Eight Patches To Ring in New Year 2007

Microsoft will begin the New Year with eight security patches, of which at least two will be critical. Three will affect Microsoft Office, one each for vulnerabilities in Visual Studio and both Windows and Office, and three for flaws in Office alone.

At least one of the patches for Office is expected to address some of the zero-day attack threats that have appeared during the month of December. In recent months, Microsoft's productivity suite has become a more popular target for attackers.

A patch for Microsoft Windows and Visual Studio will carry an "important" rating, as will a patch for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. The status of the remaining three patches is unknown: Microsoft typically discloses little information on planned fixes before "Patch Tuesday."

Along with the security fixes, an update to the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. In addition, two non-security high-priority updates are due on Microsoft Update, although none will be released through Windows Update.

The patches would be made available on Tuesday around 1:00pm ET, Microsoft said.