The next wave of Patch Tuesday remedies will see a total of thirteen bug patches shipped out for immediate repairs. Among the thirteen, Microsoft ranked eight of the patches marked "critical." (Source: theregister.co.uk)

The purpose of the patches is to reduce the number of flaws in the coming weeks. However, the latest offering is set to mend 34 vulnerabilities, making this the largest number of security holes ever recorded by Microsoft, edging out the previous Patch Tuesday record of 31 fixes this past June.

Microsoft Makes Public Aware

The exact details for the planned fix have yet to be announced, since Microsoft rarely releases information on a bug until a patch is available.

Still, Microsoft sees the benefit of making the public aware this time around. According to one insider, "Usually [Microsoft does] not go into this level of detail in the advance notification, but we felt that it is important guidance so customers can plan accordingly and deploy these updates as soon as possible." (Source: technet.com)

The patches are intended to repair flaws in a wide range of Microsoft software. This includes Windows 2000 Service Pack (SP) 4 through Windows XP and Windows Vista, as well as Windows Server 2003 up through Server 2008 Release 2. It is important to note that not all patches affect all versions.

Win7 to be Patched Pre-Release

Among the most interesting fixes is the one which affects Windows 7 running Internet Explorer 8.

The eighth critical patch plugs holes in two Microsoft Office applications, including both Outlook 2002 and 2003 (SP3) and Outlook 2007 SP1 and SP2. In addition, SQL Server 2000 and 2005, Silverlight, and Visual Studio 2003, 2005, and 2008 are all set for an adjustment.

Five other patches, all rated "important" (Microsoft's second most severe ranking) also affect Windows. Of the five, two affect Windows 7.