SEATTLE – Microsoft forced its millions of MSN Messenger users last week to download a new version of the software to plug a host of vulnerabilities discovered in Office XP, Internet Explorer 6, Windows Media Player and MSN Messenger.
The mandatory upgrade began early Friday morning after a security company posted a how-to guide describing how the vulnerability can attack computers. MSN Messenger users were then greeted with a notice to upgrade before they could open their instant messaging clients.
The moves come after Microsoft released a series of software patches to plug a series of critical weaknesses products including Office XP, Internet Explorer 6, Windows Media Player and MSN Messenger. Microsoft had been planning on asking Messenger users to upgrade over a longer period of time, but once the security posting went public the company was forced to upgrade everyone at once.
