Microsoft has just posted their advance notification for next week’s Patch Tuesday, which will include four critical fixes that deal with remote code execution exploits in several software packages. Among the affected software is Windows Media Player 11, Windows Media Encoder, Microsoft Office and various components and versions of the Windows operating system.

Starting next month, the software giant will make a major shift in its security strategy. The company plans to unveil a new exploitability index to rank vulnerabilities based on the likelihood of someone developing working exploit code for them in order to help system administrators prioritize the patches. In addition, Microsoft plans to share detailed vulnerability information with security vendors before the public announcement so as to enable them to develop signatures and filters prior to Patch Tuesday.