Today, in keeping with its usual schedule, Microsoft released its Security Bulletin Advanced Notification for November, previewing the security fixes it intends to release next Tuesday, November 13. Microsoft plans to release six security bulletins this month. Five are for Windows and its components; four of these have a maximum severity rating of Critical, and the other is rated Moderate. All supported versions of Windows are affected, including the just-released Windows 8. (It’s good to see that these folks are able to get in on the fun right away!)
The table below shows the breakdown of patches by Windows version and severity:
| Windows Version | Critical | Important | Moderate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows XP+SP3 | 3 | — | — |
| Windows Vista | 4 | — | 1 |
| Windows Server 2003 | 3 | — | — |
| Windows Server 2008 | 3 | — | 2 |
| Windows 7 | 4 | — | 1 |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 | 3 | — | 2 |
| Windows 8 | 3 | — | — |
| Windows RT | 1 | 1 | — |
| Windows Server Core | 2 | — | 1 |
There is also one bulletin that affects Microsoft Office, including Office for Mac, which is rated Important; it also affects the Excel Viewer package.
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.
Posted by Rich 
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