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Dozen Windows, Office updates coming next week

The bulletins, some of which are rated "critical," will be distributed next Tuesday in Microsoft's usual fashion.

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
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Tom Krazit
Microsoft has 12 security bulletins in store for next Tuesday that address both Windows and Office issues.

Ten Windows bulletins will be released for Windows and two for Office as part of Microsoft's monthly patching schedule. Specific details on the types of issues that the bulletins address were not available, but at least one update for each product is considered critical and some will require a restart, Microsoft said in a notice posted on its Web site.

Last month after Microsoft released its monthly batch of patches, exploits for flaws in its PowerPoint presentation software were released on the Web. Tuesday's patches could be fixes for those issues, but Wednesday might signal the release of other exploits for flaws the company has yet to patch.

On the Windows front, security companies recently noticed a variant of an exploit for a flaw that Microsoft had previously patched, and Tuesday's updates could also contain patches that address that variant.

Microsoft will hold a Webcast next Wednesday to answer customer questions about the latest cycle of patches.