Microsoft plans to release seven patches next week

Microsoft  on Tuesday plans to release seven patches for several of its software products, including at least two critical updates for known vulnerabilities, according to the company's monthly security update.

Microsoft plans to release one critical patch for Microsoft Windows Media Player; four patches for Windows, at least one of which is critical; one security update rated as "important" for both Windows and Microsoft Office; and another update rated as important for Office.

More information about the security updates can be found here.

Microsoft releases security updates for its software products on the second Tuesday of every month, a day that has become known as "patch Tuesday" by security experts.

While the Windows Media Player update will not require a restart, the Windows patches and at least one of the Office patches will require the OS to be rebooted before they are applied, according to the site.

All of the updates will be detectable using Microsoft's Baseline Security Analyzer tool, and the Windows Media Player patch can be detected through Microsoft's Enterprise Scanning Tool, the company said.

Also on Tuesday, Microsoft plans to release an updated version of its Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services and the Download Center.

Microsoft will host a webcast to discuss the security updates on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. More information about the webcast can be found here.