Microsoft plans to patch 8 Windows, Office bugs next week

Microsoft today announced it will ship two security updates on Tuesday to patch eight vulnerabilities in Windows and Office.

In its monthly advance notification, Microsoft spelled out next week's two-update Patch Tuesday, a far cry from February's massive roll-out of 13 security bulletins that fixed 26 flaws.

The downturn was not unexpected. "This is indicative of the on and off cycle that Microsoft uses," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security. "Last month was more OS related, this month they're patching some applications."

March traditionally is a slow patch month for Microsoft, Storms noted, just as February has historically been big. In March 2009, for example, Microsoft issued three bulletins, while in March 2008, it delivered four.

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