Thirteen patches planned in next Microsoft security update

IDG News Service - IT administrators may find themselves grappling with triskaidekaphobia on Tuesday when Microsoft Corp. releases a flood of 13 new security patches, including several critical updates.
The release, part of Microsoft's regularly scheduled monthly security update, is the company's biggest patch roundup in months. Included will be nine Windows updates, at least one of which is rated critical. Also in the bundle will be a moderate-risk update for Microsoft's SharePoint Services and Office; a .Net Framework update rated "important"; a critical update affecting Office and Visual Studio; and a critical update affecting Windows, Windows Media Player and MSN Messenger.
Microsoft announced the number of planned patches in a security bulletin advance notification message posted to its TechNet Web site. The company has adopted a schedule of releasing security patches in batches on the second Tuesday of each month.
Details on this month's patches will not be available until they are released Tuesday.
Microsoft plans to host a webcast at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday to outline technical details of the updates, followed by a question-and-answer session. This month's webcast has been extended by an hour to allow for extra question-and-answer time.