Updates will affect, Windows, Windows Server, Office.
Microsoft has told its customers to expect six patches total for tomorrow’s monthly update. Three of them will be rated critical, three of them will be rated important and most of them will require a restart.
The patches will fix flaws in XP, Vista, Windows Server 2003 and 2008, Office and Microsoft Project versions 2002 and 2003. Additionally, a critical patch for Internet Explorer 8, bundled with Windows 7 and R2, is expected to be pushed out as well. Note that the Server Core installations of 2003 and 2008 will not be affected.
Windows 7 will not be affected, nor will Windows Server 2008 R2 — although both of them contain Internet Explorer 8, which will be patched.
If Microsoft releases no out-of-band patches after tomorrow’s last Patch Tuesday of 2009, Microsoft will have issued a total of 74 patches for the year — though many of those updates fixed multiple flaws. The is roughly on par with the number of updates the company pushed out in 2008, at 78, according to PC World.
Is Microsoft’s security improving? Some look to Windows 7 and say that it is. Windows 7 has had four patches in 2009 (after Oct. 1), according to Secunia.com with one issue remaining unpatched as of mid November, a relatively low-impact flaw that could allow a Denial of Service attack. For 2009, Vista had 143 reported vulnerabilities and 77 patches. That’s an average of 12 holes and 6 patches per month.
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