Microsoft Issues Scary Number of October Security Fixes

Halloween came early for Microsoft yesterday, when the software giant chose trick over treat and issued a whopping 22 security fixes and 11 security bulletins. The fixes were all part of the company's regularly scheduled monthly security fix release and constitute the set of fixes for October 2004.
  
Several of the flaws that the release fixes are rated critical, the most severe rating Microsoft allocates. The critical fixes apply to various Windows versions from Windows NT 4.0 through Windows Server 2003, including Windows XP. The other flaws are rated important and affect various Windows versions, Microsoft IIS, and Microsoft Excel.
  
Given the number of flaws, I recommend that you make sure Automatic Updates is running or visit Windows Update immediately. If you're interested in the gruesome details, Microsoft has more information on its security Web site. Boo!