Microsoft today said it will patch a record 64 vulnerabilities in Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, Windows graphics framework, and other software next week. The 17 updates will ship next Tuesday and include 64 patches, Microsoft said. Nine of them will be rated "critical," while the remaining 8 will be marked "important."

Microsoft will address issues including a vulnerability in Windows' MHTML (MIME HTML) protocol handler that the company acknowledged last January.

The patches will also quash a bug in the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) network and file-sharing protocol that was disclosed in February on the Full Disclosure security mailing list.

Other updates will address one or more vulnerabilities in Office, Internet Explorer (IE), Visual Studio, .Net and GDI+.

Microsoft's security bulletins will be issued April 12, 2011.

For more information visit http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS11-apr.mspx.