Mr. Norm Cook

'Ninety-five times out of a 100 there isn't an issue,' says Norm Cook, Gibson Energy's senior supervisor of network services and support, IT services. 'Microsoft provides free support . . . the resources are there.'

Some users have criticized Microsoft for its monthly Patch Tuesday schedule because it might mean bugs that crop up between updates won't be addressed for weeks.

Mr. Cook, however, points out that flaws in other software, such as Adobe's Acrobat, are not solved with anywhere near the predictability as issues with Windows or Office.

'This one looks like a pretty heavy month, but Microsoft has a pretty good track record,' he says. 'It's all those other applications on their desktops, which are fixed at a much more random schedule.