Microsoft releases critical patches, including one for Macs

Software giant Microsoft has flagged the release of nine new software patches this month, with five of them being critical – and one designed for Macs.

Microsoft usually releases patches on the second Tuesday of each month, but often interrupts that schedule for critical patches that must be applied immediately.

The new patches for this month, to be released tomorrow, affect vulnerabilities in Office XP and 2003, Office Web Components 2000, XP, 2003, and 2003 for Office 2007, Office Small Business Accounting 2006, Visual Studio .NET 2003, Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004 and 2006 and BizTalk Server 2002.

There is even one piece of Mac software that will be patched – the Remote Desktop client. This allows Mac users to log into a Windows PC remotely from their machine.

All the patches will fix vulnerabilities that allow “remote code execution”, allowing users to possibly control another persons’ computer from a separate machine.