Microsoft lines up seven critical patches for August

The August edition of Microsoft's monthly patching exercise will see seven critical and five important security fixes released, much busier than July's Patch Tuesday.

Of the seven critical patches to be released tomorrow, all involve remote code executions. There will be patches for Internet Explorer, Media Player and various versions of Windows (2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003), as well as four for the Office suite, including fixes for Access, Excel and PowerPoint.

The five fixes rated as important' involve either remote code execution or information disclosure. The patches are for Word, Messenger, Outlook Express and Windows.

Tomorrow, Microsoft will also be releasing an upgrade to its Windows Malicious Software Removal tool.

Last week, the software giant said it would start sharing patches with vendors ahead of releasing them to the public, to help give them a head start in the race against malware creators.