Microsoft is preparing to issue nine bulletins that address 13 vulnerabilities in its various software products on this month's Patch Tuesday, which falls on September 14. Although there are fewer bug fixes than last month's 34 flaws, it's reportedly the largest Patch Tuesday this year to fall on an odd-numbered month, which are typically smaller than even months.

Four of the bulletins are critical, two are important and seven could lead to remote code execution, according to the notification posted yesterday. Affected operating systems range from Windows XP and Server 2003 through Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2. Another reminder to XP SP2 users, you'll have to update to SP3 for coverage, as SP2 is no longer supported. Microsoft Office XP, 2003, and 2007 are also included in the cycle, with one critical hole to be plugged in eldest application.