Microsoft released patches to fix 19 critical vulnerabilities in its software Tuesday, including five flaws in its Internet Explorer browser that security experts advise IT administrators to patch immediately.

The total of 11 security updates released for August is the largest round of Patch Tuesday updates Microsoft has released since last February and should give IT administrators plenty to do to secure their companies' systems. "People are going to be quite busy with this load," said Jason Miller, security data team leader for Shavlik Technologies, a patch-management software provider in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Six of the patches, which can be found on Microsoft's Web site, are rated as critical, while five are rated as important.

Miller and other security experts cited Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-045, a Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer, as the top priority among this month's batch of updates. The update patches five privately reported vulnerabilities and one that already has been disclosed publicly and for which attack code already exists, which makes it a zero-day flaw.

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