February 2011 Critical Windows and Adobe updates

February 11, 2011

On February 8, Microsoft released new patches for critical vulnerabilities in Windows, Active Directory, IIS, and Microsoft Visio. Also, Adobe has recently released patches for critical vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Shockwave.

* All Windows PCs must be patched. *

To patch your PC:

Click on the update icon on the taskbar (it is a globe or yellow shield with an exclamation point, depending on which version of Windows you're running).

If you do not have such an icon, run Windows Update by going to the site:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

After patching, you must reboot your PC in order for the patches to take effect.

Other Microsoft patches:

If you use Microsoft Visio 2002, 2003 or 2007, see:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms11-008.mspx

If you are the administrator of an Active Directory server, see:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS11-005.mspx

If you administrator of an IIS server with the FTP service enabled, see:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms11-004.mspx

Adobe patches:

To patch Adobe Reader/Acrobat:

If you are already using version 9 of Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat, you can install the updates by opening the application and selecting:

Help > Check for Updates.

Follow the given instructions to download and install updates for your Adobe products.

Alternatively, to upgrade all Windows versions of Adobe Reader to 9.4.2 you can run the updater on MONOLITH at

\\monolith.srv.cs.cmu.edu\PC_Dist\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\9.4.2\SCS-AdobeReader-All-942.exe

More information about these Adobe Reader/Acrobat security updates, including update information for Unix/Linux hosts and Macintoshes, can be found at:

http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb11-03.html

To patch Adobe Flash Player

Go to:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

and upgrade your version of Flash Player to the latest version. If you view Flash content in both Internet Explorer and another browser, such as Firefox, you will need to patch Flash Player for both types of browsers. Visit:

http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/

to see which version of Flash Player you are running and what the latest version of Flash is for various browsers and platforms.

If you are using Adobe Shockwave

Go to:

http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/

to upgrade Shockwave to the latest version.

If you have any questions or problems applying these patches, please contact the SCS Help Desk at x8-4231 or send mail to help@cs.cmu.edu.

Thank you for your attention,

SCS Help Desk