Microsoft October Patch Release
Jennifer Koch

Internet and PC mogul Microsoft released a bundle of ten patches with a total of 28 security updates on October 10th. Among the patches were fixes for Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Windows Server Service, XML Core Services and ASP.NET. Microsoft's web site announces the update as part of the routine monthly security update cycle, and lists the various fixes currently available on their October Bulletin.

According to the October 10th article released by BetaNews.com, security solutions company Patchlink suggests that all users implement the XML Core Services patch as soon as possible. XML refers to the kind of programming used within many dynamic web pages, and is sometimes exploited by creators of viruses and spyware. When a user visits a website where XML has been implemented in this way, the page can then execute a file containing a virus or other malicious program without the user's knowledge or consent. This makes it different from most other virus attacks, where the executable file must be opened by the user.

According to Microsoft and Patchlink, the XML Core Services patch available in the October security update will help curb this issue; prior to Microsoft's update no other XML security patches were available.

Security updates are listed in more detail in this BetaNews article.