Microsoft's Jet Engine Sputters

Microsoft's Malware Protection Gets Mauled

Antivirus apps today often contain safeguards to forestall attacks against software holes in other programs. But what if your antivirus app itself has a flaw? You'd better get the fix, quick.

Microsoft's Malware Protection Engine, used by Windows Live OneCare, Vista's and XP's Windows Defender program, and several Microsoft corporate security products, suffered from two bugs that could allow an attacker to crash the affected program if you viewed an infected Web page or opened a poisoned e-mail. Though Redmond rates the risk as only moderate and no attacks have yet been reported, someone often figures out how to take advantage of such forced crashes to take complete control of a victim PC. So if you use one of these Microsoft apps, be sure it's current on its program updates. Or download the fix.

The Microsoft fixes continue this month with patches for Word, Outlook, and Publisher. Critical flaws affecting Word 2007 and 2000 SP3, Outlook 2007, and Publisher 2000 SP3 could allow an attacker to completely compromise your PC if you open a malicious file or preview a corrupted HTML message in Outlook. Office 2003 components carry less risk from the bug. Get the fix and more info.

More Essential Adobe Fixes

It's not all about Microsoft--Adobe issued eight critical fixes for holes in its Acrobat and Acrobat Reader programs. Crooks love to go after flaws in near-ubiquitous software like Reader, and one of these bugs is already under attack, so be sure you close these holes. Opening a poisoned .pdf could leave you at a cyber assailant's mercy.

Finally, if you have a Cricket EZ mobile phone, the company recalled about 285,000 of the small black-and-silver units sold in the United States in February and March 2008 because they may fail to properly connect to 911 services. To find out if your phone is affected and for recall info, dial 866/441-1577 or visit Cricket support.