A bumper crop of Microsoft patches will be released next week, including nine fixes for Windows flaws. At least one of the updates for the Windows operating system is rated "critical", its highest rating, Microsoft said on Thursday in a posting to its TechNet site. The forewarning is part of the company's programme to give regular computer users notice of monthly security bulletins before the patches themselves are released.

There will be 13 updates in total, Microsoft said. That includes a critical flaw affecting Office and Visual Studio, and another critical flaw involving Windows, Windows Media Player and MSN Messenger. Also on the way are a patch for an "important" vulnerability in .Net Framework and a fix for "moderate" problems with SharePoint Services and Office.