Today, we released Security Advisory 2847140 regarding an issue that impacts Internet Explorer 8. Internet Explorer 6, 7, 9 and 10 are not affected by the vulnerability. This issue allows remote code execution if users browse to a malicious website with an affected browser. This would typically occur by an attacker convincing someone to click a link in an email or instant message. Internet Explorer 9 and 10 are not affected by this issue, so upgrading to these versions will help protect you from...

Portuguese (Brazil) , Русский Today we released a new update to replace KB2823324, which was originally made available through MS13-036 . As we previously discussed , we stopped distributing this update when we learned some customers were having issues. The new update, KB2840149 , still addresses the Moderate security issue described in MS13-036, and should not cause these issues. If you have automatic updates enabled, you won’t need to take any actions. For those manually updating, we encourage...

Today we’re publishing the April 2013 Security Bulletin Webcast Questions & Answers page . We fielded nine questions during the webcast, with almost half of those focused on the Remote Desktop Client bulletin ( MS13-024 ). One question that was not answered on air has been included on the Q&A page. We invite our customers to join us for the next public webcast on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, at 11 a.m. PDT (UTC -7), when we will go into detail about the May bulletin release and answer...

Portuguese (Brazil) , Русский We are aware that some of our customers may be experiencing difficulties after applying security update 2823324 , which we provided in security bulletin MS13-036 on Tuesday, April 9. We’ve determined that the update, when paired with certain third-party software, can cause system errors. As a precaution, we stopped pushing 2823324 as an update when we began investigating the error reports, and have since removed it from the download center. Contrary to some...

Windows XP was originally released on August 24, 2001. Since that time, high-speed Internet connections and wireless networking have gone from being a rarity to the norm, and Internet usage has grown from 360 million to almost two-and-a-half billion users. Thanks to programs like Skype, we now make video calls with regularity, and social media has grown from a curiosity to a part of our everyday lives. But through it all, Windows XP keeps chugging along. With its longevity and wide user base, Windows...

In celebration of spring’s onset, today we’re providing advance notification for the April 2013 release of nine bulletins; two Critical and seven Important. The Critical bulletins address vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer, and the seven Important-rated bulletins will address issues in Microsoft Windows, Office, Antimalware Software, and Server Software. As always, we’ll publish the bulletins on the second Tuesday of the month, April 9, 2013 at approximately...

Today we’re publishing the March 2013 Security Bulletin Webcast Questions & Answers page . We fielded 13 questions on various topics during the webcast, with specific bulletin questions focusing primarily on Internet Explorer ( MS13-021 ), SharePoint ( MS13-024 ) and the update for Kernel-Mode Drivers in MS13-027 . There were six additional questions during the webcast that we were unable to answer on air, and we have also answered those on the Q&A page. We invite our customers to...

As my career in security response has grown over the years, I am often reminded of the words of Italian author Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa , who stated, “If we want everything to remain as it is, it will be necessary for everything to change.” There are some things that we wish to stay the same. At Microsoft, we strive to provide protections for our customers while being transparent in our processes and authoritative in our guidance. Of course, as the computing landscape shifts, we must...

We are committed to adapting our policies as the world evolves and with the new Windows Store, we evaluated how to best release security updates for Windows Store apps. Our goal is to have a quick, transparent and painless security update process. With this in mind, we will deliver high quality security updates for Windows Store apps as they become available. This applies to Microsoft apps that are installed using the Windows Store and to apps like Mail, which are preinstalled with Windows 8 but...

Today we’re providing advance notification for the release of seven bulletins, four Critical and three Important, for March 2013. The Critical bulletins address vulnerabilities in Microsoft Silverlight, Internet Explorer, Office and Microsoft Server Software. The three Important-rated bulletins will address issues in Microsoft Windows and Office. As usual, we’ve scheduled the bulletin release for the second Tuesday of the month, March 12, 2013, at approximately 10:00 a.m. PDT. Revisit...