What's New: Patch Other Software, Too

Wednesday, Apple released an update to its QuickTime media player that fixes several critical flaws. This highlights the need for everyone to keep all Internet-related software up to date, not just one's web browser.

QuickTime 7.2 fixes several flaws, some of which could allow an attacker to compromise a PC by embedding a movie in a web page or e-mail attachment. However, there are many other software programs that also should be updated. Microsoft Update accounts for Microsoft software like Internet Explorer, Media Player, and Office 2003 and later. The FireFox web browser (especially version 2 or later) updates itself. Other software such as Adobe Acrobat Reader and Sun's Java runtime will notify users of pending updates by default, but users need to go ahead and download the updates regularly.

Since any document can be sent as an e-mail attachment, it is important to keep all software on your system up to date. Yes, the myraid prompts are annoying, but how much more annoying would a virus be?

Thursday, Jul 12, 2007 10:05 am CDT

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