For Mac users, there's usually nothing special about the second Tuesday of the month. However, next Tuesday will be of some importance if you own a copy of Office 2004 for the Mac.

The second Tuesday of the month is known in the Windows world as "Patch Tuesday." It is the time when Microsoft releases all of the past four weeks' security updates as one release in order to ease the strain on administrators and IT departments that have many systems to maintain.

10 Aug 2007

This month's patch Tuesday release also contains a fix that affects certain versions of Windows, Visual Basic, and Office 2004 for the Mac.

The bulletin is rated as "critical," meaning that it could possibly allow an attacker to remotely install and execute code.

Seeing as how Microsoft will be delaying any new version of Mac Office until next year, it's a good idea to keep your copy of 2004 patched and up to date.