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Microsoft announced last Thursday at the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) that will release via Windows Update, 13 security patches next Tuesday (October 13). These patches will deal with 34 new vulnerabilities affecting Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, Silverlight, Forefront, development tools and SQL Server.

This is nothing new, as the Redmond company publishes security bulletins on a monthly basis. However, what is different this time is that security bulletins this month include five security patches for Windows 7, one of which is considered "critical", while the others were rated "important." The critical update resolves a security hole in Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft stressed the importance of these changes as Jerry Bryant, security program manager, said:

They usually do not come into this level of detail in the notice, but we felt it important guidance that clients can plan accordingly and deploy these updates as soon as possible.

These are the first security patches Windows 7 is received after it has released to manufacturing. Windows XP and Vista seem to have more security problems because the former receive nine changes (in six of them are critical) and the second will have eight (five is the critics). Ars Technica has provided a precise breakdown of the newsletters:

* Bulletin 1: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows
* Bulletin 2: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows
* Bulletin 3: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows
* Bulletin 4: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows
* Bulletin 5: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows, Internet Explorer
* Bulletin 6: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows
* Bulletin 7: Important (spoofing), Windows
* Bulletin 8: Important (Remote Code Execution), Windows
* Bulletin 9: Important (Elevation of Privilege), Windows
* Bulletin 10: Important (Denial of Service), Windows
* Bulletin 11: Critical (remote code execution), the Office
* Bulletin 12: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows, Silverlight
* Bulletin 13: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows, Office, SQL Server, Development Tools, Forefront

In addition, Microsoft will host a live webcast for those interested the following day (Oct. 14). So if you're running the RTM version of Window 7, ready to download and install the Windows 7 security patches first.