Microsoft released seven patches on Tuesday to fix 11 different vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system and other software applications.

In its last regularly scheduled patch day in 2006, the software giant issued a critical cumulative update for Internet Explorer fixing four vulnerabilities, patches for serious flaws in its Outlook Express e-mail client and Visual Studio development environment, and four other patches to fix five Windows flaws, including two critical vulnerabilities in the handling of the Windows Media format.

The addition of the fix for the Windows Media format was originally unscheduled.

"We have been working on an update for the Windows Media Format and were able to meet the quality bar necessary for release," Microsoft said in a statement. "Because of this, we were able to add it to the December release."

The software giant did not fix a worrisome flaw in Microsoft Word and Works, which attackers are already exploiting to compromise systems.

securityfocus.com