Bit9, makers of business software for controlling the software users can run has released a list of what it claims are the 'Top popular applications with critical security vulnerabilities'

The top five are:

1. Yahoo Messenger 8.1.0.239 and earlier
2. Apple QuickTime 7.2
3. Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6
4. Microsoft Windows Live (MSN) Messenger 7.0, 8.0
5. EMC VMware Player (and other products) 2.0, 1.0.4

Number five might be less of a mainstream product but the others are rather more common. Three of them are installed on my computer (though updated now)

I've said before that I tend not to be so worried about the fact that problems are found, but more how quickly they are fixed. Of course, the severity of the threat also makes a difference but I like to see that companies take security seriously.

It also reaffirms the importance for checking to see if updates are available for programs. I know that Microsoft has got into hot water recently over Windows Update but as we all end up with an ever increasing number of installed programs, autumatic checking seems to be the very least we should expect from software. I can't help but wonder how many security breaches have been avoided thanks to Windows Update. We'll probably never know but I'd guess they would have caused more inconvenience and cost.