Microsoft for June, nine of which are ranked as Critical by Microsoft. Even more concerning than the Critical designation is the fact that seven of the nine Critical bulletins also have an exploitability index of one--indicating that an exploit is very likely in the next 30 days.

Paul Henry, security and forensics analyst at , explains, "With 9 critical bulletins and the vast majority directly requiring a reboot, this marks the beginning of a long summer for IT professionals with no room for slowing down."

Obviously, consumers and businesses should apply all applicable patches and updates as soon possible, especially the ones rated Critical, but I spoke with Jerry Bryant, group manager, response communications for Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, who specified four security bulletins in particular that should get priority attention. MS11-042, MS11-043, MS11-050, and MS11-052 should come first for most customers.

Andrew Storms, director of security operations for , points out, "As usual, Internet Explorer is at the top of the critical list. This is since it was released in April, and it has to be uncomfortable for Microsoft to have to patch their brand new browser so quickly."

Tyler Reguly, also from nCircle, says, "Another Patch Tuesday, another dose of the same. Most people probably have the patch drill down to a science at this point: patch Internet Explorer first, your client software second, and obscure software third."