Patch Tuesday for December

Today, Microsoft published twenty-four updates, addressing thirty-three vulnerabilities in Flash player (for Microsoft browsers), Office, Internet Explorer, Edge, and Windows.

As usual, Microsoft’s announcement is little more than a pointer to the Security Update Guide (SUG). If you’re looking for details about any of these updates, that’s your only official option. The SUG’s user interface is somewhat headache-inducing, but there’s useful information to be had there.

Windows 10 gets these updates whether you want them or not; Windows 7 and 8.1 can be configured for automatic or manual updates. I personally don’t like the idea of updates being installed on my computers at Microsoft’s whim, so I’m sticking with manual updates. And avoiding Windows 10 completely. And gradually switching to Linux.

About jrivett

Jeff Rivett has worked with and written about computers since the early 1980s. His first computer was an Apple II+, built by his father and heavily customized. Jeff's writing appeared in Computist Magazine in the 1980s, and he created and sold a game utility (Ultimaker 2, reviewed in the December 1983 Washington Apple Pi Journal) to international markets during the same period. Proceeds from writing, software sales, and contract programming gigs paid his way through university, earning him a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree at UWO. Jeff went on to work as a programmer, sysadmin, and manager in various industries. There's more on the About page, and on the Jeff Rivett Consulting site.

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