Both Microsoft and Adobe are planning to release critical patches next Tuesday.

"Microsoft will issue one bulletin on Patch Tuesday next week that is rated 'critical' for Windows 2000," writes CNET News' Elinor Mills.

"Meanwhile, Adobe Systems is scheduled to release a patch for a vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat on Tuesday that was discovered in mid-December and which is being exploited by attacks in the wild to deliver Trojan horse programs that install backdoor access on computers," Mills writes.

Click here to read the CNET News article.