Still waiting for the vaccine? Trying to avoid going outside? Well, luckily for you, there are plenty of indoor tasks you can work on, like Netflix binge-watching, exercise, and installing software updates on your Windows computers.

For May 2021, Microsoft is handing us yet another pile of updates, addressing eighty-eight vulnerabilities (by my count) in .NET, Internet Explorer, Office, Edge, Exchange Server, SharePoint, Visual Studio, Skype, and Windows. My analysis is based on data exported from Microsoft’s Security Update Guide.

As usual, Windows 10 users can delay updates but not indefinitely. Windows 8.1 users who don’t have automatic updates enabled need to go to Windows Update to get the updates. Windows 7 users are mostly out of luck, but should check Windows Update anyway, because Microsoft sometimes makes critical update available for all users, not just business and educational users with deep pockets. If you’re still using Windows XP, there are no more updates, and I hope you know what you’re doing.

It’s another Patch Tuesday, usually referred to by Microsoft as ‘Update Tuesday’. Terminology aside, what it means is a big pile of updates that will be foisted upon most Windows users over the next few days.

Those of us sticking with Windows 8.1 can still review the available updates and install them at our leisure, which can be very satisfying when an update that we defer turns out to cause problems. But Microsoft seems to reserve its major screwups to Windows 10 updates these days (incuding this month’s printing crashes, and the fix for those crashes).

If you’re running Windows 10, you can defer updates for as long as a month… unless you’re running any of the Home versions, in which case the updates are as inevitable as taxes.

This month’s updates address several extremely serious security vulnerabilities in Exchange, Microsoft’s email server software, which ordinary folks are very unlikely to be running.

But the parade also includes updates for the usual offenders: Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge (both the Chromium-based and original versions), Office (Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Visio), Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, and of course Windows. One hundred and thirty-one vulnerabilities* are addressed in all.

Microsoft’s Security Update Guide is currently the official source for this information. The SUG has undergone some improvements lately, and it’s gradually getting easier to navigate, which is a relief.

If you’re still running Windows 7, today’s festivities are largely meaningless, though Microsoft does occasionally toss a bone in your direction, in the form of a Windows 7 update normally reserved for those deep of pocket. Microsoft will presumably continue to do this when a flaw is serious enough that witholding the fix would create a public relations problem for the company.

The release notes for today’s updates provide additional details, though they are still sadly somewhat incomplete.

* The vulnerability count varies depending on who’s looking. According to the SANS Internet Storm Center, “This month we got patches for 122 vulnerabilities. Of these, 14 are critical, 5 are being exploited and 2 were previously disclosed.” Brian Krebs says “from Microsoft today…the company released software updates to plug more than 82 security flaws in Windows and other supported software. Ten of these earned Microsoft’s “critical” rating”. Clearly Microsoft’s Security Update Guide still needs work.

This month’s pile from Microsoft includes fixes for vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer (9 and 11), both variants of Edge (Chromium and EdgeHTML), Office (2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019), SharePoint, Visual Studio, Windows (7, 8.1, and 10), and Windows Server (2008, 2012, 2016, 2019).

There are fifty-three security bulletins in all, and fifty-three associated updates. The updates includes fixes for one hundred and twenty vulnerabilities, twenty-one of which have been flagged as having critical severity. All of the critical vulnerabilities involve potential remote code execution.

As usual, the details are available in Microsoft’s Security Update Guide.

You can still get the Windows 7 updates legitimately, but only if you subscribe to Microsoft’s rather expensive Extended Security Updates program.

Windows 10 systems will update themselves automatically, although with newer versions, you have some control over when that happens. With Windows 10, most updates are going to get installed at some point. But delaying them can allow you to avoid updates that cause problems, since Microsoft usually issues fixes for the updates shortly after problems are discovered. But doing that potentially leaves your computer vulnerable in the interim. It’s your call. Adjust the update settings by going to Settings > Update & Security > Advanced options.

