What better Valentine's Day gift could there be for a systems administrator than a bouquet of nine long-stemmed Microsoft security patches?

Microsoft is preparing a scheme to automatically push the latest version of Internet Explorer to users' systems. This can be seen as Microsoft following in Google's footsteps, as part of the thinking behind Chrome was to ensure people stay on the current version.

Microsoft's Christmas stocking of security patches isn't quite as well stuffed as we were led to expect. Nevertheless, 19 vulnerabilities have been addressed.

Microsoft's pre-Christmas Patch Tuesday is going to be a doozie - 14 bulletins are planned, addressing 20 vulnerabilities.

Depending on whose stats you believe, Chrome has either become the world's number two desktop browser or it is still well back in third place.

Embrace, extend, and extinguish. These three words became synonymous with Microsoft after the anti-trust trial of the 1990s found that the company used this phrase internally to describe its strategy to get the better of competitors.

  This month's Patch Tuesday saw Microsoft release eight bulletins addressing 23 vulnerabilities. If you run a still-supported version of Windows, there's a patch for you this month.

Patch Tuesday will soon be with us again, and for October Microsoft is cooking up something for most Windows users and administrators. The scoreline is Critical 2, Important 6.

Microsoft has to some observers seemed to have fired the latest shot in the ongoing browser wars, with its free security package deleting rival browser Chrome from users' computers. Microsoft, however, has hastily moved to explain that it was an accidental mistake on its part.

Mirroring growth in Mac OS X's overall web share, usage of Apple's Safari browser has cracked the 5% figure for the first time. The usage of Chrome also continues to grow.