Microsoft is preparing 12 security fixes - seven critical - as part of the August edition of its regular Patch Tuesday update cycle.

The seven "critical" fixes due out next Tuesday (12 August) cover flaws in Windows, Media Player, Internet Explorer and Office. All supported version of Windows - including Vista - will need patching.

The five less serious "important" flaws cover vulnerabilities in Windows, Outlook Express and Windows Messenger. With so many client systems needing patching it is tempting to think that some sysadmins might be recalled from the beach to handle the workload, which is unusually heavy for this time of the year. Neither June or July were particularly busy, bringing just one critical bug between them against seven in this month alone.

More details on the upcoming updates can be found in a pre-alert notice from Microsoft here. ®

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