On Wednesday, Microsoft launched MyBulletins, a service designed to streamline the security update process for Microsoft-branded software.
For most consumers, simply accepting Microsoft's latest security updates is one of the best ways to keep your PC safe and secure. But for small businesses whose employees may pull double-duty as admins and users themselves, MyBulletins is designed to take the guesswork out of the process.
The premise is simple: Admins need to visit MyBulletins.com and sign in with their Microsoft account. After that, they'll simply need to select which software they need to worry about: Internet Explorer, say, or Microsoft Exchange. At that point, Microsoft will build a customized dashboard of updates tailored to the profile the admin or other worker has set. The idea is that that worker will receive the information and updates he or she needs and be able to quickly deploy them as needed.
"To develop myBulletins, we asked if there was anything we could do differently to make applying security bulletins easier," Tracey Pretorius, director of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing, wrote in a blog post. "We recognize that not all of the products covered in the monthly security bulletins may be operating in your environment. You shared that you needed the ability to cut through complexity and make decisions quickly. You wanted help identifying the information that is most relevant to your organization. We heard you and acted on your feedback."
Again, MyBulletins is not for everyone. If you're a consumer working at home, Microsoft already sends the updates you'll need to your PC. But if you've developed your own custom applications and want to test them against the latest security updates, or simply want to filter out unnecessary noise, MyBulletins might be worth checking out.