If you use Windows XP or WIndows 2000 and a lot of Microsoft programs then you would be well advised to download and install (you should have this set as an automatic function) Microsoft’s February security update which contains 12 patches for 20 vulnerabilities. None for Vista.  

Microsoft has sent a Valentine’s Day present to all its users. A patch to deal with loopholes in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer and Microsoft’s Malware Protection Engine. Versions of these programs used on Windows 2000 and XP could have these loopholes.

So is this just a case of Microsoft being extra-careful? No.

Some of the loopholes, particularly those in Word, which at a guess is the most widely used word processing program on personal computers, came to light because hackers were using these loopholes and have been doing so during the past month.

Ironically, another loophole is in the program Microsoft designed to spot viruses and spyware that has infected PCs.

Should you worry? Probably. These patches are rated as critical which means they make your PC vulnerable to naughty people who wish to access your computer. However, you would probably have be a nong, a no-hoper and a galah (all Australian phrases which indicate disapproval of the person indicated) for this to happen to you because typically the only way you can get infected is by opening an attachment on an e-mail or going to a webpage which is booby-trapped.

Frequently in that case the phrase booby-trapped should take the emphasis on the first syllable.

Vista, at the moment, is as clean as a whistle. Which is only right and proper because it has not been available for a full month. Will it have loopholes that will need patches. Of that you can be quite, quite certain.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 at 4:04 am under Microsoft, Security.

Read more entries by Gareth Powell.
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