Microsoft announced yesterday that advanced notification of security fixes, formerly a premium subscription benefit, would be extended to all customers at no charge.

In response to consumer feedback, Microsoft is expanding its security bulletin program to provide all customers with advance information about upcoming monthly security updates.

Starting in November 2004, the TechNet Security site will publish a general summary of planned security bulletin releases three business days before each regularly scheduled monthly bulletin release. Currently, security bulletins are scheduled to be released on the second Tuesday of each month.

The advance notifications will include the number of bulletins that might be released, the anticipated severity ratings, and the products that might be affected.

The purpose of the advance notification is to assist customers with resource planning for the monthly security bulletin release. The information provided in the notification will be general and will not disclose vulnerability details or other information that could put customers at risk.

The notification will be based on the information available three business days before the monthly bulletin release date. However, this information often changes due to the complexity of testing security updates. Therefore, the notification should not be viewed definitive.

Check back again in December when customers will be able to sign up and receive advance bulletin notifications via email.

Here's an advance notice of next Tuesday's security fix for Internet Explorer.