Microsoft patch Tuesday, Expect 7 bulletins, 4 critical

Microsoft plans to release seven security bulletins next week, including patches for critical bugs in Windows, Internet Explorer and Office.

Four of the bulletins address critical vulnerabilities, which is Microsoft's highest security threat classification. The other three, according to an online advisory, are rated important, which is the second-highest rating. While Microsoft said in its Security Bulletin Advance Notification that there will be seven bulletins, there's no word on how many actual vulnerabilities will be fixed.

This month's Patch Tuesday comes on Oct. 9. Three of the bulletins address flaws in Windows Vista " two of them are critical.

The online advisory also noted that the four critical bulletins all address remote execution problems. The critical bulletins cover flaws in Office, Windows, the Internet Explorer browser, Outlook Express, and Windows Mail.