New threats to Internet Explorer 6 and 7

By Susan Bradley The most important news this Patch Tuesday was not about a new patch, but the lack of one. Microsoft announced that it is investigating public reports of a new security threat to Internet Explorer 6 and 7. No IE patch came with the advisory, but the company did include a workaround.

981374
Two choices: update to IE 8 or enable DEP

If ever there were a compelling reason to upgrade to Internet Explorer 8, the latest attacks on IE just might be it. Microsoft’s March 9 security advisory 981374 describes attacks on Internet Explorer 6 and 7 by an all-too familiar means — an IE flaw that could allow malicious software on another Web site to attack your PC.

The affected systems include those running:

• Windows XP SP2 and SP3
  
• XP Pro x64 Edition SP2
  
• Vista, Vista SP1 and SP2
  
• Vista x64 Edition, x64 SP1 and SP2
  
• Various configurations of Windows Server 2003 and 2008
  

Not affected are PCs running Internet Explorer 8 on XP SP3, Vista SP1 or later, or Windows 7.

If you wish to stick to Internet Explorer 6 or 7, article 981374 includes Microsoft Fix it buttons that will enable Data Execution Prevention (DEP) on your PC. DEP effectively blocks remote software from running on the local computer.

The buttons do not work on Windows 2000 systems because the OS does not support DEP.

MS10-016 (975561)
Patches for MS Movie Maker and Producer 2003

Hollywood handed out Oscars last week — an inspiration to amateur moviemakers worldwide. But before editing your latest creation, make sure your copies of Movie Maker and Producer have the most-recent patch.

Related posts:

1. New Internet Explorer cumulative security patch
2. Cumulative patch for Internet Explorer
3. Serious Internet Explorer Security Problem
4. Internet Explorer is target of zero-day attack
5. More security woes for Internet Explorer