Microsoft's next "Patch Tuesday" event is scheduled for January 14th, but in terms of new security software updates, January will be one of the lightest months in years. Today, Microsoft revealed that only four security bulletins will be offered on Tuesday, but none of them have the "Critical" label.
Instead, the advanced notifications blog post states that the four bulletins have the lower "Important" label. One of those updates, MS14-002, will close an exploit that was previously discovered in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The other three security patches will fix issues with Windows 7, SharePoint, Microsoft Word and other software programs. None of these "Important" updates will be to fix holes in Internet Explorer, which represents the first time in several months this has happened.
Besides the four security bulletins, Microsoft is expected to use "Patch Tuesday" to release some more software updates, including new firmware for its Surface tablets. Microsoft pulled the December Surface Pro 2 firmware from circulation a few weeks ago after some owners of the tablet said they had installation and battery issues.
Windows XP PC owners only have a few more months of security and bug patches; Microsoft still plans to cut off support for the over 12-year old operating system on April 8th.
Source: Microsoft | Image via Microsoft
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