Microsoft Skipping Patch Tuesday

Next Tuesday is the second Tuesday of the month and that means its “Microsoft Patch Tuesday”. This is the one day each month where Microsoft regularly issues patches for its software (hopefully, you get these through automatic updates ;)).

However, they announced today that they will not be issuing any big patches this month. No, not because they have finally fixed everything :P. They are still working on the big ones (there are at least 5 zero-day vulnerabilities unpatched).

It appears that they want to make sure the big holes are correctly patched the first time. Last year they had to release a patch to fix the previously released Excel vulnerability patch and then they had to do a similar thing with a released patch for Internet Explorer. I would rather they make sure to get it right, but it would be nice not to have to worry about the flaws in the first place (perfect world).

They are planning on releasing some fixes to the Malicious Software Removal Tool and several of the Windows Update features, but nothing Earth-shattering.

This means that the Microsoft Word vulnerability will still be lurking around so be careful of e-mail you receive with Word documents attached. If you are not sure of the sender, don’t open it. Even if you are sure of the sender, consider opening the document with Open Office in the meantime (or all the time).

Microsoft is updating its One Care to catch this Word virus, so that is at least one good thing. I wonder if that virus was one that AV Comparitives tested for? 😛