Security Patches

It is a known fact that a lot of software vulnerabilities are discovered each day. Operating systems like Microsoft Windows are no exception to this, in fact a lot of vulnerabilities in Windows operating systems and Windows Services have been discovered. The most common situation is buffer overrun based vulnerabilities; an attacker can take advantage of such a vulnerability by sending a special malformed packet to the target computer, and when an unprotected software buffer is filled with more data than it can handle, the attached code included in the packet is executed and therefore the attacker basically runs the malitious code on the remote computer (any piece of custom code he wants to run) and in most cases takes immediate and full control over the remote machine.

Microsoft reacts to each new vulnerability discovered in their operating systems and applications, by releasing special software updates known as security patches. Such fixes for known software bugs work by replacing a piece of code with a new one which is 'repaired' and no longer contains the vulnerability. Since Microsoft does not change all the operating system but only small portions affected by the vulnerability, the naming of security patches is appropriate. It is to be mentioned that a security patch is actually a full program that has to be installed on the computer, rather than just a file to be copied in there which is not the case. The security patch program contains an installer that will not just copy the needed updated piece of software in your computer, but it will also modify the operating system and updating registry keys and other software in order that they recognize and work properly with the newly deployed patched version, and may install other companion software patches needed. At times a security patch may replace several components in order to address a single problem, or it may address more than one problem at a time.

From time to time, Microsoft releases 'Service Packs' for their operating systems, rather large software updates containing lots of security patches and other software updates that have been previously released as individual software and security patches - this kind of deployment has the advantage of making much easier for the end user, to deploy a large number of security patches on his/her computer in an automated and convenient fashion. It is true that the Service Pack only contains software fixes that have been released prior to its own release, and that newer updates will still have to be deployed individually, however a Service Pack is still a convenient way to install most of the needed security patches. In many cases, Service Packs are distributed not just online, but also deployed on CD or DVD and shipped to the end user, if ordered in this way, and you can also find Service Packs included on companion CD/DVD disks released together with many computer magazine issues. After installing a Service Pack, you will have to use Automatic Updates and/or the Windows Update website to keep your computer updated with the latest security patches.

End users should not ignore or minimize the risks of software vulnerabilities in their computer. New vulnerabilities are being discovered each day, and it is very important to keep your computer updated with the latest security patches all the time. Most computers today do have internet access; an unprotected computer without the needed updates may be infected or hacked in, within just a few minutes from connecting to the internet. Do not take your chances with the jungle out there on the Internet; in such case you would become just another victim of security vulnerabilities, rounding up statistics, but the potential losses can be very serious. Please also be aware that in some cases, the security patch itself can cause problems, and some of them are even re-released because previous patches did have problems that were repaired. In most cases you should be safe if the patch can be uninstalled. If you are having such a problem, you can decide whether to keep it or uninstall it and await for an improved version to be released; in such a situation you may want to contact Microsoft or visit their website and try to find out when the needed security patch will be released.

There are also a few protection measures that you can take in order to make sure that your computer will still work properly after installing security updates. While in most cases such install will work flawlessly, there are cases when installing a security update may render the computer not properly functioning anymore. There are a couple things you can do to prevent this. First of all, XP users have the ability to set up a Restore Point and should anything go wrong, they can use the restore point to restore their previous configuration. In fact the operating system may set a restore point by itself when such security updates are being detected as being installed, but you may want to set a restore point by yourself too. Then, you can always backup your computer prior to installing such security updates; it is always a good thing to do and something we all should do periodically to ensure the safety of our data. Finally, if you badly need a security fix and you cannot install it due to some problem, check if there is a workaround for the issue; at times there is additional information provided by Microsoft on how to disable certain functions or perform registry modifications and such, that will allow the user to still have his/her compute functional and disable the vulnerability without installing a security patch.