October 2009’s Record Breaking Patch Tuesday

Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday of each month when Microsoft releases updates or fixes to its software. It has been recorded that the name Patch Tuesday was already in use since the last quarter of 2004. The reason why updates are lumped together to be released once a month and not right after they are packaged is to allow system administrators to mark a day in the month to prepare all computers for the patch, and this work involves backing up files, disabling network connections and other stuff required to make sure that computers will not malfunction after the fixes are installed. This may seem pretty trivial to most of us who own one or two computers, but remember, there are companies with hundreds, if not thousands of computers and updating each one of them will be really major work.

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