Today, Microsoft announced that this upcoming Patch Tuesday will bring with it fixes for four critical security flaws, among others. Two of the flaws are for Vista, and all four of the listed flaws could lead to code execution and system compromise. As they planned to start doing this year, they have released expanded pre-release information regarding the patches, but detailed information won't be available until the patches themselves are made available.
Despite this pre-release information, many known critical flaws are not addressed, and have been open for some time. This is leading some to wonder if they will again have to rely on 3rd-party patches for protection. The expanded information, however, has helped us get a better grasp on what to expect for each patch cycle. Hopefully they will continue to develop this.