14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft rolled out a total of 8 different fixes on Patch Tuesday to fix flaws in Windows, Internet Explorer, and Exchange, which makes analysts state that the company is making real progress in dealing with software vulnerabilities.
Paul Henry, a security and forensics analyst at Lumension, told CIO Today that Microsoft released a total of 65 security patches in 2012, seven more than this time last year. As far as critical patches are concerned, the company shipped only 25 of them since January 2013.
"At the start of the year, we anticipated higher numbers in 2013 given Microsoft's commitment to cleaning up the low-hanging fruit out there. Last year at this time there were 35 important patches issued. We now see 40. Our criticals in 2013 so far number 25 with 35 in total for 2012. Good news there,” Henry explained.
Microsoft, on the other hand, needs to cope with the growing number of botched update it releases, as some of the fixes sent to users are doing more harm than good.
This month, for example, the company pulled the Exchange patch only a few hours after the public launch, while a Windows 7 "fix" continues to cause BSODs on a number of computers.
As usual, the company has promised to look into the matter, so users have no other option than to completely uninstall the patch until a fix is being delivered.
“Some users may experience issues with certain games after they install security update 2859537. In some cases, users may not successfully start and sign in to the games. Microsoft is researching this problem and will post more information in this article when the information becomes available,” the company confirmed.
Microsoft has apparently abandoned the concept of service packs in the favor of more frequent updates that keep users stay on the safe side by delivering patches a lot faster. Windows 7, for example, won’t get a second service, while Windows 8 users will only be provided with a major update package called 8.1.