14 DAY TRIAL // Today we’re celebrating Patch Tuesday, that special day of the month when our beloved Windows computers are supposed to receive the latest fixes and improvements from Microsoft.
This month, Redmond will roll out a total of eight security bulletins supposed to fix security vulnerabilities in some of its key products, including Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer.
All Windows versions are scheduled to get patched later today, starting with the aging XP and ending with the newly-launched Windows 8.1.
On the other hand, Internet Explorer users will get a critical fix supposed to resolve a recently-found zero-day flaw that allows attackers to gain control of a vulnerable computer once the user loads a compromised website.
Security company FireEye revealed the bug during the weekend, saying that English versions of Internet Explorer running on Windows XP and Windows 7 are all affected by the glitch.
Microsoft, on the other hand, won’t patch a recently-found Windows zero-day flaw affecting the way TIFF files are handled and said to be exploited right now in attacks in Pakistan. A Fix It solution has indeed been released, but security experts believe that a full-time patch won’t arrive sooner than December.
Three of the bulletins to be released later today are considered to be critical and will obviously require users to reboot their computers. The other five are only said to be important and are aimed at flaws in Windows and Office.
Of course, Microsoft hasn’t yet revealed any specifics on the glitches to be fixed as part of the Patch Tuesday update cycle, but the company is expected to unveil full details in just a few hours.
All fixes will be delivered via Windows Update, which means that user input is minimal and you don’t have to do anything to get them installed on your computer.
Luckily, Microsoft has already tested the patches before making them public, so let’s just hope that this month won’t bring any botched update to break down users’ computers.