14 DAY TRIAL // Next week Microsoft will be rolling out this month’s Patch Tuesday updates and thanks to the advance notification for July 2014 we now know the name of the products that are supposed to be fixed as part of the rollout.
Both Windows and Internet Explorer will get critical security updates, with Microsoft to ship a total of six updates. Only two are rated critical, while three are said to be important. The other one has the moderate flag.
All Windows versions will get patched next week, with the flaw said to exist in absolutely every Windows edition that’s still on the market, starting with Vista and ending with Windows 8.1. Windows RT will also have its own share of patches next week.
Of course, Windows XP will be left out of Patch Tuesday, which is again a little bit worrying since Microsoft has already confirmed that all Windows versions do contain a critical security flaw which could allow an attacker to gain the same privileges as the logged-in user.
Basically, if all Windows versions are affected by such a vulnerability, Windows XP has it too and since Microsoft no longer patches this old operating system, users running it could easily become vulnerable to attacks.
Security experts have already warned that cybercriminals could use Microsoft’s patches to reverse the fix and find a way to break into XP computers, so it’s essential to either upgrade to a newer operating system or take the necessary measures to stay on the safe side.
The problem with Windows XP is that it’s still surprisingly popular, with statistics released a couple of days ago by analytics firm Net Applications indicating that around 25 percent of the desktop computers worldwide are still running this old OS version, despite the fact that Microsoft is no longer patching it.
On the other hand, the majority of security vendors worldwide does provide support for Windows XP, meaning that those who are yet to upgrade can easily find an anti-virus tool or firewall to block malware. And still, that’s not enough to stay completely secure on Windows XP, Microsoft warns, as hackers could directly attempt to exploit OS vulnerabilities and bypass third-party protection.
As usual, Microsoft hasn’t yet provided any specifics on what’s to be fixed next week, as the company tries to keep users protected until patches are being delivered, so more information on this will be provided in a few days.