Microsoft will release five sets of security patches next Tuesday, including a critical update for users of Windows 2000, the company said Thursday. With the remaining four security updates rated as "important" by Microsoft, this latest round of patches appears to be less worrisome than the August updates. Last month, Microsoft released nine updates, six of which were rated critical.
Microsoft rates its bug-fixes as critical when attackers can exploit the flaws without requiring any user action. Also set to be patched this month are Visual Studio, Windows Services for Unix, SharePoint Services, and the Windows Live and MSN Messenger software.