For Windows 8.1 users, it’s all about Windows Update. If you’ve configured it to install updates automatically, you’re basically in the same boat as Windows 10 users. Otherwise, locate Windows Update in the Control Panel, and click the Check for updates button.

If you run Windows 10 and are curious about the updates Microsoft will be jamming down your throat in the next few days; if you run Windows 7 and want to know what you’re missing out on by not being rich enough to afford Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates program; or if you’re running Windows 8.1 and want to know a bit more about the updates you’re about to install, read on.

Analysis of Microsoft’s comprehensive — yet still oddly difficult to navigate — Security Update Guide for this month reveals that there are sixty-five distinct updates and associated bulletins. Actually, since Microsoft is now calling these things ‘articles’, I’ll do the same. So there are sixty-five articles with associated updates, many of which are packaged into bundles: one with all the month’s updates, and one with only security-related updates.

The updates address a total of one hundred and twenty vulnerabilities in the usual lineup of Microsoft software: Windows (10, 8.1, and 7), Office (2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019), Internet Explorer 9 and 11, Edge (the one built on Chromium), .NET, SharePoint, and Visual Studio.

As is usual these days, Windows 10 updates are installed at Microsoft’s whim, Windows 7 updates are out of reach for most folks, and Windows 8.1 updates are installed via Windows Update in the Control Panel.

It’s another Patch Day, and this month from Microsoft we’ve got thirty-two update bulletins and associated patches. Twenty-one of the bulletins are flagged as having Critical severity. One hundred and twenty-four security vulnerabilities are addressed, affecting Internet Explorer 9 and 11, Adobe Flash embedded in Microsoft browsers, Office applications, Edge (both the original version and the new version based on the Chromium engine), Sharepoint, Visual Studio, Windows 7, 8.1, and 10, and Windows Defender, the anti-malware program included with Windows 10.

You can find all the relevant details by perusing Microsoft’s Security Update Guide.

Although Microsoft produced Windows 7 updates this month, you won’t be able to obtain them through Windows Update unless you’ve subscribed to Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. Still, you should check Windows Update because occasionally Microsoft makes new Windows 7 updates available to everyone.

Windows 8.1 is still getting updates, and that will continue until January 10, 2023. Windows Update is still the easiest way to check for and install updates for Windows 8.1.

As usual, Windows 10 computers will be force-fed these updates over the next few days. You can delay the inevitable for as much as a year for feature updates (changes other than bug fixes), or a month for bug fixes, but eventually they’ll be installed whether you want them or not. Which still seems crazy, given how many problems Windows 10 updates have caused.

Happy Patch Tuesday! Today’s gifts from the always-generous folks at Microsoft include forty-two updates, addressing one hundred and fifteen security bugs in Internet Explorer (9 and 11), Edge (the original version, not the one built on Chromium), Office (2010, 2016, and 2019), Windows (7, 8.1, and 10), and Windows Server.

You can dig into all the gory details over at the Microsoft Security Update Guide.

Computers running Windows 10 will update themselves at Microsoft’s whim over the coming days.

Windows 8.1 users can still exercise some freedom of choice in deciding when to install updates, but I encourage everyone to install them as soon as possible. Even with Microsoft’s recent bungling, you’re arguably better off with security fixes than without, even if those updates sometimes cause other problems.

To install updates on your Windows 8.1 computer, go to the Windows Control Panel and open Windows Update.

If you’re running Windows 7, you may be surprised to note that some of this month’s updates are available for that no-longer-officially-supported version. That’s because while those updates definitely exist, they’re not technically available to the general public.

To get access to the Windows 7 updates, you need to sign up for Extended Security Updates for Windows 7. This is typically only done by Enterprise users (businesses and educational institutions) who need more time to migrate computers to newer versions of Windows. For regular folks, the cost of ESU seems likely to be prohibitive.

The more adventurous among you might want to experiment with hacks to get around this limitation for Windows 7 updates. Apparently people are finding some success doing this.