Microsoft Patch Tuesday Comes Up Empty for Security Updates

Microsoft is not planning to release any security updates on Tuesday, one of only a handful of times the company won’t have security patches available since its monthly security updates began in 2003, Microsoft said Thursday.

Microsoft is working on patches for known vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer 7, Office 2007’s Publisher 2007 and Windows Vista OS, but they are not ready for release at the moment, said a spokesman from Microsoft’s public relations firm Thursday.

The last time Microsoft had no security updates on “Patch Tuesday” was September 2005, he said. Patch Tuesday is the name researchers use for Microsoft’s monthly updates, which come on the second Tuesday of the month.

Though there will be no security updates, Microsoft will release two nonsecurity, high-priority updates for Windows Update and Software Update Services, and four nonsecurity, high-priority updates on Microsoft Update and Windows Server Update Services.

Microsoft also will release an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services and the Download Center. The tool will not be distributed using Software Update Services.

More information can be found on the website for Microsoft security updates. Because there are no security updates for March, the company will not hold its usual news conference next Wednesday.

-Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service (New York Bureau)