http://pictures.directnews.co.uk/liveimages/Microsoft+Vista_1071_18726550_0_0_6457_100.jpg

Software company Microsoft has announced that it will be releasing 12 patches for an assortment of its software programs, it has emerged.

Technology news provider vnunet.com noted that the monthly release of updates by the corporation will include seven "critical" fixes in the dozen provided, each one addressing security problems that could allow a malicious outsider to remotely execute code on a computer.

It added that four of these updates will patch up exploits in Microsoft Office, one will fix a problem with Windows Media Player and another will repair a flaw in Internet Explorer.

Microsoft's update will be available on August 12 and will also include non-security patches for programs such as Windows Update as well as several "important" fixes for Windows Messenger and Outlook Express.

Today, the International Herald Tribune revealed that Microsoft was providing American internet users with free Olympic coverage through their Silverlight media player, which it remarked had been seen by such executives as John Lilly of Mozilla as a direct competitor to Adobe's Flash player.