Microsoft has released Windows XP SP3 to its beta testers. The release co-incides with a hotfix for Windows Vista. The KB941649 Vista hotfix addresses several issues including battery life for mobile devices, stability for portable computers and those desktops on UPS systems; a reliability issue for startup application menus; Internet Explorer stability; reduces the Windows Vista startup time; reduces the startup delay when Vista returns from sleep; Photos screen saver recovery time; Windows Power Shell; compatibility with third party virus software and the reliability of Windows Vista with certain network driver configurations.

As part of the standard Patch Tuesday release, Microsoft will also fix three "critical" flaws in the Microsoft OS, including fixes for Internet Explorer and the Microsoft Outlook mail client. Microsoft will also issue a critical fix for users of older versions of Microsoft Word, including Microsoft Word 2000 SP3, Microsoft Word 2002 SP3 and Microsoft Office 2004 for the Mac.

Patch Tuesday releases will also include non-critical fixes for the Windows OS and Microsoft's SharePoint software.