Patch Tuesday for February 2020

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes.

Yesterday’s crop of updates includes the usual pile from Microsoft, as well as a few from Adobe, for Flash and Reader.

Analysis of Microsoft’s Security Update Guide for February 2020 reveals that there are thirty-eight updates, addressing one hundred and one security issues in Internet Explorer, Edge (both the old and new versions), Flash embedded in Internet Explorer, Office, and Windows. Thirteeen of the updates have been flagged as Critical.

To install Microsoft updates, go to Windows Update in the Control Panel for older versions of Windows, and in Settings > Update & Security for Windows 10. Alternatively, for Windows 10, you can just wait for the updates to be installed automatically.

Adobe logo

The latest version of Flash, 32.0.0.330, fixes a single security vulnerability in earlier versions.

Update Flash on pre-Windows 10 computers by heading to the Windows Control Panel and running the Flash applet. On the Updates tab, check the version and click the Check Now button. Click the link to the Player Download Center. Make sure to disable any checkboxes for installing additional software, then click the big Install Now button. Follow the prompts. You may have to restart your web browser for the update to finish.

Adobe Reader 2020.006.20034, also released this Patch Tuesday, includes fixes for seventeen security vulnerabilities in earlier versions.

Recent versions of Reader typically update themselves, but you can check your version and force an update by navigating Reader’s menu to Help > Check for Updates...

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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