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Seen as though we’ve been having a good bash on Microsoft recently, here’s some more relevant news. The December update from Microsoft has delivered patches for 11 series flaws spanning both IE6 & IE7 and all their currently supported operating systems (Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista).<\/p>\n
So if you are running Windows, make sure you get your updates downloaded and installed before you’re away from your PC during this festive season.<\/p>\n
Microsoft today released software updates to plug at least 11 security holes in PCs powered by its Windows operating systems and other software. Windows users can download the fixes either directly through the Microsoft Update Web site or via Automatic Updates.<\/p>\n
December’s seven update bundles includes fixes for four separate security holes in Internet Explorer 6 and IE7, vulnerabilities that are considered critical for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista users. Microsoft rates a flaw “critical” if it can be exploited to break into vulnerable systems with little or no help from the user, save perhaps for browsing a Web site or by clicking on a malicious link in an e-mail or instant message. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Seems like even though Internet
Exploder<\/del> Explorer is such a ‘stable’ and ‘mature’ product – it’s not immune to serious problems. I’m sorry but it’s a web-browser..how complicated can it be!<\/p>\nMicrosoft also issued critical updates to fix at least two different problems with the way Windows handles the processing and display of various video and audio files. The first of those is a serious vulnerability in the “Windows media file format” — chiefly, files that end in “.asf” and “.wmv” — used principally by the Windows Media Player software bundled with the operating system. Another patch addresses a critical flaw in most versions of “DirectX,” a Windows component that handles the display of a variety of video file formats (files that end in “.wav” and “.avi” for example). Again, these are especially dangerous flaws because they can be exploited merely by getting users to view maliciously crafted video files via a Web browser or e-mail.<\/p>\n
Of the seven patch bundles released today, only two did not affect Windows Vista systems, suggesting that the vulnerable components were carried over into Vista from older versions of the OS despite the multi-year secure coding review conducted for Vista. That said, two of the bundles were released to plug security holes that were found exclusively in Vista.<\/strong> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This news directly related to what we have been discussing recently, how previous Windows flaws carry over into the supposidly ‘all-new’ Windows Vista.<\/p>\n