Very important Microsoft Critical Patch rolled out

Just this Monday, the patch for the critical security issue promised last friday was rolled out.

The MS10-046 update, which patches the security vulnerability that affected all supported versions of the operating systems of Microsoft, was rolled out ahead of other scheduled updates.

This was due to the fact that the security hole was actively being targeted by criminals so they could install malware to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems which are used for many vital and important infrastructures.

This could directly affect or impair services such as with power plants.

Since this could well be used for espionage, priority for this update is of the highest urgency.

Not only that, this security hole can be exploited to hurt Windows users.

It has already made it possible for other malware that were designed to steal credit card numbers and other sensitive information to infect more computers which have not been updated with this patch.

The flaw in the Windows OS involved the how icons were loaded

In shortcut (LNK and PIF) files. An infected USB, Network, or WebDAV folder is what you should watch out for.

You only need to open the cleverly designed shortcut to get your computer infected.  

If you have applied the temporary fix last time, go ahead and uninstall that before installing the Microsoft patch.

It will take two reboots to complete the process: the first is right after you remove the temporary fix and the next is for the new update from Microsoft to be installed.

Make sure to check if Microsoft Automatic Update has not already installed the patch to your system. You would not want to have the temporary fix and the patch to overlap.

Icons would not display properly if that happens and you would have to roll back both installations and start the patch update again.

If you are unable to locate or download the patch at this time, there is always the work around (although we do strongly recommend you use the patch). 

Check your Automatic updates settings so you get your regular updates from Microsoft properly.