Thor Schrock

Last Tuesday Microsoft released some new security patches (as they do on the second Tuesday of each month) to deal with security vulnerabilities that had surfaced. Microsoft warned that one of the vulnerabilities (addressed by Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-004) was already being exploited, and that patching is critical.

Today it was announced that attack code using the security vulnerability addressed by Bulletin MS07-004 had been published on the Internet and that attacks using that code should increase significantly in the coming days.

So what does all of this mean in English?

It means that you MUST update your computer by visiting the Windows Update website. Many computers that are configured for automatic updating have already received and installed these patches, but there is no way to know for certain if you are protected unless you visit the Windows Update website.

Schrock Innovations recommends that you download all critical and recommended updated for your computer. You can view these updates by clicking on the "Custom" button on the Windows Update website rather than the "Express" button. All updates are listed as either "Critical," "Recommended," or "Hardware" on the left side of the page. Download the Hardware updates at your own risk. There have been many people who have reported problems with some of the drivers provided by Microsoft (especially video card drivers).

The bottom line is that you need these updates, and while many companies including Microsoft and Symantec have designed software to try to send these to you automatically, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in this case.