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As part of its monthly cycle of patches, dubbed 'patch Tuesday', the software company will be issuing the code to fix an undisclosed number of vulnerabilities in its software.

There will be patches covering

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flaws in its operating systems (XP and older), Office software, Microsoft Data Access Components and its Visual Studio development tool as well.

Worryingly, the software company has issued warnings over vulnerabilities in several of its security products including Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft Antigen, Microsoft Windows Defender anti-spyware product, Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server and Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint products.

Most of the updates are ranked 'Critical' and scheduled for release on 13 February. Microsoft is also releasing an updated version of its Malicious Software Removal Tool.

According to eEye Research's zero-day tracker, there are ten outstanding zero-day vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft products, six affecting Office applications.