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

While we're used to installing security updates for our computers, tablets and smartphones, a security patch for audio gear is something new. Sonos has released an update for its wireless audio products to fix a problem that has the potential to expose login details for paid services.

An update to Adobe Reader and Acrobat addresses multiple critical vulnerabilities.

The first Patch Tuesday for 2012 brings seven bulletins from Microsoft. One was held over from December, and only one of the seven is regarded as being critical.

Automatic updating has its advantages, but it can conceal feature changes.

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.

iOS 5.0 received a generally good reception from iPhone owners. Two particular issues were reduced battery life, and the absence of Siri for the iPhone 4. Apple's done something about one, but not the other.

  As promised, Apple has released iOS 5 for its mobile devices. More than 200 new features are claimed, and there's also an extensive list of security fixes.  

  OS X Lion 10.7.2 provides iCloud compatibility, assorted bug fixes and improvements, and a slew of security fixes. A corresponding security update is available for Snow Leopard 10.6.8.