Security Central
You can manage the software and security updates that you have to deploy to the servers, desktops, and mobile systems in your organization. For more information, visit the TechNet Update Management Center.
You can download security updates from the Microsoft Update Catalog. The Microsoft Update Catalog provides a searchable catalog of content that is made available through Windows Update and Microsoft Update. This includes security updates, drivers, and service packs. For more information about the Microsoft Update Catalog, see the Microsoft Update Catalog FAQ.
Detection and deployment guidance
Microsoft provides detection and deployment guidance for security updates. This guidance contains recommendations and information that can help IT professionals understand how to use various tools for detection and deployment of security updates. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 961747.
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) lets administrators scan local and remote systems for missing security updates and common security misconfigurations. For more information, see Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer.
Note Customers who use legacy software that is not supported by the latest release of MBSA, Microsoft Update, or Windows Server Update Services should see the "Legacy Product Support" section of the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer TechNet topic. There, you can find information about how to perform comprehensive security update detection by using legacy tools.
Windows Server Update Services
Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) enables information technology administrators to deploy the latest Microsoft product updates to computers that are running Windows. For more information about how to deploy security updates by using WSUS, see the following Microsoft TechNet topic:
Windows Server Update Services
Systems Management Server
The following table provides the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) detection and deployment summary for this security update.
| Software |
SMS 2003 with ITMU |
System Center Configuration Manager |
| Windows 8.1 for 32-bit systems |
No |
Yes |
| Windows 8.1 for 64-bit systems |
No |
Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 |
No |
Yes |
Note Microsoft discontinued support for SMS 2.0 on April 12, 2011. For SMS 2003, Microsoft also discontinued support for the Security Update Inventory Tool (SUIT) on April 12, 2011. Customers are encouraged to upgrade to System Center Configuration Manager.
For SMS 2003, the SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates (ITMU) can be used by SMS to detect security updates that are supported by Windows Server Update Services. For more information, see Systems Management Server 2003.
System Center Configuration Manager uses WSUS 3.0 to detect updates. For more information, see System Center Technical Documentation Library.
Update Compatibility Evaluator and Application Compatibility Toolkit
Updates frequently write to the same files and registry settings that are required for your applications to run. This can trigger incompatibilities and increase the time that is required to deploy security updates. You can streamline the testing and validation of Windows updates against installed applications by using the Update Compatibility Evaluator components that are included in the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT).
The Application Compatibility Toolkit contains the necessary tools and documentation to evaluate and decrease application compatibility issues before you deploy a Windows update, a Microsoft security update, or a new version of Windows Internet Explorer in your environment.