Today, in keeping with its usual schedule, Microsoft released its Security Bulletin Advanced Notification for March, previewing the security fixes it intends to release next Tuesday, March 13. Microsoft plans to release six security bulletins this month; four are for Windows and its components, and there are also patches for Microsoft’s Visual Studio and Expression Design development tools. One Windows patch has a maximum severity rating of Critical, two are rated Important, and one Moderate. All supported versions of Windows are affected. The table below shows the breakdown of patches by Windows version and severity:
| Windows Version | Critical | Important | Moderate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows XP+SP3 | 1 | 1 | — |
| Windows Vista | 1 | 1 | — |
| Windows Server 2003 | 1 | 2 | — |
| Windows Server 2008 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Windows 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
The development tool patches have an Important severity rating.
According to Microsoft, three of the Windows bulletins will require a system restart, and the other bulletins may require one, depending on your system’s configuration.
As always, this information is subject to change between now and the actual release of the bulletins next Tuesday. I will post a note here once the actual updates are available.
Random Walks 
[…] Today is the second Tuesday of March, so, in keeping with its usual schedule, Microsoft has released this month’s batch of security bulletins and patches for Windows and related software. This month, there are six patches, for six identified vulnerabilities. Four of the patches are for Windows itself, one of which is rated Critical; all supported versions of Windows are affected. For a breakdown of patches by version and severity, check this month’s preview post. […]