This month we have eight updates from Microsoft, affecting most versions of Windows, with one being flagged as Critical.

Anyone using a Windows computer is encouraged to use Windows Update to install available updates as soon as possible.

For complete technical details on the updates, see the official bulletin on the Microsoft Security TechCenter site.

There’s a related post on the MSRC blog.

Update 2015Jan13: One of the updates in this batch is the source of some ill-will between Microsoft and Google. Google reported a Windows 8.1 vulnerability to Microsoft on October 13, and in keeping with its disclosure policies, made the vulnerability public 90 days later. By the time Microsoft got around to developing a fix, it was too late to make the patch available before the 90 day delay would end. Microsoft apparently asked Google to wait for the patch to be released on January 13, but Google stuck to its policy. Now Microsoft has publicly expressed its displeasure with Google. Information Week has additional details.