Microsoft gives word of April fixes

Excel fix will be among 8 security patches.

Microsoft has released new information on the content of its upcoming security update.

The April 'Patch Tuesday' fix will contain at least eight bulletins. The company has not yet provided specifics on how many individual flaws will be patched in the update, but the package will address issues in all currently supported versions of Windows and Windows Vista, as well as Office 2000, 2003, XP and Office 2007.

The Mac versions of Office 2004 and 2008 will also be receiving a security fix on Tuesday.

The Office for Mac builds are among those to receive an update for a vulnerability in Excel which could allow an attacker to remotely execute code on a targeted systems has been rated as a 'critical' fix for Office 2000 and a less severe 'important' label for all other versions of Office.

Other updates the company hopes to release on Tuesday include fixes for critical vulnerabilities in Windows and Internet Explorer. Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Windows Vista and Server 2008 will all be receiving at least one fix rated as 'critcal' and several others rated as 'important' for each operating system.

The fix for Internet Explorer is being rated as a critical update for IE6 and 7 versions running on Windows XP and Vista, as well as IE 5 and 6 on Windows 2000. The flaw is listed as an 'important' fix for Windows Server 2003 and 2007 systems.

Full details on each of the eight bulletins should be available on Tuesday when Microsoft releases the actual monthly update. The company generally releases the fixes by early afternoon US Pacific Time.