Microsoft's latest patches

This was patch week for October, and parents of bigtime Web explorers and downloaders deserve their monthly heads-up. Microsoft patched a record 26 security holes in Windows and software for PCs and Macs. According to Washington Post security writer Brian Krebs, they include 16 vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office and Office components, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Six of this week's updates apply to "fully patched Windows XP systems" and two to Vista, the next version of Windows hardly any of us have yet. But Brian says the biggest problem is with the Office flaws, since they're "most serious (or 'critical') in the 2000 versions of each software title," which a whole lot of people have and which require people to do extra patching. "The must add a second stage … by heading over to the Office homepage and letting Office Update scan their machines." Usually patching's pretty automatic, or people could go to Windows Update.