Microsoft to Upgrade Patch Advance Notice and Bulletins

Microsoft has announced changes in the information the company will provide on the first Thursday of the month prior to monthly regularly scheduled security bulletins and updates. These changes will begin with next month, June 2007.

• The ANS (Advance Notification Service) bulletins will appear on the monthly security bulletin summary page (this is May 2007's for comparison), with the information there to change once updated info is available on Patch Tuesday. The ANS will contain the following information for each bulletin, not just grouped by platform:
  
  
  
  • Maximum Severity Rating
  
  
  • Impact of Vulnerability
  
  
  • Detection information
  
  
  • Affected Software
  
  
  
  


• The previous static location for advance notification will no longer be used, to be replaced with a link that will change for each month, presumably for archival purposes. For example, the advance notification next month will appear at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms07-jun.mspx.


• The bulletin format itself will change, with important decision-making information moving to the top in a more clear layout. A table of products, instead of a list, with links to appropriate downloads, will be included. Click here for a sample of the new layout.