Urgent Update For Windows Now Available

Microsoft has a patch or fix for a critical problem in the way Windows handles the so called VML Exploit. Without getting this patch, spyware, trojans, and viruses can be automatically installed on your computer from web pages and spam emails. The update is small and does not need to restart your computer to take effect. I strongly recommend everyone go to Windows Update now to get this patch. Normally, Microsoft only releases patches on the second Tuesday of the month. By releasing this fix early, this shows how serious this problem is.

The VML Exploit ( for Vector Markup Language) is described briefly in the update:

Typical download size: 250 KB , less than 1 minute
A security issue has been identified in the way Vector Markup Language (VML) is handled that could allow an attacker to compromise a computer running Microsoft Windows and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Keeping your computer up to date is important, but this update is really important. Here is a rather technical explanation of what the VML Exploit is and what it does. An example of what you might get in a spam email that uses this exploit from the Sunbelt Blog.