Fighting malware and spam

Patch

Fix for some flaw or error in software

Patches are created and applied to cover flaws in software applications which may cause errors, crashes, or other unwanted behaviour. Patches for security vulnerabilities are particularly relevant.

Most software includes some flaws, generally minor, due to the complex nature of computer programming. When these flaws are discovered there are two options available to software makers - to replace the flawed software with an entirely new version, or to release a patch, which can be applied to already installed copies of the software, sometimes even while it is still running. Patches may be released on an as-needed basis, responding directly to the discovery of issues, or in some larger companies and applications on a regular cycle, such as Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday release.

Related news articles

IE zero-day bug fixed in Patch Tuesday updates

Serious browser bug main feature of monthly alerts, Adobe Flash issue also patched.

09 December 2009

Bumper crop of October patch releases

Busy weeks for admins as Patch Tuesday joined by Adobe fixes, and Mozilla announces plug-in checking plans.

16 October 2009

Serious false positive hits users of old McAfee engines

Batch of system files wrongly flagged as malware, current versions not affected.

07 July 2009

March Patch Tuesday followed by PDF viewer patches

Major kernel issue and PDF problems fixed, spreadsheet software remains vulnerable.

12 March 2009

MS to release out-of-band patch for critical IE vulnerability

Users advised to patch ASAP.

17 December 2008

  see all related news stories

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