Microsoft preps OE 5 for Mac patch

Microsoft Corp. says a patch will be available next month for a recently discovered security hole in its Internet mail application, Outlook Express 5 for Mac.

The security flaw can open the door to potentially destructive Trojan horses in the form of HTML messages written in such a way that they are automatically placed in the downloads folder.

So far, Microsoft says it has not heard any reports of "malicious downloads," but urged Mac OE 5 users not to open any files from an unfamiliar source that show up in the downloads folder.

A link for downloading the patch will be posted on Microsoft's Mactopia Web site at www.microsoft.com/mac /.

The full report is located at www.zdnn.com.