletin, the single Windows security bulletin made available the past month, for which no ISO image was provided.
As far as February’s security bulletins go, Windows customers should be careful when deploying MS10-015 (KB977165). Microsoft has confirmed that this specific bulletin fails to play nice with some antivirus kernel level files and that affected computers no longer boot Windows, either normally or in safe mode. Customers impacted by the issue have reported that their machines get stuck at startup and always end up displaying a Blue Screen of Death error.
February 2010 Security Release ISO Image is available for download here.