Microsoft unleashes biggest security update ever today

The problem with having three operating systems on the market simultaneously? They all keep having to be maintained and updated with security patches.

Now that Windows 7 is making its way onto computers, Microsoft finds itself in the unenviable position of having to patch it -- along with Windows Vista and Windows XP, all of which have substantial user bases in the market.

As such, today will be Microsoft's biggest patch day in history, with 13 different updates that address 34 security vulnerabilities being released for download. (The second Tuesday of every month is known as "Patch Tuesday," when Microsoft releases the majority of its updates to its products.)

The fixes run the gamut among a wide swath of Microsoft products, including patches for Internet Explorer, Office, various developer tools, server software like Microsoft SQL Server, and Windows itself. Eight of the 13 updates are classified as "critical," Microsoft's most serious security rating.

If you're using the Windows Automatic Update system you don't need to do anything out of the ordinary to get the patches. They'll be pushed to systems sometime today or tonight. And to head off a question I invariably receive after creating a post like this: I don't recommend tracking them down individually for installation ahead of the auto-update push; the odds of your computer experiencing any sort of security breach ahead of their arrival are slim to none, while the odds of you messing something up by manually installing hotfixes is high.

Be advised that several of the updates in today's big push require a restart of Windows, so if you leave your laptop at the office and turned on overnight, make sure your files are saved and your applications are closed before you head for home, as Windows will likely have restarted itself indiscriminately in your absence.